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The romantic prose was not of as high an order as the poetry. Writers of
romances like WALPOLE'S _Castle of Otranto_ and GODWIN'S _Caleb Williams_
did not allow their imaginations to be fettered by either the probable or
the possible. In America the romances of Charles Brockden Brown show the
direct influence of this school.
LEADING HISTORICAL FACTS
The French and Indian War accomplished two great results. In the first
place, it made the Anglo-Saxon race dominant in North America. Had the
French won, this book would have been chiefly a history of French
literature. In the second place, the isolated colonies learned to know one
another and their combined strength.
Soon after the conclusion of this war, the English began active
interference with colonial imports and exports, laid taxes on certain
commodities, passed the Stamp Act, and endeavored to make the colonists
feel that they were henceforth to be governed in fact as well as in name by
England. The most independent men that the world has ever produced came to
America to escape tyranny at home. The descendants of these men started the
American Revolution, signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and,
led by George Washington (1732-1799), one of the greatest heroes of the
ages, won their independence.
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