New York : Oxford University Press, 1955. xxiv + 888 pp. Maps and index. $12.80.) Although this impressive volume is published in the Oxford series of English historical documents, and is the only volume in that series devoted exclusively to a phase of England's imperial history, it has interest primarily for students of the history of the United States. The editor has attempted no more than "to illustrate various aspects of the internal history of the thirteen mainland colonies which declared their independence in 1776 ; to indicate the essential factors in the relations between them and Great Britain ; and to trace the evolution of the conflict which led to the War for Independence." Except for incidental references, there is no coverage of the part played by the colonies in European diplomacy or of their relations with Indian, French, and Spanish neighbors. Similarly, their relations with the British West Indian colonies have been omitted from specific attention. In short, the editor's view of colonial history is strictly national.The plan has many advantages. A rough computation indicates that almost half of the space is devoted to what may be described as the domestic history of the colonies, with attention to economic, social, and cultural as well as political developments. In addition, one hundred pages of well-chosen documents illustrate the founding of the colonies, another one hundred are given over to the influence of a developing imperial policy, and two hundred fifty have been saved at the end for an especially full documentation of the period of conflict extending from 1763 to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Any insistence that the editor should have broadened his principles of selection would require a willingness to sacrifice documents which all students of United States history will be glad to find here.It can be said at the same time, however, that these advantages have been gained at some cost to the full illustration even of our domestic history. Some of the subjects omitted are, or will be, covered in other volumes of the series, but the omission of Indian relations will serve perhaps to demonstrate something of the difficulty one faces in attempting to maintain a distinction between the internal and external life of the colonies. The problem of the Indian, after all, had as much bearing on the internal life of the colonies as 730
More than fifty years ago Herbert Baxter Adams discussed the cession of the Old Northwest in a monograph that has had a pervasive and enduring influence." Maryland's refusal to agree to the Articles of Confederation until Congress should be given some portion of the West was interpreted as a result of the "farsighted policy of Maryland in opposing the grasping land claims of Virginia and three of the Northern States." Rhode Island, New Jersey, and Delaware also opposed the claims of Virginia, but Adams denied that they shared Maryland's vision of a national commonwealth based on western expansion. These lesser states were interested only in sharing the revenues to be derived from the West or in defraying the expenses of the war. He insisted: "The credit of suggesting and successfully urging in Congress that policy which has made this country a great national commonwealth . . . belongs to Maryland, and to her alone." 2The determination of Maryland and the other Middle States played a part in the creation of the national domain. But the causes of their determination lay less in patriotic abstraction and national vision than in the jealousy these states felt for Virginia, and in the often thwarted but ever-reviving hopes of the members of speculative land companies within these states. The measure of the influence wielded by such companies is indicated by their membership. Among the members were Gov-
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