On the eve of the Revolution, the royal and proprietary governors, beggars at the door of the assemblies, were powerless to enforce by civil process their instructions from England; provincial councils had lost most of their control over law-making; and judges and minor officers had to trim to the legislators to avoid putting their salaries in jeopardy. For practical purposes the colonial assemblies, in their domestic concerns, were their own masters and their strength was increasing. The revolution had actually taken place; nothing but an explosion was necessary to announce it to the world. Such at least is the judgment of those modern scholars who have worked in the dusty records of colonial times rather than in the memoirs of kings, courtiers, and politicians.
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Thus, possessing a ruling class experienced in the art of government and commanding economic resources of great magnitude, the provinces needed only two things to transform them into an independent nation—a mastery of the art of warfare and the capacity to cooperate on a continental scale. In these branches of statecraft also the eventful years of colonial development gave them some exercise. For self-defense they were compelled to maintain local forces, drilled and disciplined under officers of their own choice, prepared to take part at any moment in desperate fighting with frontier Indians and to test their endurance under fire.
In every one of the violent conflicts in the struggle between England and France over the mastery of North America, the colonists participated, furnishing soldiers and supplies. Four times, between 1689 and 1763, they were called upon to share in this world-wide contest for imperial supremacy—in King William's, Queen Anne's, King George's, and the Seven Years' War. For thirty-one years out of seventy-four they had armed men at the front battling by the side of British regulars against French and Indian warriors skilled in field and forest fighting, ruthless
