Preface N the following essays I have made an attempt I to explain our early history in terms of the colonial relationship with Great Britain, because I believe that to discover the meaning of the period requires not only an intimate knowledge of the divergent aims of mother country and colonies, but also an insight into the many and varied aspects of the relations existing between them. The years from 1607 to 1783 were colonial before they were American or national, and our Revolution is a colonial and not an American problem. During the colonial period, the dependence and interdependence of mother country and colonies were an ever-present reality to the settlers in America and determined to no small extent the attitude and policy of mother country and colonies alike. To ignore this relationship, or to misjudge it, as is done by many who are unfamiliar with the principles and purposes of eighteenth-century mercantilism, is to leave the problem still unsolved. The time has come when we need not write of our Revolution merely to justify it; when our chief aim should be to : Preface understand and interpret it. As a contribution to that end, though with the misgivings of one who ventures upon an imperfectly charted sea, I bring this brief survey of the subject to the attention of my fellow workers in the field of American history, fully aware of the tentative character of many of its conclusions. C. M. A. t |