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.

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

The Stuart sovereigns of England steadily attempted to strengthen their power, and the resistance to that effort caused an immense growth of Parliamentary influence.

The participation of the people in their own government was the more significant, because the colonies actually had what England only seemed to have, - three departments of government.

From William of Orange to William Pitt the younger there was but one man without whom English history must have taken a different turn, and that was William Pitt the elder.

England and France were rivals, not only on the continent, but in the West Indies, in India, and in Europe.

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.