The pulpit of the American revolution Author:John Wingate Thornton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: DISCOURSE On "the good News from a far Country." Deliver'd July 24th. A Day of Thanks-giving to Almighty God, throughout the Province of the MaJJachufet... more »ts- Bay in New-England on Occafion of the Repeal of the STAMP-ACT ; appointed by his Excellency, the Governor of faid Province, at the Defire of it's Houfe of RePresentatives, with the Advice of his Majesty's Council. By Charles Chauncy, D.D. A Paftor of the firft Church in Bofton. BOSTON: N. E. Printed by Kneeland and Adams, in Milk-ftreet, for Thomas Leverett, in Corn-hill. MDCCLXVI. EDITOR'S PREFATORY NOTE. The origin of the Stamp Act can be best understood by a glance at the previous political relations of the colonies to the mother land. England, " a shop-keeping nation," 1 gained her riches by the commercial monopoly under the " Navigation Acts,"— a system invented by Sir George Downing, the one whose name stands second on Harvard College catalogue. These acts were modified as the changes of commerce required, and the " Stamp Act," but one of the series, was intended to retain the old monopoly of American trade, which was greatly endangered by the conquest of Canada. This was its origin and motive. The dispute resolved itself into this naked question, whether " the king in Parliament2 had full power to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever," or in none. The colonists argued that, by the feudal system, the king, lord paramount of lands in America, as in England, as such, had disposed of them on certain conditions. James I., in 1621, informed Parliament that " America was not annexed to the realm, and that it was not fitting that Parliament should make laws for those countries;" and Charles I. told them " that the colonies were without the realm and jurisdiction o...« less