THE BIRTH OFTHE REPUBL 
 
 DAN/EL R. GooDLoi 
 
 
LIBRARY 
 
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 Accession Dumber 
 
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 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE 
 DAVIS, CALIFORNIA 
 
THE 
 
 BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC 
 
 COMPILED FKOM THE 
 
 National and Colonial Histories and Historical Collections, 
 
 from the American Archives and from Memoirs, 
 
 and from the Journals and Proceedings 
 
 of the British Parliament 
 
 DANIEL E. GOODLOE 
 
 CONTAINING 
 
 THE RESOLUTIONS, DECLARATIONS, AND ADDRESSES ADOPTED BY THE CONTINENTAL 
 
 CONGRESS, THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESSES, CONVENTIONS AND ASSEMBLIES, 
 
 OF THE COUNTY AND TOWN MEETINGS, AND THE COMMITTEES OF 
 
 SAFETY, IN ALL THE COLONIES, FROM THE YEAR 1765 TO 1776 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED 
 
 THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, A HISTORY OF THE FORMATION AND ADOPTION 
 OF THE CONSTITUTION, THE ELECTION OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, HIS 
 INAUGURATION, APRIL, 30, 171 
 
 AND WASHINGTON'S 
 
 1789, A COPY OF THE CpN.SjTITlJTI.ON v . 
 
 ON'S INAUGURAL PE^ A j. ^ '., 
 
 QRF>, AND SAN FRANCISCO 
 BELFG&iv OlARkE-AND COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Copyright, 1889, 
 
 BY 
 
 DANIEL R. GOODLOE. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THAT the American Colonies were destined to become in- 
 dependent of Great Britain, and that the occurrence of the 
 event was only a question of time, was foreseen nearly a 
 century before it came to pass. Lord Mansfield, in his 
 speech in the House of Lords, on the Duke of Grafton's mo 
 tion for an address to the King, November 15, 1775, makes 
 this fact clear by the following statement, which at the 
 same time exhibits the shop-keeping narrowness and illibe- 
 rality of his own mind. He says : 
 
 "The bad consequences of planting Northern Colonies 
 were early predicted. Sir Josiah Child foretold, before the 
 Revolution [the English Revolution of 1688-'89], that they 
 would, in the end, prove our rivals in power, commerce, and 
 manufactures. Davenant, adopting the same ideas, foresaw 
 what has since happened : he foresaw that, whenever Amer 
 ica found herself of sufficient strength to contend with the 
 mother-country, she would endeavor to form herself into 
 a separate and independent State. This has been the con 
 stant object of New England almost from her earliest in 
 fancy. Their struggles in the reign of King William com 
 pelled that Prince to recall their former charter and give 
 them a new one, and, towards the conclusion of his reigpn, 
 to get an act passed that no law enacted in the Colonies 
 should be valid, if contrary to any law at the time ex 
 isting in England. Those disputes scarce subsided from 
 that day to this. I remember, in 1733, Mr. Talbot (after 
 wards counsellor) proposed a set of Resolutions, in the 
 House of Commons, in which the nature of the disputes 
 then subsisting were directly pointed at, and similar doc 
 trines to those maintained at present by the British Parlia 
 ment fully asserted." 
 
 This citation from the speech of Lord Mansfield demon 
 strates the 'truth that a man may be a great lawyer, and at 
 the same time be a very narrow-minded statesman that he 
 may be profoundly learned in the laws, and be pre-eminently 
 fitted to expound them, without having the slightest qualifi 
 cation to make laws. Here, to the westward of the Atlantic 
 Ocean, lay a continent all untilled, and almost unpeopled. 
 Lord Mansfield would have suffered it to remain in a state 
 
4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of perpetual barbarism, and have doomed his countrymen 
 at home for all time to all the inconveniences of an over 
 crowded, starving condition, for fear that at some remote 
 day the colonists of the New World might assert their inde 
 pendence and become the commercial and manufacturing 
 rivals of Great Britain. His legal lore and training failed to 
 convey to his mind the thought that the growth of the 
 Colonies in wealth and population, and the development of 
 commerce and manufactures among them, must redound to 
 the advantage of the mother-country. And beyond the con 
 sideration of profit to Great Britain, he seems never to have 
 permitted his wandering thoughts to stray; but, with the 
 genuine shop-keeping dread of competition, he would have 
 suffered half the earth to go unpeopled lest he might inad 
 vertently raise up a commercial rival to his own little island. 
 In the same speech, his lordship goes on to say : 
 " I do not think that America complains of particular in 
 juries, so much as she does of the violation of her rights. 
 If I do not mistake, in one place the Congress sum up the 
 whole of their grievances in the. passage of the Declaratory 
 Act, which asserts the supremacy of Great Britain, or the 
 power of making laws for America in all cases whatsoever. 
 This is the true bone of contention. They positively deny 
 the right, not the mode of exercising it. They would allow 
 the King of Great Britain a nominal sovereignty over them, 
 but nothing else. They would throw off the dependency on 
 the Crown of Great Britain, but not on the person of the 
 King, whom they would render a cipher. In fine, they 
 would stand in relation to Great Britain as Hanover now 
 stands, or, more properly speaking, as Scotland stood to 
 wards England previous to the treaty of Union. His lord 
 ship then went into a variety of detailed reasonings to 
 show that the views of America were directed to inde 
 pendence ; that Great Britain could not concede without re- 
 ling uishing the whole, which he supposed was not intended; 
 and that, consequently, any measure of conciliation, in the 
 present situation of affairs and the declared intentions of 
 America, would answer no end but furnishing her with 
 grounds to erect new claims on, or to hold out terms of 
 pretended obedience and submission." 
 
 It is not true, as stated by Lord Mansfield, that America 
 aimed at independence; and of the contrary truth an 
 abundance of evidence is furnished in this compilation. 
 That the tendency of events was necessarily towards inde 
 pendence, will be conceded: but, on the other hand, the 
 question arises as to which party was giving the greatest 
 momentum to that tendency ; and the answer to the ques 
 tion will depend upon the bias of the mind. To all men 
 who sympathize with our ancestors in their struggle for 
 liberty and independence, it is clear that the short sighted 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 selfishness and arbitrary pride of spirit of the British Tories 
 precipitated the war, and made a Declaration of Independ 
 ence a necessary measure of defence. To the man of Tory 
 sympathies, it is equally clear that the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence was premeditated and planned by ambitious dema 
 gogues, who took that method of getting the control of 
 affairs into their own hands. 
 
 But the objection to this latter statement is that the haz 
 ards were too great to be encountered by demagogues, for 
 the sake of office. Demagogues, by their very .nature, as 
 the term implies, are a pliant, accommodating race ; and are 
 prone to yield to circumstances, rather than conquer them. 
 It has been well said that the same elements of character 
 which constitute the demagogues in a popular government 
 enter into and make up the courtier under a monarchy. The 
 men who led our armies to victory during the Revolution, 
 and who framed our free constitutions and laws, were, many 
 of them, foremost in the esteem of the rulers of Great Britain 
 before they thought of resistance. All the older officers of 
 the army had served with honor under the King, and their 
 names were held in high respect at court. Franklin was 
 Postmaster-general of the Colonies; and hundreds besides 
 him were in high favor as civilians. They had therefore no 
 occasion to revolt and set up a new form of government in 
 order to secure the offices. By their heroic self-sacrifice, by 
 their courage and perseverance in what for years seemed 
 an almost hopeless enterprise, and by the wisdom displayed 
 on the tented field and in the council, they gained, among 
 friends and foes the world over, the highest reputation for 
 virtue. The idea of such men being actuated by a low ambi 
 tion to secure places for themselves is therefore simply pre 
 posterous. 
 
 It is undoubtedly true that the government of Great Brit 
 ain practised great injustice towards the Colonists by send 
 ing over profligate younger sons and the abandoned min 
 ions of the courtiers to fill the high offices ; but bad as this 
 system was, it was not the direct cause of the Revolution. 
 It certainly tended to produce revolt, bv interposing, 
 between the mother -country and the Colonies, a class of 
 pimps and spies, whose policy it was to make themselves 
 acceptable at home by misrepresenting the state of things in 
 America, and by favoring every arbitrary measure of min 
 istry. But it was those arbitrary measures that produced 
 the rupture ; and not the unworthy instruments of admin 
 istration. 
 
 America made a successful rebellion at a time when the 
 population was not above three millions. How idle the no 
 tion, then, that Great Britain could continue long to rule 
 these colonies, inhabited by a free, energetic race which 
 doubles in number four times in a century ! 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE STAMP ACT THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS OP 1765. 
 
 THE following account of the Continental Convention of 
 1765, which met in New York, is from the fifth volume of 
 "Bancroft's History of the United States:" 
 
 " On Monday, the 7th of October, delegates chosen by the 
 House of Representatives of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
 Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina ; 
 delegates named by a written requisition from the individual 
 representatives of Delaware and New Jersey ; and the legis 
 lative Committee of Correspondence of New York, met at 
 New York in Congress. New Hampshire, though not present 
 by deputy, yet agreed to abide by the result ; and they were 
 gladdened during this session by the arrival of the express- 
 messenger from Georgia, sent near a thousand miles by 
 land, to obtain a copy of their proceedings." 
 
 It is proper to explain, in this place, that North Carolina 
 was not represented in this general congress of the Colonies, 
 for the reason that the Assembly was not in session at any 
 time after the proposition of Massachusetts to call such a 
 body. Rumors having reached the province in the spring, 
 that the Stamp Act bad been passed by Parliament and ap 
 proved by the King, the same spirit of opposition to its en 
 forcement was manifested in all the principal towns of North 
 Carolina that had been exhibited in the northern Colonies ; 
 and this caused the Lieutenant-governor, Tryon, to prorogue 
 the Assembly from May until November, lest that body might 
 give expression to the popular feeling, as it undoubtedly 
 would have done. See "Martin's History of North Caro 
 lina," vol. 2, pages 193 and 195. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft continues : 
 
 " The members of this first union of the American people 
 were elected by the representatives of the people of each 
 separate Colony. While they formed one body, their power 
 was derived from independent sources. Each of the Colonies 
 
8 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 existed in its individuality ; and notwithstanding great differ 
 ences in their respective population and extent of territory, 
 as they met in Congress they recognized each other as 
 equals," without the least claim of pre-eminence, one over 
 the other. 
 
 ''The Congress entered directly on the consideration of 
 the safest groundwork on which to vest the collective Amer 
 ican liberties. Should they build on charters, or on material 
 justice ? on precedents and fact or abstract truth ? on special 
 privileges or universal reason ? Otis was instructed by Bos 
 ton to support, not only the liberty of the Colonies, but also 
 chartered rights. Johnson, of Connecticut, submitted a 
 paper, which pleaded charters from the Crown, but Robert 
 R. Livingston, of New York, ' the goodness of whose heart 
 set him above prejudices, and equally comprehended all 
 mankind,' would not place the hope of America on that 
 foundation; and Gadsden, of South Carolina, giving utter 
 ance to the warm impulses of a brave and noble nature, 
 spoke against it with irresistible impetuosity. k A confirma 
 tion of our essential and common rights as Englishmen, 7 
 thus he himself reports his sentiments, 'may be pleaded 
 from charters safely enough; but any further dependence 
 upon them may be fatal. We should stand upon the broad 
 common ground of those natural rights that we all feel and 
 know as men, and as descendants of Englishmen. I wish the 
 charters may not ensnare us at last, by drawing different 
 Colonies to act differently in this cause. Whenever that is 
 the case, all will be over with the whole. There ought to 
 be no New England man, no New Yorker, known on the 
 continent, but all of us Americans.' 
 
 "These views prevailed; and in the proceedings of the 
 Congress, the argument for American liberty from royal 
 grants was avoided. This is the first great step toward in 
 dependence. Dummer had pleaded for Colony charters; 
 Livingston, Gadsden, and the Congress of 1765 provided for 
 American's self -existence and union by claiming rights that 
 preceded charters, and would survive their views. 
 
 " And how far would that Union extend ? What nations 
 would be included in the name of Americans ? The mem 
 bers of that Congress believed themselves responsible for the 
 liberties of the continent ; and even while they were delib 
 erating, the vast prairies of Illinois, the great eastern valley 
 of the Mississippi, with all its rivers gushing from the Alle- 
 ghanies, with all its boundless primeval forests spreading 
 from the mountain tops to the alluvial margin of the mighty 
 stream, with all its solitudes, in which futurity would sum 
 mon the eager millions of so many tongues to build happy 
 homes, passed from the sway of France into the temporary 
 custody of England. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 9 
 
 "The conduct of America was regulated by the Congress 
 at New York. Those who compose it, said Gage, are of 
 various characters and opinions ; but in general, the spirit 
 of democracy is strong among them, supporting the inde 
 pendence of the provinces as not subject to the legislative 
 power of Great Britain. The question is not of the inexpe 
 diency of the Stamp Act, but that it is unconstitutional, 
 and contrary to their rights." No Colony was better repre 
 sented than South Carolina. Her delegation gave a chief or 
 two of the three great committees, and in all that was done 
 well, her mind visibly appeared. 
 
 "The difficult task of defining the rights and 'setting 
 forth the liberty' which America 'ought to enjoy,' led the 
 Assembly to debate for two weeks on ' liberty, privileges, 
 and prerogative.' In these debates, Otis, of Boston, himself 
 the father of the Congress, displayed great knowledge of the 
 interests of America, and assisted to kindle the fires which 
 afterwards lighted the country on to freedom. 
 
 "It was proposed to ' insist upon a repeal of all acts laying 
 duties on trade, as well as the Stamp Act.' ' If we do not 
 make an explicit acknowledgment of the power of Britain 
 to regulate our trade,' said the too gentle Livingston, 'she 
 will never give up the point of internal taxation.' But he 
 was combatted with great heat, till at last the Congress, by 
 the hand of Rutledge, of South Carolina, erased from the 
 declaration of rights the unguarded concession; and the 
 restrictions on American commerce, though practically 
 acquiesced in, were enumerated as grievances. 
 
 Still Gadsden and Lynch were not satisfied. With vig 
 orous dialectics, they proceeded, from a denial of the power 
 of Parliament in America, to deny the propriety of approach 
 ing either House with a petition. * The House of Commons,' 
 reasoned Gadsden, with the persevering earnestness of con 
 viction, * refused to receive the addresses of the Colonies 
 when the matter was pending; besides, we neither hold our 
 rights from them nor from the Lords.' But yielding to the 
 majority, Gadsden suppressed his opposition; * for,' said he, 
 'union is most certainly all in all.' 
 
 "The carefully considered documents in which the Con 
 gress embodied the demands of America, dwell mainly on 
 the inherent right to trial by jury, in opposition to the ex 
 tension of the admiralty jurisdiction, and the right to free 
 dom from taxation, except through the respective Colonial 
 legislatures. These were promulgated in the Declaratory 
 Resolutions, with the further assertion that the people of 
 the Colonies not only are not, but, from their local circum 
 stances, never can be, represented in the House of Commons 
 in Great Britain ; that taxes never have been, nor never can 
 be, constitutionally imposed on the Colonies but by their 
 respective legislatures ; that all supplies to the Crown are 
 
10 THE BIRTH Of 1 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 free gifts ; and that for the people of Great Britain to grant 
 the property of the Colonists was neither reasonable nor 
 consistent with the principles, nor with the spirit, of the 
 British Constitution. The same immunities were claimed in 
 the Address to the King, as ' essential principles, inherent 
 rights and liberties,' of which the security was necessary to 
 the * most effectual connection of America with the British 
 empire.' They also formed the theme of the Memorial to 
 the House of Lords, mingled with complaints of the ' late 
 restrictions on trade.' 
 
 "Having thus insisted on their rights in strong terms, the 
 Congress purposely employed a different style in the address 
 to the House of Commons, insisting chiefly on the disadvan 
 tages the new measure might occasion, as well to the mother- 
 country as to the Colonies. They disclaimed for America 
 the * impracticable' idea of representation in any but Ameri 
 can legislatures. Acknowledging ' all due subordination to 
 the Parliament of Great Britain,' and extolling the ' English 
 Constitution as the most perfect form of government,' the 
 source of 'all their civil and religious liberties,' they argued 
 that, in reason and sound policy, there exists a material dis 
 tinction between the exercise of a Parliamentary jurisdiction 
 in general acts of legislation for the amendment of the com 
 mon law or the regulation of trade through the whole em 
 pire, and the exercise of that jurisdiction by imposing taxes 
 on the Colonies from which they therefore entreated to be 
 relieved. 
 
 " While the Congress were still anxiously engaged inweigh- 
 ing each word and phrase they were to adopt, it was rumored 
 that a ship laden with stamps had arrived. . . . 
 
 "On the morning of the 25th [October], the anniversary 
 of the accession of George III., the Congress assembled for 
 the last time, and the delegates of six Colonies, being empow 
 ered to do so, namely, all the delegates from Massachusetts, 
 except Ruggles ; all from New Jersey, except Ogden ; all those 
 of Rhode Island; all of Pennsylvania, excepting Dickinson, 
 who was absent, but adhered ; all of Delaware ; and all of 
 Maryland ; with the virtual assent of New Hampshire, Con 
 necticut, New York, South Carolina, and Georgia, set their 
 hands to the papers, by which the Colonies became, as they 
 expressed it, ^a bundle of sticks, which could neither be bent 
 nor broken.'" 
 
 To the foregoing general account of the proceedings of the 
 Congress, given by Mr. Bancroft, it is deemed proper to an 
 nex the following Declaration of Rights, which may be found 
 in " Burke's History of Virginia:" 
 
THE BIHTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 11 
 
 DECLARATION OF RIGHTS. 
 
 "THE members of this Congress, sincerely devoted with 
 the warmest sentiments of affection and duty to his Majesty's 
 person and government, inviolably attached to the present 
 establishment of the Protestant succession, and with minds 
 deeply impressed with a sense of the present and impending 
 misfortunes of the British Colonies on this continent, having 
 considered as maturely as time will permit the circumstan 
 ces of said Colonies, esteem it our indispensable duty to 
 make the following declarations of our humble opinion re 
 specting the most essential rights and liberties of the Colo 
 nists and of the grievances under which they labor by reason 
 of several late acts of Parliament : 
 
 " I. That his Majesty's subjects in these Colonies owe the 
 same allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain that is owing 
 from his subjects born within the realm, and all due sub 
 ordination to that august body, the Parliament of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 "II. That his Majestys' liege subjects in these C9lonies are 
 entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural- 
 born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain. 
 
 " III. That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a 
 people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no 
 taxes be imposed on them but with their own consent, given 
 personally or by their representatives. 
 
 " IV. That the people of these Colonies are not, and, from 
 their local circumstances, cannot be, represented in the 
 House of Commons of Great Britain. 
 
 ' ' V. That the only representatives of the people of these 
 Colonies are persons chosen therein by themselves, and 
 that no taxes ever have be,en, or can be constitutionally im 
 posed on them but by their own respective legislatures. 
 
 1 ' VI. That all supplies to the Crown, being Free gifts of the 
 people, it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the princi 
 ples and spirit of the British Constitution for the people of 
 Great Britain to grant to his Majesty the property of the 
 Colonists. 
 
 "VII. That trial by jury is the inherent and invaluable 
 right of every British subject in these Colonies. 
 
 "VIII. That the late act of Parliament entitled "An act 
 for granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other 
 duties, in the British Colonies and Plantations, in America," 
 etc., by imposing taxes on the inhabitants of these Colonies, 
 and the said act, and several other acts, by extending the 
 jurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty beyond its ancient 
 limits, have a manifest tendency to subvert the rights and 
 liberties of the Colonists. 
 
 "IX. That the duties imposed by several late acts of Par 
 liament, from the peculiar circumstances of these Colonies, 
 
12 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 will be extremely burtbensome and grievous, and, from tbe 
 scarcity of specie, the payment of them absolutely imprac 
 ticable. 
 
 " X. That as the profits of the trade of these Colonies ulti 
 mately centre in Great Britain to pay for the manufactures 
 which they are obliged to take from thence, they eventually 
 contribute very largely to all supplies granted there to the 
 Crown. 
 
 * ' XI. That the restrictions imposed by several acts of Par 
 liament, on the trade of these Colonies, will render them un 
 able to purchase the manufactures of Great Britain. 
 
 "XII. That the increase, prosperity, and happiness of 
 these Colonies depend on the full and free enjoyment of their 
 rights and liberties, and an intercourse with Great Britain 
 mutually affectionate and advantageous. 
 
 ' 4 XIII. That it is the right of the British subjects in these 
 Colonies to petition the King or either House of Parliament. 
 
 "Lastly, that it is the indispensable duty of these Colo 
 nies, to the best of sovereigns, to the mother-country, and to 
 themselves, to endeavor, by a loyal and dutiful address to his 
 Majesty and humble applications to both Houses of Parlia 
 ment, to procure the repeal of the Act for Granting and Ap 
 plying Certain Stamp Duties, of all clauses of any other acts 
 of Parliament whereby the jurisdiction of the Admiralty is 
 extended as aforesaid, and of the other late acts for the re 
 striction of American Commerce." 
 
 The Congress sent addresses to the King and to the House 
 of Commons, which endeavor by argument and persuasion, 
 rather than remonstrance, to induce a repeal of the obnox 
 ious acts of Parliament. 
 
 Mr. Bancroft has explained that the action of this Congress 
 was signed and approved by delegates from only six Colo 
 nies, the other delegates present not having authority ; and 
 it may be added that Virginia and North Carolina were not 
 represented because their Assemblies were nofc in session. 
 
 MR. PITT'S SPEECH ON THE STAMP ACT. 
 
 At the meeting of Parliament in January, 1766, the new 
 administration of the Marquis of Rockingham, which had 
 recently succeeded that of Grenville, exhibited signs of re 
 ceding from the policy of the Stamp Act, and several members 
 spoke in manly strains in behalf of the rights of the Colo 
 nists. Among these was the celebrated William Pitt, after 
 wards Earl of Chatham. His health was very feeble, and 
 for a long time he had not appeared in the House ; but on 
 this occasion he said to his friends : ' * My resolution is taken, 
 and, if I can crawl or be carried, I will deliver my mind and 
 heart upon the state of America." In reply to the argument 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 13 
 
 of the friends of the Ministry in favor of the right and duty 
 of imposing a tax on America, he said : 
 
 ' ' I speak not with respect to parties : I stand upon this place 
 single, unsolicited, and unconnected. As to the late Minis 
 try," turning scornfully towards Grenville, " every capital 
 measure they have taken is entirely wrong. To the present 
 Ministry, to those at least whom I have in my eye," look 
 ing at Con way arid the Lords of the Treasury, * ' I have no 
 objection. Their characters are fair. But, pardon me, gen 
 tlemen, youth is the season of credulity ; confidence is a plant 
 of slow growth in an aged bosom. By comparing even^ 
 with each other, reasoning from effects to causes, methinks 
 I discover the traces [referring to the Duke of New Castle] 
 of over-ruling influences. 
 
 "It is a long time," he continued, " since I have attended 
 in Parliament. When the resolution was taken in the House, 
 to tax America, I was ill in bed. If I could have endured to 
 be carried in my bed, so great was the agitation of my mind 
 for the consequences, I would have solicited some kind hand 
 to have laid me down on this floor, to have borne my testi 
 mony against it. It is now an act that has passed. I would 
 speak with decency of every act of this House, but I must 
 beg indulgence to speak of it with freedom. The subject 
 of this debate is of greater importance than ever engaged 
 the attention of this House, that subject only excepted 
 when nearly a century ago, it was a question whether you 
 yourselves were to be bond or free. The manner in which 
 this affair will be terminated will decide the judgment of 
 posterity on the glory of this kingdom, and the wisdom of 
 its government, during the present reign. 
 
 "As my health and life are so very infirm and precarious 
 that I may not be able to attend on the day that may be 
 fixed by the House for the consideration of America, I must 
 now, though somewhat unseasonably, leaving the expedi 
 ency of the Stamp Act to another time, speak to a point of 
 infinite moment, I mean, to the right. Some seem to have 
 considered it as a point of honor, and leave all measures 
 of right and wrong to follow a delusion that may lead 
 us to destruction. On a question that may mortally wound 
 the freedom of three millions of brave and virtuous subjects 
 beyond the Atlantic Ocean, being neither really nor virtu 
 ally represented in Westminister, cannot be held legally, 
 or constitutionally, or reasonably subject to obedience to 
 any money bill of this kingdom. The Colonies are equally 
 entitled with yourselves to all the natural rights of mankind 
 and the peculiar privileges of Englishmen; equally bound by 
 the laws ; and equally participative of the Constitution of 
 this free country. The Americans are the sons, not the bas 
 tards, of England ! As subjects, they are entitled to,, the 
 common right of representation, and cannot be bound to pay 
 
14 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 taxes without their consent. Taxation is no part of the 
 governing power. The taxes, a voluntary gift and grant of 
 the commons alone. In an American tax, what do we do ? 
 We, your Majesty's commons of Great Britain, give and 
 grant to your Majesty what, our own property ? No. We 
 give and grant to your Majesty; the property of your Majes 
 ty's commons in America. It is an absurdity in terms. 
 
 " There is an idea in some that the Colonies are virtually 
 represented in this House. They never have been repre 
 sented at all in Parliament; they were not even virtually 
 represented at the time when this law, as captious as it is 
 iniquitous, was passed to deprive them of the most inesti 
 mable of their privileges. I would fain know by whom an 
 American is represented here ! Is he represented by any 
 knight of a shire in any county of this kingdom ? Would to 
 God that respectable representation was augmented to a 
 greater number. Or will you tell him that he is represented 
 by any representative of a borough ? A borough which 
 perhaps no man ever saw. This is what is called the rotten 
 part of the Constitution. It cannot endure the century! If 
 it does not drop, it must be amputated. The idea of a virtual 
 representation of America in this House is the most con 
 temptible that ever entered into the head of a man. It does 
 not deserve a serious refutation. 
 
 "The commons of America, represented in their several 
 Assemblies, have ever been in the possession of the exercise 
 of this their Constitutional right of giving and granting their 
 own money. They would have been slaves if they had not 
 enjoyed it. 
 
 " And how is the right of taxing the Colonies internally 
 compatible with that of framing regulations, without num 
 ber, for their trade ? The laws of this kind which Par 
 liament is daily making prove that they form a body sepa 
 rate from Great Britain. While you hold their manufac 
 tures in the most servile restraint, will you add a new tax to 
 deprive them of the last remnants of their liberty ? This 
 would be to plunge them into the most odious slavery, 
 against which their charters should protect them. . . . 
 
 "I never shall own the justice of taxing America inter 
 nally until she enjoys the right of representation." See 
 American Archives. 
 
 Mr. Pitt proceeded to claim for Great Britain the right to 
 regulate the external trade of the Colonists, and to prohibit 
 manufacturing a doctrine not at all consistent with the gen 
 erous sentiments above quoted. In reply to Grenville, he 
 again rose, and said : 
 
 "Sorry I am to hear the liberty of speech in this House 
 imputed as a crime. But the imputation shall not discour 
 age me ; it is a liberty I mean to exercise. No gentleman 
 ought to be afraid to exercise it. It is a liberty by which the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 15 
 
 gentleman who calumniates it might and ought to have 
 profited. He ought to have desisted from his project. The 
 gentlemen tells us America is obstinate America is almost 
 in open rebellion. I rejoice that America has resisted. [At 
 the word says Bancroft, the whole House started as though 
 their hands had been joined and an electric spark had darted 
 through them all.] 
 
 ' ' I rejoice that America has resisted. If its millions of in 
 habitants had submitted, taxes would soon have been laid on 
 Ireland ; and if ever this nation should have a tyrant for its 
 king, six millions of freemen so dead to all the feelings of 
 liberty as voluntarily to submit to be slaves would be fit 
 instruments to make slaves of the rest. . . . 
 
 /-' The profits of Great Britain, from the trade of the Colo 
 nies, through all its branches, is two millions a year. This 
 is the fund that carried you triumphantly through the last 
 war. The estates that were rented at two thousand pounds 
 a year three -score years ago, are at three thousand pounds 
 at present. You owe this to America. This is the price that 
 America pays you for her protection." 
 
 THE STAMP ACT. 
 
 The Stamp Act was approved by commission, the King 
 being ill, on the 22d March, 1765. When the news of its 
 passage arrived in America, it everywhere awakened a 
 spirit of resentment and indignation. The Virginia House 
 of Burgesses was the first legislative body that took notice 
 of it ; and although the resolutions adopted in May are tem 
 perate and cautious, they called forth denunciation of trea 
 son from the Tories against Patrick Henry, their author, and 
 gave to that celebrated orator a splendid opportunity for 
 the display of his wonderful eloquence. But on another 
 page a more full and detailed account is given of the pro 
 ceedings with reference to the Stamp Act, in Virginia. Its 
 title was " An act for granting and applying stamp duties, 
 and other duties, in the British Colonies and Plantations in 
 America." It required that all legal pleadings, whether m 
 the t courts of law or equity, or in the courts of probate or Ad 
 miralty Court, should be written upon a stamped piece of 
 vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, the stamp 
 varying in cost with the importance or value of the instru 
 ment. All bills of lading, clearances, and such like instru 
 ments, must be on stamped vellum or paper. In a word, all 
 sorts of legal instruments such as deeds, conveyances, wills, 
 bonds, commissions to persons appointed to office, and what 
 ever writing that had any legal character must pay the 
 stamp duty. The act had its origin in the following circular- 
 letter from the English secretary for the Colonies : 
 
 "Earl of Halifax to his Majesty's Governors in North 
 
16 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 America. To his Majesty's Governors in North America 
 and the West Indian Islands : 
 
 "SIRS: The House of Commons having, in the last ses 
 sion of Parliament, come to a resolution by which it is de 
 clared that, towards defraying the necessary expenses of 
 defending, protecting, and securing the British Colonies and 
 Plantations in America, it may be proper to charge certain 
 stamp duties in the said Colonies and Plantations in America, 
 it is his Majesty's pleasure that you should transmit to me, 
 without delay, a list of all instruments made use of in public 
 transactions,- law proceedings, grants, conveyances, securi 
 ties of land or money, within your government, with proper 
 and sufficient descriptions of the same, in order that, if Par 
 liament should think proper to pursue the intention of the 
 aforesaid resolution, they may thereby be enabled to carry 
 it into execution in the most effectual and least burthensome 
 manner. 
 
 " If you should be unable, of yourself, to prepare a list of 
 this kind with sufficient accuracy, you will in such case re 
 quire the assistance of his Majesty's Attorney-general, or the 
 principal law officers of the Crown within your government 
 who are the proper persons to be consulted, towards procur 
 ing the said information in the manner required. 
 
 u lam, etc., 
 
 "DUNK HALIFAX." 
 
 " ST. JAMES', llth August, 1764. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 In Massachusetts, the Governor, in his message at the open 
 ing of the Assembly, made no allusion to the Stamp Act, but, 
 says the historian Barry, * ' the House was not daunted, " and, 
 at the instance of Otis, voted at once that it was expedient 
 there should be a " meeting, as soon as convenient, of com 
 mittees from the Houses in the several Colonies, to consult 
 together on their present circumstances, and the difficulties 
 to which they were and must be reduced by the operation 
 of the late acts of Parliament." This meeting was proposed 
 to be held on the first Tuesday of October; and circular-let 
 ters were drawn up to be sent as far south as South Carolina. 
 The opposition of the Governor and of Mr. Hutchinson could 
 not check these proceedings; and they were compelled to ac 
 quiesce in them with the best grace they could. Andrew 
 Oliver, a brother-in-law of Hutchinson, who was then a 
 chief justice, was appointed stamp-distributor for Massachu 
 setts; and immediatly, we are told, "the decree seemed to 
 go forth that Boston should lead the way in the work of 
 compulsion." The accession of William Pitt to office in 
 July was hailed with tumultuous shouts of joy by the 
 " Sons of Liberty," and gave a new impulse to the spirit of 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 17 
 
 rebellion against the obnoxious law. " It was at once con 
 certed, therefore," says Barry, " to hang in effigy the obnox 
 ious distributor of stamps ; and on the morning of Wednes 
 day, the 14th of August, the inhabitants of the southernly 
 part of the town, as they passed to their business, saw, sus 
 pended from the out-stretched limb of a majestic elm long 
 known as the 'Liberty Tree,' an effigy of Oliver, tricked 
 out with the emblems of Bute and Grenville. The news 
 spread like wildfire ; and thousands collected to gaze on the 
 spectacle. Hutchinson, as the chief justice, ordered the 
 sheriff to remove the images; but the people Interfered. 
 expressing their determination to have them remain until 
 evening. Governor Bernard summoned his Council to meet 
 in the afternoon: but what could they do? A majority was 
 opposed to taking any action ; and the minority was com 
 pelled to submit. 
 
 u Toward evening the excitement increased; and the 
 images were taken down, placed upon a bier, supported in 
 procession by six men, and followed by an amazing multi 
 tude through the streets to the Town-house. Here the crowd 
 paused directly under the Council-chamber, and shouted, at 
 the top of their voices, ' Liberty, property, and no stamps.' 
 Three cheers were then given ; and the crowd moved on to 
 Kelby Street, to Oliver's Dock, where a building was demol 
 ished, which, it was supposed, had been erected for a stamp 
 office. The fragments of this building were carried to Fort 
 Hill, and a bonfire was made of them in front of Oliver's 
 house, upon which the images were burned. 
 
 " The spirit of resistance was fully aroused, and the cry 
 of the South was echoed at the North. 4 The Stamp Act shall 
 never be executed here,' was the determination of the peo 
 ple. ' All the power of Great Britian shall not compel us to 
 submit to it. We will die on the place first. We will spend 
 our last blood in the cause. The man who offers a stamped 
 paper to sell will be immediately killed.' It was to no 
 purpose that Hutchinson directed an alarm to be sounded, 
 and the military to be mustered ; for ' the drummers were in 
 the mob.' Nor did his appearance in person, with the sheriff 
 at his heels, cause the crowd to disperse. ' Stand by ' was 
 the watchword ; and the baffled chief justice was compelled 
 to flee. An hour before midnight, the throng repaired to the 
 residence of the Governor, and, after three cheers, quietly 
 dispersed. 
 
 " The next day (August 15th), a proclamation was issued by 
 the Governor, offering, a reward for the discovery of the of 
 fenders : but no one was disposed to act as informer ; and if 
 any were seized, ' the prisons, ' said May hew, 'would not 
 hold them many hours.' ' We haveTi dismal prospect before 
 us,' said Hutchinson. And he advised that a larger watch 
 should be set at night; but the motion was opposed, and the 
 
18 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ordinary watch was not increased. * If Oliver had been 
 found last night,' said Bernard, ruefully, * he would actually 
 have been murthered.' And Oliver inclined to the same opin 
 ion. It was plainly intimated that, if he did not resign his 
 office before night, his house would have been pulled down 
 about his ears ; and thoroughly convinced that it would be 
 best to yield, he signed a paper expressing his willingness to 
 throw up his commission. This satisfied the crowd, and at 
 night a bonfire celebrated their victory. 
 
 " For a short time there was quiet. But at length the dis 
 trust of the people fell upon Hutchinson, and, twelve days 
 after Oliver had been hanged in effigy, the crowd assembled 
 to pay him a visit. * He is a prerogative man,' was the gen 
 eral cry. ' He grasps all the important offices in the state. 
 He himself holds four offices, and his relatives six or seven. 
 He had a principal hand in projecting the Stamp Act.' Such 
 outcries wrought upon their inflammable spirits, and pre 
 pared them for deeds of greater violence. Their first act 
 was to enter the office of Mr. Story, the deputy registrar, 
 opposite the north side of the Court-house, and burn the rec 
 ords of the Vice-admiralty Court; next they ravaged the 
 house of Mr. Hallo well, tbe comptroller of the customs, sit 
 uated on Hanover Street ; and then, hastening to the resi 
 dence of Hutchinson, in Gordon Court Street, and barely giv 
 ing his family time to escape, they split open the doors of his 
 palatial mansion, destroyed his furniture, scattered his plate, 
 threw his books and manuscripts into the street, ransacked 
 his wine-cellar, and at daybreak left his house a ruin. 
 
 "Governor Bernard was at the castle when these events 
 occurred; but hastening to town the next day,he summoned 
 the Council to meet immediately, to decide what should be 
 done. Before that body met, inhabitants of Boston assem 
 bled in Faneuil Hall, and, deprecating the violent proceed 
 ings of the previous night, a series of resolutions was passed, 
 desiring the selectmen to suppress the like disorders in the 
 future, and pledging the assistance of the people in the dis 
 charge of this duty. The Council advised a proclamation 
 offering a reward of three hundred pounds for the detection 
 of the ringleaders and one hundred pounds for other per 
 sons, and six or eight were apprehended ; but the attempt 
 to arrest one Mackintosh, in King Street, was resisted, and 
 those who had been seized were speedily liberated. The 
 popular excitement was such that nothing could be effectu 
 ally done, and the government was shorn of its usual 
 strength. Few even of the conservative citizens sympa 
 thized with the legislation which had awakened this resent 
 ment, and few were disposed to interrupt the course of 
 events. Only so much restraint was therefore exercised as 
 to prevent the passions of the multitude from overleaping 
 
THE "BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 19 
 
 all bounds, and many rejoiced that the abettors of oppres 
 sion had been signally rebuked." 
 
 THE STAMP ACT IN NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 Belknap, in his history of New Hampshire, after briefly 
 recounting the circumstances which led to the passage of 
 the Stamp Act, says : 
 
 " This direct and violent attack on our dearest privileges 
 at first threw us into a silent gloom ; and we were at a loss 
 how to proceed. To submit, was to rivet the shackles of 
 slavery on ourselves and our posterity ; to revolt, was to 
 rend asunder the most endearing connection, and hazard 
 the resentment of a powerful nation. In this dilemma, the 
 House of Burgesses in Virginia passed some spirited re 
 solves, asserting the rights of their country and denying 
 the claim of parliamentary taxation. The Assembly of Mas 
 sachusetts proposed a congress, of deputies from each Colony, 
 to consult upon our common interests, as had frequently 
 been practised in times of common danger. Several speeches 
 made in Parliament by onposers of the Stamp Act were re 
 printed here; in one of which (that of Col. Barre), the Amer 
 icans were styled 'Sons of Liberty,' and the speaker ven 
 tured, from his personal knowledge of this country, to fore 
 tell our opposition to the act. 
 
 ' ' The spirit of the two Virginian resolves, like an electric 
 spark, diffused itself instantly and universally; and the 
 cautious proposal of Massachusetts was generally ap 
 proved. . . . 
 
 "The person appointed distributor of stamps for New 
 Hampshire was George Messerve, son of the late colonel, 
 who died at Louisburg. He received his appointment in 
 England, and soon after embarked for America and arrived 
 at Boston. Before he landed, he was informed of the oppo 
 sition which was making to the act; and that it would be 
 acceptable to the people if he would resign, which he readily 
 did, and they welcomed him on shore. An exhibition of 
 effigies at Portsmouth had prepared the minds of the people 
 there for his reception ; and at his coming to town he made 
 a second resignation, on the parade, before he went to his 
 own house. This was accepted with the usual salutation ; 
 and every one appeared to be satisfied with the success of 
 the popular measures. Soon after, the stamped paper des 
 tined for New Hampshire arrived at Boston in the same 
 vessel with that intended for Massachusetts; but there be 
 ing no person in either province who had any concern with 
 it, it was, by order of Governor Bernard, lodged in the 
 castle. 
 
