Pitt and Burke pleaded in Parliament for the colonies, but all overtures were rejected, and on April 19, 1775, war was begun with the fighting at Concord and Lexington. The Battle of Bunker Hill followed. The Second Continental Congress placed George Washington in command of the American armies. On July 4, 1776, this Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, declaring the colonies to be sovereign States, independent of British control.

Notable in the War of the Revolution were the capture of New York and Philadelphia by the British, Washington's victory at Trenton, Burgoyne's surrender near Saratoga, the terrible winter at Valley Forge, the Battle of Monmouth, the Wyoming massacre, the momentous expedition of George Rogers Clark, the naval battles of John Paul Jones, and the victories in the South of Greene, Morgan, and "Light-horse Harry" Lee.

The Americans were almost without money; they were not accustomed to union; Charles Lee proved mutinous, and Benedict Arnold traitorous; Washington was continually harassed by open and secret enemies. Yet the Americans were fighting in their own country and for their own liberties, and in Washington they had a wholly unselfish leader of brilliant generalship, untiring patience, and indomitable energy.

George III had added to American wrath by hiring Hessians and persuading Indians to fight against his American subjects. The colonists were extremely fortunate in their European friends. The aid of France was invaluable; without her the colonists could scarcely have succeeded in their struggle. Among America's best friends in the time of need, were Pitt and Burke in England; John Paul Jones and Barry, sea fighters born in the British Isles; the Germans Steuben and De Kalb; the Polish officers Pulaski and Kosciuszko; and the brilliant young Frenchman, Lafayette.

The end came in the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown in 1781; but the treaty of peace with England was not finally signed till 1783.

RECOMMENDED READINGS

HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY

TEACHERS' LIST. Hart's American History by Contemporaries, vol. II, pp. 383-93, 402-33, 454-63, 482-518, 540-90. Fiske's United States, pp. 181-241. Elson's United States, chaps. XI-XIV. Howard's Preliminaries of the Revolution, chaps. I, II, VI-XI, XIII. Van Tyne's American Revolution, chaps, I, II, VII, VIII, x, xII, xv-XVII. Fisher's Struggle for American Independence, vol. I, chaps. I, VI, VIII, XIV, XV, XXV, XXVI; vol. II, chaps. LVIII-LXII, XC-CIII, CX. Fiske's American Revolution, vol. I, chaps. IV-VII; vol. II, chaps. VIII, IX, XII-XIV. Wilson's History of American People, vol.

II, chaps. III, IV. Burke's Conciliation with America (Old South Leaflets, No. 200). Roosevelt's Winning of the West, vol. I, chaps. VI, X; vol. II, chaps. I-IV, X. Sparks's Men Who Made the Nation, chaps. I-VII. Hapgood's George Washington. Bolton's Private Soldier under Washington. Morse's Franklin. Hosmer's Samuel Adams. Tyler's Patrick Henry. Thwaites's How George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest, pp. 1-72; Daniel Boone. Buell's John Paul Jones. Oberholtzer's Robert Morris. Wharton's Martha Washington. Myers's Sally Wister's Journal.

PUPILS' LIST. Hart's Camp and Firesides of the Revolution. Elson's Guide to American History, pp. 70-103. Coffin's Boys of '76. Hawthorne's Grandfather's Chair, part 3. Scudder's Boston Town, chaps. IX-XI. Drake's Watch Fires of '76. Baldwin's Conquest of Old Northwest. Tappan's Our Country's Story, pp. 129-67; Hero Stories, pp. 143-207. Lodge and Roosevelt's Hero Tales, pp. 1-79. Frothingham's Sea Fighters, chaps. XVIIIXXI. Cleveland's Stories of Brave Old Times. Blaisdell and Ball's Hero Stories from American History. Perry and Beebe, Four American Pioneers (for Boone and Clark). Hill's On the Trail of Washington. Wister's Seven Ages of Washington. Brooks's Franklin; Lafayette. Holden's Our Country's Flag.

FICTION

TEACHERS' LIST. Churchill's Richard Carvel; The Crossing. Ford's Janice Meredith. Frederick's In the Valley. Jewett's Tory Lover. Mitchell's Hugh Wynne. Thompson's Alice of Old Vincennes.

PUPILS' LIST. Altsheler's Young Trailers. Barnes's For King or Country. Eggleston's Carolina Cavalier; Long Knives. Henty's True to the Old Flag. King's Cadet Days. Ogden's A Royal Little Redcoat. Otis's At the Siege of Quebec. Stoddard's Guert Ten Evck. Tomlinson's Washington's Young Aids (also others of his "Revolution Stories"). True's Scouting for Washington (and its sequels).

POETRY

Anon., Rodney's Ride. Bryant's Song of Marion's Men. Carleton's Little Black-Eyed Rebel. Drake's American Flag. Emerson's Concord Hymn. Hale's New England's Chevy Chase. Holmes's Ballad of Boston Tea-Party; Grandmother's Story of Bunker Hill Battle; Lexington. Lanier's Lexington. Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride. Lowell's Under the Old Elm. Pierpont's Warren's Address. Whittier's Yorktown.

THE FORMATION OF THE UNION

CHAPTER XVII

UNDER THE CONFEDERATION

196. Articles of Confederation adopted; formation of a public domain. When the colonies separated from Great Britain, they were like thirteen little nations, with no permanent bond of union between them. Their representatives sat in the Continental Congress, which adopted the Declaration of Independence; and this body successfully carried on the Revolutionary War. But its members saw that now the war was over, the States could not continue to work together and unite in building up a great American nation until they had formed some sort of permanent central, or federal, government that should be able to manage those large affairs that affected all of them.

At first, however, in many of the States, there was a good deal of objection to any such central authority. Men were very fond of the State governments under which they lived. These governments protected them in their homes and looked after their roads, bridges, schools, and all other local matters in which they were interested. Americans had just broken away from a strong central power that had sought to rule tyrannically over them, and they feared that the proposed new Federal Government might prove to be just as arbitrary. It took several years to convince them that a union would be a greater protection to them against their enemies, and in many ways would serve them much better than if there remained only thirteen separate State governments, each a little nation by itself. The States needed to be taught the value of "team work," and to learn