"The Spirit of Liberty is, indeed, a bold and fearless spirit."

DANIEL WEBSTER.

"Les nations libres sont superbes."-MONTESQUIEU.

NEW YORK

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS

27 & 29 WEST 23D STREET

THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO

FRANKLIN B. GOWEN

IN TOKEN OF ANCIENT FRIENDSHIP, AND IN RECOGNITION OF

HIS CONSTANT SYMPATHY WITH LITERARY EFFORT.

PREFACE.

TH

HIS work embraces a comprehensive view of those things. in the life of the American people, previous to the War for Independence, which are necessary to be known in order to clearly understand why we are what we are. It discloses the Plan of Development contained in the histo.y of colonial life in America.

It is shown, that these United States are the direct and legitimate offspring of that great intellectual movement, which, for want of a better term, men called the Reformation; that the Free Inquiry thence evolved, passed from religious subjects to political, and gave us, at last, as it had before given the people of England, a really constitutional government established on Freedom of Conscience and the Liberty of the Citizen. The change that came over us, as we passed from the age of Religious Inquiry through that of State Development, is described; and the causes which made us what we are, and those which prompted us to do what we did, having been set forth, the events are narrated and the impulses disclosed, which, step by step, impelled us to assume the responsibility of independence and to take our place among the great powers.

In considering this plan of Development the three great Eras into which it is divided are observed in connection :-The Era of Constitutional Development in England; the Era of State Devel