 "The Stamp Act was to commence its operation on the 
 first day of November ; previously to which the appointed 
 
20 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Congress was formed at New York, consisting of delegates 
 from the Assemblies of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con 
 necticut, New York, New Jersey, the Delaware counties, 
 Maryland, and South Carolina. Having, like the Congress of 
 1764. formed themselves in geographical order, they framed 
 a bill of rights for the Colonies, in which the sole power 
 of taxation was declared to be in their own Asesmblies. 
 They prepared three distinct addresses, to the King, Lords, 
 and Commons, stating their grievances, and asking for re 
 dress. These were subscribed by the delegates of six Colo 
 nies; the others who were present were not empowered to 
 sign, but reported their proceedings to their constituents, who 
 approved them in assembly, and forwarded their petitions. 
 No delegates went from New Hampshire to this Congress; 
 but the Assembly, at their next meeting, adopted the same 
 measures, and sent similar petitions to England, which they 
 committed to Barlow Trecothick, their agent, and John 
 Wentworth, a young gentlemen of Portsmouth, who was 
 then in England, to be by them presented to the King and 
 Parliament. . . . 
 
 " On the last day of October (1765) the New Hampshire 
 Gazette appeared with a mourning border. A body of peo 
 ple from the country approached the town of Portsmouth 
 under an apprehension that the stamps would be distributed ; 
 but being met by a number from the town, and assured that 
 no such thing was intended, they quietly returned. The 
 next day the bells tolled, and a funeral procession was made 
 for the Goddess of Liberty ; but on depositing her in the 
 grave, some signs of life were supposed to be discovered, 
 and she was carried off in triumph. By such exhibitions, 
 the spirit of the populace was kept up, though the minds of 
 the most thoughtful persons were filled with anxiety. 
 
 " It was doubtful whether the courts of law could proceed 
 without stamps ; and it was certain that none could be pro 
 cured. Some licentious persons began to think that debts 
 could not be recovered, and that they might insult their 
 creditors with impunity. On the first appearance of this 
 disorderly spirit, associations were formed at Portsmouth, 
 Exeter, and other places, to support the magistrates and 
 preserve the peace. The 5th of November had always been 
 observed as a day of hilarity, in remembrance of the pow 
 der-plot. On the folio whig night a strong guard was kept 
 in Portsmouth. By these precautions the tendency to riot 
 was seasonably checked, and no waste of property or per 
 sonal insult was committed; though some obnoxious charac 
 ters began to tremble for their safety. 
 
 "When Messerve arrived, the people supposed that he 
 had brought his commission with him, and were content 
 that it should remain in his hands, being rendered void by 
 his resignation. But in fact, he did not receive it till after 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 21 
 
 the time fixed for the operation of the act. Having shown 
 his instructions to the Governor, and some other public offi 
 cers, it was suspected that he intended to commence the ex 
 ecution of his office. The Sons of Liberty were alarmed ; 
 (this was January, 1766) ; they assembled by beat of drum, 
 and obliged him publicly to deliver up his commission and 
 instructions, which they mounted on the point of a sword 
 and carried in triumph through the town. An oath was 
 administered to him by Justice Claget, purporting that he 
 would neither directly nor indirectly attempt to execute the 
 office." 
 
 THE STAMP ACT RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 Arnold's history of Ehode Island contains the following 
 account of the action of the people of that Province, with 
 reference to the Stamp Act. As has already been stated, 
 the violent action of the Boston people occurred on the 14th 
 and 15th of August, 1765. Those of New Hampshire began 
 on the last day of October. 
 
 The first public notice taken of the Stamp Act by the peo 
 pie of Rhode Island was at a special town meeting in Prov 
 idence on the 7th August, " at which a committee was ap 
 pointed to draft instructions to their deputies in the Gen 
 eral Assembly. The following week they reported a series 
 of resolutions very similar to those passed in Virginia, 
 which were afterwards adopted by the General Assembly, 
 with some additions, to which we shall presently refer. No 
 overt act of violence occurred in Providence. In Boston, a 
 mob attacked the house of Secretary Oliver, the stamp-dis 
 tributor, and compelled him to resign the office. An extra 
 number of the Providence Gazette, which had been for some 
 time suspended, was issued, with "Vox Populi, Vox Dei" 
 in large letters above the title, and " Where the spirit of the 
 Lord is, there is Liberty. St. Paul" as a motto. In 
 this sheet the spirit of resistance manifested in Boston was 
 extolled ; the instructions of the Providence town meeting 
 to their deputies were published, with extracts from Col. 
 Barre's famous speech in Parliament, and from other Colo 
 nial papers against the Stamp Act. The resignation of Augus 
 tus Johnston, the Attorney-general, who had been appointed 
 stamp-distributor for Rhode Island, was also announced in 
 this extra ; he refusing to execute his office against the will 
 of " our sovereign lord, the people" (to use his own words). 
 After referring to the conduct of the people of Boston, the 
 historian continues: " At Newport, the demonstrations were 
 equally violent. Effigies of three prominent citizens,* who 
 
 * "Augustus Johnston, Attorney-general of the Colony; Martin 
 Howard, Jr., an eminent lawyer ; and Dr. Thomas Moft'at, a Scotch 
 
22 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 had incurred the popular odium by advocating the measures 
 of Parliament, were drawn through the streets, hung on a 
 gallows in front of the Court-house, and in the evening were 
 cut down and burnt in the presence of assembled thousands. 
 On the following day, the houses of these obnoxious persons- 
 were plundered by the mob, and they were compelled to flee 
 for protection on board the Cygnet sloop of war, then lying 
 in the harbor. The revenue officers, in fear for their lives, 
 sought the same refuge and closed the Custom-house. They 
 addressed a letter to the government, demanding protection, 
 and refusing to resume their offices until security was guar 
 anteed to them. In the absence of the Governor, Gideon 
 Wanton, Jr., of the Council, replied, assuring the officers 
 that ah 1 danger was passed, and inviting them to resume their 
 duties. This did not quiet their fears. They demanded a 
 guard for their protection ; and also the arrest of Samuel 
 Grand all, a ringleader of the rioters, who had dictated, as 
 the terms upon which the collector might again set his feet 
 on shore, that the Custom-house fees should be regulated ac 
 cording to the late act of Assembly, in defiance of an act of 
 Parliament; and that a prize sloop, with molasses, under the 
 guns of the Cygnet, awaiting the decision of an Admirality 
 Court at Halifax, should be restored. A daring plan for the 
 capture of this prize was made known to Captain Leslir, of 
 the Cygnet, and by him communicated to Governor Ward. 
 It was intended to man a number of boats and take posses 
 sion of Fort George; then, with the boats, to cut out the 
 sloop, and in case of resistance from the Cygnet, to fire upon 
 her from the fort. Had this attempt been made, either the 
 Cygnet would have been sunk by the guns of the fort, and 
 the ^Revolution have commenced, as it did a few years later 
 in the same waters, or the town would have been destroyed. 
 But better counsels for the time prevailed ; measures were 
 taken to secure the fort, and harmony was shortly restored. 
 The popular feeling was assuaged by a lawful and peaceful 
 demonstration against the Stamp Act, such as had been 
 made in Providence. The deputies were instructed by a 
 town meeting to give their ' utmost attention to those im 
 portant objects the Court of Admirality and the act for 
 laying stamp duties 'at the approaching session of the As 
 sembly. They were reminded that ' It is for liberty that 
 liberty for which our fathers fought ; that liberty which is 
 dearer to a generous mind than life itself that we now con 
 tend. The cause is vast and important.' " 
 
 On the 16th September, * ' one of the most important ses 
 sions ever held by the General Assembly was now convened 
 
 physician. The two latter returned to England. Howard was ap 
 pointed chief justice of North Carolina the next year, and Moffat, 
 comptroller of customs at New London. " 
 
THE BIRTH OP TEE REPUBLIC. 23 
 
 at Greenwich. The Governor was requested to issue a proc 
 lamation for the arrest of the recent rioters at Newport, and 
 to prevent a recurrence of such disturbances." 
 
 Instructions were prepared by a committee for their guid 
 ance, in which the loyalty of the Assembly to the King and 
 Parliament are declared ; yet ' ' they would assert their rights 
 and privileges with becoming freedom and spirit," and the 
 delegates are directed " to express these sentiments in the 
 strongest manner" in the representation and address pro 
 posed to be made by the Congress to the home government. 
 This committee was composed of Othniel Gorton, Daniel 
 Jenckes, and George Hazzard. Another committee, com 
 posed of Benjamin Green, Job Eandall, William Hall, Moses 
 Brown, and Henry Ward, was appointed to consider what 
 is necessary to be done by this Assembly respecting the 
 Stamp Act; and to report as soon as possible. "They 
 presented a series of six resolutions, which," says Arnold, 
 "like the previous acts of Rhode Island, were more ener 
 getic and concise than any that had yet been adopted by the 
 other Colonies, and pointed directly to an absolution of alle 
 giance to the British Crown unless the grievances were re 
 moved. Five of these were nearly in the terms of the in 
 structions given by the town of Providence to their deputies. 
 The first four had already been passed in Virginia; and the 
 fifth, which had been offered there by Patrick Henry, and 
 passed l}y one vote, but was rescinded the next day, was 
 adopted oy the Providence town meeting, and unanimously 
 passed by the Assembly, as expressing precisely the views 
 they were determined to maintain. This denied the right 
 of any power but the General Assembly to levy taxes upon 
 the Colony, and absolved the people from obedience to any 
 law, designed for that purpose, originating from any other 
 source. To these the Assembly added a sixth, directing the 
 officers of the Colony to proceed as usual in the execution of 
 their trusts, and agreeing to save them harmless in so doing. 
 This was bold legislation, but the temper of the times and 
 the spirit of the Colony were correctly represented therein." 
 See Arnold's History of Rhode Island, vol. 2, pp. 257-261. 
 
 As it is proposed to include the Henry resolutions in their 
 appropriate place under the head of Virginia, it is needless 
 to insert them here. The sixth resolution adopted by the 
 Rhode Island Assembly on this occasion is as follows: 
 
 U 6.' That all the officers of this Colony, appointed by the 
 authority thereof, be, and they are hereby, directed to pro 
 ceed in the execution of their respective offices, in the same 
 manner as usual. And that this assembly will indemnify 
 and save harmless all the said officers on account of their 
 conduct agreeable to this resolution." 
 
 The Charter of Rhode Island authorized the people to 
 choose their Governor ; and this fact will account for the 
 
24 TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 statement recorded by Arnold, that "Samuel Ward, the 
 Governor of Rhode Island, stood alone in his patriotic re 
 fusal " to take the oath to sustain the Stamp Act. All the 
 other Governors took the oath the day before the act was 
 to go into effect. ' ' But the people had already settled the 
 question. The fatal day dawned upon a nation united in 
 their determination of resistance. Not a stamp was to be 
 seen. The wheels of every government in America were 
 stopped at once. Commerce was crushed, law was annulled, 
 justice was delaved, even the usages of domestic life were 
 suspended, by this anomalous and terrible act. Not a ship 
 could sail, not a statute could be enforced, not a court could 
 sit, not even a marriage taken place, that was not in itself 
 illegal, so far as the British Parliament could make it so ; for 
 every one of these acts required the evidence of stamped 
 paper to establish its validity. " 
 
 But, "The triumph over an unjust and unconstitutional 
 act was complete in Rhode Island, where, under the sixth 
 resolution of the September Assembly, the judicial courts 
 held their regular terms, unawed by the feeling which, in 
 the other Colonies, suspended for a time that department of 
 of their several governments." Arnold, pages 264, 265. 
 
 "Organizations under the name of 'Sons of Liberty,' a 
 term first applied to the Americans by Colonel Barre, in his 
 famous speech against the Stamp Act, had sprung up in 
 all the Colonies; but we believe that to Rhode Island was 
 reserved the peculiar honor of initiating a similar order, 
 composed of the gentler sex, known as k Daughters of Lib 
 erty.' Its origin is ascribed to Dr. Ephraim Bo wen, at whose 
 house eighteen young ladies, belonging to prominent families 
 in Providence, assembled (March 16, 1766) by invitation, 
 and employed the time from sunrise till evening in spinning. 
 They resolved to purchase no more British manufactures 
 unless the Stamp Act should be repealed, and adopted other 
 resolutions, perhaps more patriotic than prudent, to accom 
 plish this desirable end. They were handsomely entertained 
 by the doctor at dinner, but cheerfully agreed to omit tea 
 at the evening meal to render their conduct yet more con 
 sistent. The association rapidly increased in numbers so 
 that their next meeting was held at the Court-house. This 
 was for the purpose of spinning a handsome piece of linen, 
 as a premium for the person who should raise the largest 
 amount of flax during the year in the county of Providence. 
 Thus the spirit of resistance pervaded every portion of so 
 ciety ; and the determination to oppose the >tamp Act, even 
 to ' the destruction of the union' of the Colonies with the 
 mother-country, was declared at a meeting in Providence 
 held at this tim9." Arnold, page 266, vol. 2d. 
 
 The joy of the people, when news arrived of the repeal of 
 the Stamp Act, was unbounded. In Providence, the anni- 
 
THE BIRTH OP THE REPUBLIC. 25 
 
 versary of the King's birth was selected as a day of public 
 rejoicing, to attest at once the loyalty of the people and 
 their love of liberty. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Connecticut was one of the earliest of the Colonies to 
 protest against the Stamp Act. The press, the town meet 
 ing, and the pulpit united in a chorus of opposition, and 
 roused the people to the point of resistance to its execution. 
 Secret societies were framed with a view to resist the en 
 forcement of the act, by violence, if necessary. Governor 
 Fitch, though he had exerted himself to prevent the passage 
 of the law, " remained, with a portion of the Council, firm in 
 the determination" to sustain it, much as they loathed it. 
 'Colonel Trumbull," says Hollister, "had been one of -the 
 first to decide upon a different course of action. Governor 
 Fitch at last made the proposition, in open Council, that they 
 should all take the oath in conformity with the Stamp Act. 
 TrumbuH's eye flashed and, his cheek darkened with anger 
 at the proposal. He refused to witness the hollow-hearted 
 ceremony, and, rising indignantly, turned his back upon the 
 Governor and walked out of the chamber, followed by a 
 majority of the assistants. Only four members of the Coun 
 cil remained." 
 
 The time had now arrived for action. Mr. Ingersoll, hav 
 ing accepted the place of stampmaster, was determined to 
 discharge its duties ; still, he sought to conciliate his fellow- 
 townsmen at New Haven, who for the most part were op 
 posed to the law. ' ' The act is so contrived, " he argued, * ' as 
 to make it for your interest to buy the stamps. When I un 
 dertook the office, I meant a service to you." " Stop adver 
 tising your wares till they arrive safe at market," said one. 
 " The two first letters of his name are those of a traitor of 
 old," shouted a second, and added bitterly, "It was decreed 
 that our Saviour should suffer; but was it better that Judas 
 Iscariot should betray him so that the price of his blood 
 might be saved by his friends V At last the citizens gath 
 ered around his house in great numbers. ' ' Will you resign ?" 
 was the private inquiry they put to him. "I know not if I 
 have the power to resign," answered the resolute man. On 
 the 17th of September (1765), a town meeting was held there, 
 and Ingersoll was called upon by a public vote to resign his 
 office without delay. "I shall await to see how the Gen 
 eral Assembly is inclined," said the stampmaster, evasively. 
 
 " Affairs began now to assume a very threatening attitude. 
 The Sons of Liberty from Norwich, New London, Wind- 
 ham, Lebanon, and other towns had already taken the field, 
 and, with eight d,ays' provisions, were riding up and down 
 the country eh horse^cfc: to sddycii^him out and force him 
 
26 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 to resign. He could no longer stay in New Haven with 
 safety. He therefore set off for Hartford, where the Assem 
 bly was about to meet. He intended to take the advice of 
 the representatives of the people, hoping that it might ba 
 more to his mind than the will of the constituency. Gov 
 ernor Fitch accompanied him to protect him from insult. 
 On their way they were met by two men on horseback, with 
 peeled clubs in their hands, who did not conceal the fact 
 that they were couriers of a much larger company. His ex 
 cellency bade them go back and tell their associates to dis 
 perse. To his astonishment they refused to obey him. ' We 
 look upon this,' said they, 'as the cause of the people ; we 
 will not take directions about it from any one.' Mr. Inger- 
 soll sent a message by them to the effect that he would meet 
 the multitude at Etartford. They then withdrew. 
 
 " On Thursday evening, the very day on which the session 
 was to begin, Ingersoll resumed his journey for Hartford, 
 alone. He rode through the woods many miles, and passed 
 up the valley of the Connecticut for a good long way with 
 out molestation. What thoughts served to while away the 
 time of this solitary traveller, history does not tell us, and 
 we are at liberty to conjecture, each for himself. He had 
 arrived within two or three miles of Wethersfield when he 
 saw four or five men advancing to meet him. He probably 
 needed little explanation as to the object of their errand. 
 About half a mile farther up the river, he met a second 
 escort, of thirty men; still no violence was offered to him. 
 The stampmaster and his guard rode on with the solemnity 
 and decorum of a funeral procession. But still more con 
 spicuous honors awaited him. He soon saw a cavalcade of 
 about five hundred freeholders and farmers, all well mounted 
 and armed, not with carbines and steel blades, but with long 
 and ponderous clubs. They were ghastly white, too, for 
 the bark had been stripped from every one, in rude imi 
 tation of the ominous baton carried at that day by officers 
 of the peace. This formidable company, under the command 
 of Durkee, rode slowly forward behind two militia officers 
 dressed in full uniform, and inspired by the presence of 
 three trumpeters, who made the woods echo with martial 
 music. They rode two abreast and opened their line to re 
 ceive Mr. Ingersoll with the profoundest courtesy. They 
 then rode forward along the western bank of the Connecti 
 cut, over those fair acres that were then cultivated farms 
 and have since been converted into gardens, until they came 
 to Wethersfield. In the wide main street of this oldest of all 
 the towns in the Colony, the grandsons and great-grand 
 sons of the pioneer planters, who had left the straitened 
 settlements of Massachusetts to enjoy pure liberty and 
 brave meadow-lands, " halted between the two r,ows of houses 
 whose fronts kept their ^entjenianlp jlietjince of twenty full 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 27 
 
 rods from each other ; and looking up at the blue vault, as 
 if the open heavens were best fitted to witness the triumph 
 of principles that had descended as legacies to them, they 
 exclaimed significantly, "we cannot all see and hear so well 
 in a house; we had as good have the business done here." 
 
 "Then they commanded him to resign. * Is it fair,' inter 
 posed Ingersoll, 'that the counties of New London and 
 Windham should dictate to all the rest of the Colony ?' 
 'It don't signify to parley,' was the answer; 'here are a 
 great many people waiting, and you must resign.' Then 
 ensued in substance the following dialogue between the 
 people and the stampmaster: 
 
 " Ingersoll 'I wait to know the sense of the Government. 
 Besides, were I to resign, the Governor has power to put in 
 another.' 
 
 "People 'Here is the sense of the Government; and no 
 man shall exercise your office.' 
 
 "Ingersoll 'What will follow if I won't resign ?' 
 
 "People' Your fate.' 
 
 "Ingersoll (calmly) ' I can die, and perhaps as well now 
 as at any time. I can die but once.' 
 
 "Durkee (impatiently) 'Don't irritate the people.' 
 
 "Ingersoll ' I ask for leave to proceed to Hartford.' 
 
 "Durkee 'You shall not go two rods till you have re 
 signed. 
 
 " Ingersoll now bethought him of a new expedient to gain 
 time. Under the pretence of reflecting upon the propriety 
 of complying with the demand of the people, he retired into 
 an upper room of a house that was standing near by the 
 spot where this parley had taken place. A committee of 
 the people attended him. Here he contrived to put off the 
 multitude with promises and excuses for three tedious hours, 
 during which he sent a messenger to Hartford to inform the 
 Governor and the Legislature of his situation. At last the 
 crowd began to lose all patience 'Get the matter over 
 before the Assembly has time to do anything about it,' said 
 some ; while others, probing his motives to their depths, ex 
 claimed in their blunt, strong English, 'This delay is his 
 artifice to wheedle the matter along till the Assembly shall 
 get ensnared in it.' The passions of the multitude were now 
 at fever heat. Striding to the door of the house where 
 Ingersoll had retreated, and stalking up the stairs, Durkee 
 again confronted the stampmaster. ' I can keep the people 
 off no longer, ' said he, in a tone of warning. These words 
 were like a death-knell to Ingersoll. He saw the stalwart 
 farmers filling the hall with their dark forms, their white 
 staves gleaming as they pressed upon each other, and their 
 great, bright eyes flashing with indignation. The heavy 
 tramp of others was ascending the stairs. He saw that he 
 must surrender at discretion or be torn in pieces. 
 
28 THE BIRTH OP THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " * The cause is not worth dying for,' he said with the cool 
 irony that marked his character, as he set his hand to the 
 formal resignation that had been prepared for him, and of 
 which the following is a copy : 
 
 " ' WETHERSFIELD, September 19th, 1765. 
 
 " ' I do hereby promise that I never will receive any 
 stamped papers which may arrive from Europe, in conse- 
 
 Saence of an act lately passed in the Parliament of Great 
 ritain; nor officiate as stampmaster or distributor of 
 stamps, within the Colony of Connecticut, either directly or 
 indirectly. And I do hereby notify to all the inhabitants of 
 his Majesty's Colony of Connecticut (notwithstanding the 
 said office or trust has been committed to me), not to apply 
 to me, ever after, for any stamped paper: hereby declaring 
 that I do resign the said office and execute these presents 
 of my own free will and accord, without any equivocation 
 or mental reservation. 
 
 *" In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand. 
 
 " * J. INGERSOLL.' 
 
 " 'Swear to it !' cried the people, when he had written his 
 name. He begged that they would excuse him from taking 
 an oath. 'Then shout liberty and property three times,' 
 said the sovereign crowd. Against this spontaneous form 
 of abjuration he could raise no valid objection. He swung 
 his hat about his head and uttered the charmed words three 
 several times with such well-feigned earnestness that the 
 people set the seal to his repentance by giving three huzzas 
 that must have echoed to the eastern bank of the Connecti 
 cut. 
 
 "The party now dined in perfect good humor. By this 
 time the company had doubled its numbers, and after dinner 
 one thousand horsemen were ready to attend his triumphant 
 entry into Hartford. The highway was thronged with free 
 holders, standing in front of their houses, to get a fair view 
 of the stampmaster and his retinue." 
 
 Hollister, in a note, gives an anecdote as illustrative of 
 the good humor that prevailed on the march. "General 
 Humphreys," he says, " mentions a jest that passed between 
 them while the cavalcade was escorting the ex-stampmaster 
 to Hartford which was given and received with entire 
 good nature. Mr. Ingersoll, who chanced to ride a white 
 horse, being asked what he thought to find himself attended 
 by such a retinue, replied ' that he had now a clearer idea 
 than ever he had before conceived of that passage in the 
 Revelations which describes Death on a pale horse, and Hell 
 folio wing him.'" 
 
 14 At last," resumes Hollister, "they reached the Capitol. 
 Here Durkee drew up his dragoons four abreast, and, while 
 the trumpeters redoubled their exertions to enliven the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 29 
 
 scene, led the main body over the familiar haunts where the 
 train-bands had defied the tyranny of Fletcher, and where 
 the charter had eluded the grasp of Andross. He then 
 ordered them to form around the Court-house in a semicircle. 
 The stampmaster was set in a conspicuous place, and com 
 manded to read his recantation aloud in the hearing of the 
 Assembly and in the presence of the people. He went 
 through the ceremony to the universal satisfaction of the 
 audience ; and after the shout of liberty and property had 
 been again followed by a round of hearty cheers, these lords 
 of the soil, whose ancestors had helped to frame the Consti 
 tution of 1639, returned to their farms to pray for the King 
 and to supplicate heaven that the eyes of the Ministry might 
 be opened to repeal the unhallowed and execrable Stamp 
 Act. 
 
 " A suspicion having been awakened that, notwithstanding 
 the public resignation, Ingersoll might still undertake the 
 exercise of his office, he made this further public renuncia 
 tion: 
 
 " ' Whereas, I have lately received two anonymous letters 
 calling on me (among other things) to give the public some 
 further assurance with regard to my intentions about exer 
 cising the office of distributor of stamps for this Colony as 
 some others have done since receiving our commissions or 
 deputations of office for that purpose; and that I confirm 
 the same by oath. And although I don't think it best ordi 
 narily to take notice of such letters, nor yet to take oaths 
 upon such kind of occasions, yet, as I have good reason to 
 think those letters came from a large number of people be 
 longing to this Colony, and do respect a subject of a very 
 interesting nature, and the present times being peculiarly 
 difficult and critical, and I myself at no loss or difficulty 
 about making known my resolutions and intentions respect 
 ing the matters aforesaid I have concluded to make the 
 following declaration, and to confirm the same by an oath ; 
 that is to say : 
 
 ' " 1. I never was, nor am now, desirous or even willing to 
 hold or exercise the aforesaid office contrary to the mind 
 and inclination of the general body of people in this Colony. 
 
 k ' '2. I have for some time been, and still am, persuaded 
 that it is the general opinion and sentiment of the people of 
 this Colony (after mature deliberation) that the Stamp Act 
 is an infringement of their rights and dangerous to their 
 liberties ; and therefore I am riot willing, nor will I, for that 
 and other good and sufficient reasons, as I suppose (and 
 which I hope and trust will excuse me to those who ap 
 pointed me), exercise the said office against such general 
 opinion and sentiment of the people ; and, generally, and in 
 a word, will never at all, by myself or otherwise, officiate 
 under my said deputation. And as I have, so I will, in the 
 
30 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 most effectual manner I am able, apply to the proper board 
 in England for a dismission from my said office . 
 
 ' k J. INGERSOLL.' 
 
 HAVEN, ) 
 Jan. 8, 1766. \ m 
 
 '"Then personally appeared Jared Ingersoll, Esqr., and 
 made oath to the truth of the foregoing declaration by him 
 subscribed before me. DAVID LYMAN, 
 
 '"Justice Peace.'" 
 
 Col. Putnam was one of the principal instigators of these 
 proceedings, but circumstances prevented him from being 
 present. He was deputed, however, to wait on the Gov 
 ernor, Fitch, and express to him the sentiments of the peo 
 ple. The following is the report of their interview : 
 
 "Governor ' What shall I do if the stamped paper should 
 be sent to me by the King's authority ?' 
 
 "Putnam 'Lock it up until we [meaning probably the 
 Sons of Liberty] shall visit you again.' 
 
 "Governor' And what will you do then ?' 
 
 "Putnam' "We shall expect you to give us the key to the 
 room in which it is deposited ; and if you think fit, in order 
 to screen yourself from blame, you may forewarn us upon 
 our peril not to enter the room.' 
 
 "Governor 'And what will you do afterwards ?' 
 
 "Putnam 'Send it safely back again.' 
 
 "Governor 'But if I should refuse admission ?' 
 
 "Putnam 'Your house will be levelled with the dust in 
 five minutes '" 
 
 Thus ended the colloquy. It was soon repeated in New 
 York, and alarmed those agents, who had charge of this 
 contraband property, to such a degree that they did not dare 
 to send their freight into Connecticut." Hollister, vol. II, 
 pages 133-139. 
 
 In the spring of 1766, some vessels arrived with stamped 
 paper on board, which was deposited in the custom-house at 
 New London. The collector was immediately waited on by 
 the Sons of Liberty, who demanded the obnoxious freight. 
 It was promptly delivered into their hands. A mock court 
 was held ; the stamp paper was arraigned, tried, and found 
 guilty. Sentence of whipping and burning was passed, and 
 the punishment summarily inflicted. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 On December 11, 1764, the Lords of Trade made a repre 
 sentation to the King on certain proceedings of Massachusetts 
 and New York. They complain of the resolutions adopted 
 by the Massachusettss Assembly, and also of a letter ot in 
 structions to their agent, which had not the consent and 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 31 
 
 approbation of the Governor and Council. It is alleged that 
 the letter treated the acts and resolutions of the legislature 
 of Great Britain with "the most indecent disrespect," and 
 that u principles of the most dangerous nature and tendency" 
 were " openly avowed," and that the Assemblies of the other 
 Colonies were invited u in most extraordinary manner to 
 adopt the same opinions. We think it our duty humbly to 
 lay these votes before your Majesty," etc. 
 
 "We likewise crave leave humbly to lay before your 
 Majesty the copy of an address of the assembly of New 
 York to the Lieutenant-governor of that Province, and of his 
 prudent and becoming answer thereto; in which address 
 the said Assembly avow opinions and make declarations of 
 the same dangerous tendency with those of the Assembly of 
 the Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 " These proceedings which are, in our judgment, calculated 
 to raise groundless suspicion and distrust in the minds of 
 your Majesty's good subjects in the Colonies, and have the 
 strongest tendency to subvert those principles of constitu 
 tional relation and dependence upon which the Colonies 
 were originally established, contain certain matter of so 
 high importance that we shall not presume to offer any 
 opinion what may be proper to be done thereupon." These 
 resolutions of the Assembly were made with reference to the 
 Stamp Act, and claimed the exclusive right of the Colonies 
 to tax themselves. 
 
 About the same time an angry controversy arose between 
 the Governor and Council on one side, and the Supreme 
 Court, backed by the bar, on the other, relative to the right 
 of appeal from the Supreme Court to the Governor and 
 Council. The Chief Justice, Horsmanden, refused to grant 
 appeals. Governor Colden regarded this as a matter "of 
 the greatest consequence to his Majesty's authority in this 
 Province, and to the dependence of the Colonies on the 
 Crown of Great Britain." He accordingly wrote a long 
 representation of the case to the Lords of Trade, and ap 
 pealed to them for protection, admitting that the authority 
 of government had become so weakened that he felt no 
 longer safe. This controversy grew out of the ' ' Instructions 
 to his Governor of this Province, whereby the Governor or 
 Commander-in-chief is directed, in all civil causes, on appli 
 cation being made to him for that purpose, to permit and 
 allow of appeals from any of the courts of common law unto 
 the Governor and Council, " etc. 
 
 These instructions, of course, were in violation of char 
 tered rights and the rights of Englishmen. The Governor, 
 in his letter to Earl Halifax on this subject, admits that he 
 "is no lawyer" in the very act of contending that appeals 
 should be taken from courts "learned in the law" to his 
 jurisdiction. 
 
32 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 The Attorney -general, Mr. Kemp, "absolutely refused to 
 advise or assist in the support of his Majesty's instructions," 
 and Justice Livingston is accused of having an interest in 
 the great land patents. The Governor suggests to his Lord 
 ship that the Chief Justice, Justice Livingston, and Attorney- 
 general Kemp be summarily removed from office. 
 
 But the Lieutenant-governor was not sustained by the 
 Lords of Trade and the King. The instructions were modi 
 fied so as to provide for appeals only in cases of error ; and it 
 was even pretended, while receding from their original 
 ground, that the omission of the restraining words was acci 
 dental. At the same time, by implication, a rebuke was 
 administered to the Lieutenant- go vernor for having con 
 strued his instructions literally. 
 
 What has been stated in regard to the controversy about 
 appeals is a digression; but it will be excused, as it serves to 
 illustrate the temper and spirit of the people of New York 
 at the perio'd referred to. 
 
 In a letter dated New York, September 23, 1765, Lieu 
 tenant-governor Golden says: "Soon after it was known 
 that stamp duties were by act of Parliament to be paid in 
 the Colonies, virulent papers were published in the weekly 
 newspapers filled with every falsehood that malice could 
 invent to serve their purpose of exciting the people to diso 
 bedience of the laws, and to sedition. At first they only 
 denied the authority of Parliament to lay internal taxes in 
 the Colonies, but at last they have denied the legislative 
 authority of the Parliament in the Colonies, and these papers 
 continue to be published." 
 
 The stamp-distributor, Mr. McEwers, was so terrified by 
 the news from Boston of the treatment of Oliver that he 
 resigned the office while the storm was yet brewing and 
 before it broke upon him. In his letter of resignation 
 addressed to Lieutenant-governor Colden, he says: "Since 
 the late riot at Boston and the inflammatory papers lately 
 printed in the Colonies, people of this city are so incensed 
 against me as a distributor of stamps for this Province 
 that I find it will be attended with the greatest risk of my 
 person and fortune to attempt, and indeed impossible for me, 
 to execute the office. To prevent the same cruel fate Mr. 
 Oliver met with at Boston (as I had certain information 
 from several of my particular friends that a storm was 
 rising and I should soon feel it), I have been under the 
 necessity of declaring that I had declined the office, and 
 have accordingly wrote to the commissioners signifying that 
 I cannot submit to a service that will be attended with very 
 dangerous consequences upon the very first attempt to 
 officiate." The date of this letter* is not given, but is en 
 closed in one from Governor Colden to Secretary Conway, 
 of September 23, 1765. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 33 
 
 The people of New York were in a very excited frame of 
 mind at this time, and had been for a year past, as appears 
 from the letter of the Lords of Trade, of December llth of 
 the year previous, already quoted ; and it is manifest from 
 Colden's letter that he shared in the fears which drove the 
 stampmaster into resignation. He made his home in Fort 
 George, and as far back as the month of May he represented 
 to the general (Gage), he "could not answer for the safety 
 of his Majesty's fort in its present state from a mob or from 
 the negroes, in consequence of which he ordered a company 
 of the Sixtieth Regiment from Crown Point, which arriveo. 
 in July." A new supply of ammunition and arms was also 
 brought in. 
 
 * ' It is evident, '' says Golden, ' ' that a secret correspondence 
 has been carried on throughout all the Colonies, and that it 
 has been concerted to deter by violence the distributors of 
 stamps from executing their office, and to destroy the 
 stamped paper when it arrives. " 
 
 The stamps at length arrived in the ship Edward, and was 
 carefully guarded until it reached the fort, where it was 
 under the protection of its guns and of his Majesty's ships- 
 of-war. After much difficulty and delay, the stamps were 
 removed to the fort. The night after the arrival of the 
 vessel with the stamps, a paper was posted on every public- 
 house and at the corners of the streets, of which the follow 
 ing is a copy : 
 
 "Pro Patria. 
 
 "The first man that either distributes or makes use of 
 stamp paper, let him take care of his house, person, and 
 effects. We Dare. Vox POPULI." 
 
 The following letter from Lieutenant-governor Colden to 
 the Lords of Trade furnishes a pretty clear idea of two sub 
 sequent proceedings of the people of New York in regard to 
 the Stamp Act : 
 
 ." NEW YORK, 6th Dec., 1765. 
 
 "MY LORDS: 
 
 "The deputy secretary informs me that Sir Henry 
 Moore has transmitted to your lordships copies of the 
 minutes of Council which have reference to the riots which 
 lately happened in the city of New York, but, if I mistake 
 not, that the minutes in the beginning of September were 
 omitted. I now inclose a copy of those minutes from a copy 
 which I now have with me at my residence in the country, 
 because without them your lordships' information cannot be 
 complete. 
 
 * ' From the minutes of Council of the 4th and 7th of Septem 
 ber, it appears that General Gage, as well as myself, was of 
 
34 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 opinion that the assistance of the regular troops was neces 
 sary for securing the city from riots and tumults. The 
 daringly seditious papers which the general mentions in his 
 letter, continually published, and which the civil power 
 could not suppress, made this appear necessary to both 
 of us, tho' we yielded to the opinion and advice of the 
 Council. What has happened since shows that the Council 
 erred in their judgment ; for certainly it would have been 
 much easier to prevent the first appearance of any mob, by 
 a force sufficient to deter them, than to suppress riots and 
 mobs without such force. 
 
 " It is necessary to relate particularly what I afterwards 
 did, that your lordships may judge whether I gave any just 
 occasion for the riots which succeeded. 
 
 " On the 23d of October, the ship, Edward, William Davis, 
 commander, arrived in the river, with packages of stamped 
 paper and parchments on board. The mob, threatening to 
 destroy the ship and cargo if the stamped paper was not 
 delivered to them, and as these packages were intermixed 
 with other goods in the hold, the master and owner of the 
 ship proposed to me to hire a sloop to take the merchants' 
 goods on board, and to land them till the packages could be 
 come at ; but no sloop would hire at any rate. On which I 
 told the master and owner to go to the wharf and unload as 
 usual, and that I would give directions to the magistrates to 
 secure them from any insult ; but they, answering that they 
 apprehended the ship and cargo would be in danger by so 
 doing, they desired, with the approbation of the merchants 
 who had goods on board, that I should desire the frigate 
 under whose protection the ship was, to assist them in 
 removing the goods till the packages of stamped paper could 
 be come at and put on board the frigate, which was accord 
 ingly done with the apparent satisfaction of all who were 
 interested in the ship and cargo. 
 
 u The packages were afterwards landed at noon-day from 
 the frigate, and carried into the Fort without any guard, 
 and remained there without any public discontent appearing 
 till the last day of October, when I, in Council, took the oath 
 enjoined by act of Parliament. 
 
 4 ' In the night of the 1st of November, a great riot happened, 
 consisting of several thousands of people. A great number 
 of boys carried lighted torches, followed by a scaffold on 
 which was placed two images, one representing their old, 
 gray-haired Governor, and the other the Devil whispering in 
 his ear. They came up close to the fort gate, and, in going 
 from it, broke open my coach-house, took out my chariot, 
 carried it round the streets of the town, with the images, re 
 turned a second time to the fort gate, and then carried the 
 images to an open place about 100 yards from it, where they 
 were hung up some time on a gibbet, afterwards cut down, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 35 
 
 and burnt in a fire prepared for the purpose, together with 
 my chariot and some other carriages found in my coach 
 house, and all the furniture of my stables. When the im 
 ages were brought up to the fort, the garrison were on the 
 ramparts. Notwithstanding the grossest ribaldry of the 
 mob, and many stones thrown into the fort, not a single 
 word was returned from any man in it. After they had 
 finished this insult, they went to Major James' house, de 
 stroyed everything in it, without leaving him and his lady 
 more than the clothes on their backs. 
 
 ' ' The next day letters and messages were sent in to me, 
 threatening my life if I did not deliver up stamped papers. 
 By advice of Council I very readily declared that I would 
 not distribute them ; in truth, it was not in my power to do 
 it but deliver them to Sir Henry Moore when he arrived. 
 This gave satisfaction to great numbers, who in the most 
 open manner declared their satisfaction ; but the principal 
 leaders declared themselves not satisfied, and insisted that 
 the stamped papers should be put on board the Coventry, 
 commanded by Captain Kennedy. This I did not oppose ; 
 but Captain Kennedy absolutely refused to receive them, 
 and with good reason, for he was aware of their design to 
 force him to deliver them to the mob, by threatening to de 
 stroy the houses he was possessed [of] in the city, of which 
 he has in his own and his wife's right more than perhaps 
 any one man in it. 
 
