ticularly concerned, because its provisions, so far as they related to the people of Michigan, were nullified by the Revolutionary War.

The most important feature of it to Americans was the provision by which the boundary of the province was extended as far South as the Ohio River, thus indicating the intention of the British Government to take away territory from the rebellious colonies of Massachusetts, Virginia, New York, and Connecticut, and attach it to the loyal province of Canada. This scheme was frustrated by the efforts of a small band of patriotic and adventurous Virginians. The Virginia Conquest.-In the year 1778, George Rogers Clark, acting under a commission from Patrick Henry, who was then Governor of Virginia, assembled a small force of less than two hundred men, and undertook the invasion of the territory north of the Ohio River. His efforts were crowned with success. After a difficult march of many hundred miles through an unbroken wilderness, he attacked the garrison at Kaskaskia, and celebrated the 4th of July of that year by capturing the post. The settlements at Cahokia and Vincennes quickly yielded to his vigorous campaign, and he organized the entire territory as a Virginia county.

While Clark and his men did not venture so far north as Detroit, the results of his heroic achievements were felt in that locality, because by his invasion the sovereignty of Great Britain over the territory between the Great Lakes and the Ohio River was destroyed. This enabled the American Commissioners, who negotiated the treaty of peace at the close of the Revolutionary War, to claim successfully that the northern boundary of our country was the chain of the Great Lakes instead of the Ohio River. Therefore, it may be asserted with safety that Michigan,

as well as other States, owe their places in the Union to the bravery and wisdom of George Rogers Clark and his band of gallant Virginians.

Michigan Becomes Part of the United States.With the close of the Revolutionary War, Michigan became a part of the United States, but for many years afterward British garrisons remained at Detroit and other points in the Northwest Territory. It had been expected that upon the conclusion of the treaty of peace, possession of these settlements would be yielded to the United States, but the British government was reluctant to withdraw its garrisons from these points, hoping that circumstances might arise which would enable them to assert their sovereignty anew in the territory.

The inefficiency of our general government under the Articles of Confederation gave some encouragement to these hopes, but with the adoption of the Constitution, more vigorous measures were employed, and on July 11, 1796, the flag of Great Britain was lowered at Detroit, and in its place the emblem of the American Republic was unfurled. Michigan then came under the jurisdiction of the United States, and its people received the benefits of the government provided by the Ordinance of 1787. After more than a century of restriction, the inhabitants of Michigan could now look forward to the enjoyment of political freedom and the blessings of liberty.

Before entering upon a consideration of the government of Michigan as a part of the Northwest Territory, and the subsequent development of its local governmental institutions, it is necessary to study the organization of the New England Town, and of the Virginia County, as these two institutions have been largely instrumental in shaping the

civil affairs of Michigan as well as many other States, particularly those relating to local government.

Local government ordinarily means not only the government of the town, village, or city, but includes also county government. The New England Town furnished the model for the government of nearly all municipalities in the early days, while the county system was developed more completely in Virginia. Both of these systems were imported by the early settlers of Michigan and formed the basis of the system adopted for the regulation of local affairs.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE NEW ENGLAND TOWN.

The New England town and its annual meeting deserve a place in our study, because their influence in shaping the local government of Michigan has been potent and beneficial. This institution is, in the opinion of all writers upon the subject of civil government, the most perfect example of a government by the people that can be found in the political history of any nation, and the town meeting, as it existed in the early days and still exists in some New England communities, has been a nursery of patriotism, a school for the education of citizens and a safeguard for the preservation of the liberties of the people.

To understand fully the important part which the New England town has played in the political development of the State of Michigan, and how its essential features have been impressed upon the local government of that State, we must know in detail how it came into existence, for what purposes, and understand its leading characteristics.

Settlement of New England. We have learned from the study of the history of our country that the early settlers of Massachusetts and the colonies which they formed were, in many respects, different from those of Virginia, Delaware, Georgia and others of the original colonies, to which fact is due, in a measure, the difference in the local institutions which they founded. Hence it becomes important to consider briefly the character and motives of the early settlers

of New England and the conditions under which they lived, because therein will be found the reasons which prompted the construction and promoted the growth of their political system.

The principal reason which impelled the pioneers of Massachusetts to leave their homes in England and seek an abiding place in a wilderness was their desire to pursue without restriction their own ideas as to church government and religious worship. In England they had been under restraint in respect to these matters, and having become dissatisfied with the forms and ceremonies of the English church, and being prevented by the civil officers from carrying out their own ideas in these particulars, they determined to seek a home where they could do as they pleased without fear of molestation from church or king.

Church Government.-They believed that the government of the church should be conducted by the members of the organization, and not in accordance with the dictates of the king or high church officials, and that religious worship should be simple in its forms and devoid of rites and ceremonies. They were students of the Bible and found in its lessons a guide for their daily life in their business and social relations. Their pastor was not only the person who expounded the gospel for their edification on Sunday, but he was also the man to whom the entire community looked for guidance in worldly as well as spiritual things.

Accordingly the immigration to New England was not one of individuals or families, but it was a movement of church congregations led by the pastors. These people settled in communities composed of individuals having the same ideas upon religious subjects and desirous of being under the leadership of the same pastor.