Show m r cpr w t f z 1 I II 11 it ii I I 4 j II I- I c I o I III Ji J Prize f by y II when a a 1 i IJ o t j 1 C J A t 1 i Ill kf u l U hJ 3 1 Nh I w. w f t dS' dS o I m l CALVIN C COOL COOL- recently dedicated a new national shrine shrine shrine-a a repository which has benset en ben benset set up tip In the tile Library of Congress for the safeguarding safeguarding safe sate guarding of ot the Declaration Declaration Declara Declara- tion of ot Independence and the Constitution of ot the United States State The man fitted the occasion ably no one aile present had n a or a n more Intelligent appreciation ap all- ap- ap predation n of these theRe documents For President Coolidge has been a n student of at the history and Institutions of ot his isis country since Ms huis youth 3 In Inthis this connection much Interest attaches to an essay b by him bins at nt the rge dge of twenty when he be was a n senior nt at Amherst The Sons of the American He n a offered a n 1 O medal for tor tho the be best besl essay by a senior In an American c cEl i I ge on the causes of or the thc American Involution The Judges awarded tilt the medal to Calvin Coolidge on his essay The Tile Principles Fought I For or In the American merican tion This essay is 18 good Is-good good rending for fora a good American especially on n a n national national na na- holiday like Independence Day Here lIere Is the essayIsts essayIst's owning opening paragraph para pam graph When history looks beyond the ImmedIate Immediate Im Im- Im mediate cause of the American Revolution Revolution tion for the Justifying principles It Is Isery very ery soon coon brought back to the spirit of English liberty It Is the same came genius for freedom that has led the race from the primeval forests of Germany to the Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution j essayist then points out how s iS of at liberty came caine to the sur stir lee ace on great occasions like the tine ex es- of the great charter of or human rights from raID King John Jolin In the Thirteenth Thirteenth Thir Thir- century and the tise confirmation of or Magna Charta by I Edward I. I lIe He states that Englishmen drove droye out one ants king rebelled a against two and executed ed etl three and says sas Precedents then are by no means wanting among among- Englishmen for the successful real resistance stance of ot arbitrary despotism des des- whenever It encroached upon their liberties Sketching the characteristics of ot the Puritans of ot Massachusetts he says says' of ot them theta Of Ot nil all the races they were the most tenacious of fit their rights right and the tine most Jealous of their liberties Then he lie says S The American Revolution Re was waa not then linen any struggle for tor emancipation from Irom slavery and anti the colonists were tree free men Nor was It at first so co much for gaining new liberties as aB for or preserving preserving pre pro serving the all old Nor can it It as Is often thought be called a war between different na na- Sloth sides side were Englishmen who vho glorified In the name of ot England William and Mary had moreover given tine the colonists a full tull share of ot the rights right of or subjects The real object of resistance was to gain se security security so se- from parliamentary encroach ments The Tine colonists were contending con con- tending for the principle of a representative representative government go of chartered rights and constitutional liberties The i w were re defending themselves against th the tha military despotism of George III and struggling gUng f to change chanKe tho the foundation of government from orce orce to equality The essayist next points out that tho the condition of ot at nt the tho close of ot the tIne French and Indian war In IiI 1703 forced a n new colonial policy polley looking tow toward the raising of ot revenue re in Amer Amer- ica The Colonists on the tine other hand Instead 1 of ot wanting new taxes and new restrictions upon their commerce were already breaking away from tram the tine theold old restrictions by their systematic evasion of the navigation acts which were vere commercial regulations and not for tor revenue Ignoring these tendencies proposed to enforce the tine trade laws to quarter soldiers In the tine colonies and to raise mise a tax tux upon the authority of at tIne the English parliament Tints This tn tax meant the of ot British subjects and the tIne surrender of ot nil all those rights ts laid do down downIn n nIn In the Charta Tine The essayist next tells about the Stamp net act and the tile protest that forced Its repeal j the Dependency act which declared that the repeat repeal did not in In- chide elude the tine principle Involved and the tine thero ro Townsend reven revenue ue act net laying duties s on Imports Finally all nIh the tine revenue re taxes were werl repealed except the tine one on ten During tine the four years that toll followed owed 1770 to 1 1774 there thre were se sev acts of ot violence on the tine part of the tine Colonists In la resistance Including the tine Boston Massacre the tine burning of ot the tIne Gaspee Gaspe and the tine Boston Tea larty Says Sas tIne the essayist Again Great Britain had recourse to acts of coercion First It closed the port of ot Boston Doston thus destroying the tine property of thousands Second It Second It declared void certain parts of the charter of Massachusetts following a policy begun In New York In 1767 and so BO It virtually attempted to annihilate the protection of chartered chartered char char- rights and chartered liberties al always always always al- al ways so dear to Englishmen Free government government government gov gov- was waa destroyed too tao In another an another aft an- other way Judges Judge courts sheriffs were made almost the puppets of the king king- They were placed In his direct pay an and m made de subject to his hili pleasure Town meetIngs meetings meet meet- Ings were forbidden and thus thul the old familiar forms of government self were entirely entirety swept away The governor governor gov goY was wal made male as all absolute as aa a despot des del pot and the tine form torm of government thus thrust upon Ma Massachusetts was wal