 * k While these things were transacting, the engineers put the 
 fort into tlie best state of defence and offence. The mob re 
 newed their threats against the fort, and that they would 
 assault it to come at the stamped papers. The men of 
 greatest property, and the magistrates of the city, seeing 
 that, from the posture the fort was then in, the destruction 
 of great part of the city must be the consequence of such an 
 attempt, humbly deprecated to save the city from desolation. 
 At last I consented to deliver up the stamped paper to the 
 mayor and corporation of the city, as appears by the min 
 utes of Council; after which the mob entirely dispersed, 
 and the city remained in perfect tranquillity till I. delivered 
 up the administration to Sir Henry Moore. . .' . 
 " My Lords, your most obd't, &c., 
 
 [Signed. ] ' ' CADWALLADER COLDEN. " 
 
 On the 21st December the Governor, Sir Henry Moore, in 
 a letter to Earl Dartmouth, gives a gloomy picture of affairs : 
 " The whole Province is now smarting very severely for the 
 late rash proceedings in regard to the Stamp Act; your 
 Lordship may very well imagine this, upon being informed 
 that all our -courts are shut up, and that no vessel is per 
 mitted to go out of the harbor, so that it is morally impos 
 sible that the people here can subsist any time under such 
 
36 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 inconveniences as they have brought on themselves." He 
 was persuaded that " the distresses that must attend the sus 
 pension of the law will facilitate the carrying it into execu 
 tion, more than any attempts I could possibly make in its 
 favor," etc. 
 
 Both the Governor and Lieutenant-governer bent before 
 the storm a great deal more than they were willing to admit 
 in plain words. We have seen that Golden surrendered the 
 stamps, on the demand of the mob, to the corporate author 
 ities of the city, and that he made a solemn declaration and 
 promise that he would do nothing further towards the en 
 forcement of the Stamp Act until the arrival of Governor 
 Moore, when his powers were to cease. This promise was 
 made only a day or two after his oath was taken before the 
 Council, in obedience to the law, that he would do all in his 
 power to enforce it. For the promise thus given, in the face 
 of his oath, he was severely censured by the secretary, Con- 
 way ; though in other respects his conduct was approved. 
 Governor Moore was as complaisant to the mob as the Lieu 
 tenant-governor had been, which the latter takes pleasure 
 in making known in his correspondence with Con way. He 
 writes, December 13th, while the mob was in the zenith of its 
 power, that Sir Henry Moore, the Governor, " takes every 
 method to ingratiate himself with the people, with what 
 success in allaying the seditious spirit will appear from the 
 public transactions. The fort is dismantled everything 
 which May or James introduced of artillery, stores, and gun 
 powder removed out of it. " 
 
 Governor Moore,- on the other hand, modestly refrains 
 from stating what he had done to pacify the people ; but 
 contents himself with saying that ' ' My arrival has in some 
 measure restored tranquillity, but you will perceive, by the 
 minutes of the Council^ here inclosed, that I am not to be 
 supported in the execution of the act, and that their (the 
 councillors) apprehensions of future disturbances have in 
 fluenced all the opinions they have given me on this occa 
 sion. In consequence of their resolutions, I am obliged to 
 suspend a power which I am not able to exert without their 
 assistance, and to make a merit of acting in a manner which 
 carries no other recommendation with it but that of not ex 
 posing the weakness of our government. " He further states 
 that the outrages in all parts of the country had frightened 
 the stampmasters into resignation, and that it would be 
 difficult to supply their places. 
 
 In a letter dated January 14, 1766, Colden writes to Con- 
 way as follows : 
 
 " The design of the present ruling faction in this Province 
 is to make me an example, to deter all succeeding Governors 
 and officers of the Crown from opposing their domination. 
 I have already informed you, sir, that this faction is com- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 37 
 
 posed of the lawyers and men of enormous landed estates, 
 who have obtained an absolute influence in the Assembly. 
 In the last act for granting salaries to the officers of govern 
 ment, the Assembly have deprived me of my salary from 
 the time the preceding, act expired to the time Sir Henry 
 Moore arrived, which, at the rate the Governor's salary is 
 fixed by the last act, amounts to four hundred pounds in 
 the currency of this Province," etc. 
 
 Destruction of Stamps. 
 
 January 16, 1766, Governor Moore writes to Secretary Con- 
 way, as follows : 
 
 " The >day before I had the honor of your letter of the 24th 
 October, a vessel arrived here from England, having on 
 board some stamped papers for this Province and Connecti 
 cut, which in the following night, were forcibly taken out of 
 the ship and destroyed. This proceeding, so contrary to 
 what I had reason to expect," etc. 
 
 The Governor admits that he was powerless to punish or 
 prevent the disorders. 
 
 The foregoing account of the action of the people of New 
 York with reference to the Stamp Act has been derived 
 from the valuable historical collection entitled "Documents 
 Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York." 
 It will be seen that the authorities were all adverse to the 
 rights of the people. But after a successful revolution, the 
 allegations and arraignments made by the discomfited 
 minions of despotism became records and monuments of 
 the courage and patriotism of the accused. 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 The following account of the action of New Jersey with 
 reference to the Stamp Act is taken from a discourse read 
 before the New Jersey Historical Society, in the year 1848, 
 by Richard S. Field, Esq. ' Though styled a discourse, it is 
 a book in proportions, with an appendix, as it appears, beau 
 tifully printed, in the collections of the New Jersey Histori 
 cal Society; the subject being, "The Provincial Courts of 
 New Jersey, with Sketches of the Bench and Bar:" 
 
 "New Jersey shared with her sister-Colonies in the 
 indignation and alarm which was occasioned by the passage 
 of the Stamp Act ; and nowhere did it encounter a more vig 
 orous though peaceful resistance. The lawyers of New 
 Jersey were the first to adopt measures for systematic oppo 
 sition to the use of stamps. At the September term of the 
 Supreme Court, 1765, a meeting of the bar was held at 
 Amboy for the purpose of considering what step it would be 
 proper to pursue upon the arrival of the stamps, which were 
 
38 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 then shortly expected. There was a full and general attend 
 ance ; and after a free interchange of sentiment, it was unan 
 imously resolved that they would not consent to make use 
 of the stamps under any circumstances or for any purpose 
 whatever. The effect of such a resolution was to put an 
 entire stop to the transaction of all legal business, and thus 
 render the odious act wholly unproductive as a source of 
 revenue. It was the most efficient measure, therefore, that 
 could have been adopted, and the more creditable to them 
 as they were likely to be the principal sufferers by it. Their 
 wise and patriotic example was much applauded at the time, 
 and was soon followed in other Colonies ; but, like every 
 thing else of interest and importance connected with New 
 Jersey, *it hardly receives a passing notice on the page of 
 American history. The truth is, Massachusetts and Vir 
 ginia seem to have monopolized, in a great measure, all the 
 glory of the Revolution. 
 
 "On the 20th of September, the day after this meeting, 
 Chief Justice Smyth desired the members of the bar to at 
 tend him in a body, that he might lay before them some 
 matters for their consideration. A report had been in circu 
 lation that he had solicited the appointment of distributor 
 of stamps. This he denied upon his honor. After setting 
 himself right on that point, he proceeded to propose to them 
 certain questions, to which he desired a separate answer 
 from each. 
 
 "The first was: 'Whether, if the stamps should arrive 
 and be placed at the city of Burlington, by or after the 1st 
 of November, they would, as practitioners, agree to purchase 
 them for their necessary legal proceedings ?' To this they 
 answered, ' that they would not, but rather suffer their pri 
 vate interests to give way to the public good, protesting 
 against all riotous proceedings,' 
 
 "The next question was: 'Whether, in their opinion, the 
 duties could possibly be paid in gold and silver ?' 
 
 [It was about this time that an order from the board of 
 trade required the payment of all duties in gold and silver.] 
 
 " They answered, ' that they could not be paid in gold and 
 silver, even for one year.' 
 
 ' ' The last question was : ' Whether, as the act required the 
 Governor and Chief Justice to superintend the distribution 
 of stamps, he would be obliged to accept the appointment of 
 distributor in case the Governor should fix upon him for 
 that office ?' Their answer was, ' that the Governor was 
 not empowered by the act to appoint ; that if he was, it was 
 left to the option of the Chief Justice whether to accept or 
 noc; and that it would be incompatible with his office as 
 Chief Justice.' 
 
 "The Chief Justice seems to have been entirely satisfied 
 with these answers, and to have acted upon the advice thus 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 39 
 
 given him. In fact, before the arrival of the day on which 
 the act was to take effect, every distributor of stamps in 
 America had resigned. The effect of these proceedings was 
 to produce a complete cessation of all legal business. The 
 stamps arrived, but no one would purchase them. The 
 courts of justice were shut up. 
 
 "But this state of things could not last long. The people 
 were becoming impatient of its continuance, and tired of 
 mere passive resistance. Associations had sprung up in 
 nearly all the Colonies under the titles of 'Sons of Liberty,' 
 who were in favor of setting the provisions of the act 'at 
 open defiance. Efforts were made to induce the lawyers of 
 New Jersey to transact business without the use of stamps. 
 Another meeting of the bar was proposed. Heretofore, all 
 had been done in perfect harmony. There had not been a 
 single dissenting voice. But now, the line began for the first 
 time to be drawn, between those who thought they had gone 
 far enough^ and those who were willing to go further. We 
 have a letter from David Ogden to Philip Kearney, in which 
 he declares himself opposed to another meeting of the bar, 
 and expresses the hope that they would continue to pursue 
 the peaceful method they had adopted, until the Stamp Act 
 was repealed. 
 
 "The meeting nevertheless took place. It was held at 
 New Brunswick on the 13th of February, 1766. The Sons 
 of Liberty to the number of several hundred took care to 
 be present at the same time, and united in a written request 
 to the members of the bar, urging them to proceed to busi 
 ness as usual without stamps, and to use their influence to 
 have the courts of justice opened. The meeting, while they 
 agreed to preserve that happy state of tranquillity which 
 had thus far been maintained in the Province, at the 
 same time resolved that, if the Stamp Act was not repealed 
 by the first day of April following, they would resume their 
 practice as usual. And they appointed a committee of two to 
 wait upon the Sons of Liberty and assure them that, if the 
 act was not suspended or repealed, they would join them in 
 opposing it with their lives and fortunes. 
 
 " These were bold and spirited resolutions. Even in Mas 
 sachusettsgenerally in advance of the Colonies the most 
 patriotic of the lawyers deemed it impossible to conduct ju 
 dicial business in open disregard of an act of Parliament, 
 however uniust or tyrannical it might be ; and nothing but a 
 resolution or the Assembly emboldened them to venture upon 
 such a step. . . . 
 
 "Before the arrival of the day, however, named in the 
 resolutions of the bar of New Jersey, the Stamp Act was re 
 pealed, and all further proceedings upon their part became 
 unnecessary." 
 
 From the Index to Colonial Documents, it appears that 
 
40 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 William Coxe, stamp-distributor, tendered his resignation 
 of the office, Sept. 3, 1765 ; and that the Sons of Liberty of 
 Woodbridge and Piscatoway ' 'were particularly prominent in 
 inducing " his resignation. September 4th, Governor Frank 
 lin replied that as he (Coxe) ' * made application for the office, " 
 he ought to hold onto it, and would be held responsible for 
 the papers. September 14th, Governor Franklin writes to 
 General Gage, informing him of the resignation of the stamp- 
 distributor, and asking him if he could have the aid of the 
 military if he should find it necessary to call on him. 
 
 September 16th, Gage replies that the Governor may de 
 pend on one hundred men, with proper officers, ready to 
 march to New Jersey, on his requisition, to preserve good 
 order in the Province. 
 
 Governor Franklin wrote the British Secretary of State, 
 Con way, October 10th, that it would be difficult to find a man 
 to take the place of Coxe, as stamp-distributor, and, Novem 
 ber 13, that the people of New Jersey would be 'sure to fol 
 low the seditious example set in other Colonies in resistance 
 to the Stamp Act. He also refers to the agreement entered 
 into by the lawyers ; and states, at the preceding term of the 
 supreme court, only criminal matters were attended to. 
 
 November 30th, Governor Franklin wrote Con way that 
 the infection was spreading, with regard to the Stamp Act, 
 and had reached New Jersey. No riots had been committed, 
 but the most prudent management was necessary to prevent 
 them. 
 
 The New Jersey Assembly had refused to send delegates 
 to the general Congress at New York to protest against the 
 Stamp Act ; but December 9th, the committee of correspond 
 ence of the Assembly transmitted copies of the petitions to 
 the King and the two Houses of Parliament, agreed to by 
 the Congress in New York. The Assembly also approved 
 the proceedings of the Congress. 
 
 December 18th, Governor Franklin, in a letter to the board 
 of trade, says that, notwithstanding the Assembly refused to 
 send a committee of delegates to the Congress at New York, 
 the Speaker (Robert Ogden) ' ' summoned the House to oblige 
 the people of east Jersey, and prevailed upon them to choose 
 three; but refusing to be one of the committee, he was 
 burned in effigy in almost all the towns of East Jersey, 
 which induced him to resign his seat in the Assembly ; the 
 minutes of Council and Assembly contain particulars of 
 the Assembly's further proceedings ; the Stamp Act has not 
 been yet carried into execution the officers dare not do it 
 for fear of being torn to pieces by the mob ; the stamps are 
 still on board the man-of-war; the business is at a stand 
 still." 
 
 March 1, 1766, Con way sent a circular-letter to the sev 
 eral Governors in North America could give no advice 
 
THE BIHTEC Off TEE REPUBLIC}. 41 
 
 how to act in the perplexed state of things; a bill had been 
 brought into Parliament, and had made some progress, for 
 the repeal of the Stamp Act. 
 
 March 31st, Conway, writes another circular-letter an 
 nouncing the repeal of the act. 
 
 This ended the controversy on the Stamp Act. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 The following account of the reception which the Stamp 
 Act met with in Pennsylvania is taken from Hazzard's 
 Eegister, which credits it to the publication known as " Prior 
 Documents. " The act was passed by the British Parliament, 
 as has already been stated, in March, 1765 ; and the General 
 Assembly of Pennsylvania which met in Philadelphia in 
 September adopted the following resolutions : 
 
 ' ' The House, taking into consideration that an act of Par 
 liament has lately passed in England, for imposing certain 
 stamp duties and other duties on his Majesty's subjects in 
 Amerca, whereby they conceive some of their most essential 
 and valuable rights, as British subjects, to be deeply affected, 
 think it a duty they owe to themselves and their posterity 
 to come to the following resolutions, viz. : 
 
 " Eesolved, N. C. D., That the Assemblies of this Province 
 have, from time to time, whenever requisitions have been 
 made by his Majesty for carrying on military operations for 
 the defence of America, most cheerfully and liberally con 
 tributed their full proportion of men and money for these 
 services. 
 
 "Eesolved, N. C. D., That whenever his Majesty's service 
 shall, for the future, require the aids of the inhabitants of 
 this Province, and they shall be called upon for that purpose 
 in a constitutional way, it will be their indispensable duty 
 most cheerfully and liberally to grant to his Majesty their 
 proportion of men and money for the defence, security, and 
 other public services of the British North American Colo 
 nies. 
 
 "Eesolved, N. C. D., That the inhabitants of this Province 
 are entitled to all the rights and privileges of his Majesty's 
 subjects in Great Britain or elsewhere ; and that the constitu 
 tion of Government in this Province is founded on the natu 
 ral rights of mankind, and the noble principles of English 
 liberty, and therefore is or ought to be perfectly free. 
 
 "Eesolved, N. C. D., That it is the inherent birthright and 
 indubitable privilege of every British subject to be taxed only 
 by his own consent, or that of his legal representatives, in 
 conjunction with his Majesty or his substitutes. 
 
 " Eesolved, N. C. D., That the only legal representatives of 
 the inhabitants of this Province are the persons they annu 
 ally elect to serve as members of Assembly. 
 
42 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "Resolved, N, C. D., That the taxation of the people of 
 this Province by any other persons whatsoever than such 
 their representatives in Assembly is unconstitutional and 
 subversive of their most valuable rights. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D., That the laying taxes upon the in 
 habitants of this Province in any other manner being man 
 ifestly subversive of public liberty, must, of necessary con 
 sequence, be utterly destructive of public happiness. 
 
 " Resolved, N. C. D., That the vesting an authority in the 
 Courts of Admiralty to decide in suits relating to the stamp 
 duties and other matters foreign to their proper jurisdic 
 tion is highly dangerous to the liberties of his Majesty's 
 American subjects, contrary to Magna Charta, the great 
 charter and fountain of English liberty, and destructive of 
 one of their most darling and acknowledged rights that of 
 trials by juries. 
 
 1 ' Resolved, N. C. D. , That it is the opinion of this House 
 that the restraints imposed by several acts of Parliament on 
 the trade of this Province, at a time when the people labor 
 under an enormous load of debt, must of necessity be at 
 tended with the most fatal consequences, not only to this 
 Province, but to the trade of the mother-country. 
 
 " Resolved, N. C. D., That this House think it their duty 
 thus firmly to assert, with modesty and decency, their in 
 herent rights, that their posterity may learn and know, that 
 it was not with their consent and acquiescence, that any 
 taxes should be levied on them on them by any persons but 
 their own representatives; and are desirous that these their 
 resolves should remain on their minutes as a testimony of 
 the zeal and ardent desire of the present House of Assembly 
 to preserve their inestimable rights, which, as Englishmen, 
 they have possessed ever since this Province was settled, 
 and to transmit them to their latest posterity." 
 
 On the 5th of October, the stamps arrived at Philadelphia, 
 the ship which brought them having laid some time at New 
 Castle-upon Delaware, under protection of a man-of-war. 
 When the ship first appeared round Gloucester Point, all tha 
 vessels in the harbor hoisted their colors half-staff high, the 
 bells were muffled and continued to toll until evening, and 
 every countenance added to the appearance of sincere 
 mourning. At four in the afternoon several thousands of 
 citizens met at the State House to consult on proper meas 
 ures to prevent the execution of the Stamp Act. It was 
 agreed to send a deputation of seven persons to Mr. Hughes, 
 the. stampmaster for that Province (who was then sick in 
 bed), to request he would resign his office. He readily de 
 clared that no act of his should assist the carrying of that 
 law into execution till it was generally complied with in the 
 other Colonies, but refused to sign any resignation. When 
 this report was made by the deputies to the State House, the 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC!. 43 
 
 citizens were enraged to that degree that it is hard to say 
 what lengths their fury would have carried them had not 
 the deputies represented Mr. Hughes at the point of death ; 
 this moved their compassion, and they agreed to make their 
 demand in writing and give Mr. Hughes till the Monday 
 following to make a reply. And on Monday the deputies read 
 the following answer aloud to all the multitude assembled : 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, Monday morning, October 7, 1765. 
 
 "Whereas, about six o'clock on Saturday evening last a 
 paper was sent to me, expressing that a great number of cit 
 izens of Philadelphia assembled at the State House, to de 
 mand of Mr. John Hughes, distributor of stamps for Penn 
 sylvania, that he will give them assurance, under his hand, 
 that he will not execute that office, and expect that he will 
 give them a fair, candid, and direct answer by Monday 
 next at ten o'clock, when he will be waited on for that pur 
 pose, 
 
 " I do therefore return for answer to those gentlemen and 
 all their associates, that I have not hitherto taken anv step 
 tending to put the late act of Parliament into execution in 
 this Province, and that I will not, either by myself or my 
 deputies, do any act or thing that shall have the least ten 
 dency to put the said act into execution in this Province 
 until the said act shall be put into execution generally in the 
 neighboring Colonies ; and this I am determined to abide by. 
 
 "And whereas, my commission includes the three coun 
 ties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex-upon-Delaware, I do 
 therefore hereby voluntarily inform the good people of those 
 counties that no act of mine shall, either directly or indi 
 rectly, involve them in any difficulties with respect to the 
 said Stamp Act before the same shall take place generally in 
 the neighboring Colonies. 
 
 "JOHN HUGHES." 
 
 A week later, Mr. Hughes gave to the commissioners of 
 stamps a long account of his troubles, in which he attributes 
 the disturbances to the " Presbyterians and the proprietary 
 party." His letter is as follows : 
 
 , " PHILADELPHIA, October 12, 1765. 
 
 "GENTLEMEN: Having been confined to my bed twenty- 
 five days past, with a violent disorder that was expected 
 would prove mortal, but, thank God, am now able to sit up 
 in bed, I shall attempt to give you a sketch of not only my 
 own conduct, but also that of the Presbyterians and propri 
 etary party here relative to the stamp office. 
 
 " In May last, I received information from Dr. Franklin 
 that he had recommended me for chief distributor of stamps 
 in this Province ; and thus the matter rested until some 
 gentleman to the eastward mecived their commissions, 
 
44 TEE BIRTH OF TUE REPUBLIC. 
 
 whereupon mobs arose in several of the Eastern Provinces 
 and the officers were obliged to resign ; but as a prelude to 
 the destruction and disorder made by those mobs, the print 
 ers in each Colony, almost without exception, stuffed their 
 papers weekly, for some time before, with the most inflam 
 matory pieces they could procure, and excluded everything 
 that tended to cool the minds of the people. These measures 
 they pursued until the Presbyterians, in particular, in every 
 Colony, began to threaten the Stamp officers; and those 
 gentry in their Province, about the beginning of September, 
 began to be very noisy, and some of them said I ought to 
 resign. I gave them for answer, I had as yet no commission, 
 therefore could not resign what I had not. However, about 
 the middle of September, it was reported that the stamps 
 would arrive in Captain Friend's ship, who was then ex 
 pected, and these riotous gentry began to threaten they 
 would destroy the stamps as soon as they arrived. I there 
 fore, being desirous, as far as in me lay, to preserve the 
 stamps, wrote on the 17th the letter (No. 1) to his Honor 
 the Governor, but received no answer ; and as the stamps 
 did not arrive in Captain Friend's vessel, matters rested un 
 til October 2d, when I received the paper (No. 2), being a note 
 from Captain William Dovel ; a tool of the party, and therefore 
 I wrote my answer (No. 3) to Mr. Dickenson, the owner of 
 the ship, and on the next day wrote my letter (No. 4) to his 
 Honor the Governor, but received no answer ; and here mat 
 ters rested until Saturday, the 5th of October, when I re 
 ceived information, that the ship with the stamps was come 
 up to the town that day, and that a mob would be collected 
 by beating muffled drums through the streets and ringing 
 the State House and church bells muffled, which was ac 
 cordingly done all the afternoon, but at two o'clock the post 
 arrived with the mail and packet, and, among other things, 
 my commission. This the party ventured to allege because 
 there was a large packet for me ; accordingly the mob col 
 lected, chiefly Presbyterians and proprietary emissaries, 
 with the Chief Justice's (Mr. William Allen) son at their 
 head, animating and encouraging the lower class. 
 
 "About three o'clock the following persons, viz.: James 
 Tilghman, Esq. ; attorney at law, Messrs. Robert Morris, 
 Charles Thompson, Archibald M'Call, John Cox, William 
 Richards, merchants; and Mr. William Bradford, printer, 
 came to me, on a deputation from a great number collected 
 at the State House, to request my resignation. I answered, 
 it is true, I now have my commission, but as two gentlemen 
 are bound for my performance in the sum of 5000 pounds, 
 I could not resign unless I indemnify my bail. Altercation 
 on this subject took up nearly an hour (low as I was); and 
 at last they said, nil that was expected of me was that I 
 would not put the act in -y" ^ition in the Province until his 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 45 
 
 Majesty's further pleasure was known, or until the act 
 should be put in execution in the neighboring Colonies. To 
 this I thought proper to signify some disposition to comply, 
 because I had many informations by my friends that the 
 mob intended to proceed to the last extremities if I did not 
 resign. Upon this the deputation withdrew to consult their 
 associates, and at six o'clock I received the paper (No. 5), 
 being a peremptory demand ; there the matter rested until 
 Sunday morning, when, having recovered my spirits a little 
 from the fatigue of that long altercation aforesaid, I looked 
 over the paper, and found it more positive than what had 
 been mentioned the day before, and therefore sent for Mr. 
 Charles Thompson, one of the deputation, and asked him if 
 they were sincere the day before; . . . because, I ob 
 served, the paper sent me did not agree with the proposition 
 made to me. He said he was sincere and could only answer 
 for himself. I replied : Well, gentlemen, you must look to 
 yourselves; for this is a high affair. He made answer thus: 
 I do not know, but I hope it will not be deemed rebellion. 
 Indeed, sir, I know no other name for it. Well, says he, 
 I know not how it may end, for we have not yet determined 
 whether we will ever suffer the act to take place here or not ; 
 and took his leave. On Monday morning at ten o'clock, the 
 whole deputation came, and I offered them the paper (No. 
 6) ; and after some consultation among themselves, they ob 
 jected to their names being inserted. I said : Why, sure, 
 gentlemen, you have not done a thing you are ashamed to 
 own ? Not in the least, they said ; but there was no necessity 
 for their names being inserted, nor would they receive that 
 resignation. Whereupon I said to Mr. Tilghman: Come, sir, 
 take the pen and please yourself, for I see you are determined 
 to be arbitrary. He then took the pen and formed the paper 
 (No. 7) ; and when it was transcribed, I asked them what 
 they intended to do with the stamps, as they assumed the 
 supreme power in the Province.. They then looked at one 
 another for a while, and seemed somewhat confused ; but, at 
 last, Mr. Tilghman replied : We did not come here prepared 
 to speak to that head. Then another replied : Let Mr. Hughes 
 take care of them. I answered : Gentlemen, that cannot be, 
 as you have now fixed matters; for were I to take the 
 stamps into my care, I should have your party come about 
 my house and pull it down and destroy both me and them. 
 Well, says another, let the Governor take care of them. An 
 other then says : Perhaps the Governor will call upon Mr. 
 Hughes to put the act into execution ; and when he declines, 
 the Governor perhaps will appoint an officer, and the act 
 may take place. Here a general pause ensued ; but at last 
 one and all cried out : Let us see who will dare put the act in 
 execution ; upon the Governor's appointment we will take 
 care of that. By this time the paper (No. 7) was transcribed ; 
 
46 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 and. after I had signed it, they went away to proclaim it to 
 their friends. And the next day I wrote the letter (No. 8) to 
 the Governor, and received the under- written verbal answer 
 by my son." 
 
 The letter to the Governor here referred to, makes inquiry 
 in regard to the stamps, that he may report to the stamp 
 commissioners. The verbal answer of the Governor was 
 simply this : ' ' Let Mr. Hughes know the stamps are on board 
 the man-of-war." 
 
 Hughes intimates very broadly, in his correspondence with 
 the commissioners and others, that the Governor, from some 
 cause, evaded his sworn duty; and that he might have 
 quelled the mob. There was evidently no good under 
 standing between these British functionaries ; and each was 
 ready to throw the blame, of failing to enforce the law, upon 
 the other. 
 
 Both Hughes of Pennsylvania and Ingersoll of Connecticut 
 claimed that they had been appointed stamp-distributors on 
 the recommendation of Dr. Franklin. It is proper to state, 
 therefore, that that distinguished patriot was the agent of the 
 Colonies, resident in London; and if called on by \\\Q gov 
 ernment to designate persons to fill those places, he could 
 not, consistently with his position, refuse to do so, much as 
 he detested, and earnestly as he had opposed, the passage of 
 the act. 
 
 No doubt the serious illness of Hughes saved him from a 
 rough handling by the mob. It is evident that he made the 
 most of his illness ; and it is probable, from what took place, 
 that he would have surrendered at the first summous if he 
 had been pressed with vigor. 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 There is little to be said, under the separate head of Dela 
 ware, in regard to the enforcement of the Stamp Act. The 
 stamp-distributor appointed for Pennsylvania was also au 
 thorized to act in that capacity for the " lower counties on 
 the Delaware" (by which designation the Colony was known), 
 New Castle, Kent, and Sussex. And in his agreement to 
 suspend operations until the King should be heard from, or 
 until the act should be enforced in the neighboring Colonies, 
 he stipulated to observe the same rule as to Delaware. 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 " There was no Colony of English America," says McMa- 
 hon, in his History of Maryland, "in which the claim of the 
 inhabitants to exemption from all taxation not sanctioned 
 by their assent was more familiar than in Maryland. It 
 was one of the fundamental principles of their proprietary 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 47 
 
 government, incorporated with it by law in its very infancy ; 
 and it was constantly extended bv its Assembly, even to 
 every act of the proprietary administration, the indirect 
 consequence of which was taxation. The vigilance with 
 which its Assemblies guarded this right, and their constant 
 assertion of it against everything which even indirectly 
 tended to its infringement, gave to it the character of an 
 indisputable privilege. . . . 
 
 u In investigating the history of this act, much talent has 
 been employed, and much time and research have been ex 
 pended, in determining to which of the Colonies belongs the 
 high honor of having given the first impulse to Colonial re 
 sistance. If such attaches peculiarly to any one of the Colo 
 nies, the effort to establish its claim is worthy of all re 
 search. To have been the advance guard of liberty in the 
 first great effort which opened the way to the establishment 
 of the first Kepublic upon earth, is enough for immortality ; 
 and generous rivalry will accord it where it is due. Yet it 
 may well be questioned whether such merit can be properly 
 ascribed to any man or any Colony. Such pretensions 
 must assume, as the foundation of the claim, the origination 
 either of the principles of the opposition, or by the de 
 termination to resist, or of the means of resistance. . . . 
 Speeches, resolves, addresses, essays, had brought the public 
 mind to contemplate all the consequences of the proposed 
 measure; and the spirit of resistance was already up, in the 
 formidable shape of combinations. However suppressed 
 that spirit might seem, and ready to submit, when there 
 remained no alternative but open rebellion against the act, 
 the ' master-spirits' in the Colonies knew full well that its 
 rest was but the couching of the lion, and its silence the 
 portentous silence that precedes the storm. Such were 
 Henry of Virginia, and Otis of Massachusetts in the two 
 great Colonies whose movements against the Stamp Act 
 stand first in order and importance upon the page of history. 
 They touched the cord of public feeling, already tremblingly 
 alive ; and they knew its response. Their Colonies went in 
 advance of the others in the expression of these sentiments 
 through their Assembles ; but by the early convention of the 
 latter, after the passage of the act, accident cast upon them 
 the first opportunity of taking the lead in opposition to it. 
 They sounded the first notes of defiance ; but these were soon 
 echoed back by Colonies as ready, energetic, and determined 
 in resistance as they. 
 
 "It is. not our purpose nor our wish to say aught in de 
 rogation of the high claims of those patriotic Colonies, to be 
 cherished in our remembrance as the foremost champions 
 of Colonial liberty. Their honor is reflected upon us; and 
 the virtues and noble bearing of their distinguished sons 
 adorn our common history. To have been found firm and 
 
48 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 faithful by their side 'is enough for honor.' Yet in the 
 histories of the Colonial transactions connected with the 
 Stamp Act, the course of Maryland seems to have been 
 little known or understood, and she has been thrown into 
 the rear of the other Colonies, as if she had been by them 
 stimulated to and led on in opposition. Yet her transac 
 tions prove that she wanted no teacher, either to instruct in 
 her rights or to prompt them to preserve them ; and they 
 exhibit a character and unanimity of opposition that is 
 without a parallel in the history of any Colony. 
 
 "Circumstances of the moment over which she had no 
 control prevented this Colony from expressing through, her 
 Assembly, her opposition to this measure, not only before the 
 act passed but also for a long period after its passage. The 
 power to convene the Assembly resided wholly with the Gov 
 ernor; and upon the prorogation of it in November, 1763, its 
 session was postponed, by repeated prorogations, until Sep 
 tember, 1765. The Assembly was thus disabled from declar 
 ing its decided hostility to the measure at an earlier period ; 
 but its eagerness in the common cause is displayed, not only 
 by the spirited and unanimous declaration then made, but still 
 more forcibly by its remonstrance to the Governor for his de- 
 lay'in convening it at a period when its members were desir 
 ous to unite with their brethren in the other Colonies, in the 
 protection of their common liberties. Their message is the 
 best commentary upon the subject : * We are truly concerned 
 [say they in this message, 13th December, 1765] ' that the 
 duty we owe t9 our constituents lays us under the indis 
 pensable necessity of observing that every power lodged in 
 the hands of government is there intrusted by the Consti 
 tution, to be exercised for the common good. To this end 
 hath your Excellency, as Supreme Magistrate, the power of 
 convening and proroguing, which, we need not remark, ac 
 cording to the bill of rights, confirmed at the happy Revolu 
 tion, ought, for redress of all grievances, and for amending, 
 strengthening, and preserving the laws, to be held frequently. 
 The unhappy prevalence of the smallpox, from the month 
 of March to that of September last, rendered a convention of 
 Assembly within that time impracticable ; but we are ignor 
 ant of any reasons that could occasion the long interval from 
 November, 1763, to last March ; within which time, circum 
 stances of a peculiar nature required a meeting of Assembly, 
 which was prevented by prorogation. . . . Previously to 
 this, and at the first moment of their assemblage in Septem 
 ber. 1765, they had passed resolves against the Stamp Act, 
 and had deputed commissioners to the general Congress. 
 And this remonstrance is here adverted to only for the pur 
 pose of attesting that the same spirit which characterized 
 their first Assembly proceedings after the passage of the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 49 
 
 Stamp Act, had prevailed in the Colony from the first mo 
 ment the tax was proposed. 
 
 "There were, however, other indications of public feeling 
 which went, in advance of all the Assembly transanctions, to 
 demonstrate the general detestation of the measure by the 
 people of Maryland. They had amongst them that admira 
 ble reflector of public sentiment, an established and well- 
 regulated press, in the paper then conducted by Mr. Jonas 
 Green, of Annapolis, under the name of The Maryland 
 Gazette It was established t in the year 1745, and has ever 
 since been conducted by his descendants under that name. 
 Venerable for its antiquity, in which, it is believed, it out 
 ranks every existing paper in the United States, it is rendered 
 still more so by its devotion to the cause of liberty, from the 
 very origin of our struggle for emancipation. Yet nourish 
 ing in the hands of his descendants, and sustained by his 
 worth, it has been truly an 'evergreen.' . . . The inti 
 mation of the Ministry's intention to tax the Colonies was 
 first communicated in its number of 17th May, 1764; and 
 from that period the tenor of its publications continually 
 indicated its hostility to the measure. Its number of the 
 18th April, 1765, announced the intention to suspend its pub 
 lication if the .melancholy and alarming accounts which 
 had just been received, of the probable passage of the Stamp 
 Act should prove true. Its actual passage was communi 
 cated in terms of the highest indignation; and from that 
 period the columns of this paper were continually crowded 
 with publications illustrative of the rights of the Colonies, 
 and of the necessity of resistance. The operation of the act 
 having commenced, the paper of the 10th October, 1765 was 
 put into mourning, with the expressive motto : ' The Mary 
 land Gazette expiring in the hopes of a resurrection. ' And 
 its publication was shortly afterwards actually suspended 
 until the 10th of December following, when it was revived 
 with the avowal ' that it should be, as it had been, sacred 
 to liberty, and consequently to virtue, religion, and the good 
 and welfare of its country. ' These details, connected, as they 
 are, with the history of the times, cannot be uninteresting; 
 and they are due to one whose efforts and influence as an 
 auxiliary in the cause of liberty were widely felt and highly 
 estimated. His paper was a rara avis in that day a govern 
 ment paper warring on the side of the people. 
 
 "The English Ministry displayed some policy in the selec 
 tion of residents of the Colonies as officers to carry the 
 Stamp Act into effect; but their selection proved, in the 
 sequel, to be a decree of expatriation to those who accepted 
 the appointment. It was peculiarly so to the person ap 
 pointed as stamp-distributor in Maryland. Zachariah Hood, 
 the person alluded to, was a native of Maryland, and, at one 
 period, a resident merchant of: Annapolis, More of his his- 
 
50 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tory we know not; and if the limit of the maxim be just, 
 'Nil de mortuis nisi bonum,' we should wish to know no 
 more. His whole history may be summed up in one sen- 
 te,nce * He was a willing instrument in the hands of tyran 
 nical Ministry, for the oppression of the people among whom 
 he was born and lived.' His appointment was announced 
 in a letter from London to a gentleman of Annapolis, pub 
 lished about the period of his arrival. * Among the many 
 other promotions of officers in the Colonies, [it remarks] we 
 are credibly informed that Z h H d, late a sojourn 
 ing merchant of the city of Annapolis, but at present 
 
 Z h H d, Esq., of St. James', has, for his many 
 
 eminent services to his King and country during the late 
 war, got the commission of distributor of the stamps in that 
 Province. This gentleman's conduct is highly approved of 
 here, by all court-cringing politicians, since he is supposed to 
 have wisely considered that, if his country must be stamped, 
 the blow would be easier borne from a native, than a for 
 eigner who might not be acquainted with their manners 
 and institutions.' 
 
 "Coming under such auspices and with such purposes, 
 his arrival at Annapolis was welcomed with those marks of 
 distinction which it was so customary to confer upon the 
 stamp-distributors of that day; but, fortunately for him, 
 they were bestowed upon his effigy." 
 
 The following is the account of his reception published in 
 Green's Gazette of August 29, 1765 : 
 
 " Monday morning last, a considerable number of people, 
 assertors of British- American privileges, met here to show 
 their detestation of, and abhorrence to, some late tremen 
 dous attacks on liberty, and their dislike to a certain late-ar 
 rived officer, a native of this Province. They curiously 
 dressed np the figure of a man, which they placed on a one- 
 horse cart, malefactor-like, with some sheets of his paper in 
 his hands before his face. In this manner they proceeded 
 through the streets of town till noon, the bells at the same 
 time tolling a solemn knell, when they proceeded to the hill; 
 and after giving it the Mosaic law at the whipping-post, 
 placed it in the pillory, from whence they took it and hung 
 it to a gibbet erected for that purpose, and then set fire to a 
 tar-barrel underneath, till it fell into the barrel. By the 
 many significant nods of the head while in the cart, it may 
 be said to have gone off very penitently." 
 
 The historian resumes : 
 
 "The news of his arrival soon spread through the Prov 
 ince; and his patriotism was honored in the same significant 
 manner at Baltimore, Elk Ridge, Fredericktown, and other 
 places. The character of these proceedings must not be 
 misunderstood. They were not the heedless and ungovern 
 able movements of tumultuous spirits, nor the wanton out- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 61 
 
 rages of men without character. They sprung from the 
 just and settled indignation of a whole people. They were 
 conducted with calmness and publicity, and were promoted 
 by men of the highest talents and character. They were 
 not mere personal indignities offered to the unworthy instru 
 ment of the Crown, but acts of deliberate and open defiance, 
 intended to manifest, in a manner not to be misunderstood, 
 their determined, opposition to the Stamp Act, and their 
 abhorrence of all who lent themselves to its enforcement. 
 Amongst those who were prominent in the proceedings at 
 Annapolis, was the distinguished Samuel Chase, whose en 
 ergies quickened all that he touched, and whose abilities 
 illustrated all that he examined. . . . 
 
