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

In appearance the labor system of all the colonies was the same.

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

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

Everywhere among the English-speaking race criminal justice was rude, and punishments were barbarous; but the tendency was to do away with special privileges and legal exemptions.

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.

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