6. Are you forming the habit of looking up on your map all the places mentioned in the text? If you wish to become strong in history, such a habit will be invaluable. 7. Remember that the Last French War began in 1756 and ended in 1763. CHAPTER XII Patrick Henry and the Stamp Act [1736-1799] [Illustration: Patrick Henry.] With the fall of Quebec, France lost her hold of nearly all the territory in North America that she had acquired through the energy and heroism of her explorers. England profited by this loss, but England herself had soon to meet with a misfortune far heavier--the loss of all her colonies east of the Alleghanies and along the Atlantic coast. Very soon after the close of the Last French War, she began, under the lead of the dull-witted King George, to treat them with so much injustice and oppression that in self-defence they were driven to take up arms for the security of their rights as a free-born people. The result was the American Revolution, which began in 1775 and ended in 1783. How this Revolution came to be, is one of the most interesting chapters in our history. Let us now trace the course of events leading to its outbreak. After the close of the Last French War, England was heavily in debt. As this debt had been incurred largely in defence of the English colonies in America, George III., King of England, believed that the colonies should help to carry the burden. Moreover, as he intended to send them a standing army for their protection, he deemed it wise to levy upon them a tax for its support. Parliament, therefore, which was composed largely of the King's friends, ready to do his bidding, passed a law called the Stamp Act. This required the colonists to use stamps upon their newspapers and upon legal documents, the price of stamps ranging from a half-penny to twelve pounds. The King thought this tax would be just because it would fall upon all the colonists alike. But the colonists were of a different mind; for England had not fought the Last French War so much to defend them as to protect her own trade. Besides, they had already paid a reasonable share of the war expenses, and had furnished a fair proportion of soldiers for battle. They had always given their share toward the expenses of their defence, and were still willing to do so. If the King would ask them for a definite sum, they would raise it through their Colonial Assemblies. But they strongly objected to any English tax.