 "Hood wanted the firmness even to attempt the execu 
 tion of the office which he had solicited ; and the public in 
 dignation which had been lavished upon his effigy at 
 length taking a direction towards his person, he secretly 
 absconded from the Province early in September, 1765, and 
 never paused in his flight until he had reached New York 
 and had taken refuge under the cannon of Fort St. George. 
 He was the first and last stamp distributor of Maryland," 
 
 In a note; the author gives this further account of the 
 stamp-distributor : 
 
 "Hood's flight was insufficient to save him from the 
 common fate of the stamp distributors a resignation by 
 compulsion. He only escaped from the resentment of one 
 Colony to be arrested by the sisterly indignation of another. 
 Having taken up his residence on Long Island, he soon at 
 tracted the attention of the people, and the liberals at once 
 determined (to use their own language) that, as he had by 
 flight deprived the people of Maryland of that justice which 
 they had a right to demand the resignation of an office cal 
 culated to enslave them, they would take the affair into 
 their own hands, and either compel him to resign, or send 
 him back to Maryland as a fugitive from justice. 
 
 "A party of volunteers accordingly assembled on the 28th 
 of November, 1765, and surrounded the house on Long Island 
 in which he was concealed. Escape was impossible, and 
 poor Hood was hooded. He now threw himself upon their 
 sympathies, and represented himself as one rather to be 
 pitied than to be punished. His appeals to mercy were all 
 unavailing ; and his next attempt was at a compromise. He 
 now desired that his word of honor might be received in 
 lieu of his oath; and that the right might be reserved to him 
 to hold his office if hereafter his countrymen should desire 
 it. He was answered that, the people of Maryland having 
 an absolute right to freedom, he must absolutely and uncon 
 ditionally renounce an office which gave him power to en 
 slave them ; and that, if this were not done, he should be 
 delivered into the hands of an exasperated multitude, and 
 
52 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 carried back to Maryland, with labels upon him signifying 
 his office and designs. Resistance was hopeless, and Hood 
 yielded. As soon as his abjuration was signed, he was ac 
 companied by upwards of one hundred gentlemen from 
 Flushing to Jamaica, where it was regularly sworn to, and 
 he was discharged. Like the similar abjurations of that 
 day, it left no room for equivocation or mental reservation, 
 and abounded with apologies and excuses utterly at vari 
 ance with the feelings of the individual, and only serving 
 to render him contemptible and harmless." 
 
 As has been stated, the General Assembly of Maryland, 
 which met on the 23d of September, promptly appointed 
 delegates to attend the General Congress, which was to meet 
 in New York in October following. Strange to say, the 
 Governor and Council concurred in this measure and in an 
 appropriation to pay the expenses of the delegates: 
 
 "I. Resolved unanimously, That the first adventurers and 
 settlers of this Province of Maryland brought with them, 
 and transmitted to their posterity, and all other his 
 Majesty's subjects since inhabiting in this Province, all the 
 liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities that at any 
 time have been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 ''II. Resolved unanimously, That it was granted by 
 Magna Charta, and other the good laws and statutes of 
 England, and confirmed by the petition and bill of rights, 
 that the subject should not be compelled to contribute to 
 any tax, talliage, aid, or other like charges not set by com 
 mon consent of Parliament." 
 
 Here follow extracts from the charter granted by Charles 
 I. to Lord Baltimore, in exposition of which the Assembly 
 further resolved, viz. : 
 
 "IV. Resolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this 
 House that the said charter is declaratory of the constitu 
 tional rights and privileges of the freemen of this Province. 
 
 "V. Resolved unanimously, That trials by juries are the 
 grand bulwarks of liberty, the undoubted birthright of every 
 Englishman, and consequently of every British subject in 
 America ; and that the erecting other jurisdictions for the 
 trial of matters of fact is unconstitutional, and renders the 
 subject insecure in his liberty and property. 
 
 " VI. Resolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this 
 House that it cannot, with anjr truth or propriety, be said 
 that the freemen of this Province of Maryland are repre 
 sented in the British Parliament. 
 
 ** VII. Resolved unanimously, That his Majesty's liege 
 people of this ancient Province have always enjoyed the 
 right of being governed by laws to which they themselves 
 have consented, in the articles of taxes and internal polity; 
 and that the same hath never been forfeited, or any other 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 53 
 
 way yielded up, but hath been constantly recognized by the 
 King and people of Great Britain. 
 
 " VIII. Resolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this 
 House that the representatives of the freemen of this Prov 
 ince, in their legislative capacity, together with the other 
 part of the legislature, have the sole right to lay taxes and 
 impositions on the inhabitants of this Province, or their 
 property and effects ; and that the laying, imposing, levying, 
 or collecting any tax on or from the inhabitants of Mary 
 land, under color of any other authority, is unconstitutional 
 and a direct violation of the rights of the freemen of this 
 Province." 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 Mr. Wirt, in his life of Patrick Henry, gives a brilliant 
 account of the case of the people against the parsons, at 
 Hanover Court, in which the matchless eloquence of the 
 " forest-born orator" achieved a triumph in favor of popular 
 rights at the expense of law. It was a question of paying 
 the tithes in the usual way, at the rate of 1500 pounds of 
 tobacco, for each clergyman, or in money, at a fixed price. 
 A great rise had taken place in the market value of the 
 article ; and in consequence, in 1758, the Colonial Assembly 
 had passed an act for compounding the tithes at about two 
 pence per pound, the old price, whereas the article was now 
 worth two or three times as much. But the royal assent to 
 this act of the Assembly having been refused, and it having 
 been annulled, it of course had no force; and as the law 
 stood, the parsons were entitled to receive the 1500 pounds 
 of tobacco instead of the price in money. But -in the face of 
 this state of things, Henry induced the jury to give the 
 clergy sixpence damages, his argument being that the 
 people of the Colonies had the sole right to make laws for 
 their government. This was in 1764- 
 
 In regard to the Stamp Act, Mr. Wirt says : 
 
 "This same year, 1764, is memorable for the origination 
 of the great question which led finally to the independence 
 of the United States. It has been said by a gentleman at 
 least as well qualified to judge as any other now alive (Mr. 
 Jefferson), that ' Mr. Henry certainly gave the first impulse 
 to the ball of the Revolution.' In order to show the correct 
 ness of this position, it is proper to ascertain the precise 
 point to which the controversy with Great Britain had 
 advanced when Mr. Henry first presented himself in the 
 character of a statesman. 
 
 "In March, 1764, the British Parliament had passed reso 
 lutions preparatory to the levying a revenue on the Colonies 
 by a stamp tax. These resolutions were communicated to 
 the House of Burgesses of Virginia, through their committee 
 
54 THE BIRTH OF THE 
 
 of correspondence, by the colonial agent, and, having been 
 maturely considered, resulted in the appointment of a 
 special committee to prepare an address to the King, a 
 memorial to the Lords, and a remonstrance to the House of 
 Commons. On the 18th of December, 1764, these papers 
 were reported and (after various amendments, which con 
 siderably diluted their spirit) received the concurrence of 
 the Council. The reader will perceive on perusing them 
 that, while they affirm, in clear and strong terms, the con 
 stitutional exemption of the Colony from taxation by the 
 British Parliament, they breathe, nevertheless, a tone so 
 suppliant, and exhibit such a picture of anticipated suffering 
 from the pressure of the tax on the exhausted resources of 
 the Colony, as to indicate that no opposition beyond remon 
 strance was at this time meditated. " 
 
 Patrick Henry entered the Virginia House of Burgesses 
 on the 20th day of May, 1765. Having waited in vain some 
 time for some of the older members to take the lead in oppo 
 sition to the Stamp Act, he, although within three days of 
 the close of the session, introduced his celebrated resolutions. 
 Mr. Wirt says: " I will not withhold from the reader a note 
 of this transaction from the pen of Mr. Henry himself. It 
 is a curiosity, and highly worthy of preservation. After his 
 death, there was found among his papers one sealed and thus 
 indorsed: 'Inclosed are the resolutions of the Virginia 
 Assembly in 1765 concerning the Stamp Act. Let my exec 
 utors open this paper.' Within was found the following 
 copy of the resolutions in Mr. Henry's handwriting: 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers of this 
 his Majesty's Colony and dominion, brought with them and 
 transmitted to their posterity and all other his Majesty's 
 subjects since inhabiting in this his Majesty's said Colony, 
 all the privileges, franchises, and immunities that have at 
 any time been held, enjoyed, and possessed by the people of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That by two royal charters granted by King 
 James the First, the Colonists aforesaid are declared entitled 
 to all the privileges, liberties, and immunities of denizens 
 and natural-born subjects to all intents and purposes as if 
 they had been abiding and born within the realm of England. 
 ' ' Resolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves, 
 or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who 
 can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, and 
 the easiest mode of raising them, and are equally affected by 
 such taxes themselves, is the distinguishing characteristic 
 of British freedom, and without which the ancient Constitu 
 tion cannot subsist. 
 
 "'Resolved, That his Majesty's liege people of this most 
 ancient Colony have uninterruptedly enjoyed the right of 
 being thus governed by their own Assembly in the article of 
 
THE BIRTH OF Tim REPUBLIC. 55 
 
 their taxes and internal polity; and the same hath never 
 been forfeited or any other way given up, but hath been 
 constantly recognized by the King and people of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 ' ' ' Resolved, That the General Assembly of this Colony have 
 the sole ri^ht and power to levy taxes and impositions upon 
 the inhabitants of this Colony ; and that every attempt to 
 vest such power in any person or persons whatsoever other 
 than the General Assembly aforesaid has a manifest ten 
 dency to destroy British as well as American freedom.' " 
 
 On the back of the paper containing these resolutions is 
 the following indorsement, which is also in the handwriting 
 of Mr. Henry himself: "The within resolutions in May, 
 1765. They formed the first opposition to the Stamp Act 
 and the scheme of taxing America by the British Parliament. " 
 
 Mr. Henry left town for home on the day that the resolu 
 tions were adopted the last of the series by a majority of 
 one vote ; and the next day, the opposite party, taking ad 
 vantage of his absence, voted to expunge the last resolution 
 from the journals. Burke, in his History of Virginia, gives 
 six resolutions with a preamble ; but Mr. Wirt expresses the 
 confident opinion, in which he is sustained by Mr. Jefferson 
 and by Mr. Paul Carrington, both of whom were present, 
 that Burke's version, taken from "Prior Documents," is not 
 genuine. He also regards the speech which Burke puts 
 into the mouth of Henry as spurious. However this may 
 be, the speech, at any rate, is very fine, and worthy of 
 Henry's genius. It was on this occasion that Henry 
 " entered into an historical enumeration of those examples 
 of successful resistance to oppression which rendered glorious 
 the annals of Rome and England, and concluded with this 
 dreadful warning, which, connected with its subsequent 
 fulfilment, seemed like the inspiration of prophecy:" 
 'Caesar,' said he, 'had his Brutus, Charles his Cromwell, 
 and [pausing] George the Third ' (here a cry of ' ' Treason ! 
 treason !" was heard, supposed to issue from the chair ; but 
 with admirable presence of mind he proceeded) ' may profit 
 by their examples. Sir, if this be treason, make the most 
 of it." 
 
 The following account of the disposition made of the 
 stamp-distributor of Virginia is from Martin's History of 
 North Carolina. Burke, the historian of Virginia, seems to 
 have overlooked the affair entirely : 
 
 * ' On the last week of October [says Martin] George 
 Mercer, distributor of stamps for the Province of Virginia, 
 landed at Hampton. He met with some rude treatment 
 from the mob, who, by the interposition of some influential 
 gentlemen, were prevailed on to disperse without any ill 
 consequences following. When he arrived in Williamsburg, 
 as he was walking towards the capitol, on his way to the 
 
56 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Governor's, he was accosted by a number of gentlemen from 
 different parts of the Province (the General Court being 
 then sitting), who insisted on his immediately satisfying the 
 company, which was constantly increasing, whether he in 
 tended to enter on the duties of his office. Seeing himself 
 completely surrounded, he answered that any reply he might 
 then make would be attributed to fear, and begged to be 
 allowed to wait 011 the Governor and Council in order to 
 obtain correct information of the sentiments of the Colony, 
 and afterwards meet his countrymen and give them an 
 answer. This seemed to give satisfaction, and he was ac 
 companied to the coffee-house where the Governor, most 
 of the Council, and a great number of other gentlemen were 
 assembled. The crowd in the mean while increased, and, 
 growing impatient, insisted upon a more speedy and satis 
 factory answer, declaring they would not disperse till it was 
 obtained; upon which, George Mercer, coming forward and 
 promising a categorical answer by five o'clock the next 
 evening, he met with no further molestation. 
 
 " At the time appointed, he was met at the capital by a 
 vast concourse of people, among whom were the principal 
 merchants in the Colony, when a committee chosen for the 
 purpose informed him he was then to look upon himself as 
 in the presence of the Colony, and demanded the answer he 
 had on the preceding day promised them. He then addressed 
 the meeting in a speech of considerable length, and concluded 
 he would have been glad to have had it in his power to have 
 acted in such a manner as would have justified him to his 
 friends and countrymen in the Province, and to the persons 
 from whom he derived his appointment ; but the time allowed 
 to him was so short that he had not been able to discover 
 that happy medium. He therefore entreated the gentlemen 
 present to be referred to his future conduct, with" his assur 
 ance that he would not, directly or indirectly, by himself or 
 his deputies, proceed in the execution of the act until he re 
 ceived further orders from England, and not then without 
 the assent of the General Assembly of the Province. This 
 declaration gave so general a satisfaction that he was imme 
 diately borne out of the capitol gate amid the acclamations 
 of all persons present, and carried to the coffee-house, where 
 an elegant entertainment was provided. On his arrival, the 
 acclamations redoubled, drums beat, French horns and other 
 musical instruments sounding. At night, the bells were 
 set a-ringing, and the whole town illuminated." 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 The following account of the reception which the Stamp 
 Act met with in North Carolina is taken from Martin's His- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC!. 67 
 
 tory of the State. As has been stated in another place, the 
 Lieutenant-governor, in anticipation of what the action of 
 the Assembly would be, judging from the tone of public 
 feeling, prorogued that body from the 18th of May, until 
 the 30th of November, 1765, and again till March 12, 1766. 
 The Colony was thus precluded from participating, by its 
 delegates, in the General Congress, which was first proposed 
 by Massachusets in June, and which met in New York in 
 October. But this strategy did not prevent the people from 
 giving expressions to their sentiments, nor, when the stamps 
 arrived, from making a summary disposition of them. Mar 
 tin says that, 
 
 "Meetings of the inhabitants of the towns of Edenton, 
 Newbern, and Wilmington were called, and, in each, resolu 
 tions were entered [into] expressing their utter abhorrence 
 of the late measures of the British Parliament and a hearty 
 concurrence with the sentiments expressed by the inhabi 
 tants of the Northern Provinces. 
 
 " In the Province of North Carolina, the people at all their 
 public meetings manifested their high approbation of the 
 proceedings of the inhabitants of the other Provinces ; and 
 Lieutenant-governor Tryon, judging from the temper of the 
 people that it would be unsafe and dangerous to allow them 
 the opportunity of expressing their feelings by allowing a 
 session of the legislative body in these days of ferment, 
 on the 25th of October issued his proclamation to prorogue 
 the General Assembly, which was to have met on the 30th 
 of November, till the 12th of March, assigning, as a reason 
 for this step, that there appeared to be no immediate neces 
 sity for their meeting at that time. 
 
 " Early in the year [1766], the sloop-of-war the Diligence 
 arrived in the Cape Fear, having on board the stamp paper 
 destined for the use of the Province; and on the 6th of Jan 
 uary, the Governor issued a proclamation announcing this 
 circumstance and calling on all persons, authorized to act as 
 distributors of the stamps, to make application therefor to the 
 commander of the sloop. But on the first notice of the ap 
 proach of this vessel, Colonel John Ashe, of the County of 
 New Hanover, and Colonel Waddell of the County of Bruns 
 wick, having embodied the militia of those counties, 
 marched at the bead of them to the town of Brunswick, be 
 fore which she was anchored, and notified the commander 
 of their determination to resist the landing of the stamps. It 
 was judged best not to make the attempt. A party was left 
 to watch the motions of the sloop, and the rest of the small 
 army marched to the town of Wilmington, carrying with 
 them one of her boats. Having fixed a mast in her with a 
 flag, they hoisted her on a cart and drove triumphantly 
 
58 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 through the streets, the inhabitants all joining in the pro 
 cession; at night the town was illuminated. On the next 
 day a great concourse of people, headed by Colonel Ashe, 
 proceeded to the Governor's house and demanded to speak 
 with James Houston, one of the Council, who had been ap 
 pointed stampmaster for the Province. The Governor at 
 first declared his intention not to allow it unless Houston 
 would come willingly ; but the people threatened to set fire 
 to the house, and proceeded to make preparations therefor. 
 The Governor desired the colonel to step in and talk with 
 the stampmaster, who, finding that he could not act in his 
 office without rendering himself obnoxious to the people, 
 voluntarily accompanied the colonel to the street, and, fol 
 lowed by a great concourse of people, proceeded to the mar 
 ket-place, where he took a solemn oath not to proceed on 
 the duties of his office. On which the people gave three 
 cheers and conducted him back to the Governor's." 
 
 In this opposition to the Stamp Act, the people of North 
 Carolina were simply acting in harmony with universal sen 
 timent of the other Colonists. But another grievance of a 
 local character was productive of far more serious conse 
 quences, and was attended with immeasurably greater op 
 pression than would have followed the enforcement of the 
 Stamp Act. 
 
 The Regulation War. 
 
 There are not many persons outside of North Carolina who 
 are aware that the people of that Colony rebelled against 
 the corrupt tyranny of the Colonial Government, and fought 
 a battle in defence of their rights as early as May, 1771. 
 The Colonial Governments were all what in modern phrase 
 would be styled u Carpet-bag" governments. The high offi 
 cers, without exception, were either sent over from England 
 or selected by the Crown with reference to their unquestion 
 ing devotion or obedience to the appointing power. Some 
 of them turned out to be men of honor and character ; but 
 the role was that they were corrupt, profligate, and tyran 
 nicalthe willing instruments of an arbitrary King and 
 Parliament. Even the best of them were as scrupulous in 
 maintaining and advancing the Colonial policy of the Tory 
 Government of Great Britain as they were in administering 
 tjie laws. Whoever from whatever cause has "despaired 
 of the Eepublic," and begun to regret the separation from 
 the mother- country as a mistake of our ancestors, would do 
 well to study carefully the Colonial history of the several 
 States. He will not fail to find that whether in the New 
 England, or in the Middle, or in the Southern Colonies, there 
 was the same indifference manifested by the British author 
 ities to the rights and welfare of the Colonies; the same 
 Parliamentary and royal interference, not for the good of 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE HEPUBLIC. 59 
 
 the Colonists, but for the profit of British proprietors of lib 
 eral grants of Colonial lands ; of British merchants trading 
 with America ; and of British profligates sent out here to 
 enrich themselves by the maladministration of American 
 affairs. The case againt the mother-country is no less strong 
 than it was so eloquently stated by Colonel Barre, in the 
 House of Commons in 1766. When Charles Townsend, the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, asked the question, " Will our 
 American children, planted by our care, nourished by our 
 indulgence, and protected by our arms, grudge to contribute 
 their mite to relieve us from our burdens?" Barre indig 
 nantly replied : * * They planted by your care ! No, your op 
 pressions planted them in America. They fled from your 
 tyranny to an uncultivated, inhospitable country; where 
 they exposed themselves to almost every hardship, and to 
 the cruelties of the savage foe. They nourished by your in 
 dulgence 1 They grew by your neglect ; your care for them 
 was to send persons to rule them : deputies of deputies to 
 some members of this House sent to spy out their liberties, 
 to misrepresent their actions, and to prey upon them. They 
 protected by your arms ! They have nobly taken up arms 
 in your defence. Amidst their constant and laborious in 
 dustry, they have defended a country whose frontiers were 
 drenched in blood, while its interior settlements yielded all 
 their little savings to your emoluments." 
 
 It is not creditable to the earlier historians of North Car 
 olina, Williamson and Martin, that they belittle the griev 
 ances of the people which led to the revolt of the Regula 
 tors, and take sides with their oppressors. But later writ 
 ers, without exception, after more thorough investigation, 
 regard the maladministration of the Colonial Government 
 as fully justifying the attempts of the people to reform it. 
 The nature of this misgovernment was mainly though not 
 entirely administrative. It consisted in the corrupt and 
 tyrannical conduct of the county officers, the clerks and 
 registers of courts, the sheriffs and their deputies, and the 
 justices of peace, who, following the example of England, 
 were empowered to hold courts of pleas and quarter-ses 
 sions for the several counties, in addition to their ordinary 
 duties as conservators of the peace. The judges of the supe 
 rior courts even, were charged with taking sides with the 
 administrative officers, while the bar was charged with ex 
 tortion, and the exaction of illegal fees. This unhappy state 
 of things existed to a greater or less degree, in nearly all 
 the middle and upper countries, in which the class of yeo 
 manry was most numerous, and where there were few of 
 the wealthy and educated gentry, In the lower counties, 
 where the latter class gave tone to society, official and petti- 
 foging knavery could not have been successfully practised, 
 but the ignorant and humble class of farmers who inhabited 
 
60 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the bill country were long the helpless though not uncom 
 plaining victims of the sharpers, until forbearance ceased 
 to be a virtue. The result was that combinations were 
 formed for their mutual protection, first by petition and re 
 monstrance, and at length by forcible resistance of the ille 
 gal demands upon them. These combinations were sponta 
 neous in the several counties, without concert between the 
 inhabitants cf differen t localities. Indeed, similar grievances 
 existed in other Colonies about the same time ; and partic 
 ularly in New Jersey and Maryland. In the former at 
 least, the people made violent resistance to their knavish 
 oppressors. 
 
 It is unfortunate that Governor Tryon had the influence 
 and address to enlist in his support on this occasion the 
 leading gentleman of the low country, especially those about 
 Wilmington the very men who had been foremost in the 
 nullification of the Stamp Act, and who were afterwards 
 among the foremost Whig patriots of the Colony during the 
 Revolution. The consequence was that perhaps a majority 
 of those who had struggled and fought for Colonial rights 
 from 1767 to 1771 became Tories and took up arms for the 
 Crown. As has been explained above, the Regulators were 
 for the most part plain, uneducated farmers. There were 
 exceptions to this rule, however ; and among them General 
 Thomas Person, of Granville, who was a distinguished patriot 
 of the Revolution. If he had been joined by the gentlemen 
 of the low country who took the other side, there can be 
 little doubt that the Regulators would" have succceeded in 
 repressing their grievances without bloodshed; and that 
 Tryon would have taken sides with the people, instead of 
 that of their oppressors. 
 
 The leader in the organized opposition and resistance to 
 the extortions of the officials was Herman Husbands, a Penn- 
 sylvanian by] birth, and a disciple of Fox and Penn by educa 
 tion. His residence was in Randolph County. His literary ac 
 quirements were very limited, as is apparent from his mea 
 gre ani unsatisfactory history of the Regulation; but there 
 is abundant evidence that he possessed a sound, shrewd un 
 derstanding ; while his reputation among his neighbors was 
 that of an honest man. His religious principles naturally 
 inclined him to peace, but the manifold irritations and op 
 pressions he endured, coupled with an aptitude and taste 
 for popular leadership, gradually seduced him into the use 
 of carnal weapons." Their quarrel, tbe people said, was 
 not with the form of Government nor with the laws ; but 
 with the conduct of the inferior officers, in administering 
 them. This was the statement of the Granville people, 
 quoted by Husbands, and adopted for those of Orange. The 
 attorneys, it was alleged, exacted twice the amount of the 
 tax fees in the most insignificant cases: and if any litiga- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 61 
 
 tion or contest arose in a case, the fees demanded equalled 
 the value of the claim. The clerks of court multiplied and 
 ran up bills of fees many times greater than the laws al 
 lowed; the sheriffs did likewise, and poor men standing 
 alone had no redress. Hence the combinations, for the pur 
 pose of remonstrating with the officers, and, that failing, pe 
 titioning the Governor. Even these invaluable privileges 
 were denied, and meetings of the people held for such pur 
 poses were declared to be seditious. 
 
 The people complained that the taxes were exorbitantly 
 high. The Colonists were poor; money was extremely 
 scarce ; and in that day, the facilities for transportation over 
 rough natural roads to distant markets were primitive. It 
 was under such circumstances that Try on induced the As 
 sembly to appropriate fifteen thousand pounds sterling 
 (equal to seventy -five thousand dollars) for the erection of a 
 Governor's house, or palace, as it was styled, at Newbern. 
 This "palace" was at the time said, to be the most stately 
 residence in America a fact of itself which characterizes the 
 man, and the class to which he belonged, as recklessly indif 
 ferent to the welfare of the people over whom he was sent 
 to rule without their consent. This extravagant style of 
 expenditure, in connection with the embezzlement of county 
 and colonial funds, and the extortion of the officials, was 
 well calculated to awaken a spirit of disaffection among the 
 people. - 
 
 Repeated attempts were made to obtain redress by indict 
 ing the clerks and other officers who had been guilty of ex 
 tortion; and when they were found guilty in form by 
 packed juries, the damage assessed was sixpence. At 
 length the people, in their exasperation, began forcibly to 
 resist the enforcement of legal process, and to release their 
 friends from the hands of the sheriffs. They also demanded 
 an exhibit from the collectors of taxes, of their accounts and 
 of the laws under which they acted. Large public meetings 
 were held for this purpose, from which deputations were 
 sent to the officers, asking an explanation on these points. 
 No definite or satisfactory answer could be obtained ; and 
 after repeated efforts of this nature, there was an agreement 
 to refuse the payment of taxes. Arrests and rescues fol 
 lowed ; and armed collisions with the authorities, amounting 
 to war, was the result. 
 
 Try on raised a force of several hundred men in the spring 
 of 1771, and marched to the Enoe, near Hillsborough, in 
 Orange County. On the way to that point he received rein 
 forcements from various quarters. The regulators, mus 
 tered by the activity of Husbands, are computed at not less 
 than two thousand, without discipline, without organization 
 even. One half of this rabble was poorly armed and 
 equipped, with only a round or two of ammunition. There 
 
62 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 was skirmishing for a day or two, with varied success. But 
 on the 15th of May, the two parties approached within a few 
 miles of each other, near the Alamance Creek, in what is 
 now a county of that name, but then in the southwest part 
 of Orange. There was no stomach for the fight on either 
 side; and the first day was spent in parleying. On the 16th 
 the two forces met face to face; and then it was not without 
 difficulty that Try on, having summoned the rebels to sur 
 render, and being answered with defiance, could induce his 
 troops to fire on the mob. He succeeded at length, however, 
 and a fight of some hours ensued. Tryon's force was organ 
 ized into companies and battalions, well armed, and in some 
 degree disciplined. He had also the advantage of having 
 nearly all the best-trained officers in the Province on his 
 side; while the regulators had no officer higher than the 
 grade of captain who had ever seen service, and only two 
 of these. A triumph of the government forces was a mat 
 ter of course, with a loss of nine killed and sixty wounded, 
 against a loss by the regulators of twenty killed and a num 
 ber wound. The mob of regulators took to flight. Only 
 about a dozen were made prisoners, of whom seven were 
 executed one of them a religious maniac. This was Cap 
 tain Few, who was, on Tryon's order, without a trial, hung 
 on a tree on the evening of the battle. The murder of this 
 unfortunate man was followed in a few days by the trial of 
 the other prisoners by a court of oyer and terminer, all of 
 whom were condemned to death for high treason, and six 
 of them executed. 
 
 Thus ended the war of the Eegulation. It was a genuine 
 struggle for liberty, and deserves to have a place among the 
 events in the history of British rule in America, which led 
 to the Revolution. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Rumors of the arrival of the stamp paper having reached 
 Charleston, the Assembly of the Colony addressed a letter 
 to Lieutenant-governor Bull, inquiring if such were the fact; 
 and if he were authorized to put the law in force. He re 
 plied in the affirmative, and that he received the act, and the 
 power under it, from the Governor of the Province, Boone, 
 who was then on a visit to England. The Assembly, in re 
 ply, took exception to the channel through which the law 
 came to the Province, the Governor when abroad, they 
 held, having no more authority than a private citizen. The 
 Assembly came to the following resolutions on the subject : 
 
 ''Resolved, That his Majesty's subjects in Carolina owe 
 the same allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain that is 
 due from his subjects there. That his Majesty's liege sub- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 63 
 
 jects of this Province are entitled to all the inherent rights 
 and liberties of his natural born subjects within the king 
 dom of Great Britain. That the inhabitants of this Province 
 appear also to be confirmed in all the rights aforementioned, 
 not only by their charter, but by an act of Parliament, 13th 
 George II. That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of 
 a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no 
 taxes be imposed on them but w ith their own consent. That 
 the people of this Province are not, and from their local 
 circumstances cannot be, represented in the House of Com 
 mons in Great Britain ; and, further, that, in the opinion of 
 this House, the several powers of legislation in Ameriea 
 were constituted in some measure upon the apprehension of 
 this impracticability. That the only representatives of the 
 people of this Province are persons chosen therein by them 
 selves; and that no taxes ever have been or can be consti 
 tutionally imposed on them but by the legislature of this 
 Province. That all supplies to the Crown being free gifts of 
 the people, it is unreasonable, and inconsistent with the 
 spirit of the British Constitution, for the people of Great 
 Britain to grant to his Majesty the property of the people of 
 this Province. That an act of Parliament entitled an ' Act 
 for Granting and Applying Certain Stamp Duties on the Brit 
 ish Colonies and Plantations in America,' etc., by imposing 
 taxes on the inhabitants of this Province, and the said act, 
 and several other acts, by extending the jurisdiction of the 
 Courts of Admiralty beyond its ancient limits, have a man 
 ifest tendency to subvert the rights and liberties of this 
 Province. That the duties imposed by several late acts of 
 Parliament on the people of this Province will be extremely 
 burdensome and grievous, and, from the scarcity of gold 
 and silver, the payment of them absolutely impracticable. 
 That, as the profits of the trade of the people of this Prov 
 ince ultimately centre in Great Britain, to pay for the man 
 ufactures they are obliged to take from thence they event 
 ually contribute very largely to all the supplies granted to 
 the Crown, etc." 
 
 " Having thus expressed their sentiments," says Drayton, 
 u the commons House of Assembly appointed Thomas 
 Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, and John Eutledge, a com 
 mittee to meet the committee from other Provinces at New- 
 York, in October following. . . . 
 
 "While these matters were carrying on, the stamped pa 
 pers arrived in the various seaports of the Colonies, and 
 greatly excited the feelings of the people. At this time a 
 sloop of -war had arrived in Charleston harbor, with a por 
 tion of them, casting anchor under the coyer of the cannon 
 of Fort Johnson ; and a meeting of the citizens was effected 
 to devise means for preventing the landing of the same. 
 The garrison of Fort Johnson was known to consist only of 
 
64 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 a commandant, a gunner, and twelve or fourteen privates; 
 and Lloyd, the commandant, mostly resided in Charleston; 
 hence the command and care of the fort frequently devolved 
 on the gunner. These things being considered, the meeting 
 thought proper to appoint a committee for further purposes, 
 and Daniel Cannon, William Williamson, Edward Weyman, 
 and others were nominated members of the same ; who, un 
 derstanding sufficiently the motives of their appointment 
 and the wishes of the meeting, entered zealously on their 
 duties respecting the matters they had in charge. 
 
 " "VVhether the government was informed of these meas 
 ures is not ascertained ; but the public ferment was known 
 to be so great, it was deemed advisable not to bring the 
 stamped papers up to Charleston, but to land them at 
 Fort Johnson. The committee soon received information of 
 this proceeding; and a private meeting of confidential citi 
 zens being called, it was resolved, the committee be author 
 ized to obtain the stamped paper so deposited at the fort, 
 and, to furnish the means of doing so, that a body of volun 
 teers should be selected and procured by them with the ut 
 most promptness and success. Accordingly, about one hun 
 dred and fifty volunteers were soon organized and armed 
 for the purpose; and two nights after, boats being provided 
 at Lam boll's Bridge, on the West and South Bay, they formed 
 and marched towards that place for embarkation. From 
 thence, they proceeded in boats across Ashley River; and 
 landed at twelve o'clock at night, on James' Island, between 
 Styles' plantation and the fort. . They then proceeded 
 towards the fort ; and halting at a small distance from it, 
 a reconnoitering party was sent forward. This party pro 
 ceeded to the drawbridge unnoticed or unchallenged by 
 sentries, and, finding it down, through the omission of the 
 garrison, they immediately returned and reported the same. 
 The whole body of volunteers then advanced upon the fort; 
 and arriving at the bridge, they crossed it without opposi 
 tion, pressed through the main gate, which was not secured, 
 and immediately possessed themselves of the fort. Only 
 one soldier was found awake ; and before he could give the 
 alarm, the remainder of the garrison was secured except' 
 Governor Lloyd, [the commander was so called,] who had 
 not slept there that night. The garrison were then placed 
 under guard, the bridge was drawn up, and a search com 
 menced for the obnoxious stamped paper. This, to the 
 great joy of the volunteers, was at length found in one of 
 the rooms of the barracks, and a guard was placed over it. 
 Preparations were then made for maintaining the fort 
 against any attack which might be made upon it by the 
 sloop-of-war when daylight should arrive; and for this 
 purpose the cannon on the platforms were loaded with ball 
 and grape-shot; matches were prepared, and a number of 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 65 
 
 men were stationed at each gun ; and a flag showing a blue 
 field with three white crescents, which the volunteers had 
 brought with them for the purpose, was hoisted on the flag 
 staff of the fort. When daylight appeared, the crescent 
 banner waved gayly on the wind, and soon attracted the at 
 tention of the sloop-of-war. A boat was then despatched 
 from her to ascertain the cause of so unusual a display, and 
 persons were sent from the fort to meet the boat at the land 
 ing-place, where, on the landing of the British officer, he in 
 quired the meaning of the flag; on which he was invited 
 into the fort, and was told he would then be informed. At 
 first he appeared doubtful whether he should proceed ; but 
 on being assured protection, and that he would be allowed 
 to return to his boat, he accepted of the invitation. On his 
 arrival in the fort, he was taken along the platforms, where 
 he found each gun manned and loaded, and the fort pre 
 pared for action ; he was also shown the late garrison under 
 a guard as prisoners. When the impression had been made 
 upon him which was intended, he was told it was the fixed 
 determination of the volunteers to proceed to burn all the 
 stamped paper which they had seized unless the commanding 
 officer would pledge his honor immediately to receive it on 
 board and forthwith depart with it. It was further intimat 
 ed to him, that if the sloop should fire on the fort, they were 
 resolved to repel force by force; and to these matters an 
 answer was requested from the sloop-of-war as soon as pos 
 sible. The officer then took his leave, and returned in the 
 boat. In two hours he returned with the boats of the sloop, 
 saying his commander would receive the stamped papers 
 and forthwith depart, when they were delivered to him; 
 and, returning with them to the sloop, she weighed anchor 
 in the afternoon and proceeded to sea. The object of the 
 expedition being so happily effected, the garrison were re 
 leased from confinement and put in possession of the fort ; 
 and the volunteers returned with their colors to Charles 
 ton, by the same way in which they had proceeded, hav 
 ing fulfilled the wishes and expectations of their fellow-citi 
 zens, without injuring or hurting any person whatsoever." 
 * This bold enterprise ended the attempt to enforce the 
 Stamp Act in South Carolina. A suspicion was awakened 
 in the minds of some, that certain of the officials were in 
 possession of stamped paper, and that they only waited for 
 the excitement to subside, when they would attempt to use 
 the stamps. The result was that their houses were searched 
 by the mob, not in the most delicate way, but no stamps 
 were found ; and the public mind then quieted down. 
 
66 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 From Stevens' History of Georgia. 
 
 "As soon as Mr. Wylly, the speaker of the commons 
 House of Assembly, received the letter (from Massachusetts), 
 he despatched expresses to the members, and sixteen mem 
 bers nearly two thirds of the entire number responded to 
 his call, by convening in Savannah on the 2d of September, 
 1765. This body replied to the Massachusetts resolutions 
 by a letter intimating their hearty co-operation in every 
 measure for ihe support of their common rights ; but through 
 the influence of Governor Wright, they were prevented 
 from sending delegates to the proposed Congress (at New 
 York)." 
 
 "On the 5th of December (1765), his Majesty's ship Speed 
 well, Captain Fanshawe, with the stamps, arrived in the 
 river, and the papers were secretly transferred to Fort Hal 
 ifax, and placed under the care of the commissary ; for the 
 'Liberty Boys,' as they were then termed, had entered 
 into an association to prevent the distribution of the papers, 
 and to compel the officer to resign as soon as he arrived. 
 To oppose these measures, Governor Wright summoned all 
 his energies, and labored day and night, in public and in 
 private, and, by his commanding influence, ably seconded 
 by his Council, was partially successful. Secret meetings, 
 however, were often held, all business was stopped, and the 
 Province remained in a state of anxious agitation. . . . 
 
 "On the 2d of January, 1766, about 3 P.M., Captains 
 Milledge and Powell informed the Governor that nearly two 
 hundred Liberty Boys had assembled together, threaten 
 ing to break open the fort and destroy the papers. The 
 Governor immediately ordered the two companies of rang 
 ers, numbering fifty-four men, to attend him, and marched 
 on the fort, took out the stamps, placed them in a cart, and, 
 escorted by the military, conveyed them to the guard-house. 
 The people looked on in sullen silence, which gave the Gov 
 ernor so much alarm that for many days he kept a guard 
 of forty men over his house, and during four nights was in 
 such anxiety and fear that he did not remove his clothes." 
 
 The next day (January 3d), the Governor was informed 
 of the arrival of Mr. Angus, the stamp-distributor, at Tybee, 
 and took precautions to have him Brought in great secrecy 
 up to Savannah, where he was quartered in the Governor's 
 residence. But even in that retreat, guarded by soldiers, 
 the stamp-distributor felt insecure, and in a fortnight left 
 the town. The whole Province sympathized with the peo- 
 
 le of Savannah ; and toward the close of January, six hun- 
 red men assembled within a few miles of the town, and 
 informed the Governor that, unless the stamps were removed, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 67 
 
 they would march into the town, destroy the fort and his 
 dwelling, as well as the stamps. He accordingly sent the 
 stamps down to Fort George, at Cockspur Island, under 
 charge of the rangers. "But even this was not deemed 
 sufficient security; and on the 3d of February they were 
 once more removed, and deposited on board the man-of-war 
 Speedwell, which had brought them to the Colony." 
 
 A riotous meeting took place, at which the Governor was 
 burned in effigy. 
 
 There being some sixty vessels in the harbor, the reso 
 lution of the people was so far overcome by the private 
 interest of the merchants as to admit of the sale of stamps 
 necessary to secure clearances. But the courts were entire 
 ly closed and all legal transactions suspended. The relax 
 ation, as it regarded the shipping interest, however, created 
 great indignation in South Carolina. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 RESOLUTIONS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS IN REGARD TO MASSA 
 CHUSETTS. 
 
 In the House of Lords, December 15, 1768, a series of 
 resolutions were adopted with reference to the condition of 
 affairs in Massachusetts Bay. It was resolved that the res 
 olutions and proceedings of the Massachusetts Assembly 
 which deny the right of Parliament to pass laws that bind 
 the Colonies in all cases whatsoever "are illegal, unconsti 
 tutional, and derogatory of the rights of the Crown and 
 Parliament of Great Britain." 
 