despotism despotism des del such Buch a as Englishmen would not have hae endured even en In the days of Henry Henry Hen lien ry VIII Third The Third The British government sent nearly all criminals to England for trial Fourth Soldiers Fourth Soldiers were quartered upon the Inhabitants so 10 that a military military mili mill tary government was set lIet up In the colonies Fifth Parliament Fifth passed the BO so- so called Quebec act to separate the French from any bond of sympathy with the colonies The governor stood over them like a viceroy In his hIli command was the army If H a soldier should murder a citizen he was sent Bent to I England for tor trial If It a citizen should hould become a criminal he Ito too might be he sent cent across the sea lea In order that In both cases case the government might have haye au all the a Ivan Ivan- advantage tage It Was a military despotism dels There were cera no popular meetings ro no criminal courts no habeas cor corpus PUR no freedom of or the tr-e press Th The question was no longer one CIne of ot taxes that was wal wasa wala a mere figment now Thou Though b the Injustice of taxation without representation made n R good war cr cry It I Is In Inthe Inthe Intine the tine last lost analysis ls a dangerous Ian dan groU principle says the tile essayist I But Hit It Is easy to grasp and the tho common people no doubt fought the tine war on that Issue hsue rite Tho fact finet Is It Is U u II duty t to tin the state to In pay taxes nail and It Is equally n duty to vote It 11 does not f follow fow ow that the tine lit state ate requires ono one duty It shall hull require U lh th k s g Ii kL t. t f A f. f Ai r r second And he lie continues con Hut there is II another nother Side Ide where where- the require ment of ot the state slate runs rune over Into tyranny Only on this ground can cart re- re to taxation be untitled ed So long as all the colonies were a 0 part of ot the state of Grout Great lint Bin and am-and and they were so to by their charters and by the action atlon of or William Wiliiam and Mary that Mary that lad hat the right rl to demand not only their property prop prop- erty but their service In the army and In tn the last hut extremity their lives 1 It cannot annat be be then that the American Revolution was wall fought that colonists might escape 1 I paying taxes tau The Tine great struggle that they passed through th must make such a 11 duty seem Insignificant 1 The real I principle was not one of tho right of the state or the duty of the citizens It was wall a question of government govern goern Intent ment a question of form torm and method It Is III this that Is meant above In the statement that the struggle was wan not between nations or for new principles It was not so 0 much a revolution a propagation of new Ideas nn an the tine maintenance main main- of the old forms forma of represents represents- tive government o of rights and con constitutional liberty England had fought for this In 1688 1658 and Im Imagined imagined im- im It was wall secured But It was only so In name George Georg III Ill was b by nature a dc despot po at heart he was snottier another Stuart tHuarl lie Ito had the I parliament almost completely under mm his hi control In It Its II legislation upon English questions but In tn regard to the th kings king's colonies his will was su pu- pu pvc preme me He lie forced a 0 I policy of government upon America that he hI could not and dared not force torce upon England though hI his hla disposition was wall strong enough Were ere the descendants of Cromwell Puritans back to submit to a Stuart regime That Is III what Is III meant when we hear that America fought at once thA battle battlo of ot freedom In the colonies and In Eng Eng- land lanti That Is la what l England's great reat tatt statesman meant when he declared clarl on the floor of parliament that he rejoiced In the resistance of ot the colonists colonist The earl of Chatham knew that the government government govern Rovern- ment of ot George III In tn whose ears was WIlS ringing ring the th admonition of his hi mother to be king kin was WI undermining the constitution con con- of or OrE Great Bt Britain and bringing the tIne state stAle back to tto the tha forms forma of Talon mono archy that had existed In the times of the Stuarts and the Tudors Rut nut If It tine tho lending leading principle was tho preservation of ot I English constitutional government from tho tine encroachments of or king and parliament says the tIne essayist essay essay- 1st there Is another principle IS s far far- reaching as ns the development of ot the tine state stute In government go So Sovereignty t Is always alwa's finally vested nested In the people And he hc goes on It If the king could have accommodated himself to the existing state of affairs for America as all he managed to do for England there ther would h have ve been the limited constitutional monarchy that Great Britain finally reached In 1832 1882 hut But this was waa Impossible and so the colonies colonl were driven to a assert by war what the commons common of England partly gained by legislation sixty years yeara later There was wal further gained in the United States a recognition that quality ity not quantity Is III the basis balls of the peerage of man and accordingly all allmen allmen men were declared free and equal Still there Is la another factor that must have eventually led to separation The Tine great land of America had a part to play In the history of the world that could best beat be performed by making making mak mk ing It an Independent nation England's great work was to plant colonies America could not aid In that work It was waa her tier place lace t to te found lound a great nation on Ann this side aide of the Atlantic Atlantic At At- lantic and bring out the conception of tree free government Anti And when shen this was done concludes conclude the tine essayist then America stretched out her hand over OUT the tho sea ea to aid tine tho oppressed o of ot if Europe to furnish them a n place of ot refuge l' l and as lIB soon as the they could nt sume the tine dutIes dalles make intake them citizens not alone of our United l but of the tine world G i J c Qt J jl j 1 |