This war brought with it a heavy debt, the payment of which, while it severely taxed the resources of the people, proved valuable as teaching them how great was their strength in emergencies, a knowledge that was of inestimable benefit to them in the conflict with the mother country that soon followed. The mother country, also seeing, from the payment of this debt, that the colonists were capable of meeting such heavy liabilities, was leil to impose the burdens from which her colonies revolted.

We now approach the time of that conflict of principles which preceded and produced the Revolution. In twelve of the thirteen colonies it was a contest for the maintenance of chartered rights and privileges; the other colony, New York, was a conquered province, over which the Ki ng might exercise such authority as he thought fit, and the conflict in that colony was for the rights of its people as Englishmen. And it seems to be a well-established fact that New York was the first of the colonies to point to freedom and independence in tones distinct and clear.

The uprising in 1764 -- call it mob, if you will -- against the impressing of four fishermen, and the gathering of the people as one man on the 1st day of November, 1765, in opposition to the stamps, which are often spoken of as the first steps toward revolution, were long antedated by a religious controversy which was certainly not without its influence in preparing the people for the great events soon to follow. Leading Presbyterians had formed an association bearing the name of the " Whig Club," in organized opposition to the Church of England and the English government.