 "That the resolution of the House of Representatives of 
 that Province, to write letters to the several Houses of Rep 
 resentatives, of the British Colonies desiring them to join in 
 netitions, which deny or draw in question the right of Par 
 liament to impose duties or taxes on his Majesty's subjects 
 in America, k are proceedings of the most unwarrantable 
 and dangerous nature, calculated to inflame the minds of his 
 Majesty's subjects in the other Colonies, tending to create 
 unlawful combinations, repugnant to the laws of Great 
 Britain, and subversive of the Constitution. 
 
 " That the town of Boston has for some time past been in 
 a state of great disorder and confusion, and been disturbed 
 by riot and tumults. That neither the Council of the Prov 
 ince nor the civil magistrates did exert their authority for 
 suppressing the riots and tumults. 
 
 "That the preservation of the public peace became im 
 practicable without the aid of a military force to support 
 the civil magistrates and the officers of the revenue. 
 
 "That the resolutions and proceedings of the town meet- 
 
68 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ings in Boston on the 14th of June and 12th of September 
 * were illegal and unconstitutional, and calculated to excite 
 sedition and insurrections in his Majesty's Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay.' 
 
 "That the appointment, at the town meeting on the 12th 
 of September, of a convention to be held in the town of Bos 
 ton on the 22d of that month, to consist of deputies from 
 the several towns and districts in the Province of the Massa 
 chusetts Bay, and the issuing a precept by the select-men of 
 the town of Boston to each of the said towns and districts, 
 for the election of said deputies, were proceedings subver 
 sive of his Majesty's government, and evidently manifesting 
 a design in the inhabitants of the said town of Boston to set 
 up a new and unconstitutional authority independent of the 
 Crown of Great Britain. 
 
 " That the elections by the several towns and districts, of 
 deputies to sit in the said convention, and the meeting of 
 such convention, ' were daring insults offered to his Majes 
 ty's authority, and audacious usurpations of the powers of 
 government.' 
 
 These resolutions were adopted by the House of Commons, 
 with slight verbal amendments. The address agreed to by 
 the Lords was also adopted by the Commons with a single 
 verbal change. As agreed to by both Houses and sent up 
 to the King, it is as follows : 
 
 "And the Duke of Bedford reported from the committee 
 an address, drawn by them, as follows : 
 
 "'MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN: 
 
 " ' We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the 
 Lords, spiritual and temporal, in Parliament assembled, 
 return your Majesty our humble thanks for the communi 
 cation your Majesty has been graciously pleased to make to 
 your Parliament of several papers relative to public trans 
 actions in your Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 "We beg leave to express to your Majesty our sincere 
 satisfaction in the measures which your Majesty has pur 
 sued for supporting the Constitution and for inducing a due 
 obedience to the authority of the Legislature; and to give 
 your Majesty the strongest assurances that we will effect 
 ually stand by and support your Majesty ia such further 
 measures as may be found necessary to maintain the civil 
 magistrates in a due execution of the laws within your 
 Majesty's Province of Massachusetts Bay ; and as we con 
 ceive that nothing can be more immediately necessary, 
 either for the maintenance of your Majesty's authority in 
 the said Province, or for guarding your Majesty's subjects 
 therein from being further deluded by the arts of wicked 
 and designing men than to proceed in the most speedy and 
 effectual manner for bringing to condign punishment the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 69 
 
 Chief authors and instigators of the late disorders, we most 
 humbly beseech your Majesty that you will be graciously 
 pleased to direct your Majesty's Governor of Massachusetts 
 Bay to take the most effectual methods for securing the 
 fullest information that can be obtained touching all treasons 
 or misprissions of treason committed within his Government 
 since the thirtieth day of December, one thousand seven 
 hundred and sixty -seven, and to transmit the same, to 
 gether with the names of the persons who were most active 
 in the commission of such offences, to one of your Majesty's 
 principal Secretaries of State in order that your Majesty 
 may issue a special commission for inquiry of, hearing, and 
 determining the said offences, within this realm, pursuant 
 to the provisions of the statute of the thirty-fifth year of 
 the reign of King Henry the Eighth in case your Majesty 
 shall, upon receiving the said information, see sufficient 
 ground for such a proceeding. ' " 
 
 The following is the Act of 35th Henry VIII. referred to 
 in the foregoing proceedings: 
 
 "Cap. 11. 
 
 "An act for the trial of treasons committed out of the 
 King's dominions (35th Henry VIII. 1543). 
 
 "I. Forasmuch as some doubts and questions have been 
 moved that certain kinds of treasons, misprisons, and con 
 cealments of treasons done, perpetrated, or committed out 
 of the King's Majesty's realm of England, and other his 
 Grace's dominions cannot, nor may by the common laws of 
 this realm, be inquired of, heard, and determined within this 
 his said realm of England: (2) for a plain remedy, order, 
 and declaration therein to be had and made, be it enacted 
 by authority of this present Parliament, That all manner of 
 offences, being already made and declared, or hereafter to 
 be made or declared, by any of the laws and statutes of this 
 realm to be treasons, misprisons of treasons or conceal 
 ments of treasons, and done, perpetrated, or committed, or 
 hereafter to be done, perpetrated, or committed by any per 
 son or persons out of this realm of England, shall be from 
 henceforth inquired of, heard, and determined before the 
 King's Justices of his Bench for pleas to be holden before 
 himself, by good and lawful men of the same shire where 
 the said bench shall sit and be kept ; (3) or else before such 
 commissioners, and in such shire of the realm, as shall be 
 assigned by the Kind's Majesty's Commission, and by good 
 and lawful men of the same shire, in like manner and form, 
 to all intents and purposes, as if such treasons, misprisons 
 of treasons, or concealments 9f treasons had been done, 
 perpetrated, and committed within the same shire where 
 
70 THE BIRTH OF TEE REPUBLIC. 
 
 they shall be so inquired of, heard, and determined, as is 
 aforesaid. 
 
 4 'II. Provided always. That if any of the peers of this 
 realm shall happen to he indicted of any such treasons, or 
 other offences aforesaid, hy the authority of this act, that 
 then after such indictment, they shall have their trial by 
 their peers in such like manner and form as hath heretofore 
 been accustomed. 
 
 ' ' House of Lords. 
 
 " Tuesday, February 7, 1775. 
 
 " A message was brought from the House of Commons by 
 the Lord George Germaine and others, to desire a confer 
 ence with this House upon the state of his Majesty's Colo 
 nies in North America. To which the House agreed. The 
 messengers were again called in and told * that the Lords 
 agree to a, conference, as is desired, and appoint the same 
 presently in the Painted Chamber.' 
 
 "The House being informed 'that the managers for the 
 Commons were ready for the conference in the Painted 
 Chamber.' 
 
 "The names of the managers for the Lords were called 
 over, and the House was adjourned during pleasure and the 
 Lords went to the conference ; 
 
 ' ' Which being ended, the House resumed, and the Lord 
 President reported 'that they had met the managers for 
 the Commons at the conference,' which, on the part of the 
 Commons, was managed by the Lord North ; who acquainted 
 the managers for the Lords ' that they, having taken into 
 their consideration the state of his Majesty's Colonies in 
 North America, have agreed upon an address to be pre 
 sented to his Majesty,' to which they desire the concurrence 
 of this House. Then his Lordship read the address delivered 
 at the said conference as follows: 
 
 "'MOST GRACIOUS SOVEREIGN: 
 
 " ' We, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects the 
 . . . Commons, in Parliament assembled, return your Ma 
 jesty our most humble thanks for having been graciously 
 pleased to communicate to us the several papers relating to 
 the present state of the British Colonies in America, which 
 by your Majesty's command have been laid before us. We 
 have taken them into our most serious consideration, and 
 we find that a part of your Majesty's subjects in the Prov 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay have proceeded so far as to resist 
 the authority of the Supreme Legislature ; that a rebellion 
 at this time actually exists within the said Province; anl 
 we see with the utmost concern that they have been coun 
 tenanced and encouraged by unlawful combinations and 
 engagements entered into by your Majesty's subjects in 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 71 
 
 several of the other Colonies to the injury and oppression of 
 many of their innocent fellow-subjects resident within the 
 kingdom of Great Britain and the rest of your Majesty's 
 dominions. This conduct on their part appears to us the 
 more inexcusable when we consider with how much temper 
 your Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament have acted 
 in support of the laws and constitution of Great Britain. 
 We can never so far desert the trust reposed in us as to re 
 linquish any part of the sovereign authority over all your 
 Majesty's dominions, which, by law, is vested in your 
 Majesty and the two Houses of Parliament; and the con 
 duct of many persons in several of the Colonies during the 
 late disturbances is alone sufficient to convince us how neces 
 sary the power is for the protection of the li ves and fortunes 
 of all your Majesty's subjects. 
 
 " * We ever have been and always shall be ready to pay 
 attention and regard to any real grievances of any of your 
 Majesty's subjects which shall in a dutiful and constitutional 
 manner be laid before us ; and whenever any of the Colonies 
 shall make a proper application to us, we shall be ready to 
 afford them every just and reasonable indulgence. At the 
 same time we consider it as our indispensable duty humbly 
 to beseech your Majesty that you will take the most effectual 
 measures to enforce due obedience to the laws and authority 
 of the Supreme Legislature ; and we beg leave, in the most 
 solemn manner, to assure your Majesty that it is our fixed 
 resolution, at the hazard of our lives and properties, to stand 
 by your Majesty against all rebellious attempts in the main 
 tenance of the just rights of your Majesty and the two 
 Houses of Parliament.' " 
 
 Copy of a resolution of the House of Commons, 27th Feb 
 ruary, 1775, inclosed by the Earl of Dartmouth, in his cir 
 cular-letter to the Governors of the Colonies, dated March 
 3, 1775: 
 
 *' Resolved, That when the Governor, Council, and 
 Assembly, or General Court of any of his Majesty's Prov 
 inces or Colonies in America shall propose to make pro 
 vision, according to the condition, circumstances, and situa 
 tion of such Province or Colony, for contributing their pro 
 portion to the common defence (such proportion to be raised 
 under the authority of the General Court or General Assem 
 bly of such Province or Colony, and disposable by Parlia 
 ment), and shall engage to make provision also for the sup 
 port of the civil government and the administration of 
 justice in such Province or Colony, it will be proper, if such 
 proposal shall be approved by his Majesty and the two 
 Houses of Parliament, and for so long as such provision 
 shall be made accordingly, to forbear in respect 'of such 
 Province or Colony, to levy any duty, tax, or assessment, 
 or to impose any further duty, tax, or assessment, except 
 
72 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 only such duties as it may be expedient to continue to levy 
 or to impose for the regulation of commerce ; the net produce 
 of the duties last mentioned to be carried to the account af 
 such Province or Colony respectively." 
 
 Letter of John Pownall, Secretary to the Board of Trade, 
 to the Governors of the several Colonies in North America: 
 
 " WHITEHALL, April 5, 1775. 
 
 " Sm: I have the honor to send you herewith, by Lord Dart 
 mouth's directions, an act of Parliament to which his Majesty 
 gave the royal assent on Friday last, entitled, 'An act to 
 restrain the trade and commerce of the Provinces of Massa 
 chusetts Bay and New Hampshire, and Colonies of Connecti 
 cut and Rhode Island and Providence Plantation, in North 
 America, to Great Britain, Ireland, and the British islands 
 in the West Indies, and to prohibit such Provinces and 
 Colonies from carrying on any fishery on the banks of New 
 foundland or other places therein mentioned, under certain 
 conditions and limitations,' and I am to desire that you be 
 pleased to cause the said act to be made public in such man 
 ner as has been usual on like occasions. 
 
 " I am, sir, your obedient, humble servant, 
 
 "JOHN POWNALL." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 
 
 "Proceedings of the Congress held at Philadelphia. 
 
 "September 5, 1774. 
 
 " A NUMBER of the delegates chosen and appointed by the 
 several Colonies and Provinces in North America, to meet 
 and hold a Congress at Philadelphia, assembled at the Car 
 penter's Hall. 
 
 " Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1774, 10 o'clock A.M. 
 
 "The Congress met according to adjournment. 
 
 "Present The same members as yesterday, and more 
 over, from the Colony of Virginia, Richard Henry Lee, Esq. 
 
 ' ' The Congress resuming the consideration of rules of con 
 duct to be observed in debating and determining the ques 
 tions that come under consideration, 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That in determining questions in this Congress 
 each Colony or Province shall have one vote, the Congress 
 not being possessed of or at present able to procure proper 
 materials for ascertaining the importance of each Colony. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 73 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That no person shall speak more than twice 
 on the same point without leave of the Congress. 
 
 ''Resolved, That no question shall be determined the day 
 on which it is agitated and debated if any one of the Colo 
 nies desires the determination postponed to another day. 
 
 "Resolved, That the doors be kept shut during the time of 
 business, and that the members consider themselves under 
 the strongest obligations of honor to keep the proceedings 
 secret until the majority shall direct them to be made 
 public. 
 
 4 "Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed 
 to state the rights of the Colonies in general, the several in 
 stances in which these rights are violated or infringed, and 
 the means most proper to be pursued for obtaining a restora 
 tion of them. 
 
 "Ordered, That the appointment of the committee and 
 the number of which it shall consist be deferred until to 
 morrow. 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That a committee be appointed to examine, and 
 report the several statutes which affect the trade and manu 
 factures of the Colonies. Same order as above respecting 
 the appointment and number of this committee. 
 
 "Resolved, That the Rev. Mr. Duche, be desired to open 
 the Congress to-morrow morning, with prayers, at the Car 
 penter's Hall, at 9 o'clock. 
 
 "Adjourned to 5 o'clock this afternoon. 
 
 "Wednesday, Sept. 14, 1774. 
 
 " The Congress met according to adjournment. 
 
 "William Hooper and Joseph Hewes, Esqrs., two of the 
 deputies from North Carolina, attended the Congress and 
 produced their credentials. Henry Wisner, a delegate from 
 the county of Orange, in the Colony of New York, appeared 
 at Congress and produced a certificate of his election by the 
 said county, which, being read and approved, he took his seat 
 in Congress as a deputy for the Colony of New York. 
 
 George Ross, Esq., one of the delegates for the Province of 
 Pennsylvania, and John Alsop, Esq., one of the delegates for 
 the Colony of New York, appeared and took their seats in 
 Congress. 
 
 "The delegates from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, 
 agreeable to a request from the joint committees of every 
 town and district in the county of Middlesex in the said 
 Province, communicated to the Congress the proceedings of 
 those committees at Concord, on the 30th and 31st days of 
 August last, which were read. 
 
 " Adjourned till to-morrow at 9 o'clock. 
 
 " Saturday, Sept, 17, 1774, A.M. 
 
 "The Congress met according to adjournment. 
 
 "Richard Caswell, Esq., one of the deputies from North 
 Carolina, appeared and took his seat in Congress. 
 
74 THE EUITH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " The resolutions entered into by the delegates from the 
 several towns and districts in the county of Suffolk, in the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay, on Tuesday the 6th instant, 
 and their address to his Excellency, Governor Gage, dated 
 the 9th instant, were laid before the Congress. 
 
 " The Congress taking the foregoing resolutions into con 
 sideration : 
 
 "Resolved, unanimously. That this assembly deeply feels 
 the suffering of their countrymen in the Massachusetts Bay, 
 under the operation of the late unjust, cruel, and oppressive 
 acts of the British Parliament ; that they most thoroughly 
 approve the wisdom and fortitude with which opposition to 
 these wicked ministerial measures has hitherto been con 
 ducted, and they earnestly recommend to their brethren a 
 perseverance in the same firm and temperate conduct as ex 
 pressed in the resolutions determined upon at a meeting of 
 the delegates for the county of Suffolk on Tuesday the 6fch 
 instant, trusting that the effect of the united efforts of North 
 America in their behalf, will carry such conviction to the 
 British nation of the unwise, unjust, and ruinous policy of 
 the present administration, as quickly to introduce better 
 men and wiser measures. 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That contributions from all the 
 Colonies for supplying the necessities and alleviating the 
 distresses of our brethren at Boston, ought to be continued 
 in such manner, and so long as their occasions may require. 
 
 " Ordered, That a copy of the above resolutions be trans 
 mitted to Boston by the President. 
 
 "Ordered, That these resolutions, together with the reso 
 lutions of the county of Suffolk, be published in the news 
 papers. 
 
 "The committee appointed to examine and report the 
 several statutes which affect the trade and manufactures of 
 the Colonies brought in their report, which was ordered to 
 lie on the table. 
 
 "Adjourned till Monday morning. 
 
 " Thursday, Sept. 22, 1774. 
 
 "The Congress met according to adjournment. 
 
 "Upon motion, 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That the Congress request the 
 merchants and others in the several Colonies not to send to 
 Great Britain any orders for goods, and to direct the execu 
 tion of all orders already sent, to be delayed or suspended, 
 until the sense of the Congress on the means to be taken for 
 the preservation of the liberties of America is made public. 
 
 "Ordered, That this resolution be made public by hand 
 bills, and by publishing it in the newspapers. 
 
 " The committee appointed to state the rights of the Colo 
 nies, etc., having brought in a report of the rights, the same 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 75 
 
 was read, and the consideration of it deferred till Saturday 
 next. 
 
 "Ordered, That a copy of this report be made for each 
 Colony. 
 
 " Saturday, Sept. 24, 1774, A.M. 
 
 "The Congress entered upon the consideration of the re 
 port referred to this day, and, after some debate, upon mo 
 tion, 
 
 "Resolved, That the Congress do confine themselves at 
 present to the consideration of such rights only as have been 
 infringed by acts of the British Parliament since the year 
 1763, postponing the further consideration of the general 
 state of American rights to a future day. 
 
 "Hereupon the committee appointed to state the rights, 
 etc., brought in a report of the infringements and violations 
 of American rights, which being read, upon motion, 
 
 "Resolved, That the consideration of this Report be de 
 ferred till Monday, and that the Congress in the mean time 
 deliberate on the means most proper to be pursued for a res 
 toration of our rights. 
 
 ' 'After some debate on that subject, the Congress adjourned. 
 
 "Monday, Sept. 26, 1774, A.M. 
 
 "The Congress met according to adjournment. 
 
 "John Herring, Esq., a deputy from Orange County, in 
 the Colony of New York, appeared this morning, and took 
 his seat as a delegate from that Colony. 
 
 " Tuesday, Sept. 27, 1774, A.M. 
 
 " The Congress met according to adjournment, and, resum 
 ing the consideration of the means most proper to be used 
 for a restoration of American rights, 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That, from and after the 1st day 
 of December next, there be no importation into British 
 America from Great Britain or Ireland, of any goods, wares, 
 or merchandise whatsoever, or, from any other place, of any 
 such goods, wares, or merchandise as shall have been ex 
 ported from Great Britain or Ireland; and that no such 
 goods, wares, or merchandise imported after the said 1st day 
 of December next be used or purchased. 
 
 "Adjourned till to-morrow. 
 
 " Saturday, Oct. 1, 1774. 
 
 "Simon Boerum, Esq., appeared in Congress as a deputy 
 from King's County, in the Colony of New York, and pro 
 duced the credentials of his election, which, being read and 
 approved, he took his seat as a delegate for that Colony. 
 
 "The Congress, resuming the consideraton of the means, 
 etc., upon motion, 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That a loyal address to his 
 Majesty be prepared, dutifully requesting the royal atten- 
 
76 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tiqn to the grievances that alarm and distress his Majesty's 
 faithful subjects in North America, and entreating his Ma 
 jesty's gracious interposition for the removal of such griev 
 ances, thereby to restore between Great Britain and the 
 Colonies that harmony so necessary to the happiness of the 
 British empire, and so ardently desired by all America. 
 
 " Agreed, That Mr. Lee, Mr. J. Adams, Mr. Johnson, Mr. 
 Henry, and Mr. J. Rutledge be a committee to prepare an 
 address to his Majesty. 
 
 " Saturday, October 8, 1774. 
 
 "The Congress resumed the consideration of the letter 
 from Boston ; and upon motion, 
 
 "Resolved, That this Congress approve the opposition of 
 the inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay to the execution 
 of the late acts of Parliaments ; and if the same shall be at 
 tempted to be carried into execution by force, in such case 
 all America ought to support them in their opposition. 
 
 "Tuesday, October 11, 1774. 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That a memorial be prepared 
 to the people of British America, stating to them the neces 
 sity of a firm, united, and invariable observation of the meas 
 ures recommended by the Congress, as they tender the in 
 valuable rights and liberties derived to them from the laws 
 and Constitution of their country. 
 
 "Also that an address be prepared to the people of Great 
 Britain. Mr. Lee, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Jay are appoint 
 ed a committee to prepare a draft of the memorial and ad 
 dress. 
 
 "Friday, October 14, 1774. 
 
 " The Congress.met according to adjournment, and resum 
 ing the consideration of the subject under debate, came into 
 the foUowing resolutions: 
 
 "Whereas, Since the close, of the last war, the British 
 Parliament, claiming a power of right to bind the people of 
 America by statute in all cases whatsoever, hath in some 
 acts expressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under 
 various pretences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a 
 revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these 
 Colonies, established a board of commissioners with uncon 
 stitutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of Courts 
 of Admirality, not only for collecting the said duties, but for 
 the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a 
 county ; 
 
 "And whereas, In consequence of other statutes, judges 
 who before held only estates at will in their offices, have 
 been made dependent on the Crown alone for their salaries, 
 and standing armies kept in times of peace; and it has late 
 ly been resolved in Parliament that by force of a statute 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 77 
 
 made in the thirty -fifth year of the reign of King Henry 
 the Eighth, Colonists may be transported to England, and 
 tried there upon accusations for treason, and misprisons, or 
 concealments of treason, committed in the Colonies, and by 
 a late statute such trials have been directed in cases therein 
 mentioned ; 
 
 "And whereas, In the last session of Parliament, three 
 statutes were made, one entitled ' An Act to Discontinue in 
 Such Manner and for Such Time as Therein Mentioned, the 
 Landing and Discharging, Lading or Shipping, of Goods, 
 Wares, and Merchandise at the Town and Within the Harbor 
 of Boston, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in North 
 America ;' another entitled ' An Act for the Better Regulating 
 the Government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in 
 New England ;' and another entitled ' An Act for the Impar 
 tial Administration of Justice in the Cases of Persons Ques 
 tioned for any Act Done by Them in the Execution of the Law, 
 or for the Suppression of Riots and Tumults in the Province 
 of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England;' and another 
 statute was then made, 4 for making more effectual provi 
 sion for the government of the Province of Quebec,' etc. ; all 
 which statutes are impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as 
 unconstitutional and most dangerous and destructive of 
 American rights ; 
 
 ' ' And whereas, Assemblies have been frequently dissolved, 
 contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to 
 deliberate on grievances; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, 
 and reasonable petitions to the Crown for redress have been 
 repeatedly treated with contempt by his Majesty's Ministers 
 of State : 
 
 " The good people of the several Colonies of New Hamp 
 shire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plan 
 tations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 New Castle, Kent and Sussex, on Delaware, Maryland, Vir 
 ginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, justly alarmed at 
 these arbitrary proceedings of Parliament and administra 
 tion, have severally elected, constituted, and appointed dep 
 uties to meet and sit in general congress, in the city of Phil 
 adelphia, in order to obtain such establishment as that their 
 religion, laws, and liberties may not be subverted. Where 
 upon, the deputies so appointed being now so assembled in 
 a full and free representation of these Colonies, taking into 
 their most serious consideration the best means of attaining 
 the end aforesaid, do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their 
 ancestors, in like cases have usually done for asserting and 
 vindicating their rights and liberties, declare, 
 
 "That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in North 
 America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles 
 of the English Constitution, and the several charters or com 
 pacts, have the following rights: 
 
78 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D. 1, That they are entitled to life, lib 
 erty, and property ; and they have never ceded to any sov 
 ereign power whatsoever, a right to dispose of either with 
 or without their consent. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D. 2, That our ancestors who first set 
 tled these Colonies, were, at the time of their emigration 
 from the mother-country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, 
 and immunities of free and natural born subjects within 
 the realm of England. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D. 3, That, by such emigration, they by 
 no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, 
 but that they were, and their descendants now are, entitled 
 to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them as their 
 local and other circumstances enable them to exercise and 
 enjoy. 
 
 "Resolved, 4, That the formation of English liberty, and 
 of all free government, is aright in the people to participate 
 in their legislative Council; and as the English Colonists 
 are not represented, and from their local and other circum 
 stances cannot be properly represented, in the British Par 
 liament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of 
 legislation in their several Provincial legislatures, where 
 their right of representation can alone be preserved in all 
 cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the 
 negation of their sovereign, in such manner as has been 
 heretofore used and accustomed. 
 
 44 But from the necessity of the case, and a regard for the 
 mutual interests of both countries, we cheerfully consent to 
 the operation of such acts of the British Parliament as are 
 bona fide restrained to the regulation of our external com 
 merce for the purpose of securing the commercial advan 
 tages of the whole empire to the mother-country, and the 
 commercial benefit of its respective members, excluding 
 every idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a 
 revenue on the subjects in America without their consent. 
 
 4 ' Resolved, N. C- D. 5, That the respective Colonies are 
 entitled to the common law of England, and more especially 
 to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their 
 peers of the vicinage according to the course of that law. 
 
 "Resolved 6, That they are entitled to the benefit of such 
 of the English statutes as existed at the time of their coloni 
 zation, and which they have by experience respectively 
 found to be applicable to their several local and other cir 
 cumstances. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D. 7, That these, his Majesty's C9lonies, 
 are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges 
 granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured 
 by their several codes of Provincial laws. 
 
 " Resolved, N. C. D. 8, That they have a right peacefully 
 to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 79 
 
 King; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, 
 and commitments for the same are illegal. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D. 9, That the keeping a standing army 
 in these Colonies in times of peace, without the consent of 
 the legislatures of that Colony in which such army is kept, 
 is against law. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D. 10, It is indispensably necessary to 
 good government, and rendered essential by the English 
 Constitution, that the constituent branches of the legislature 
 be independent of each other ; that Jherefore the exercise of 
 legislative power in several Colonies, by a Council appoint 
 ed during pleasure of the Crown, is unconstitutional, dan 
 gerous, and destructive to the freedom of American leg 
 islation. 
 
 "All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of 
 themselves and their constituents, do claim, demand, and 
 insist on as their indubitable rights and liberties, which can 
 not be legally taken from them, altered or abridged, by any 
 power whatever, without their own consent, by their repre 
 sentatives in their several Provincial legislatures. 
 
 "In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringe 
 ments and violations of the foregoing rights, which, from 
 an ardent desire that harmony and mutual intercourse of 
 affection and interest may be restored, or passed over for 
 the present, and proceed to state such acts and measures as 
 have been adopted since the last was, which demonstrate a 
 system formed to enslave America. 
 
 "Resolved, N. C. D., That the following acts of Parliament 
 are infringements and violations of the rights of the Colo 
 nists, and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary in 
 order to restore harmony between Great Britain and the 
 American Colonies, viz. : 
 
 "The several Acts of 4 George III., chapters 15 and 34; 5 
 George III., chapter 25; 6 George III., chapter 52; 7 George 
 III., chapters 41 and 46; 8 George III., chapter 22, which 
 impose duties for raising a revenue in America, extend the 
 powers of the Admiralty Courts beyond their ancient limits, 
 deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorize the 
 judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damage 
 that he might otherwise be liable to, requiring oppressive 
 security from a claimant of ships and goods seized before 
 he shall be allowed to defend his property, and are subver 
 sive of American rights. 
 
 "Also the 12 George III., chapter 24, entitled ' An Act for 
 the Better Securing His Majesty's Dock-Yards, Magazines, 
 Ships, Ammunition and Stores,' which declares a new of 
 fence in America and deprives the American subject of a 
 constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the 
 trial of any person, charged with the committing any offence 
 described in the said act out of the realm, to be indicted 
 
80 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 and tried for the same in any shire or county within the 
 realm. Also the three acts passed in the last session of Par 
 liament for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor of 
 Boston; for altering the charter and government of the 
 Massachusetts Bay; and that which is entitled, ' An Act for 
 the Better Administration of Justice,' etc. 
 
 " ' Also the act passed in the same session for establishing 
 the Roman Catholic religion in the Province of Quebec, 
 abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erect 
 ing a tyranny there to the great danger, from so total a dis 
 similarity of religion, law, and government of the neighbor 
 ing British Colonies, by the assistance of whose blood and 
 treasure the said country was conquered from France. 
 
 " ' Also the act passed in the same session for the better 
 providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his 
 Majesty's service in North America. 
 
 "'Also that the keeping a standing army in several of 
 these Colonies, in time of peace without the consent of the 
 legislature of that Colony in which such army is kept, is 
 against law. 
 
 u ' To these grievous acts and measures Americans cannot 
 submit; but in hopes that their fellow-subjects in Great Brit 
 ain will, on a revision of them, restore us to that state in 
 which both countries found happiness and prosperity, we 
 have for the present only resolved to pursue the following 
 peaceable measures: 
 
 " ' 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and 
 non-exportation agreement or association; 2, to prepare 
 an address to the people of Great Britain and a memorial to 
 the inhabitants of British America; and 3, to prepare a 
 loyal address to his Majesty, agreeable to resolutions already 
 entered into.' 
 
 " A letter being received from several gentlemen in Geor 
 gia was read. 
 
 "Monday, October 17, 1774. 
 
 " The Congress met according to adjournment. 
 
 * ' Mr. John Dickinson appeared in Congress as a deputy for 
 the Province of Pennsylvania, and produced his credentials. 
 
 " Tuesday, October 18, 1774. 
 
 " The Congress resumed the consideration of the plan of 
 Association, etc. ; and after sundry amendments, the same 
 was agreed to and ordered to be transcribed, that it may be 
 signed by the several members. 
 
 " Thursday, October 20, 1774. 
 
 " The Association being copied , was read and signed at the 
 table, and is as follows: 
 
 " 'We, his Majesty's most loyal subjects, the delegates of 
 the several Colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE 'REPUBLIC. 81 
 
 Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Penn 
 sylvania, the three lower counties of New Castle, Kent, and 
 Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, 
 and South Carolina, deputed to represent them in a Conti 
 nental Congress, held in the city of Philadelphia on the 
 fifth day of September, 1774, avowing our allegiance to his 
 Majesty ; our affection and regard for our fellow-subjects in 
 Great Britain and elsewhere ; affected with the deepest anx 
 iety and most alarming apprehensions at those grievances 
 and distresses with which his Majesty's American subjects 
 are oppressed ; and having taken under our most serious de 
 liberation the State of the whole Continent, find that the 
 present unhappy situation of our affairs is occasioned by a 
 ruinous system of Colony administration adopted by the 
 British Ministry about the year 1763, evidently calculated 
 for enslaving these Colonies, and with them the British em 
 pire. In the prosecution of which system, various acts of 
 Parliament have been passed for raising a revenue in Amer 
 ica, for depriving the American subjects, in many instances, 
 of the constitutional trial by jury, exposing their lives to 
 danger by directing a new and illegal trial beyond the seas, 
 for crimes alleged to have been committed in America ; and 
 in prosecution of the same system, several late cruel and 
 oppressive acts have been passed respecting the town of 
 Boston and the Massachusetts Bay, and also an act for ex 
 tending the Province of Quebec so as to border on the west 
 ern frontiers of these Colonies, establishing an arbitrary 
 government therein, and discouraging the settlement of 
 British subjects in that wide-extended country ; thus by the 
 influence of evil principles and ancient prejudices to dispose 
 the inhabitants to act with hostility against the free Protest 
 ant Colonies whenever a wicked Ministry shall choose so to 
 direct. 
 
 u ' To obtain redress of grievances which threaten destruc 
 tion to the lives, liberties, and property of his Majesty's sub 
 jects in North America, we are of opinion that a non-im 
 portation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement 
 faithfully adhered to will prove the most speedy, effectual, 
 and peaceable measure ; and therefore we do for ourselves, 
 and the inhabitants of the several Colonies, whom we rep 
 resent, firmly agree and associate under the sacred ties of 
 virtue, honor, and love of our country as follows : 
 
 '* * 1. That from and after the 1st day of December next we 
 will not import into British America from Great Britain or 
 Ireland any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, or 
 from any other place any such goods, wares, or merchandise 
 as shall have been exported from Great Britain or Ireland ; 
 nor will we after that day import any East India tea from 
 any part of the world; nor any molasses, syrups, paneles, 
 coffee, or pimento from the British plantations or from Do- 
 
82 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 minico; nor wines from Madeira or the Western Islands; 
 nor foreign indigo. 
 
 " '2. That we will neither import nor purchase any slave 
 imported after the first day of December next ; after which 
 time we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will 
 neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our 
 vessels nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those 
 who are concerned in it. 
 
 " ' 3. As a non-consumption agreement strictly adhered to 
 will be an effectual security for the observation of the non 
 importation, we as above solemnly agree and associate that 
 from this day we will not purchase or use any tea imported 
 on account of the East India Company, or any on which a 
 duty hath been or shall be paid ; and from and after the 1st 
 day of March next we will not purchase or use any East In 
 dia tea whatsoever; nor will we nor shall any person for or 
 under us purchase or use any of those gooods, wares, or 
 merchandise we have agreed not to import, which we shall 
 know or have cause to suspect were imported after the first 
 day of December, except such as come under the rules and 
 directions of the tenth article hereafter mentioned. 
 
 " 4 4. The earnest desire we have, not to injure our fellow- 
 subjects in Great Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies, in 
 duces us to suspend a non -exportation until the tenth day 
 of September, 1775 ; at which time, if the said acts and parts 
 of acts of the British Parliament hereinafter mentioned 
 are not repealed, we will not directly or indirectly export 
 any merchandise or commodity whatsoever to Great Brit 
 ain, Ireland, or the West Indies, except rice to Europe. 
 
 '"5. Such as are merchants and use the British and Irish 
 trade, will give orders as soon as possible to their factors, 
 agents, and correspondents in Great Britain and Ireland 
 not to ship any goods to them on any pretence whatsoever, 
 as they cannot be received in America ; and if any merchant 
 residing in Great Britain or Ireland shall directly or indi 
 rectly ship any goods, wares, or merchandise for America 
 in order to break the said non-importation agreement, or in 
 any manner contravene the same, on such unworthy conduct 
 being well attested, it ought to be made public ; and on the 
 same being so done, we will not from thenceforth have any 
 commercial connection with such merchant. 
 
 " * 6. That such as are owners of vessels will give positive 
 orders to their captains or masters not to receive on board 
 their vessels any goods prohibited by the said non-importa 
 tion agreement, on pain of immediate dismission from their 
 service. 
 
 " ' 7. We will use pur utmost endeavors to improve the 
 breed of sheep, and increase their number to the greatest 
 extent ; and to that end we will kill them as sparingly as 
 may be, especially those of the most profitable kind; nor 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 83 
 
 will we export any to the West Indies or elsewhere ; and 
 those of us who are or may become overstocked with or can 
 conveniently spare any sheep will dispose of them to our 
 neighbors, especially to the poorer sort, upon moderate terms. 
 
 u * 8. That we will, in our several stations, encourage frugali 
 ty, economy, and industry, and promote agriculture, arts, 
 and the manufactures of this country, especially that of 
 wool ; and will discountenance and discourage every species 
 of extravagance and dissipation, especially of horse-rac\ng 
 and all kinds of gaming, cock-fighting, exhibitions of plays, 
 shows, and other expensive diversions and entertainments ; 
 and on the death of any relation or friend, none of us, nor 
 any of our families, will go into any further mourning-dress 
 than a black crape or ribbon on the arm or hat for gentle 
 men, and a black ribbon or necklace for ladies, and we will 
 discontinue the giving of gloves and scarfs at funerals.' " 
 
 " '11. That a committee be chosen in every county, city, and 
 town, by those who are qualified to vote for Representatives 
 in the Legislature, whose business it shall be to attentively 
 observe the conduct of all persons touching this Association ; 
 and when it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of a 
 majority of any such committee that any person within the 
 limits of their appointment has violated this Association, 
 that such majority do forthwith cause the truth of the case 
 to be published in the Gazette, to the end that all such foes 
 to the rights of British America may be publicly known and 
 universally condemned as the enemies of American liber 
 ty, and thenceforth we respectively will break off all deal 
 ings with him or her.' " 
 
 " ' 14. And we do further agree and resolve, That we will 
 have no trade, commerce, dealings, or intercourse whatsoever 
 with any Colony or province in North America which shall 
 not accede to or shall hereafter violate this Association, but 
 will hold them as unworthy of the rights of freemen, and as 
 inimical to the liberties of this country. And we do solemnly 
 bind ourselves and our constituents, under the ties aforesaid, 
 to adhere to this Association until such parts of the several 
 acts of Parliament passed since the close of the last war, or 
 impose or continue duties on tea, wine, molasses, syrups, 
 paneles, coffee, sugar, pimento, indigo, foreign paper, glass, 
 and painters' colors imported into America ; and extend the 
 powers of the Admiralty Courts beyond their ancient limits ; 
 deprive the American subjects of trial by jury ; authorize the 
 judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages 
 that he might otherwise be liable to from a trial by his peers ; 
 require oppressive security from a claimant of ships or goods 
 seized before he shall be allowed to defend his property, are 
 repealed. And until that part of the act of the 12th George 
 III., ch. 24, entitled " An Act for the Better Securing His 
 Majesty's Pock-yards, Magazines, Ships, Ammunition, and 
 
84 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Stores," by which any person charged with committing any 
 offences therein described, in America, may be tried in any 
 shire or county within the realm, is repealed. And until the 
 four acts passed in the last session of Parliament viz. : that 
 for stopping the port and blocking up the Harbor of Boston ; 
 that for altering the charter and government of the Massa 
 chusetts Bay; and that which is entitled, " An Act for the 
 Better Administration of Justice, etc. ; and that for extend 
 ing the limits of Quebec, etc. " are repealed. And we recom 
 mend it to the provincial conventions, and to the committees 
 in the respective Colonies, to establish such further regula 
 tions as they may think proper for carrying into execution 
 this Association.' 
 
 " The foregoing Association being determined upon by the 
 Congress, was ordered to be subscribed by the several mem 
 bers thereof ; and thereupon we have hereunto set our respec 
 tive names accordingly." 
 
 " In Congress, Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1774. 
 
 " PEYTON RANDOLPH, President. 
 "New Hampshire ____ John Sullivan, Nathaniel Folsom. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay. j ^iSSTMSt ? 
 Rhode Island ......... Stephen Hopkins, Samuel Ward. 
 
 Connecticut ........ j Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, Silas 
 
 {Isaac Low, John Alsop, John Jay, 
 James Duane, Philip Livingston, 
 William Floyd, Henry Wisner, 
 Simon Boerum. 
 
 C James Kinsey, William Livingston, 
 New Jersey ........ < Stephen Crane, Richard Smith, John 
 
 ( De Hart. 
 
 f Joseph Galloway, John Dickinson, 
 
 J Charles Humphreys, Thomas Mif- 
 j fli ^ Edward Biddle? John Mortori) 
 
 [ George Ross. 
 The Lower Counties, { Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, 
 New Castle, etc ..... ( George Read. 
 
