In comparison with other men of their time, the Americans were distinguished by the possession of new political and social ideas, which were destined to be the foundation of the American commonwealth.

In government as well as in trade a new era came to the colonies in 1763.

On March 10, 1764, preliminary resolutions passed the House of Commons looking towards the Stamp Act.

The old charters of Massachusetts, Virginia, and the Carolinas had given title to strips of territory extending from the Atlantic westward to the Pacific.

In comparison with other men of their time, the Americans were distinguished by the possession of new political and social ideas, which were destined to be the foundation of the American commonwealth.

The residence of the Plymouth settlers in the Netherlands, and the later conquest of the Dutch colonies, had brought the Americans into contact with the singularly wise and free institutions of the Dutch.

One of the strongest and most persistent elements in national development has been that inheritance of political traditions and usages which the new settlers brought with them.