 5 Matthew Tilghman, Thomas Johnson, 
 I Jr., William Paca, Samuel Chase. 
 
 f Richard Henry Lee, George Washing- 
 T7 - - Q J ton, Patrick Henry, Jr., Richard 
 
 Virginia ........... j Bland Benj - amin Harrison, Edmund 
 
 Pendleton. 
 
 North Carolina 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 85 
 
 C Henry Middleton, Thomas Lynch, 
 
 South Carolina < Christopher Gadsden, John Eut- 
 
 ( ledge, Edward Eutledge. 
 
 " Ordered, That this Association be committed to the press 
 and that one hundred and twenty copies be struck off. 
 
 " The Congress then resumed the consideration of the ad 
 dress to the inhabitants of these Colonies, and after debate 
 thereon, adjourned until to-morrow." 
 
 THE ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 This address is elaborate and able. But the plan of this 
 compilation will only admit of the following paragraphs. 
 The committee appointed to draft it, as has been seen above, 
 was composed of Eichard Henry Lee, of Virginia, John Jay 
 and Philip Livingston, of New York: 
 
 " Tuesday, Oct. 21, 1774. 
 
 * ' The Address to the People of Great Britain being brought 
 in, and the amendments directed being made, the same was 
 approved and is as follows : 
 
 "To the people of Great Britain, from the delegates ap 
 pointed by the several English Colonies of New Hampshire, 
 Massachusetts Bay, Ehode Island and Providence Planta 
 tion, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania 
 the lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North 
 Carolina, and South Carolina, to consider their grievances 
 in General Congress at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. 
 
 ^Friends and Fellow-subjects: When a nation, led to 
 greatness by the hand of liberty, and possessed of all the 
 glory that heroism, magnificence, and humanity can bestow, 
 descends to the ungrateful task of forging chains for her 
 friends and children, and instead of giving support to free 
 dom, turns advocate for slavery and oppression, there is 
 reason to suspect she has either ceased to be virtuous or 
 been extremely negligent in the appointment of her rulers. 
 
 "In almost every age, in repeated conflicts, in long and 
 bloody wars, as well civil as foreign, against many and pow 
 erful nations, against the open assaults of enemies and the 
 more dangerous treachery of friends, have the inhabitants 
 of your island, your great and glorious ancestors, maintained 
 their independence, and transmitted the rights of men and 
 the blessings of liberty to you, their posterity. 
 
 " Be not surprised, therefore, that we, who are descended 
 from the same common ancestors; that we, whose fore 
 fathers participated in all the rights, the liberties, and the 
 constitution you so justly boast of, and who have carefully 
 conveyed the same fair inheritance to us, guaranteed by the 
 plighted faith of government, and the most solemn compacts 
 with British sovereigns, should refuse to surrender them to 
 men who found their claims on no principles of reason, and 
 
86 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 who prosecute them with a design that, by having our lives 
 and property in their power, they may with the greater 
 facility enslave you. 
 
 " The cause of America is now the object of universal at 
 tention; it has at length become very serious. 
 
 " This unhappy country has not only been oppressed, but 
 abused and misrepresented ; and the duty we owe to our 
 selves and posterity, to your interest and the general welfare 
 of the British Empire, leads us to address you on this very 
 important subject. 
 
 " Know then, that we consider ourselves, and do insist, that 
 we are and ought to be as free as our fellow-subjects in 
 Britain, and that no power on earth has a right to take our 
 property from us without our consent. 
 
 "That we claim all the benefits secured to the subjects by 
 the English constitution and particularly that inestimable 
 right of trial by jury. 
 
 1 k That we hold it essential to English liberty, that no man 
 be condemned unheard, or punished for supposed offences 
 without having an opportunity of making his defence. 
 
 " That we think the legislature of Great Britain is not au 
 thorized by the constitution to establish a religion fraught 
 with sanguinary and impious tenets, or to erect an arbitrary 
 form of government in any quarter of the globe. These 
 rights, we, as well as you, deem sacred and yet, sacred as 
 they are, they have, with many others, been repeatedly and 
 flagrantly violated. 
 
 k k Are not the proprietors of the soil of Great Britain lords 
 of their own property ? Can it be taken from them without 
 their consent? Will they yield it to the arbitrary disposal 
 of any man, or number of men whatever? You know they 
 will not. 
 
 "Why, then, are the proprietors of the soil of America 
 less lords of their property than you are of yours? Or why 
 should they submit it to the disposal of your Parliament, or 
 any other parliament or council in the world, not of their 
 election? Can the intervention of the sea that divides us 
 cause disparity in rights? Or can any reason be given why 
 English subjects who live three thousand miles from the 
 royal palace should enjoy less liberty than those who are 
 three hundred miles distant from it? 
 
 " Reason looks with indignation on such distinctions, and 
 freemen can never perceive their propriety. A.nd yet, how 
 ever chimerical and unjust such discriminations are, the 
 Parliament assert that they have a right to bind us in all 
 cases without exception, whether we consent or not ; that 
 they may take and use our property when and in what 
 manner they please; that we are pensioners on their bounty 
 for all that we possess, and can hold it no longer than they 
 vouchsafe to permit. Such declarations we consider as 
 heresies in English politics, and which can no more operate 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 87 
 
 to deprive us of our property than the interdicts of the pope 
 can divest kings of sceptres which the laws of the land and 
 the voice of the people have placed in their hands." 
 
 On the same day the Congress published a memorial to 
 the inhabitants of British America, reported by the same 
 committee. 
 
 It is a clear and statesmanlike resume of the irritating 
 legislation and policy of Great Britain from the close of the 
 then late war with France to date. 
 
 The following paragraph will remind the reader of the 
 first clause of the Declaration of Independence: 
 
 ' ' In every case of opposition by a people to their rulers, 
 or of one state to another, duty to Almighty God the creator 
 of all requires that a true and impartial judgment be formed 
 of the measures leading to such opposition, and of the causes 
 by which it has been provoked, or can in any degree be justi 
 fied ; that neither affection on the one hand nor resentment 
 on the other being permitted to give a wrong bias to reason, 
 it may be enabled to take a dispassionate view of all circum 
 stances, and to settle the public conduct on the solid founda 
 tions of Wisdom and Justice." 
 
 From councils thus tempered, arise the surest hopes of the 
 divine favor, the firmest encouragement to the parties en 
 gaged, and the strongest recommendation of their cause to 
 the rest of mankind. 
 
 The Congress also put forth addresses to the inhabitants 
 of the Province of Quebec, and to the King. The former ap 
 peals to the people of that Province to unite with those 
 south of it in opposition to Parliamentary taxation. The 
 latter is a manly but respectful petition and remonstrance. 
 
 THE CONGRESS OF 1775 
 
 The Congress of 1775 met at Philadelphia, May 10th. All 
 the Colonies, except Rhode Island and Georgia, were repre 
 sented ; and after the body had been in session for a few days, 
 delegates arrived from Rhode Island, and from St. John's 
 Parish, Georgia. 
 
 On the 6th of July, 
 
 "A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Col 
 onies of North America, now met in Congress at Philadel 
 phia, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking 
 up arms, was issued." 
 
 The committee appointed to draw up this address con 
 sisted of Messrs. J. Rutledge, of South Carolina; W. Liv 
 ingston, of New Jersey; Dr. Benj. Franklin, of Pennsyl 
 vania; John Jay, of New York; and Herman Johnson, of 
 Maryland ; to which was afterwards added J. Dickinson, 
 of Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia. 
 
88 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 The following are extracts: 
 
 "If it was possible for men who exercise their reason, to 
 believe that the Divine Author of our existence intended a 
 part of the human race to hold an absolute property in and 
 an unbounded power over others marked but, by His infinite 
 goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal dominion 
 never rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, 
 the inhabitants of these Colonies might at least require from 
 the Parliament of Great Britain some evidence that this 
 dreadful authority over them has been granted to that body. 
 But a reverence for our great Creator, principles" of hu 
 manity, and the dictates of common sense, must convince all 
 those, who reflect upon the subject, that government was 
 instituted to promote the welfare of mankind, and ought to 
 be administered for the attainment of that end. The legis 
 lature of Great Britain, however, stimulated by an inordi 
 nate passion for a power not only unjustifiable, but which 
 they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the very constitu 
 tion of that kingdom, and desperate of success in any mode 
 of contest where regard should be had to truth, law, or 
 right, have at length, deserting those, attempted to effect 
 their cruel and impolitic purpose of enslaving these Colo 
 nies by violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for 
 us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms. 
 
 ''Yet, however blinded that assembly may be by their in 
 temperate rage for unlimited domination, so to slight justice 
 and the opinion of mankind, we esteem ourselves bound by 
 obligations of respect to the rest of the world, to make 
 known the justice of our cause. 
 
 "But why should we enumerate our injuries in detail ? 
 By one statute it is declared that Parliament can ' of right, 
 make laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever.' What is to 
 defend us against so enormous, so unlimited, a power? Not 
 a single man of those who assume, it is chosen by us, or is 
 subject to our control or influence ; but on the contrary, they 
 are all of them exempt from the operation of such laws and 
 an American revenue, if not diverted from the ostensible pur 
 poses for which it is raised, would actually lighten their own 
 burdens in proportion as they increase ours. We saw the 
 misery to which such despotism would reduce us. We for 
 ten years incessantly and ineffectually besieged the throne 
 as supplicants; we reasoned, we remonstrated, with Parlia 
 ment in the most mild and decent language." 
 
 After enumerating the several acts of aggression upon 
 Colonial rights, and especially the actual war upon Massa 
 chusetts, the Declaration concludes, as follows: 
 
 "We are reduced to the alternation of choosing an uncon 
 ditional submission to the tyranny of irritated Ministers or 
 resistance by force. The latter is our choice. 
 
 "We have counted the cost of this contest, and find noth- 
 
THE BIRTU OF THE REPUBLIC. 89 
 
 ing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Honor, justice, and 
 humanity forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which 
 we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our inno 
 cent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot 
 endure the infamy and guilfc of consigning succeeding genera 
 tions to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if 
 we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them. Our cause 
 is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are 
 great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly 
 attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances 
 of Divine favor towards us, that His Providence would not 
 permit us to be called into this severe controversy until we 
 were grown up to our present strength, had been previously 
 exercised in warlike operations, and possessed of the means 
 of defending ourselves. 
 
 "With hearts fortified by these animating reflections, we 
 most solemnly, before God and the world, declare that, ex 
 erting the utmost energy of those powers which our benefi- 
 cient Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms 
 we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, 
 in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and 
 perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties, 
 being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than 
 live slaves. 
 
 "Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our 
 friends and fellow-subjects in any part of the empire, we 
 assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which 
 has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which 
 we sincerely wish to be restored. 
 
 "Necessity has not yet driven us into that desperate meas 
 ure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against 
 them. 
 
 "We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of 
 separating from Great Britain and establishing independent 
 states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit 
 to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked 
 by unprovoked enemies without any imputation or even 
 suspicion of offence. 
 
 "They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet 
 proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death. 
 
 "In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is 
 our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed until the late viola 
 tion of it, for the protection of our property, acquired solely 
 by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves, 
 against violence actually offered, we h ave taken up arms. We 
 shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part 
 of the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed 
 shall be removed, and not before. With an humble confi 
 dence in the mercies of the Supreme and Impartial Judge 
 and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore His 
 
90 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Divine goodness to protect us happily through this great con 
 flict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reason 
 able terms, and thereby to relieve the empire from the ca 
 lamities of civil war." 
 
 At this session the Congress adopted a petition to the King 
 in the usual style of such papers, complaining of the meas 
 ures of the Ministry and justifying the defensive measures 
 of the Colonies. It is signed by all the delegates present, 
 except the representation of the single parish of Georgia. 
 
 On the same day Congress adopted an elaborate address 
 to the inhabitants of Great Britain, complaining of the ar 
 bitrary and unjust policy of the British Parliament, and ap 
 pealing to them as "friends, countrymen, and brethren." 
 
 On the 13th July the Congress agreed upon a speech to be 
 read in their name to the six nations of Indians ; and on the 
 28th an address to the people of Ireland was adopted in jus 
 tification of their measures of resistance. 
 
 After other proceedings in reference to defensive measures, 
 the Congress adjourned August 1st to September 5th. 
 
 The Congress met again September 5th, according to ad 
 journment. Its proceedings for the most part were of a 
 business nature. 
 
 The following spirited paragraph is extracted from the re 
 port of a committee, adopted by the body on the 6th of De 
 cember : 
 
 " The Congress resumed the consideration of the report of 
 the committee on proclamations, which, being debated by 
 paragraphs, was agreed to as follows : 
 
 "We, the delegates of the thirteen united Colonies in 
 North America, have taken into our most serious considera 
 tion a proclamation issued from the Court of St. James on 
 the 23d day of August last. The name of Majesty is used to 
 give it a sanction and influence, and on that account it be 
 comes a matter of importance to wipe off in the name of the 
 people of these united Colonies the aspersions which it is cal 
 culated to throw upon our cause, and to prevent as far as 
 possible the undeserved punishments which it is designed to 
 prepare for our friends. We are accused of * forgetting the 
 allegiance which we owe to the power that has protected 
 and sustained us.' Why, all this ambiguity and obscurity 
 in what ought to be so plain and obvious that he who runs 
 may read it ! What allegiance is it that we forget ? Alle 
 giance to Parliament ? We never owed, we never owned, it. 
 Allegiance to our King ? Our words have ever avowed it ; 
 our conduct has ever been consistent with it. We condemn, 
 and with arms in our hands (a resource which freemen will 
 never part with) we oppose, the claim and exercise of uncon 
 stitutional powers, to which neither the Crown nor Parlia 
 ment were ever entitled. By the British Constitution, our 
 best inheritance, rights as well as duties descend upon us, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 91 
 
 We cannot violate the latter by defending the former. We 
 should act in diametrical opposition to both if we permitted 
 the claims of the British Parliament to be established and 
 the measures pursued in consequence of those claims to be 
 carried into execution among us." 
 
 Certain resolutions offered by Eichard Henry Lee, of Vir 
 ginia, June 7, 1776: 
 
 " Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and of right 
 ought to be free, and independent States ; that they are ab 
 solved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all 
 political connection between them and the state of Great 
 Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. 
 
 " That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual 
 measures for forming foreign alliances. 
 
 " That apian of confederation be prepared and transmitted 
 to the respective Colonies for their consideration and appro 
 bation being moved and seconded, 
 
 " Resolved, That the consideration of them be deferred till 
 to-morrow morning ; and that the members be enjoined to 
 attend punctually at ten o'clock, in order to take the same 
 into consideration." 
 
 Agreeable to order, the Congress resolved itself into a com 
 mittee of the whole to take into their further consideration 
 the resolutions to them referred ; and after some time spent 
 thereon, the President resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison, 
 of Virginia, reported that the committee have had under 
 consideration the matters referred to them, and have come 
 to a resolution thereon, which they directed him to report. 
 
 The resolution agreed to in the committee of the whole 
 being read, 
 
 "Resolved, That the consideration of the first resolution 
 be postponed to Monday, the 1st day of July next ; and in 
 the mean while that no time be lost in case the Congress 
 agree thereto that a committee be appointed to prepare a 
 declaration to the effect of the said first resolution, which is 
 in these words : ' That these united Colonies are, and of 
 right ought to be, free and independent States ; that they are 
 absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown ; and that 
 all political connection between them and the State of Great 
 Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.' 
 
 "Resolved, That the committee be discharged." 
 
 Dr. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jeffer 
 son were appointed on the committee to prepare the Decla 
 ration. It was drawn by Mr. Jefferson. 
 
 " Wednesday, July 3, 1766. 
 
 "Agreeable to the order of the day, the Congress resolved it 
 self into the committee of the whole to take into their further 
 consideration the Declaration ; and after some time the Presi 
 dent resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported that the 
 
92 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 committee, not having yet gone through it, desired leave to 
 sit again. 
 
 "Resolved, That this Congress will to-morrow again re 
 solve itself into a committee of the whole to take into their 
 further consideration the Declaration of Independence." 
 
 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 "Thursday, July 4, 1776. 
 
 " Agreeable to the order of the day, the Congress resolved 
 itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their further 
 consideration the Declaration ; and after some time, the Pres 
 ident resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported that the 
 committee have agreed to a declaration, which they desired 
 him to report. 
 
 4 ' The Declaration being read, was agreed to as follows : 
 
 " A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States 
 of America in General Congress Assembled : 
 
 " When, in the course of human events, it becomes neces 
 sary for one people to dissolve the political bands which 
 have connected them with another, and to assume, among 
 the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to 
 which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, 
 a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that 
 they should declare the causes which impel them to the sep 
 aration. 
 
 " We hold these truths to be self-evident : That all men are 
 created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
 certain unalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, 
 governments are instituted among men, deriving their just 
 powers from the consent of the governed ; that whenever any 
 form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is 
 the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to insti 
 tute a new government, laying its foundations on such prin 
 ciples, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them 
 shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. 
 Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long estab 
 lished should not be changed for light and transient causes ; 
 and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are 
 more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to 
 right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are 
 accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpa 
 tions, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design 
 to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it 
 is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide 
 new guards for their future security. Such has been the 
 patient sufferance of these Colonies ; and such is now the ne- 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 93 
 
 cessity which constrains them to alter their former system 
 of government. 
 
 " The history of the present King of Great Britain is a his 
 tory of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in di 
 rect object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over 
 these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a can 
 did world : 
 
 "He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome 
 and necessary for the public good. 
 
 4 ' He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate 
 and pressing importance, unless suspended in their opera 
 tion till his assent should be obtained; and when so sus 
 pended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. 
 
 " He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation 
 of large districts of people unless those people would relin- 
 giuish the right of representation in the legislature a right 
 inestimable, and formidable to tyrants onljr. 
 
 " He has called together legislative bodies at places un 
 usual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of 
 their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them 
 into compliance with his measures. 
 
 " He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for op 
 posing with manly firmness his invasions on the right of the 
 people. 
 
 "He has refused, for a long time after such dissolutions, to 
 cause others to be elected ; whereby the legislative powers, 
 incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at 
 large for their exercise, the state remaining in the mean 
 time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, 
 and convulsions within. 
 
 "He has endeavored to prevent the population of these 
 States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for natural 
 ization of foreigners ; refusing to pass others to encourage 
 their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new 
 appropriations of lands. 
 
 " He has obstructed the administration of justice by refus 
 ing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. 
 
 " He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the 
 tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their 
 salaries. 
 
 " He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither 
 swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their sub 
 stance. 
 
 "He has kept among us in times of peace, standing ar 
 mies, without the consent of our legislature. 
 
 "He has affected to render the military independent of 
 and superior to the civil power. 
 
 " He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdic 
 tion foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by 
 
94 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 our laws ; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legis 
 lation : 
 
 " For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us; 
 
 * ' For protecting them by a mock trial from punishment, 
 for any murders which they should commit on the inhabi 
 tants of these States ; 
 
 "For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world; 
 
 " For imposing taxes on us without our consent; 
 
 " For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by 
 jury ; 
 
 4 ' For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended 
 offences ; 
 
 " For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neigh 
 boring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary govern 
 ment, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once 
 an example and fit instrument for introducing the same ab 
 solute rule into these Colonies ; 
 
 "For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valu 
 able laws, and altering fundamentally the powers of our 
 government; 
 
 " For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring them 
 selves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases 
 whatsoever. 
 
 "He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of 
 his protection, and waging war against us. 
 
 "He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our 
 towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 
 
 "He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign 
 mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and 
 tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and 
 perfidy scarcely parallelled in the most barbarous ages, and 
 totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. 
 
 " He has constrained our fellow-citizens, taken captive on 
 the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become 
 the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall 
 themselves by their hands. 
 
 " He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and 
 has endeavored to bring, on the inhabitants of our frontiers, 
 the merciless Indian savages, whose known rules of warfare 
 is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and con 
 ditions. 
 
 " In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned 
 for redress in the most humble terras; our repeated petitions 
 have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince 
 whose character is thus marked by every act which may 
 define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. 
 
 "Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British 
 brethren. We have warned them from time to time of at 
 tempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable 
 jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the cir- 
 
THE BIRTH OF TEE REPUBLIC. 95 
 
 cumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We 
 have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and 
 we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, 
 to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably inter 
 rupt our connections and correspondence. They too have 
 been deaf to the voice of justice and consanguinity. We 
 must therefore acquiesce in the necessity which denounces 
 our separation, and hold them as we hold the rest of man 
 kindenemies in war, in peace friends. 
 
 "We, therefore, the representatives of the UNITED 
 STATES OF AMERICA, in general Congress assembled, 
 appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the recti 
 tude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority 
 of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and 
 declare, That these united Colonies are, and of right ought 
 to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved 
 from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all politi 
 cal connection between them and the state of Great Britain 
 is and ought to be totally dissolved ; and that, as free and 
 independent states, they have full power to levy war, con 
 clude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and do 
 all other acts and things which independent states may of 
 right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a 
 firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we 
 mutually pledge to each our lives, our fortunes, and our sa 
 cred honor." 
 
 " The foregoing Declaration was, by order of Congress en 
 grossed, and signed by the following members : 
 
 JOHN HANCOCK. 
 
 New Hampshire. Delaware. 
 
 Josiah Bartlett, Csesar Rodney, 
 
 William Whipple, George Read, 
 
 Matthew Thornton. Thomas M'Kean. 
 
 Rhode Island. 
 
 Stephen Hopkins, Maryland. 
 
 William Ellery. . _.. 
 
 Samuel Chase, 
 
 Connecticut. "\Yilliam Paca, 
 Roger Sherman, ^omas Stone, ^ n 
 Samuel Huntin^ton, Charles Carroll, of Carroll- 
 William Williams, ton- 
 Oliver Wolcott. 
 
 Massachusetts Bay. New YorJc - 
 
 Samuel Adams, William Floyd, 
 
 John Adams, Philip Livingston, 
 
 Robert Treat Paine, Francis Lewis, 
 
 Elbridge Gerry. Lewis Morris, 
 
96 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 New Jersey. Thomas Jefferson, 
 
 Richard Stockton, Benjamin Harrison, 
 
 John Witherspoon, Thomas Nelson, Jr., 
 
 Francis Hopkinson, Francis Lightfoot Lee, 
 
 John Hart, Carter Braxton. 
 Abraham Clark. North Carolina , 
 
 Pennsylvania. William Hooper, 
 
 Robert Morris, Joseph Hewes, 
 
 Benjamin Rush, John. Penn. 
 Benjamin Franklin, 
 
 John Morton, South Carolina. 
 
 George Clymer, Edward Rutledge, 
 
 James Smith, Thomas Hey ward, Jr., 
 
 George Taylor, Thomas Lynch, Jr., 
 
 James Wilson, Arthur Middleton. 
 George Ross. Georgia. 
 
 Virginia. Button Gwinnett, 
 
 George Wythe, Lyman Hall. 
 
 Richard Henry Lee, George Walton. 
 
 " Resolved, That copies of the Declaration be sent to the 
 several assemblies, conventions, and committees, or coun 
 cils of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the 
 continental troops; that it be proclaimed in each of the 
 United States, and at the head of the army." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MOVEMENTS IN THE COLONIES. 
 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 A REPORT made to the House of Lords on the 20th April, 
 1774, has become, in the light of subsequent history, an im 
 perishable monument to the irrepressible love of liberty, as 
 well as the unconquerable spirit of the people of Massachu 
 setts. 
 
 The introductory lines of this elaborate document will con 
 vey a clear notion of its character arid contents. They are 
 as follows: 
 
 ."The Earl of Buckinghamshire reported from the lords 
 committee appointed to inquire into the several proceed 
 ings in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, in opposition to the 
 sovereignty of his Majesty, in his Parliament of Great Brit- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 97 
 
 ain, over that Province, and also what has passed in this 
 House relative thereto from the first day of January, 1764." 
 
 The report proceeds to recite the several acts of Parlia 
 ment affecting the Colonies, the resolutions of the lords, the 
 proclamations of the King, the speeches from the throne, 
 and the responsive addresses of the lords. It also quotes 
 from or states the substance of the proceedings of the Assem 
 bly of Massachusetts Bay, the resolutions of county and 
 town meetings, and relates the acts of mob violence which 
 occurred in Boston. 
 
 The report is, in substance, one long indictment against 
 the people of Massachusetts, based on allegations which 
 every son of the State then and now would be proud to ad 
 mit the truth of. It would occupy far too much space for 
 me to quote all the facts complained of by the committee; 
 and I only copy the more striking statements, and make 
 brief references to the remainder. Their first complaint is 
 as follows : 
 
 "The committee, having perused the report of the Board 
 of Trade of the llth day of December, 1764, and the papers 
 laid before his Majesty therewith, find in the said papers the 
 strongest assertions, by the Assembly of the Massachusetts 
 Bay, of their sole right to pass laws, particularly of taxa 
 tion ; and of their resolution to invite the other Colonies to 
 combine with them in measures to prevent the King, in his 
 Parliament, from passing any such laws. For instance, in 
 a letter to Mr. Mauduit, then agent of the Province, which 
 was drawn up by a committee of the House of Representa 
 tives, and afterwards approved by the House, they used the 
 following expressions : ' The silence of the Province should 
 have been imputed to any cause, even to despair, rather 
 than be construed into a tacit cession of their rights, or an 
 acknovyledgment of a right in the Parliament of Great Brit 
 ain to impose duties and taxes upon a people who are not 
 represented in the House of Commons;' and in the same let 
 ter they avowed and authenticated the doctrines advanced 
 in a certain pamphlet, entitled 'The Rights of the British 
 Colonies Asserted and Proved,' written by James Otis, Esq., 
 which pamphlet, amongst other things, says: 'That the im 
 position of taxes, whether on trade or on lands, on houses or 
 ships, on real or personal, fixed or floating, property in the 
 Colonies, is absolutely irreconcilable with the rights of the 
 colonists, as British subjects, and as men.' 
 
 " It appears to the committee, from the votes of the House 
 of Representatives of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, of 
 the 6th of June, 1765, that they came to a resolution, ' That 
 it was highly expedient there should be a meeting, as soon 
 as might be, of committees from the Houses of Representa 
 tives or Burgesses, in the several Colonies on the American 
 continent,' to consult on their then present circumstances, 
 
98 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 and the difficulties to which they were reduced by the opera 
 tion of the late acts of Parliament for levying duties on the 
 Colonies, and to consider of a general address to his Majesty 
 and the Parliament, to implore relief; and that letters should 
 be forthwith prepared and transmitted to the respective 
 speakers of the several Assemblies, to invite them to accede 
 to this proposition ; and, further, that on the 8th of June they 
 did actually elect three persons to be their committees, and 
 also voted 450 to bear their expenses." 
 
 They next give an account of the destruction of the stamps 
 by the people of Boston, in August, 1765 ; but of this event I 
 have presented a full history in preceding parts of this com 
 pilation. These violent proceedings in regard to the stamps, 
 which began in Boston, August 15th, and were followed up 
 by all of the Colonies, one after another, caused the King and 
 Parliament to halt in their despotic career. The Stamp Act 
 was repealed ; and, what is still more remarkable, an act was 
 passed to render valid all legal instruments which had been 
 executed on unstamped paper in America during the exist 
 ence of that odious law. 
 
 ** The committee find that, on the meeting of the As 
 sembly of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, on the 28th of 
 January, 1767, a message was sent to the Governor from the 
 House of Representatives, desiring to be informed, 'Whether 
 any provision had been made at the expense of that govern 
 ment for the King's troops, lately arrived in the harbor of 
 Boston ;' and that after having had the minutes of Council 
 (by which it expressly appeared that the provision for the 
 artillery companies at the castle was made in pursuance of 
 the then late act of Parliament) laid before them, they re 
 plied that, ' In giving orders, with the advice of the Coun 
 cil, for making provisions for the artillery companies at the 
 castle, the Governor had acted in an essential point against 
 the plain intent of the charter, by which alone, and that 
 only, according to such acts as are or may be in force with 
 in this province, the Governor and Council were authorized 
 to issue money out of the treasury ;' adding, * That it was 
 still more grievous to them to find the Governor stating, as 
 the foundation of the proceeding, a late act of Parliament, 
 which to them appeared as great a grievance as the Stamp 
 Act, which took away the unalienable right of freedom from 
 all taxation, but such as they should voluntary consent to 
 and grant.' 
 
 " The committee call attention to another circular-letter 
 of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, of the date 
 of 1768, in which an appeal is made to the Assemblies of 
 other Colonies for co-operation in protesting against the 
 acts of Parliament which imposed duties on the Colony. 
 
 "The committee complain that the people of Massachu- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 99 
 
 setts, in the election of the Council, in 1766, '67, and '68, 
 ' left out all the Crown officers.' 
 
 44 The committee narrate at seme length the circumstances 
 attending the seizure by the Collector and Comptroller of 
 the Customs, of the sloop Liberty, the property of John Han 
 cock, of Boston. This happened on the 9th of May, 1768. 
 It * occasioned a most violent tumult ; the Collector and 
 Comptroller, with the son of the Collector, were attacked by 
 a numerous and outrageous mob, who beat and abused them 
 in a most cruel manner; and in the night attacked their 
 houses, broke the windows, seized on a boat belonging to 
 the Collector, which they carried away in triumph, and 
 afterwards burnt. The commissioners of the customs, ex 
 pecting the same treatment, the riot still continuing, thought 
 it prudent to retreat for safety till midnight with their fami 
 lies to the houses of some persons in the neighborhood ; and 
 afterwards, upon conviction that their lives were in danger, 
 took refuge on board his Majesty's ship the Eomney, then 
 in the harbor of Boston, and for their further security, from 
 thence into Castle William.' 
 
 " The commissioners, from their retreat in the castle, ap 
 plied several times to the Governor, Sir Francis Bernard, 
 for protection. But the tone of his reply shows entire help 
 lessness on his part, as well as a degree of timid acquies 
 cence in what was deemed inevitable. At length, on the 
 22d of July, he referred the letter to the Council, which 
 body fully resolved ' That the disorders which happened 
 were occasioned by the violent and unprecedented manner 
 in which the sloop Liberty had been seized by the officers of 
 the customs.' 
 
 "Two regiments were sent to Boston in consequence of 
 these events, to support the civil power and preserve the 
 peace; but this proceeding was the source of new disorders. 
 The troops were cautioned against quarrelling with the 
 townspeople, ' by whom they complained they had been fre 
 quently ill-treated and insulted.' Nevertheless, violent col 
 lisions occurred between the troops and the citizens, which 
 caused the latter to be fired upon, and several were killed. 
 
 At a town meeting, on the 12th September, 1768, the free 
 holders and inhabitants of Boston declared, by resolution, 
 that the taxation of the Colony by the British Parliament 
 was a violation of the charter and of natural right. They 
 also resolved, as the Governor refused to call the Assembly 
 together, that a committee of their number should be 
 elected to meet committees from the other towns of the 
 Province, in convention, "in order that such measures 
 might be consulted and advised as his Majesty's service, and 
 the peace and safety of his subjects in the Province, might 
 require. " They also voted that ' ' every listed soldier " ' ' shall 
 always be provided with a well-fixed fire-locn musket, ac- 
 
100 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 coutrement, and amunition." This was based on the appre 
 hension of a war with France. 
 
 The select-men, by instruction of this town meeting, ad 
 dressed a long circular-letter to the other towns, in which 
 their common grievances were set forth, and in which they 
 were called on to send delegates, or, as they are called, 
 committees, to meet in a Provincial convention for the pur 
 pose of devising measures of redress. The proposed con 
 vention was to assemble on the 22 of September. 
 
 At this point I leave the report of the committee for a 
 while, in order to refer to the proceedings of this convention. 
 
 It met in Faneuil Hall, according to Barry, at the ap 
 pointed time, September 22d, 1768. He says: 
 
 "The convention called by the people of Boston met ac 
 cording to appointment ; and, on the first day, about seventy 
 persons appeared, the representatives of sixty-six towns. 
 This number was increased by daily arrivals, until ninety- 
 six towns and eight districts, nearly every settlement in 
 i the Province, was represented. Otis was at first absent ; 
 and Thomas Gushing, the speaker of the House, was chosen 
 moderator, and the clerk of the House was chosen clerk of 
 the convention." 
 
 "They have committed treason," shouted the officers of 
 the Crown. " At least the select-men of Boston have done 
 so." "Boston," wrote Gage, " is mutinous; its resolves are 
 treasonable and desperate," etc. 
 
 The convention petitioned the Governor to "cause an 
 Assembly to be immediately convened. " This he declined to 
 do, on the ground that it would be an admission of the le 
 gality of the body. He advised the members to separate at 
 once, and, if they failed to do so, he would assert the preroga 
 tive of the Crown, and those who persisted in usurping its 
 rights, would be made to " repent their rashness." " But," 
 says the historian, ' ' the message was received with deri 
 sion." 
 
 The convention continued in session six days, and re 
 peated the protest of the people against the taxation of 
 the Colonies by Parliament, against a standing army, and 
 against the danger to the "liberties of America, from a unit 
 ed body of pensioners and soldiers;" and, after renting 
 their petition to the King, which their agent was enjoined 
 to deliver in person, as soon as possible, they dissolved. 
 "Some feared, others hoped, for much more serious conse 
 quences from this extraordinary assembly." But its mem 
 bers, aware of the necessity of prudence, displayed in all 
 their proceedings remarkable caution, and when the result 
 of their labors was transmitted to England, though many 
 would gladly have seized upon the slightest flaw to justify 
 their exemplary punishment, "no traces of high treason 
 could be found in what had been done." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 101 
 
 The Boston town meeting, and the convention which it 
 called into being, caused great indignation among the gov 
 erning party in England. 
 
 The King, in his speech, November 8th, refers to it as fol 
 lows: "The capital town of which Colony appears, hy late 
 advices, to be in a state of disobedience to all law and gov 
 ernment, and has proceeded to measures subversive of the 
 Constitution, and attended with circumstances that manifest 
 a disposition to throw off their dependence on Great Brit 
 ain." The lords responded Amen to this speech; and on the 
 15th December (I again quote this committee's report), they 
 resolved, 
 
 ' ' That the declarations, resolutions, and proceedings in the 
 town meeting at Boston on the 14th of June and 12th of Sep 
 tember were illegal and unconstitutional, and calculated to 
 excite sedition and insurrection in his Majesty's Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay. 
 
 " That the appointment, at the town meeting on the 12th 
 of September, of a convention to be held in the town of Bos 
 ton on the 22d of that month to consist of deputies from 
 the several towns and districts in the Province of Massa 
 chusetts Bay, and the issuing a precept, by the select-men 
 of the town of Boston, to each of the said towns and districts, 
 for the election of such deputies, were proceedings subver 
 sive of his Majesty's government, and evidently manifesting 
 a design in the inhabitants of the said town of Boston to set 
 up a new and unconstitutional authority, independent of the 
 Crown of Great Britain. 
 
 That the elections, by several towns and districts in the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay, of deputies to sit in the said 
 convention, and the meeting of such convention in conse 
 quence thereof, were daring insults offered to his Majesty's 
 authority, and audacious usurpations of the powers of gov 
 ernment"." 
 
 The first of these series of resolutions declares that the 
 votes, resolutions, and proceedings of the House of Repre 
 sentatives of Massachusetts Bay, in the months of January 
 and February of the same year (1768), so far as they deny 
 the right of the King and Parliament to make laws binding 
 upon the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, "are illegal, un 
 constitutional, and derogatory of the rights of the Crown 
 and Parliament of Great Britain." 
 
 The second of these resolutions declares that the resolu 
 tions of the Massachusetts Assembly in January preceding, 
 which provide for sending delegates to a general convention 
 of the Colonies, and which deny the validity of acts of Par 
 liament, etc., u are proceedings of a most unwarrantable 
 and dangerous nature, calculated to inflame the minds of 
 his Majesty's subjects in the other Colonies, tending to create 
 
102 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 unlawful combinations, repugnant to the laws of Great Brit 
 ain, and subversive of the Constitution." 
 
 On the same day an humble address was voted to his Maj 
 esty, ' ' to express our sincere satisfaction in the measures 
 his Majesty has pursued for supporting the constitution, 
 and inducing a due obedience to the authority of the leglis- 
 lature." The measures here refered to which gave such 
 satisfaction to their lordships were not unlike those recom 
 mended by Dr. Franklin, in his humorous letter addressed 
 to the rulers of England, in which he points out the most 
 effective plan for reducing a great empire to a small one. 
 
 The House of Commons, on the 9th of February, 1769, re 
 turned the resolutions and address of the lords, with some 
 amendments, which the latter boiy agreed to. 
 
 The committee whose elaborate report I am quoting from 
 naively remark that "It doth not appear to the committee 
 that the censure of the proceedings in the Province of Mas 
 sachusetts Bay, and of the conduct of the Council and other 
 civil magistrates, expressed by both Houses of Parliament 
 in their resolutions, and their approbation of the measure of 
 sending troops thither to support and protect the magis 
 trates, and the officers of the revenue, produced the good 
 effect that might reasonably have been hoped for." One 
 would have supposed that observations such as the above 
 might have led the committee to the conclusion that a 
 change of policy was necessary ; but the effect was to confirm 
 their lordships, as well as the King and Parliament, in the 
 notion that the same tyrannical policy should be persisted 
 in and carried to greater extremes of harshness. This fatal 
 delusion is always sure to possess the minds of men who are 
 in the exercise of arbitrary power. 
 
 The Parliamentary committee complain that the " Meet 
 ings of the associators were represented to have been held 
 in as regular a manner as any other meeting authorized by 
 the Constitution. Committees were appointed to examine 
 the cargoes of aU vessels arriving from Great Britain ; and, 
 regular votes and resolutions of censure were passed in 
 these meetings upon all such as refused to concur in those 
 unlawful associations; their names were published in the 
 
 Sublic newspapers as enemies to their country ; and the man- 
 ates and decrees of those committees meet with a respect 
 and obedience denied to the constitutional authority of gov 
 ernment. In some cases, goods imported from Great Britain 
 were locked up in warehouses, under the care of these com 
 mittees, in order to prevent their being sold, and in one or 
 two instances they were reshipped to Great Britain." 
 
 On the 31st of May the General Assembly sent a message 
 to the Governor, complaining of the presence of troops in 
 the town of Boston, and ships in the harbor, and calling on 
 him to have them sent away, as their presence was incom- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 103 
 
 patible with the dignity and independence of the Assembly. 
 The Governor replied that he had no control over the troops 
 or the ships; to which the Assembly, on the 31st of June, 
 made answer that, "By the principles of the Constitution, 
 the Governor of the Colony had the absolute military com 
 mand ; that the sending a military force there to enforce the 
 execution of the laws is in consistent with the nature of govern 
 ment and the spirit of a free constitution ; that the unwilling 
 ness, of a people in general, that a law should be executed was 
 a strong presumption of its being an unjust law ; that it could 
 not be their law, as the people must consent to laws before 
 they can be obliged, in conscience, to obey them." 
 On the 8th of July the Assembly passed resolutions de- 
 
 the rights of British subjects, as thereby the inestimable 
 privilege of being tried by a jury from the vicinage, as well 
 as the liberty of summoning and producing witnesses on 
 such trials, will be taken away from the party accused." 
 
 The Parliamentary committee give the substance of a 
 letter from Lieutenant-governor Hutchinson, of March 27, 
 1770, who lamented that when the troops were in Boston 
 they were of no use in enforcing the laws in cases of riot, 
 as no civil magistrate would have called on them, for fear 
 of being driven from the town. 
 
 Hutchinson, in a letter of April 27. 1770, complains of 
 the associators that they would not tolerate the sale of what 
 they called contraband goods that is to say, such as were 
 not enumerated in their schedule ; that tea from Holland 
 might be sold, but that it was a high crime to sell any from 
 England; " that several of the importers pleaded that they 
 should be utterly ruined, but the Boston zealots had no 
 bowels, and gave for answer, that, if a ship was to bring in 
 the plague, nobody would doubt what was to be done with her; 
 but the present case is much worse than that." 
 
 In the same letter Hutchinson observes " that the Boston 
 principles obtain more and more in the remote parts of the 
 Province, and the Representatives of seven eighths of the 
 towns appear, in the present session, to be favorers of the 
 non -importation measures." He states, however, that, when 
 the resolutions and addresses of Parliament first came to 
 hand, they had a terrifying effect upon the popular leaders 
 and the press ; but after a few weeks, when they found that 
 the vigorous measures were relaxed, "they became more 
 assuming and tyrannical than before." 
 
 In 1771, July 5th, the Assembly declare that " they know 
 of no commissioners of his Majesty's customs, nor of any 
 revenue his Majesty has a right to establish, in North Amer 
 ica; that they know and feel a tribute levied and extorted 
 
104 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 from those who, if they have property, have a right to 
 the absolute disposal of it." 
 
 The Parliamentary committee quote the address of the 
 select-men of Boston to the Governor, of October 28, 1772, 
 in which they earnestly protest against the recent act of 
 Parliament which applied the revenues of the Province to the 
 payment of fixed salaries to the judges of the Superior Court, 
 and the attorney and solicitor-general, in violation of the 
 Charter. At the same meeting, a committee for correspon 
 dence with the other towns of the Province was established. 
 
 On the 25th January, 1773, the Council, in its answer to 
 the Governor, declare, " They are of opinion that the Parlia 
 ment cannot constitutionally levy taxes, in any form, on 
 his Majesty's subjects in that Province." 
 
 THE BOSTON TEA PARTY. 
 
 The Parliamentary committee give the following account 
 of the destruction of the tea in Boston Harbor ; and of the 
 preliminary proceedings and acts of violence of the town's 
 people which led to it: 
 
 " The committee of correspondence appear to have used 
 their utmost endeavors to work up the minds of the people 
 not only for their own, but also the southern governments, 
 to prevent the importation of teas from the East India Com 
 pany ; and accordingly, on the 3d of November, 1773, a mob 
 of about five hundred persons committed several outrageous 
 acts of violence against the persons to whom it was expected 
 the tea in question would be consigned ; insisting that they 
 should engage and promise not to receive or sell it ; that if 
 they did, they would be voted enemies to their country, and 
 must expect to be treated as such hereafter. They then 
 forced open the doors of the warehouses of Mr. Clark, and 
 tore them off the hinges, and entered with great violence, 
 attempting to force their way to the counting-house, but 
 were driven back by the persons who were in it. 
 
 " A committee then of the freeholders and other inhabit 
 ants attended Messrs. Thomas and Elisha Hutchinson, sup 
 posed to be two of the consignees, and requested them to 
 resign their appointment, and, upon their refusing, voted 
 their answer unsatisfactory. Governor Hutchinson did 
 everything in his power, without the Council, for the pres 
 ervation of the peace and good order of the town, and 
 thought that, if he had the aid Council might have given, 
 his endeavors would have been more effectual. 
 
 *' On the 7th of November, 1773, a large number of people 
 beset the house of Mr. Hutchinson, but, not finding him at 
 home, proceeded to Mr. Clark's, another of the consipniees, 
 where they committed great disorders broke the glasses 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 105 
 
 and frames of the windows, and did considerable damage. 
 After this riot, the Governor immediately summoned a Coun 
 cil, and laid before them the necessity of some measures be 
 ing taken ; but the Council declined advising or directing 
 any measures for landing the tea, suggesting that then 
 they would of course advise to a measure for procuring the 
 payment of the duty, and therefore be advising to a measure 
 inconsistent with the declared sentiment of both Houses in 
 the last winter session of the General Court, which they ap 
 prehended to be altogether inexpedient and improper. 
 
 " After the arrival of a ship loaded with tea, a meeting of 
 the people of Boston and the neighboring towns was held on 
 the 29th of November, and continued, by adjournment, till 
 the next day, when a motion was made and agreed to, nem. 
 con., that the tea should be not only sent back, but that no 
 duty should be paid thereon. 
 
 "It was also voted, nem. con., that Mr. Rotch, owner of 
 the vessel, and Captain Hall, the master of the ship, at their 
 peril, should not suffer any of the tea to be landed ; it was 
 also voted that Governor Hutchinson's conduct in request 
 ing the justices of the peace to meet to suppress all riots and 
 unlawful assemblies carried a designed reflection upon the 
 people there met, and was solely calculated to serre the 
 views of administration. They afterwards voted that the 
 tea brought by Captain Hall should be returned by Mr. 
 Rotch to England, in the same botton in which it came. It 
 was also voted, nem. cow., that six persons should be appointed 
 to give due notice to the towns in the country, when they 
 should be required so to do, upon any important occasion. 
 
 " They also resolved that, if any person or persons should 
 hereafter import any tea from Great Britain, or if any 
 master or masters of any vessel or vessels in Great Britain 
 should take the same on board to be imported to that place, 
 until the said unrighteous act should be repealed, he or they 
 should be deemed by that body an enemy to his country ; 
 and that they would prevent the landing and sale of the 
 same, and the payment of any duty thereon ; and that they 
 would effect the return thereof to the place from whence it 
 came. 
 
 "They also resolved that these their votes be printed 
 and sent to England and all the sea ports in the province. 
 Before they separated, they voted that their brethren in the 
 country should be desired to give their assistance upon the 
 first notice that should be given. 
 
 " After the dissolution of this assembly of the people, what 
 is called the committee of correspondence called in commit 
 tees of other towns, kept up a military watch and guard 
 every night to prevent the landing any teas, and appeared 
 to be the executioners of the resolves and orders passed at 
 the aforesaid assembly. 
 
106 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "The consignees haying retired to the castle, the owner of 
 the first ship that arrived was the principal person applied 
 to, and he was sent for repeatedly by these committees, and 
 was frequently required to send back the ship with the teas. 
 He pleaded ' that he could not get a clearance at the custom 
 house nor a pass for the castle ; and that, if he should be 
 able to get his ship out of the harbor, both ship and cargo 
 would be forfeited in every part of the King's dominions.' 
 This was not thought satisfactory, and the next morning 
 another assembly of the people met and chose a moderator. 
 At this meeting it was determined that Mr. Eotch, the 
 owner of the ship, should demand at the custom-house a 
 clearance of the teas for England, which was done the 15th, 
 when the collector and comptroller refused to grant it. 
 
 ' ' He then was obliged to demand a permit from the naval 
 office to pass the castle ; afterwards he was sent to the Gov 
 ernor to apply to him for the permit, who soon satisfied 
 him that no permit could be granted until the vessel was 
 regularly cleared. He returned to town that evening, and 
 reported this answer to the meeting. Immediately where 
 upon, numbers of the people cried out, ' A mob ! a mob !' left 
 the house, repaired to the wharfs where three of the vessels 
 lay aground, having on board three hundred and forty 
 chests of tea, and in two hours' time it was totally destroyed. 
 A sufficient number of people for doing the work were dis 
 guised, and these were surrounded by numbers, as well of 
 the inhabitants of Boston, as of other towns. 
 
 "The committee observe that many persons of considera 
 tion in the town of Boston took the lead in the proceedings 
 of this meeting, for whose names they beg leave to refer 
 your lordships to the papers themselves." 
 
 This affair drew forth from the King "under his royal 
 sign manual," a letter to Parliament, and that body pro 
 ceeded to pass the famous "Boston Port Bill," closing the 
 harbor against ingress or egress " for all goods, wares, and 
 merchandise." 
 
 THE BOSTON PORT BILL, 
 
 This bill was approved by the King, March 31, 1774. It 
 is entitled " An act to Discontinue, in such Manner and for 
 such Time as therein Mentioned, the Landing and Discharg 
 ing, Lading or Shipping, of Goods, Wares, and Merchandise, 
 at the Town and within the Harbor of Boston, in the Prov- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 107 
 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay, in North America." The title of 
 the act may be thought to indicate sufficiently its character 
 and scope, without a recital of its provisions; but for the 
 convenience of reference, the principal sections are presented 
 below. The preamble alleges " dangerous commotions and 
 insurrections," in which "valuable cargoes of teas, being 
 the property of the East India Company, and on board cer 
 tain vessels lying within the bay or harbor of Boston, were 
 seized and destroyed," as the reason, for the passage of the 
 act. A proviso excepts, from the general prohibition of com 
 merce, "any fuel or victual brought coastwise from any 
 part of the continent of America, for the necessary use and 
 sustenance of the inhabitants of the said town of Boston." 
 
 Extracts From the Bill. 
 
 " Anno Decimo-Quarto Geqrgii III., Regis. 
 
 "An Act to Discontinue, in such Manner and for such 
 Time as are therein Mentioned, the Landing and Discharging, 
 Lading or Shipping, of Goods, Wares, and Merchandise at the 
 Town and within the Harbor of Boston, in the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay, in North America. Approved March 31, 
 1774. 
 
 " Whereas, dangerous commotions and insurrections have 
 been fomented and raised in the town of Boston, of Massa 
 chusetts Bay, in New England, by divers ill-affected persons, 
 to the subversion of his Majesty's government, and to the 
 utter destruction of the public peace and good order of the 
 said town, in which commotions and insurrections, certain 
 valuable cargoes of tea, being the property of the East India 
 Company, and on board certain vessels lying within the 
 bay or harbor of Boston, were seized and destroyed ; and, 
 whereas, in the present condition of the town and harbor, 
 the commerce of his Majesty's subjects cannot be safely car 
 ried on there, nor the customs payable to his Majesty duly- 
 collected ; and it is therefore expedient that the officers of 
 his Majesty's customs should be forthwith removed from 
 the said town; may it please your Majesty that it may be 
 enacted, and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Maj 
 esty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords, spir 
 itual and temporal, and commons in this present Parlia 
 ment assembled, and by the authority of the same, that 
 from and after the first day of June, 1774, it shall not be 
 lawful for any person or persons whatsoever to lade or 
 put, or cause, or procure to be laden or put off or from any 
 quay, wharf, or other place within the said town of Boston, 
 or in or upon any part of the shore of the bay commonly 
 called the harbor of Boston, between a certain headland or 
 point called Nahant Point, on the eastern side of the entrance 
 into the said bay, and a certain headland or point called 
 
108 THE BIRTH OF THE EEPTTBLIG. 
 
 Alderton Point, on the western side of the entrance into the 
 said bay, or in or upon any island, creek, landing-place, 
 bank, or other place within the said bay or headland, into 
 any ship, vessel, lighter, boat, or bottom any goods, wares, 
 or merchandise whatsoever to be transported or carried into 
 any other country, province, or place whatsoever, or into 
 any other part of the said Province of the Massachusetts 
 Bay, in New England; or to take up, discharge, or lay on 
 land, or cause or procure to be taken up, discharged, or laid 
 on land, within the said town, or in or upon any of the places 
 aforesaid, out of any boat, lighter, ship, vessel, or bottom 
 any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to be brought 
 from any other country, province or place, or any other 
 part of the said Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New 
 England, upon pain of forfeiture of the said goods, wares, 
 and merchandise, and of the said boat, lighter, ship, vessel, 
 or other bottom into which the same shall be put, or out of 
 which the same shall be taken, and of the guns, ammunition, 
 tackle, furniture, and stores in or belonging to the same ; 
 and if any such goods, wares, or merchandise shall within 
 the said town, or in the places aforesaid, be laden or taken 
 in from the shore, into any barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or 
 boat to be carried on board any ship or vessel outward- 
 bound to any other country or province, or other part of 
 said Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, or be 
 laden or taken into such barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or out 
 of any ship or vessel coming and arriving from any other 
 country or province, or other part of the said Province of 
 the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, such barge, hoy, 
 lighter, wherry, or boat, shall be forfeited and lost. 
 
 "And be it * further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, 
 That if any wharfinger or keeper of any wharf, crane, or quay, 
 or their servants, or any of them, shall take up or land, or 
 knowingly suffer to be taken up or landed, or shall ship off, 
 "or suffer to be shipped off, at or from any quay of the afore 
 said wharfs, cranes, or quays any such goods, wares, or mer 
 chandise ; in every such case, all and every such wharfingers, 
 and keeper, of such wharf, crane, or quay, and every person 
 whatsoever, who shall be assisting or otherwise concerned 
 in the shipping, or in the loading or putting on board any 
 boat or other vessel, for that purpose, or in the unshipping 
 such goods, wares, and merchandise, or to whose hands the 
 same shall knowingly come after the loading, shipping, or 
 unshipping thereof, shall forfeit and lose treble the value 
 thereof, to be computed at the highest price which such goods, 
 wares, and merchandise shall bear at the place where such 
 offence shall be committed at the time when the same shall 
 be so committed, together with the vessel and boats, and all 
 horses, cattle, and carriages whatsoever made use of in the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 109 
 
 shipping, unshipping, lading, removing, carriage, or convey 
 ance of any of the aforesaid goods, wares, and merchandise. 
 
 "Provided always, That nothing in the act contained shall 
 extend, or be construed to extend, to any military or other 
 stores for his Majesty's use, or to the ships or vessels whereon 
 the same shall be laden, which shall be commissioned by and 
 in the immediate pay of his Majesty, his heirs and succes 
 sors ; nor to any fuel or victual brought coastways from any 
 part of the continent of North America for the necessary use 
 and sustenance of the inhabitants of the said town of Bos 
 ton ; provided the vessel wherein the same are to be carried, 
 shall be duly furnished with a cocket and let-pass after 
 having been duly searched by the proper officers of his 
 Majesty's customs at Marblehead, in the port of Salem, in 
 the Province of Massachusetts Bay ; and the same officers of 
 his Majesty's customs be also put on board the said vessel, 
 who is hereby authorized to go on board and proceed with 
 the said vessel, together with a sufficient number of persons 
 properly armed for his defence, to the said town or harbor of 
 Boston ; nor to any ships or vessels which may happen to be 
 within the said harbor of Boston on or before the first day 
 of June, 1774, and may have either laden or taken on board, 
 or be there with intent to load or take on board, or to land 
 or discharge, any goods, wares, or merchandise, provided the 
 said ships and vessels do depart the said harbor within four 
 teen days after the first day of June, 1774." 
 
 The Parliamentary committee relate the particulars of 
 "a most inhuman act of violence" committed by a mob, 
 upon John Malcolm, a revenue officer, who had made a 
 seizure of a vessel in the port of Falmouth, in Casco Bay. 
 The mob doubtless acted very brutally ; but the committee 
 say that it was composed entirely of the lower orders, and 
 that Malcolm had indiscreetly at other times given provo 
 cation to the people. He was tarred and feathered, and 
 severely beaten. 
 
 On the 1st of February, 1774, the House of Representatives 
 of Massachusetts required the Chief Justice, Oliver, and the 
 four Superior Court judges to declare "whether they would 
 receive the grants of Assembly for their salaries, or accept 
 their support from the Crown.'" The four judges consented 
 to receive their salaries from the Province ; but the Chief 
 Justice stated that he would continue to "accept his support 
 from the Crown." On this statement the Assembly remon 
 strated to the Governor and declared Oliver to be a public 
 enemy. Failing to procure his removal, they voted to ad 
 journ the court, which by law was to be held on the 15th of 
 February, to the 22d of that month, to which the Governor 
 refused his consent. 
 
 On the 17th June, 1774, the House of Representatives, as 
 has been noticed in the summary of the lords' report, ap- 
 
110 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 pointed the "Honorable James Bowdoin, Esq., the Honor 
 able Thomas Gushing, Esq., Mr. Samuel Adams, John Adams, 
 and Robert Treat Paine, Esquires, " a committee to meet the 
 committees or delegates from other Colonies, at the city of 
 Philadelphia, or any other place that might be deemed more 
 suitable, on the 1st of September, " to consult upon the pres 
 ent state of the Colonies, and the miseries to which they 
 are and must be reduced by the operation of certain acts 
 of Parliament respecting America; and to deliberate and 
 determine upon wise and proper measures to be by them 
 recommended to all the Colonies, for the recovery and es 
 tablishment of their just rights and liberties, civil and relig 
 ious, and the restoration of union and harmony between 
 Great Britain and the Colonies, most devoutly desired by all 
 good men." 
 These proceedings are as follows: 
 
 "The late Honorable House of Representatives of this 
 Province having finished all the ordinary public business of 
 importance that had been before them on Friday, June 17, 
 1774, came into the following resolutions, present 129 mem 
 bers, and only 12 dissentients, viz. : 
 
 "In the House of Representatives, June 17, 1774. 
 
 " This House having duly considered, and being deeply af 
 fected with, the unhappy differences which have long sub 
 sisted and are increasing between Great Britain and the 
 American Colonies, do resolve that a meeting of the com 
 mittees from the several Colonies on this continent is highly 
 expedient and necessary to consult upon the present state of 
 the Colonies, and the miseries to which they are and must 
 be reduced by the operation of certain acts of Parliament 
 respecting America ; and to deliberate and determine upon 
 wise and proper measures to be by them recommended to 
 all the Colonies, for the recovery and establishment of their 
 just rights and liberties, civil and religious, and the resto 
 ration of union and harmony between Great Britain and the 
 Colonies, most ardently desired by all good men. 
 
 " Therefore resolved, That the Honorable James Bowdoin, 
 Esq., the Honorable Thomas Gushing, Esq., Mr. Samuel 
 Adams, John Adams, and Robert Treat Paine, Esquires, be 
 and they are hereby appointed a committee on the part of 
 this Province for the purposes aforesaid, any three of whom 
 to be a quorum to meet such committees or delegates from 
 the other Colonies as have been or may be appointed, either 
 by their respective Houses of Burgesses or Representatives, 
 or by convention, or by the committees of correspondence 
 appointed by the respective Houses of Assembly, to meet in 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. Ill 
 
 the city of Philadelphia, or any other place that shall be 
 judged most suitable by the committee, on the 1st day of 
 September next ; and that the speaker of the House be di 
 rected, in a letter to the Houses of Burgesses or Representa 
 tives, in the several Colonies, to inform them of the sub 
 stance of these resolves. 
 
 " And whereas, this House did resolve that there be paid 
 to said committee out of the public treasury the sum of five 
 hundred pounds, to enable them to discharge the important 
 trust to which they are appointed, they upon their return 
 to be accountable for the same. 
 
 " And said resolve was sent up to the honorable board for 
 their concurrence, who accordingly concurred in the resolve 
 of the House; but his Excellency the Governor declined 
 his consent to the same. 
 
 " Wherefore this House would recommend, and they do ac 
 cordingly hereby recommend, to the several towns and dis 
 tricts within the Province, that each town and district 
 raise, collect, and pay to the Honorable Thomas Gushing, 
 Esquire, of Boston, the sum of five hundred pounds by the 
 15th day of August next, agreeable to a list herewith exhib 
 ited, being each town and district's proportion of said sum, 
 according to the last Province tax, to enable them to dis 
 charge the important trust to which they are appointed, 
 they upon their return to be accountable for the same." 
 
 On the same day the House strongly recommended "To 
 the inhabitants or the Province, that they renounce alto- 
 
 ether the consumption of India teas, and, as far as in them 
 es, discontinue the use of all goods and manufactures what 
 ever that shall be imported from the East Indies and Great 
 Britain, until the public grievances of America shall be rad 
 ically and totally redressed. And it is also further recom 
 mended to all, that they give all possible encouragement to 
 the manufactures of America." 
 
 When these proceedings became known to the Governor, 
 Gage, he sent his secretary to acquaint the two Houses, it was 
 his pleasure that the General Assembly should be dissolved. 
 Finding the door of the Representatives Chamber locked, 
 the secretary sent the messenger to inform the speaker that 
 he was there ready to deliver a message from the Governor, 
 and to desire he might be admitted to deliver it. "The mes 
 senger returned and said he had acquainted the speaker 
 therewith, who mentioned it to the House, and their orders 
 were to keep the door fast." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ABOLITION OF THE CHARTER. 
 
 MAY 20, 1774, the act of Parliament "for Better Regu 
 lating the Government of the Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay" was passed. It revoked the privilege granted by the 
 Charter of William and Mary, of allowing the counsellors to 
 be elected by the General Court, or Assembly, and provides 
 that after the 1st day of July, 1774, they be appointed by 
 the sovereign, to hold their places during the pleasure of his 
 Majesty, his heirs and successors. It conferred upon the 
 G9vernor the right to nominate and appoint, and to remove, 
 without the consent of the Council, all judges of the Inferior 
 Courts of Common Pleas, courts of O^rer and Terminer, the 
 attorney-general, provosts, marshals, justices of the peace, 
 and other officers to the Council or courts of justice belong 
 ing. The Governor was authorized to remove and appoint 
 sheriffs ; the Governor and Council could appoint the judges 
 of the Superior Court, including the Chief Justice, who were 
 removable at the pleasure of the King. The act prohibits 
 the calling of public meetings by the select-men, or by the 
 freeholders, without the consent of the Governor in writing. 
 The avowed object of this prohibition was to prevent such 
 meetings, because the people are " misled to treat upon mat 
 ters of the most general concern, and to pass many danger 
 ous and unwarrantable resolves." Meetings of the people 
 were only permitted, by the act, for the election of officers, 
 and all discussion or politics was forbidden. The act abol 
 ished the practice of electing jurors by the freeholders in 
 their town meetings, and made it the duty of the sheriff 
 (himself appointed and removable by the Governor) to make 
 out the list; and the venire for summoning the jury was to 
 be directed to the sheriff, instead of the constable or other 
 officer. 
 
 TO BE SENT BEYOND THE SEA FOR TRIAL. 
 
 " The Act for the Impartial Administration of Justice in 
 the Cases of Persons Questioned for any Act done by Them 
 in execution of the Law, or for the Suppression of Riots and 
 Tumults in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New Eng 
 land" was approved on the same day, May *20th, with the 
 foregoing act for abolishing the Charter, and, indeed, it was 
 part and parcel of the same arbitrary and despotic policy. 
 It provides ' k that, if any inquisition or indictment shall be 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 113 
 
 found, or if any appeal shall be sued or preferred against 
 any person, for murder, or other capital offence, in the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay, and it shall appear by in 
 formation given upon oath to the Governor/' that the fact 
 was committed by the person thus indicted in the discharge 
 of his duty as a magistrate or revenue officer, or in aid of 
 these officers in execution of the laws or in the suppression 
 of riots; "and if it shall also appear, to the satisfaction of 
 the said Governor," " that an indifferent trial cannot be had 
 within the said Province,'' with the advice and consent of 
 the Council, that the inquisition, indictment, or appeal shall 
 be tried in some other of his Majesty's Colonies or in Great 
 Britain. In all such cases where magistrates or officers are 
 indicted for murder, they are nevertheless entitled to bail, 
 any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. Wit 
 nesses for the parties indicted, as well as for the prosecution, 
 to be paid reasonable expenses for attendance on the dis 
 tant court to which the trial may be removed. 
 
 The main features of these important acts of Parlia 
 ment, for abolishing the Charter of Massachusetts, and for 
 transporting certain offenders beyond the sea or to another 
 Colony for trial, are herewith annexed, as follows : 
 
 ACT ABOLISHING THE CHARTER OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 "Anno Decimo- quarto Georgii III., Regis. An Act for 
 the Better Regulating the Government of the Province of 
 the Massachusetts Bay, in New England. 
 
 " Approved Friday, May 20, 1774. 
 
 " Whereas, by letters patent under the great seal of Eng 
 land, made in the third year of the reign of their late Majes 
 ties King William and Queen Mary, uniting, erecting, and 
 incorporating the several Colonial territories and tracts of 
 land therein mentioned into one real Province by the name 
 their Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New 
 England; whereby it was, amongst other things, ordained 
 and established that the Governor of the said Province 
 should from thenceforth be appointed and commissioned, by 
 their Majesties, their heirs and successors, it was, however, 
 granted and ordained that from the expiration of the term 
 for and during which the eight and twenty persons named 
 in the said letters patent were appointed to be the first 
 counsellors or assistants to the Governor of the said Prov 
 ince for the time being, the aforesaid number of eight and 
 twenty counsellors or assistants should yearly once in 
 every year forever thereafter be by the general court or As 
 sembly newly chosen; and whereas, the said method of 
 electing such counsellors or assistants to be vested with the 
 several powers, authorities, and privileges therein men- 
 
114 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tioned, although conformable to the practice heretofore used 
 in such of the Colonies thereby united, in which the ap 
 pointment of the respective Governors had been vested in 
 the general courts or Assemblies of the said Colonies, hath 
 by repeated experiences been found to be extremely ill- 
 adapted to the plan of government established in the Prov 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay, by the said letters patent herein 
 before mentioned, and hath been so far from contributing 
 to the attainment of the good end and purposes thereby in 
 tended, and to the promoting of the internal welfare, peace, 
 and good government of the said Province, or to the main 
 tenance of the just subordination to and conformity with 
 the laws of Great Britain, that the manner of exercising the 
 powers, authorities, and privileges aforesaid by the persons 
 so annually elected, hath for some time past been such as 
 had the most manifest tendency to obstruct and in great 
 measure defeat the execution of the laws, etc. 
 
 " Be it therefore enacted by the King's most excellent Maj 
 esty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords, spirit 
 ual and temporal, and commons in this present Parliament 
 assembled, and by the authority of the same, That from and 
 after the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred 
 and seventy-four, so much of the charter granted by their 
 Majesties 'King William and Queen Mary, to the inhabi 
 tants of the said Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New 
 England, and all and every clause, matter, and thing there 
 in contained which relates to the time and manner of elect 
 ing the assistants or counsellors for the said Province, be 
 revoked, and is hereby revoked and made void and of none 
 effect ; and that the offices of all counsellors and assistants 
 elected and appointed in pursuance thereof shall from 
 thenceforth cease and determine ; and that from and after 
 the said first day of August, one thousand seven hundred 
 and seventy-four, the Council or court of assistants of the 
 said Province, for the time being, shall be composed of such 
 of the inhabitants or proprietors of lands within the same 
 as shah 1 be thereunto nominated and appointed by his Ma 
 jesty, his heirs, and successors, from time to time by 
 warrant under his or their signet or sign manual, and with 
 the advice of the Privy Council agreeable to the practice 
 now used in respect to the appointment of counsellors in 
 such of his Majesty's other Colonies in America the Gov 
 ernors whereof are appointed by commission under the 
 great seal of Great Britain; provided that the number of 
 the said assistants or counsellors, shall not at any one time 
 exceed thirty-six nor be less than twelve. 
 
 "And it is hereby further enacted, That the said assist 
 ants or counsellors so to be appointed as aforesaid, shall 
 hold their offices respectively for and during the pleasure of 
 his Majesty, his heirs or successors ; and shall have and en- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THIS REPUBLIC. 115 
 
 joy all the powers, privileges, and immunities at present 
 held, exercised, and enjoyed by the assistants or counsellors 
 of the said Province constituted and elected from time to 
 time under the said charter (except as hereinafter excepted) ; 
 and shall also, upon their admission into the said Council, 
 and before they enter upon the execution of their offices, 
 respectively take the oaths and make, repeat, and subscribe 
 the declarations required, as well by the said charter as by 
 any law or laws of the said Province now in force to be 
 taken by the assistants or counsellors who have been so 
 elected and constituted as aforesaid. 
 
 "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
 That from and after the first day of July, one thousand 
 seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall and may be lawful 
 for his Majesty's Governor, for the time being, "of the said 
 Province, or, in his absence, for the Lieutenant-governor, to 
 nominate and appoint under the seal of the Province, from 
 time to time, and also to remove without the consent of the 
 Council, all judges of the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas, 
 commissioners of Over and Terminer, the attorney -general, 
 provosts, marshals, justices of the peace, and other officers 
 to the Council or courts of justice belonging; and that all 
 judges of the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas, commis 
 sioners of Oyer and Terminer, the attorney-general, pro 
 vosts, marshals, justices, and other officers so appointed by 
 the Governor, or in his absence by the Lieutenant-governor 
 alone, shall and may have, hold, and exercise their said 
 offices, powers, and authorities as fully and completely to 
 all intents and purposes as any judges of the Inferior Courts 
 of Common Pleas, commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, 
 attorney-general, provosts, marshals, or other officers, have 
 or might have done heretofore under the said letters patent, 
 in the third reign of their late Majesties King William and 
 Queen Mary; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary 
 notwithstanding. 
 
 "Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein 
 contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to annul 
 or make void the commission granted before the said first 
 day of July, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, 
 to any judges of the Inferior Courts of Common Pleas, com 
 missioners of Oyer and Terminer, the attorney-general, pro 
 vosts, marshals, justices of the peace, or other officers ; but 
 that they may hold and exercise the same as if this act had 
 never been made, until the same shall be determined by 
 death, removal by the Governor, or other avoidance as the 
 case may happen. 
 
 "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
 That from and after the said first day of July, one thousand 
 seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall and may be lawful 
 for his Majesty's Governor, or in his absence for the Lieu- 
 
116 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tenant-governor, for the time being, of the said Province, 
 from time to time, to nominate and appoint the sheriffs 
 without the consent of the council, and to remove such sher 
 iffs with such consent and not otherwise. 
 
 "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
 That upon every vacancy of the offices of Chief Justice and 
 judges of the Supreme Court of the said Province, from and 
 after the said first day of July, one thousand seven hundred 
 and seventy- four, the Governor, for the time being, or in his 
 absence the Lieutenant-governor, without the consent of the 
 Council, shall have full power and authority to nominate and 
 appoint the persons to succeed to the said officers, who shall 
 hold their commissions during the pleasure of his Majesty, 
 his heirs and successors ; and that neither the Chief Justice 
 and judges appointed before the said first day of July, one 
 thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, nor those who 
 shall hereafter be appointed pursuant to this act shall be 
 removed unless by the order of his Majesty, his heirs or 
 successors, under his or their sign manual. 
 
 "Be it enacted, That from and after the said first day of 
 August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, no 
 meeting shall be called by the select-men, or at the request 
 of any number of freeholders of any township, district, or 
 precinct, without the leave of the Governor, or in his ab 
 sence of the Lieutenant-governor, in writing, expressing the 
 special business of the said meetings first had and obtained, 
 except the annual meetings in the months of March or May 
 for the choice of select-men, constables, and other officers, 
 or except for the choice of persons to fill up the offices afore 
 said, on the death or removal of any of the persons first 
 elected to such offices, and also except any meeting for the 
 election of a representative or representatives in the general 
 court, and that no other matter shall be treated of at such 
 meetings, except the election of their aforesaid officers or 
 representatives, nor at any other meeting except the busi 
 ness expressed in the leave given by the Governor, or, in his 
 absence, by the Lieutenant-governor. 
 
 "And whereas, the method at present used in the Prov 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay, in America, of electing persons 
 to serve on grand juries and other juries by the freeholders 
 and inhabitants of the several towns, affords occasion for 
 many evil practices, and tends to pervert the free and 
 impartial administration of justice; for remedy whereof, 
 Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from 
 and after the respective times appointed for the holding of 
 the General Sessions of the Peace, in the several counties 
 within the said Province, next after the month of September, 
 one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, the jurors to 
 serve at the Superior Courts of Judicature, Courts of Assize, 
 General Gaol Delivery, General Sessions of the Peace, and 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPURLIG. 117 
 
 Inferior Courts of Common Pleas, in the several counties 
 within the said Province, shall not be elected, nominated, or 
 appointed by the freeholders and inhabitants of the several 
 towns within the said respective counties, nor summoned or 
 returned by the constables of the said towns ; but that, from 
 thenceforth, the jurors to serve at the Superior Courts of 
 Judicature, Courts of Assize, General Gaol Delivery, General 
 Sessions of the Peace, and Inferior Court of Common Pleas, 
 within the said Province, shall be summoned and returned 
 by the sheriffs of the respective counties within the said 
 Province ; and all writs of venire facias to be issued lor the 
 return of jurors to serve at the said courts shall be directed 
 to the sheriffs of the said counties respectively, any law, 
 custom, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding." 
 
 ACT FOR SENDING CRIMINALS OUT OF MASSACHUSETTS FOR 
 TRIAL. 
 
 1 ' Anno Decimo Quarto Georgii III. Eegis. An Act for the 
 Impartial Administration of Justice in the Cases of Persons 
 Questioned for any Acts Done by Them in Execution of the 
 Law, or for the Suppression of Riots and Tumults, in the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England." 
 
 "Approved Friday, May 20, 1774. 
 
 "Whereas, in his Majesty's Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay, in New England, an attempt has lately been made to 
 throw off the authority of the Parliament of Great Britain 
 over the said Province, and an actual and avowed resistance 
 by open force to the execution of certain acts of Parliament, 
 hath been suffered to take place uncontrolled and unpun 
 ished, in defiance of his Majesty's authority, and to the utter 
 subversion of all lawful government; and whereas, in the 
 present disordered state of the said Province, it is of the 
 utmost importance to the general welfare thereof, and to 
 the re-establishment of lawful authority throughout the same, 
 that neither the magistrates acting in support of the laws, 
 nor any of his Majesty's subjects aiding and assisting them 
 therein or in the suppression of riots and tumults raised in 
 opposition to the execution of the laws and statutes of this 
 realm, should be discouraged from the proper discharge of 
 their duty by an apprehension that, in case of their being 
 questioned for any acts done therein, they may be liable to 
 be brought to trial for the same before persons who do not 
 acknowledge the validity of the laws, in the execution 
 whereof, or the authority of the magistrate in the support 
 of whom such acts had been done: in order therefore to 
 remove every such discouragement from the minds of his 
 Majesty's subjects, and to induce them upon all proper oc 
 casions to exert themselves in support of the public peace of 
 
118 THE BIKTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the Province, and of the authority of the King and Parlia 
 ment of Great Britain over the same ; Be it enacted by the 
 King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and 
 consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons, 
 in this present Parliament assembled, and by authority of 
 the same, That if any inquisition or indictment shall be 
 found, or if any appeal shall be sued or preferred against 
 any person for murder or other capital offence in the Prov 
 ince of the Massachusetts Bay, and it shall appear by infor 
 mation given upon oath to the Governor, or in his absence 
 to the Lieutenant-governor of the said Province, that the fact 
 was committed by the person against whom such inquisition 
 or indictment shall be found, or against whom such appeal 
 shall be sued or preferred as aforesaid, either in the execu 
 tion of his duty as a magistrate for the suppression of riots, 
 or in support of the laws of revenue, or in acting in his duty 
 as an officer of revenue, or hi acting under the direction and 
 order of anv magistrate for the suppression of riots, or 
 for the carrying into effect the laws of the revenue, or in 
 aiding and assisting in any of the cases aforesaid ; and if it 
 shall so appear to the satisfaction of the said Governor, or 
 Lieutenant-governor respectively, that an indifferent trial 
 cannot be had within the said Province, in that case it shall 
 and may be lawful for the Governor or Lieutenant-gov 
 ernor to direct, with the advice and consent of the Council, 
 that the inquisition, indictment, or appeal shall be tried in 
 some other of his Majesty's Colonies or in Great Britain; 
 and for that purpose to order the person against whom, 
 such inquisition or indictment shall be found, or against 
 whom such appeal shall be sued or preferred, as aforesaid, 
 to be sent under sufficient custody to the place appointed 
 for his trial, or to submit such person to bail, taking a re 
 cognizance (which the said Governor, or in his absence the 
 Lieutenant-governor is hereby authorized to take) from 
 such person with sufficient sureties to be approved of by 
 said Governor, or in his absence the Lieutenant-governor, 
 in such sums of money as the said Governor, or in his ab 
 sence the Lieutenant-governor, shall deem reasonable for 
 the personal appearance of such person, if the trial shall be 
 appointed, to be had in any other Colony, before the Gov 
 ernor, or Lieutenant-governor, or Commander-in-chief of 
 such Colony, and, if the trial shall be appointed to be had 
 in Great Britain, then before his Majesty's Court of King's 
 Bench, at a time to be mentioned in such recognizance ; and 
 the Governor, or Lieutenant governor, or Commander-in- 
 chief of the Colony where such trial shall be appointed to 
 be had, or Court of King's Bench where the trial is appointed 
 to be had in Great Britain, upon the appearance of such per 
 S9n, according to such recognizance or in custody, shall 
 either commit such person, or admit him to bail until such 
 
THE mRTPt OF THE REPUBLIC. 119 
 
 trial ; and which the said Governor or Lieutenant governor, 
 or Commander-in-chief, and Court of King's Bench are 
 hereby authorized and empowered to do. 
 
 "And to prevent a failure of justice from the want of 
 evidence on the trial of any such inquisition, indictment, or 
 appeal, Be it further enacted, That the Governor, or in his 
 absence the Lieutenant-Governor, shall, and he is hereby 
 authorized and required to bind, in recognizances to his 
 Majesty, all such witnesses as the prosecutor or person 
 against whom such inquisition or indictment shall be round, 
 or appeal, sued or preferred, shall desire to attend the trial 
 of the said inquisition, indictment, or appeal, for their per 
 sonal appearance at the time and place of such trial to 
 give evidence ; and the said Governor, or in his absence the 
 Lieutenant-governor, shall thereupon appoint a reasonable 
 sum to be allowed for the expenses of every such witness, 
 and shall thereupon give to each witness a certificate in 
 writing, under his hand and seal, that such witness has en 
 tered into a recognizance to give evidence, and specifying 
 the" sum allowed for his expenses ; and the collector and 
 collectors of the customs, or one of them, within the said 
 Province, upon the delivery of such certificate are, and is 
 hereby, authorized and required forthwith to pay to such 
 witness the sum specified therein for his expenses." 
 
 On the 30th August (1774), the Superior Court met in 
 Boston. Proclamation being made and the list of grand 
 jurors being called, the court appointed Ezenezer Hancock 
 foreman. He refused to be sworn, and so did all the grand 
 jurors. The petit jurors were then called; Bartholomew 
 Kneeland was appointed foreman, when he, with all the 
 petit jurors, in like manner, refused to be sworn. The 
 Court inquired their reasons for this refusal; and they 
 offered to read a paper, in which they had stated their rea 
 sons at length. The Court refused to have the papers of the 
 classes of jurors read, and desired each juror to state his 
 reasons. After some conversation on this point, the court 
 consented to read the papers, and discharged the juries. 
 The jurors thereupon published their reasons over their 
 signatures, in the newspapers. The two papers assign simi 
 lar reasons for refusing to swear, viz. : 
 
 44 First. Because, Peter Oliver, the Chief Justice, had been 
 impeached, by the late House of Representatives, of high 
 crimes and misdemeanors, and had never been acquitted, 
 but was declared by the House to be disqualified to act as 
 judge of that court. 
 
 " Second. Because, by the late act of Parliament for alter 
 ing the charter of the Province, the tenure of the judges 
 had been made to depend on the pleasure of the Crown, the 
 validity of which act they would never admit. 
 
 * k Third. Because three of the judges viz., Peter Oliver, 
 
120 THE mUTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Foster Hutchinson, and William Brown, Esq'rs 'by taking 
 the oath of counsellors under the aforesaid act, are (as we 
 are informed) sworn to carry into execution all the late 
 grievous acts of the British Parliament, ' etc. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REVOLUTIONARY PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS. 
 
 Middlesex County, Massachusetts. 
 
 THE proceedings of a meeting of the committees of every 
 town and district in Middlesex county, Massachusetts, 
 which was held at Concord on the 30th and 31st August, 
 1774, seems to have given the first intimation of the forma 
 tion of a revolutionary government for the Province, and 
 gave tone at the same time to similar meetings throughout 
 all the Colonies. The similar action which took place in 
 quick succession in the other counties shows that the plan 
 was concerted by the leading men of the Province, in Bos 
 ton, in advance of this county meeting. 
 
 The resolutions of this meeting begin by professing true 
 loyalty to King George; and that "We by no means intend 
 to withdraw our allegiance from him ; but, while permitted 
 the free exercise of our natural and charter rights, are re 
 solved to expend life and treasure in his service." 
 
 The committee declare that the Parliament exercised a 
 power contrary to the charter in passing the acts which 
 claim absolute supremacy over the Province; by the act for 
 blocking up the port of Boston; by the act entitled " An Act 
 for the Better Regulating the Government of the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay;" and by the "Act for the More Impar 
 tial Administration of Justice" in said Province. 
 
 They resolve " That it is the opinion of this body that the 
 present act respecting the government of the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay is an artful, deep-laid plan of oppression 
 and despotism, and that it requires great skill and wisdom 
 to counteract it. This wisdom we have endeavored to col 
 lect from the united sentiments of the country ; and although 
 we are grieved that we are obliged to mention anything that 
 may be attended with such very important consequences as 
 may now ensue, yet a sense of our duty as men, as freemen, 
 as Christian freemen, united in the firmest bonds, obliges us 
 to resolve that every civil officer now in commission in this 
 Province, and acting in conformity to the late act of Parlia 
 ment, is not an officer agreeable to our Charter, therefore 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 121 
 
 unconstitutional, and ought to be opposed in the manner 
 hereafter recommended. 
 
 Accordingly, the meeting resolved "That we will obey 
 all such civil officers now in commission whose commis 
 sions were issued befere the 1st day of July, 1774, and sup 
 port them in the execution of their offices, according to the 
 manner usual before the late attempt to alter the Constitu 
 tion of this Province ; nay, though the Governor should at 
 tempt to revoke their commissions ; but that if any of said 
 officers shall accept a commission under the present plan of 
 arbitrary government, or in any way or manner whatever 
 assist the Governor or administration in the assault now 
 making on our rights and liberties, we will consider them as 
 having forfeited their commissions, and yield them no obe 
 dience." 
 
 In conformity with these declarations, the meeting re 
 solve not to recognize the county judges, Samuel Danforth 
 and Joseph Lee, nor to submit to their rule. 
 
 They accordingly declare that the county courts must 
 cease, and that suits pending are to remain in the then pres 
 ent condition "till we know the result of a Provincial and 
 Continental Congress. They pledge themselves to support 
 all officers in disregarding the precepts of the court, if one 
 should attempt to sit." 
 
 They resolve, " That it is the opinion of this body of del 
 egates that a Provincial Congress is absolutely necessary in 
 our present unhappy situation." 
 
 " Voted, That it be recommended to the several towns and 
 districts in the county, that each appoint one or more dele 
 gates to attend a Provincial meeting, to be holden at Con 
 cord on the second Tuesday of October next." 
 
 The proceedings were ratified by one hundred and forty- 
 six yeas to four nays. 
 
 Suffolk County. 
 
 The Suffolk county meeting took place on Tuesday, the 
 6th of September, 1774, at the house of Mr. Eichard Wood 
 ward, of Dedham, and by adjournment at the house of Mr. 
 Yose, of Milton, on Friday, the 9th of the same month. The 
 preamble is expressed in a language of extreme bitterness, 
 and breathes anything but a spirit of loyalty. 
 
 It begins as follows : 
 
 " Whereas the power, but not the justice, the vengeance, 
 not the wisdom, of Great Britain, which cf old persecuted, 
 scourged, and excited [exiled] our fugitive parents from 
 their native shores, now pursues us, their guiltless children, 
 with unrelenting severity. And whereas this then savage 
 and uncultivated desert was purchased by the toil and treas 
 ure, or acquired by the blood and valor, of those our vener- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 able progenitors ; to us they bequeathed the dear-bought in 
 heritance; to our care and protection they consigned it; and 
 the most sacred obligations are upon us to transmit the glo 
 rious purchase, unfettered by power, unclogged by shackles, 
 to our innocent and beloved offspring," etc. 
 
 The first resolution, nevertheless, acknowledges George 
 the Third as the rightful heir to the throne, and entitled to 
 the allegiance of the colonists, " agreeable to compact." 
 
 The Suffolk meeting, in their resolutions, enumerated the 
 same acts of Parliament that the Middlesex meeting com 
 plained of, as the justification of their refusal to obey the 
 officers of the provincial government who should acknowl 
 edge the validity of those acts. They declare, " That no 
 obedience is due from this Province to either or any part of 
 the acts above mentioned ; but that they be rejected as the 
 attempts of a wicked administration to enslave America." 
 
 After declaring that they will obey no officer of the 
 Province who acknowledges the validity of those acts of 
 Parliament, they resolve : 
 
 " That it be recommended to the collectors of taxes, con 
 stables, and all other officers who have public money in their 
 hands to retain the same, and not to make any payment 
 thereof to the Provincial County Treasurer until the civil 
 government of the Province is placed upon a constitutional 
 foundation, or until it shall otherwise be ordered by the 
 proposed Provincial Congress." 
 
 Persons who should accept seats at the Council Board 
 under the late act were denounced as "incorrigible enemies 
 to this country." 
 
 Other resolutions in the same spirit were adopted. 
 
 County of Cumberland. 
 
 "FALMOUTH, Sept 22, 1774. 
 
 " Met according to adjournment, when the committee pre 
 sented the following report, which, after being read para 
 graph by paragraph, was unanimously accepted, viz. : 
 
 " We think it the indispensable duty of every subject of 
 the English Constitution, for our own sakes, as well as that 
 of future generations, to use his utmost care and endeavor, 
 according to the station he is in, to preserve the same invio 
 late and unimpaired ; for we regard it not only as the founda 
 tion of all our civil rights and liberties, but as a system of 
 government the best calculated to promote the people's peace 
 and happiness. And we lament that in the present admin 
 istration there are men so lost to all principles of honour, 
 equity, and justice as to attempt a violation of the rights 
 which we have long enjoyed, and which, while we profess 
 ourselves, as we now declare we do, allegiant subjects to 
 George the Third, our rightful sovereign, we have a right 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 123 
 
 still to enjoy entire and unmolested ; and it is a melancholy 
 consideration that the acknowledged head of this respected 
 state should be induced to pass his sanction to such laws as 
 tend to the subversion of that glorious freedom which pre 
 serves the greatness of the British empire, and gives it repu 
 tation throughout all the nations of the civil world. It is 
 too apparent that the British Ministry have long been hatch 
 ing monstrous acts to break our Constitution, and some they 
 have at length brought forth. 
 
 " We think the Colonies deserve a better treatment from 
 his Majesty than this which he assents to. We are his loyal 
 subjects, and merit his regard; and cannot help thinking 
 that, if he would pursue his own unbiased judgment, and lay 
 aside the selfish counsel of wicked and designing men, he 
 and his subjects would be mutually happy, and provocations 
 on both sides cease. But since the Ministry have borne their 
 tyranny to such a length as to endeavor to execute their 
 wicked designs by military force in our metropolis, we fear 
 it is their aim to introduce despotic monarchy. But though 
 their tyranny and oppression seem now with hasty strides 
 to threaten all the Colonies with ruin and destruction, we 
 hope no vengeance will affright, no wiles allure, us to give up 
 our dear-bought liberty, that choicest boon of heaven, which 
 our fathers came into these regions to enjoy, and which we 
 therefore will retain while life enables us to struggle for its 
 blessings. 
 
 "We believe our enemies supposed we must submit and 
 tamely give up all our rights. It is true a vigorous opposi 
 tion will subject us to many inconveniences; but how much 
 greater will our misery be if we relinquish all we now en 
 joy and lay our future earnings at the mercy of despotic 
 men? We cannot bear the thought ; distant posterity would 
 have cause to curse our folly, and the rising generation 
 would justly execrate our memory. 
 
 "We therefore recommend a manly opposition to those 
 cruel acts, and to every measure which despotism can in 
 vent to 'abridge our English liberties;' and we hope that 
 patience will possess our souls till Providence shall dissipate 
 the gloomy cloud and restore to us our former happy state. 
 
 "The late act for regulating the government of this Prov 
 ince we consider in particular as big with mischief and de 
 struction, tending to the subversion of our charter and our 
 Province laws, and, in its dire example, alarming to all the 
 Colonies. This, through the conduct of some enemies 
 among ourselves, will soon bring us into difficulties, which 
 will require some able counsel to remove. We therefore 
 recommend to each town in this county, to instruct their 
 several representatives to resolve themselves, with the other 
 members of the House at their approaching session into a 
 Provincial Congress for this purpose." 
 
124 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Proceedings of York County Congress. 
 
 "We, his Majesty's loyal subjects, the delegates of the 
 several towns of the county of York, deputed to meet in 
 county Congress held at Wells the 16th day of November, 
 1774, truly professing ourselves liege subjects of his Majes 
 ty, King George the Third, and sincere friends to all our 
 fellow-subjects in Britain and the Colonies, for the neces 
 sary defence of our liberties and privileges, come into the 
 following resolutions : 
 
 " 1. Resolved, That his Majesty's subjects in the Province 
 of Massachusetts Bay, as well as in the other English-Amer 
 ican Colonies, have full right and authority to tax them 
 selves and grant their own moneys by their several general 
 Assemblies, for all such purposes and in such manner as 
 they shall see fit ; and that no other state, province, or par 
 liament whatever hath, or under the present Constitution 
 of said Colonies can have, right or authority to grant the 
 money of said subjects, or tax them in any other manner 
 whatsoever; and therefore that the several acts of the Brit 
 ish Parliament, made for the express purpose and design, 
 not only of raising a revenue to his Majesty by duties to be 
 laid on goods landed in said Colonies, but establishing a 
 precedent for further illegal taxation of the people therein, 
 are unconstitutional, unjust, and oppressive, and never 
 ought to have force in the Colonies ; and all subsequent acts 
 made to enforce the same, more especially that for blocking 
 up the port of Boston, are hostile, cruel, and arbitrary. 
 
 U 2. Resolved, That all civil officers within this county, 
 duly appointed by virtue of and pursuant to the Charter of 
 William and Mary-, ought to use and exercise the several 
 powers and authorities to their respective offices belonging 
 agreeble to the laws of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
 in the same way and manner, in every respect, intent, and 
 purpose, as though the said acts had never been passed; and 
 that all persons ought to aid, assist, and countenance them 
 therein, and particularly that the venires for jurors for the 
 several courts of justice in this county ought to be issued as 
 heretofore has been used and accustomed, agreeable to the 
 laws of the Province aforesaid; and that due obedience 
 ought to be had thereto ; and that a spirit of peace, friend 
 ship, and harmony may subsist and be cultivated among 
 the inhabitants of said county, the said Congress do recom 
 mend to them that they produce no suit against each other 
 unless on some urgent necessity." 
 
 The Provincial Congress met at Salem, the 7th day of 
 October, 1774. 
 
 " The Honorable John Hancock, Esq.," was chosen Presi 
 dent, and Benjamin Lincoln, Esq., Secretary. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 125 
 
 Among the first proceedings was to send a letter, through 
 the Committee on the State of the Province, to the Governor, 
 respectful and dignified in terms, but earnestly protesting 
 against the erection of a fortress at the entrance of Boston 
 harbor, and against the presence of troops. 
 
 The Committee on the State of the Province proposed the 
 following resolution, which was considered and adopted, 
 and ordered to be printed in the Boston newspapers, and at 
 tested by their secretary : 
 
 "Resolved, That the several constables and collectors of 
 taxes throughout the Province, who have or shall have any 
 money in their hands collected on Province assessments, be 
 advised not to pay the same, or any part thereof, to the 
 Honorable Harrison Gray, Esq.; but that such constables 
 and collectors as have or shall have any county moneys in 
 their hands, take and observe such orders and directions 
 touching the same as shall be given them by the several 
 towns and districts by whom they were chosen. And that 
 the sheriffs and deputy-sheriffs of the several counties in the 
 Province, who have in their hands any Province moneys, 
 be also advised not to pay the same to the said Harrison 
 Gray, Esq. ; but that they retain the same in their hands re 
 spectively until the further advice of a Provincial Congress 
 or order from a Constitutional Assembly of this Province. 
 And that the present assessors of the several towns and dis 
 tricts in the Province be advised to proceed to make assess 
 ments of the tax granted by the great and General Court of 
 the Province at their last May session, and that such assess 
 ments be duly paid, by the persons assessed, to such person 
 or persons as shah 1 be ordered by the said towns and dis 
 tricts respectively. And the Congress strongly recommend 
 the payment of the tax accordingly. " 
 
 The Congress appointed Thursday, the 15th of December, 
 "to be observed as a day of thanksgiving, to render thanks 
 to Almighty God for all the blessings we enjoy; and, at the 
 same time, we think it incumbent on this people to humble 
 themselves before God, on account of their sins, for which 
 he hath been pleased, in Ms righteous judgment, to suffer so 
 great a calamity to befall us as the present controversy be 
 tween Great Britain and the Colonies; as also to implore 
 the divine blessing upon us," etc. 
 
 On the 24th of October, several orders or resolutions were 
 adopted with reference to arms and ammunition. 
 
 On the 25th, the Congress adopted a preamble and resolu 
 tions which provided for the defence and safety of the 
 Province. A Committee of Safety was provided for in the 
 first resolution, which was charged with the duty of govern 
 ing the Province, and the citizens and the military were 
 called on to obey its orders and regulations. The committee 
 were authorized, " whenever they shall judge it necessary for 
 
126 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the safety and defence of the inhabitants of this Province, 
 and their property, against such person or persons aforesaid, 
 viz. : such as shall at any time * attempt or enterprise the 
 destruction, invasion, detriment, or annoyance of this Prov 
 ince,' in every such case the committee was required to 
 alarm, muster, and cause to be assembled, with the utmost 
 expedition, and completely armed, accoutred, and supplied 
 with provisions sufficient for their support in their march 
 to the place of rendezvous, such and so many of the militia 
 of this Province as they shall judge necessary for the end 
 aforesaid, and at such place or places as they shall judge 
 proper, and then to discharge them as soon as the safety of 
 the Province shall permit." 
 
 Another committee was appointed to act as a commissary 
 department. The higher officers of the militia were ap 
 pointed by the Congress ; and the several companies of the 
 militia were authorized to elect company and field officers. 
 
 On the 28th, the Congress elected Henry Gardner, Esq., 
 receiver-general, who was authorized to receive and take 
 care of all public moneys. The tax-collectors, constables, 
 and others who held public moneys were advised to pay 
 them into his hands, who was authorized to receipt fcr the 
 same. 
 
 Thus the Provincial Congress established a government 
 for Massachusetts, independent, to all practical intents, of the 
 Crown and Government of Great Britain. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to add that this independent con 
 trol of affairs by the people was never surrendered, but that 
 it gradually ripened into a regular republican civil govern 
 ment. The next step in this process, which will be detailed 
 in its proper place, was to elect a House of Kepresentatives 
 independent of the Crown and Parliament, by the advice 
 and consent ot the Continental Congress. This was in May 
 and June, 1775. This independent House proceeded to elect 
 the Council, as under the Charter ; and to assume the reins 
 of Government, under the style of the Territory of Maine 
 and the Territory of New Plymouth. Thus was the author 
 ity of Great Britian thrown off, and with it the Provincial 
 name, which was the badge of that authority. And this 
 bold measure was taken while a British army was encamped 
 on Massachusetts soil. 
 
 November. 
 
 The Provincial Congress reassembled, according to ad 
 journment, on the 23d November. Meantime the operation 
 of the Boston Port Bill had inflicted great injury upon, and 
 caused the most severe hardships to, the people of the towns 
 of Boston and Charlestown in particular, and the Colony in 
 general. The trade of these places with the outer world 
 was annihilated, and the traffic with the interior nearly so ; 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 127 
 
 so that the Congress in October had seriously debated the 
 propriety or necessity of removing the entire people of the 
 town to the country, in order to save them from starvation. 
 But the Congress in November presented the same undaunted 
 front to the enemy, as at first. It adopted various measures 
 for arousing, equipping, and rallying the people to a defence 
 of their rights; and put forth a noble address u to the Free 
 holders and Other Inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay," which 
 was well calculated to entourage the people and inspire them 
 with patriotic feeling. After a few days' session, in which 
 much business was transacted, they decided to dissolve, or 
 adjourn sine die ; at the same time calling upon the towns to 
 elect other delegates to a new Congress, to meet in February, 
 1775. This dissolution of their body was adopted on the 
 sound republican principle, declared by them, that, ''Inas 
 much as many states have been taught by fatal experience 
 that powers delegated by the people for long periods have 
 been abused to the endangering the public rights and liber 
 ties, and this Congress having just reason to suppose that 
 their constituents, the good people of this Province, when 
 they appointed their present delegates, were not apprehen 
 sive that the business necessary to be done would require 
 their attention for any long time," therefore, as above stated, 
 they resolved that "the Congress be dissolved." 
 
 Such were the honorable, disinterested, and patriotic mo 
 tives that actuated the leading men of Massachusetts. 
 
 February, 1775. 
 
 The Provincial Congress met at Cambridge, Wednesday, 
 Feb. 1, 1775. Their first important measure was to pass a 
 resolve denouncing any one who should " presume to supply 
 the troops now stationed at Boston, or elsewhere in said 
 Province, with timber, boards, spars, pickets, tent-poles, 
 canvas, bricks, iron, wagons, carts, carriages, intrench- 
 tng-tools; or any materials for making any of the Carriages 
 or implements aforesaid ; with horses or oxen for draught ; 
 or any other materials whatever, that may enable them to 
 annoy, or in any manner distress the inhabitants;" and that 
 "he or they shall be held in the highest detestation, and 
 deemed inveterate enemies to America, and ought to be 
 prevented and opposed by all reasonable means whatever." 
 
 The word "ought," in the closing sentence, coming from 
 the Provincial Congress in the then existing state of affairs, 
 with the government of the Province in their control, was 
 equivalent to an imperative command. But the spirit of the 
 people jumped with the recommendations of the Congress, 
 and mandatory language was not necessary to the making 
 laws, or to giving orders. 
 
 A new Committee of Safety was, appointed, with John 
 
128 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Hancock at its head, and of which Dr. Joseph Warren was 
 a member. Their power as the executive authority of the 
 Province was defined, and all military officers and people 
 were called on, in the names of liberty, patriotism, and the 
 public safety, to obey them. Their special duty was to call 
 out the militia, whenever they might think it necessary to 
 observe such persons as might attempt to carry into effect 
 the obnoxious acts of Parliament. On the same day, the 
 Congress adopted an address to the people, which, while it 
 contains the noblest sentiments of liberty, refrains from any 
 profession of loyalty to the Crown. The following are ex 
 tracts : 
 
 Massachusetts Provincial Congress. 
 
 1 Thursday, February 9, 1775. 
 
 " The committee appointed to prepare an address to the in 
 habitants of this Province having amended their report, the 
 same was read, considered, and accepted, and ordered to be 
 attested, and added to the pamphlet directed to be printed 
 by this Congress, and is as follovveth, viz. : 
 " To the Inhabitants cf Massachusetts Bay: 
 
 u Friends and Fellow-sufferers : When a people entitled to 
 that freedom which your ancestors have nobly preserved, as 
 the richest inheritance of their children, are invaded by the 
 hand of Oppression, and trampled on by the merciless feet 
 of Tyranny, resistance is so far from being criminal, that it 
 becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. 
 
 1 * While you see the lives of your fellow-men in other na 
 tions sported with and destroyed, and their estates con 
 fiscated by their prince, only to gratify the caprice, ambition, 
 or avarice of a tyrant, you ought to entertain and cultivate 
 in your mind the highest gratitude to the Supreme Being 
 for his having placed you under such a form of government 
 as, when duly administered, gives the meanest peasant the 
 same security in his life and property as his sovereign has 
 in his crown. 
 
 "The constitution of government secures to each one sub 
 ject thereto such an entire property in his inheritance and 
 the fruit of his industry that they cannot be taken from 
 him without his personal or representative consent; and as 
 the evidence of entire property arises from the uncontrol 
 lable power of disposing, when your estates shall be brought 
 into such a situation or under such a form of government as 
 that they can be disposed of or granted by persons who are 
 by no means accountable to you therefor, you cease to have 
 anything more than a licensed and precarious property in 
 them. 
 
 ' ' Though we deprecate a rupture with the mother-state, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 129 
 
 yet we must still urge you to every preparation for your 
 necessary defence ; for unless you exhibit to your enemies 
 such a firmness as shall convince them that you are worthy 
 of that freedom your ancestors fled here to enjoy, you have 
 nothing to expect but the vilest and most abject slavery." 
 
 A committee was appointed to correspond with the other 
 Colonies, of which Hancock, Samuel Adams, and Elbridge 
 Gerry were members. 
 
 After an adjournment of a month, the Congress met again 
 on the 22d March, and, in view of the impending hostilities, 
 began to prepare for them. An elaborate series of Rules and 
 Articles for the Government of the Army was adopted, the 
 first of which requires that ' ' All officers and soldiers not 
 having just impediment, shall diligently frequent divine 
 service and sermon," in the places where they may be sta 
 tioned. Although strict obedience to the articles is "earn 
 estly recommended," they go so far as to inflict the death 
 penalty a clear indication of the import of a Congressional 
 recommendation. 
 
 THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 
 
 During these proceedings of the Congress, the Committee 
 of Safety was actively engaged, in its executive capacity, in 
 carrying out the orders of the Congress. All kinds of war 
 like supplies were purchased or manufactured. One fourth 
 of the militia, so early as the 23d February, were called out, 
 and provisions collected for their sustenance. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS DECLARED BY PARLIAMENT TO BE IN RE 
 BELLION. 
 
 On the 7th February, 1775, the House of Lords adopted 
 the joint address from the Commons to the King, in which 
 Massachusetts was declared to be in rebellion. Thanking 
 his Majesty for having communicated several papers relat 
 ing to America, the address proceeds to say "We have 
 taken them into our most serious consideration, and we find 
 that a part of your Majesty's subjects, in the Province of 
 the Massachusetts Bay, have proceeded so far as to resist the 
 authority of the supreme legislature; that a rebellion at this 
 time actually exists within the said Province ; and we see, 
 with the utmost concern, that thev have been countenanced 
 and encouraged by unlawful combinations and engagements 
 entered into by your Majesty's subjects in several of the 
 other Colonies, to the injury and oppression of many of their 
 innocent fellow-subjects resident within the kingdom of 
 Great Britain and the rest of your Majesty's dominions. . . . 
 
 "At the same time we consider it our indispensable duty 
 
130 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 humbly to beseech your Majesty that you will take the most 
 effectual measures to enforce due obedience to the laws and 
 authorities of the supreme legislature ; and we beg leave, in 
 the most solemn manner, to assure your Majesty that it is 
 our fixed resolution, at the hazard or our lives and proper 
 ties, to stand by your Majesty against all rebellious attempts 
 iia the maintenance of the just rights of your Majesty and 
 the two Houses of Parliament." 
 
 This address was regarded by the Colonists as equivalent 
 to a declaration of war. 
 
 Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill need not be de 
 scribed in this brief history of Revolutionary " movements." 
 The events enacted on the 19th April and tbe 17th June were 
 "movements upon the works of the enemy," and speak for 
 themselves. 
 
 On the 231 April, four days after the battles of Lexington 
 and Concord, the Provincial Congress resolved " that 30,000 
 men are necessary to be forthwith raised in the New England 
 Colonies," "and that of that force 13,600 shall be established 
 by this Colony without delay." 
 
 May 16, 1775, the Provincial Congress took an important 
 step for the restoration of regular civil government, inde 
 pendent of the Crown of Great Britian. They applied to the 
 Continental Congress, sitting at Philadelphia, for the advics 
 and consent of that body to the proceeding. This consent 
 was accorded, in a resolution of Juno 9th, accompanied by 
 the suggestion that, as no obligation rested on the people to 
 obey the acts of Parliament which abrogated the Charter of 
 the Colony, the people ought to elect a House of Representa 
 tives, and that the House ought to elect a Council in dis 
 regard of that law. This suggestion was at once acted on, 
 and the first House of Representatives thus constituted met, 
 July 19th, at Watertown. On the 21st, the House elected the 
 Councillors, eighteen in number, for the territory of Massa 
 chusetts Bay; four for the territory formerly called New 
 Plymouth; three for the territory formerly called the Prov 
 ince of Maine, and one Councillor for the territory lying 
 between the river Sagadahock and Nova Scotia. They "also 
 elected two Councillors-at large. So the Revolutionary 
 council was composed of twenty-eight members; and the 
 repudiation of the ancient loyal designations " Colony " and 
 " Province " shows clearly that the House of Representa 
 tives expected and intended henceforth to remain inde 
 pendent of Great Britain of its Parliament, at any rate, if 
 not of the Crown. For it must be remembered that the word 
 "territory," at that time, had not acquired the conventional 
 signification in America that it now has, implying subor 
 dination to another power; or, if any such meaning was 
 attached to it, the higher power referred to was the Con 
 tinental Congress, and not the Parliament of England. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 131 
 
 On the 1st of April, 1776, the General Court of Massachu 
 setts resolved to alter the style of writs and other legal pro 
 cesses, and substituted "the people and government of 
 Massachusetts " for the name of the King. Also they ceased 
 to date official papers according to the year of the King's 
 reign, substituting in its place the year of our Lord. ' k Early 
 in May, likewise," says Barry, "an order was passed and 
 published, by which the people of the several towns in the 
 Province were advised to give instructions to their respective 
 representatives, to be chosen for the following political year, 
 on the subject of independence." "It is not contended," 
 continues Barry, " that this was the first instance in which 
 such a proposition was publicly made ; for North Carolina 
 had, two weeks before, authorized her delegates to join with 
 the other Colonies in declaring independence; and Rhode 
 Island and Connecticut had indicated their inclination by 
 dispensing with the oath of allegiance to the King, though 
 a month elapsed before the Connecticut Assembly instructed 
 their delegates to vote for independence." Barry's History 
 of Massachusetts, vol. 3, page 98. 
 
 The returns from the town elections showed that nearly 
 the whole population was ripe for independence. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ) 
 
 "May 10, 1776. \ 
 
 " Resolved, as the opinion of this House, That the inhabi 
 tants of each town in this Colony ought, in full meeting 
 warned for the purpose, to advise the person or persons who 
 shall be chosen to represent him in the next General Court 
 whether that, if the honorable Congress should, for the 
 safety of the said Colonies, declare them independent of the 
 kingdom of Great Britain, they, the said inhabitants, will 
 solemnly engage, with their lives and fortunes, to support 
 them in the measure. 
 
 "SAMUEL FREEMAN, Speaker." 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 It was the fortune of New Hampshire, for the third of a 
 century prior to the Revolution, to be under the rule of wise 
 and conciliatory governors, who, if they were not too scru 
 pulous to enrich themselves by disreputable and illegal acts 
 of extortion and peculation, knew well, nevertheless, the 
 arts of popularity ; and during that long period, which in 
 other Colonies was a period of strife, irritation, and aliena 
 tion from the mother-country, they managed to preserve a 
 loyal and peaceful temper among the people of the Granite 
 Colony. The first of these governors, Benning W en ^ wor ^ n > 
 was appointed in 1741 ; and in 1766 he was permitted to re- 
 
132 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 sign under well-grounded charges of extorting illegal and 
 exorbitant fees for passing patents for lands. 
 
 He was succeeded by his nephew, John Wentworth, who 
 was equally prudent and politic, and not more scrupulous 
 than his uncle. A brief account of his career, taken from 
 Belknap's judicious history of New Hampshire, will serve 
 the twofold purpose of accounting for the exceptionally 
 pacific temper of the New Hampshire people at the begin 
 ning of the Revolutionary events in the adjacent Colony of 
 Massachusetts, and throw light upon the state of morals 
 which ruled among the governing classes in Great Britain 
 at that time. 
 
 Unon the accession of the nephew, the expectation that 
 inquiry would be made into the practices of the uncle was 
 disappointed. Things went on smoothly during the life 
 time of the latter, who was ever treated with respect and 
 consideration ; and it was understood that the bulk of his 
 estate, he having no children, would go to his nephew and 
 successor in office. But at his death a later will was found, 
 by which his estate was bequeathed to his young widow. 
 This will produced a great commotion in the Wentworth 
 family, and in the Colony. * ' Antiquated claims upon the 
 late Governor's estate," says Belknap, " were revived ; and 
 law suits were commenced which probably would not have 
 been agitated if the expected disposition had been made." 
 But the most alarming effect of this unhappy disappoint 
 ment was a question which the Governor moved in Coun 
 cil, "whether the reservations of five hundred acres, in 
 several townships, made by the late governor, Benning 
 Wentworth, in the charter grants, conveyed the title to 
 him." The Council determined this question in the negative. 
 The Governor then asked whether they would advise him to 
 grant the said tracts to such of his Majesty's subjects as 
 should settle and cultivate the same. To this they gave their 
 assent. Seven of the Councillors present on this occasion 
 were the Governor's relations. The eighth was Peter Levins, 
 a gentleman of foreign extraction, who entered his dissent. 
 He had for several years served as a Justice of the Common 
 Pleas ; but on the division of the Province into counties, it 
 was necessary to issue new commissions. Finding him 
 self overlooked in the appointment of officers, and his private 
 affairs calling him abroad, he sailed for England, and there 
 exhibited, to the Lords of Trade, articles of complaint against 
 the Governor and his Council. 
 
 "The first was that the Governor and Council, without 
 any legal process or the intervention of a jury, had deprived 
 the grantees, under the Crown, of their lands, on suggestion 
 only, that the conditions had not been fulfilled. 
 
 *' The second was that the duty paid by foreign shipping, 
 commonly called powder-money, had not been accounted 
 
THE BIRTH OF THW REPUBLIC. 133 
 
 for since the year 1741 ; and that the Council had refused to 
 join with the Representatives in an inquiry into this matter 
 in the year 1768. 
 
 "The third was that the Governor had moved, in Council, 
 that the lands reserved to the late Governor, in the charters 
 of townships, should be regranted to himself through the 
 medium of another person ; and that the protest of the com 
 plainant against the legality of this proceeding was rejected. 
 
 ' ' The fourth was that, in consequence of the opposition 
 which he was in duty bound thus to make, he had been in 
 juriously treated, and had received personal abuse from the 
 Governor. 
 
 "The fifth was that, pending an action in the Common 
 Pleas, brought by the Governor, though in other names, the 
 judges had several times been changed, till a question on a 
 point of law was determined in favor of the Governor. 
 
 " The sixth article stated that the complainant expected 
 to prove several of the above facts, by referring to copies of 
 the Council records in their lordships' office; but was sur 
 prised to find that the Governor had disobeyed his instruc 
 tions in not sending them. 
 
 " The memorial concluded with a general charge of par 
 tiality arising from the family connections of the Governor 
 and Council." Belknap. . 
 
 The Governor and Council, having been furnished with 
 copies of the charges, denied them severally, and gave their 
 explanations of the facts involved, with depositions, "from 
 persons of all ranks and professions, testifying in favor of 
 the Governor." 
 
 Belknap proceeds to relate that, " These being laid before 
 the Lords of Trade, and the memorialist being heard in reply, 
 the board represented to the King that the complaint against 
 the Governor 'had been fully verified.' At the same time 
 they thought it their duty to represent, that the reports 
 which they had received, through different channels, of the 
 situation of affairs within New Hampshire, did all concur in 
 representing the Colony to have been, since Mr. Went worth's 
 appointment, in a state of peace and prosperity; that its 
 commerce had been extended, and the number of its inhab 
 itants increased ; and that every attempt made to excite the 
 people to disorder and disobedience had been, by the firm 
 and temperate conduct of Mr. Wentworth, suppressed and 
 restrained." 
 
 The cause was reheard before a committee of the Privy 
 Council, and their report on it would .in these days be styled 
 a "white-washing report." The main facts were admitted 
 to be true ; but an attempt was made to explain them away 
 and to exculpate the Governor, on various pretexts and 
 technicalities, from all the damaging inferences to be drawn 
 from them; and, on the whole, they conclude that there 
 
134 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 1 ' was no foundation for any censure upon the said Governor 
 for any of the charges contained in the complaint, and that 
 the general conduct of his administration had tended greatly 
 to the peace and prosperity of the said Province." 
 
 " This report," says Belknap, " was approved by the King 
 in Counci], and the complaint was dismissed. But the Gov 
 ernor was strictly enjoined to transmit to the Lords of Trade 
 authentic copies of the journals of the Council, as a council 
 of state." 
 
 The candor and love of official integrity which this de 
 cision of the Privy Council and King display can be judged 
 of in the light of the fact which follows, viz., that Mr. Levius 
 was immediately appointed Chief Justice of New Hamp 
 shire, doubtless with a view of closing his mouth to further 
 charges against so good a Governor. It was thought pru 
 dent, however, on mature consideration, to transfer the ac 
 cuser to the Province of Quebec, where a more lucrative 
 office was given him. 
 
 Belknap further states that, " When the final issue of the 
 complaint was known in New Hampshire, a general satis 
 faction appeared among the people. At the next session of 
 the Assembly, the House of Eepresentatives presented to the 
 Governor an address of congratulation, in the name of their 
 .constituents ; and the citizens of Portsmouth gave a splen 
 did ball, to which the Governor and both Houses of Assem 
 bly were invited." 
 
 These events transpired in the years 1772 and 1773. Up 
 to the close of the latter year, nothing of a serious nature had 
 occurred to alienate the people from their governors. Their 
 plans for enriching themselves had been carried on mainly 
 at the expense of the Crown, in appropriating the public 
 lands to themselves or in charging exorbitant fees to the 
 grantees of those lands. During the Stamp Act controversy, 
 they had sided rather with the people than with the govern 
 ment, and used their influence to procure the repeal of that 
 obnoxious act ; but the time was now come when it was 
 impossible for a roval governor to keep terms with the 
 people. For some time after the passage of the new act of 
 1767, for taxing the Colonies on the articles of tea, paper, 
 glass, and painters' colors, the Governor had sufficient in 
 fluence and popularity, by the aid of his numerous wealthy 
 friends and connections, "who were the principal families 
 and richest merchants of the Province," to prevent the adop 
 tion of a non-importation agreement in Portsmouth ; and the 
 Sons of Liberty of that place wrote to their friends in 
 Boston: " We cannot depend on the countenance of many 
 persons of the first rank here ; for royal commissions and 
 family connections influence the principal gentlemen among 
 us, at least to keep silence in these evil times." The people 
 were nevertheless in sympathy with those of Massachusetts 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 135 
 
 and the other Colonies, and the discussion and agitation 
 were kept up until the Parliament was induced to repeal the 
 duties on all the articles except tea. This, however, was 
 enough to keep alive the fears and resentments of the peo 
 ple; and the efforts to put the law in force caused new com 
 binations for non-intercourse, and gave rise to renewed acts 
 of open resistance, especially in Massachusetts. "In New 
 Hampshire," says Belknap, "the prudence of Governor 
 Wentworth, the vigilance of the magistrates, and the firm 
 ness of the people were combined, and the hateful com 
 modity was sent away without any damage and with but 
 little tumult." 
 
 The following letter from the committee of Portsmouth, 
 N. EL, to the committee of Boston, is from the American 
 Archives, vol. 1 (4th series), page 337: 
 
 Extracts. 
 
 " PORTSMOUTH, May 19, 1774. 
 
 " We think the late act of Parliament, to shut up the port 
 of Boston of the most extraordinary nature and fatal ten 
 dency. Administration are taking every method to dis 
 unite the Colonies, thereby to render the noble opposition 
 to their destructive measures abortive. We hope a firm 
 union of all the Colonies will still subsist, and that such a 
 plan may be devised and resolutely pursued by all as may 
 prevent the cruel effects of this act. 
 
 "We heartily sympathize with you under your present 
 difficult and alarming situation ; and we will exert ourselves 
 to carry any plan into effect which may be concerted, by tho 
 Colonies for the general relief. We sincerely wish you reso 
 lution and prosperity in the common cause, and shall ever 
 view your interest as our own. And are with the highest 
 esteem," etc. 
 
 "The first cargo of tea," says Belknap, "consisting of 
 twenty-seven chests, was landed and stored at the Custom 
 house (at Portsmouth, June 25, 1774) before any people 
 could assemble to obstruct it. A town meeting was called, 
 and a proposal was made to Mr. Parry, the consignee, to re- 
 ship it. To this he consented. A guard was appointed by 
 order of the town to watch the Custom-house. The tea 
 having been entered, it was necessary that the duty should 
 be paid, which was done openly by the consignee. The 
 Governor convened the Council," and kept the magistrates 
 and peace officers in readiness to suppress any riotous ap 
 pearances ; but there was no need of their exertion. The 
 tea was peacefully reshipped and sent to Halifax. 
 
 "A second cargo of thirty chests, which came consigned to 
 the same person, raised a small ferment, and the windows 
 of his lodgings were broken. He applied to the Governor 
 
136 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 for protection. The Governor, as before, summoned the 
 Council and magistrates. The town, by their committee, 
 prevailed on the consignee to send the tea to Halifax, after 
 having paid the duty, without which the ship could not 
 legally be cleared at the Custom-house. 
 
 "A general detestation of the measures pursued by the 
 British Ministry, to rivet the chains on America, universal 
 ly prevailed. The towns had severally passed resolves as 
 serting their right of exemption from all taxation by Parlia 
 ment, condemning the importation and use of tea, and ap 
 pointing committees of inspection to carry their resolutions 
 into effect. The committees were vigilant, and, being aided 
 by the general sentiment of the people, their exertions were 
 successful." 
 
 " At the meeting of the Assembly of New Hampshire, in 
 the spring (May 10, 1774), the House of Representatives, 
 conformably to the proceedings of the Assemblies in the 
 other Colonies, appointed a Committee of Correspondence. 
 The Governor, who had in vain labored to prevent this 
 measure, adjourned the Assembly, and after a few days dis 
 solved it, hoping by this means to dissolve the committee 
 also. But they were not restricted by forms. On a sum 
 mons issued by the committee, the Representatives met 
 again, in their own chamber. The Governor, attended by 
 the sheriff of the county, went among them. They rose at 
 his entrance. He declared their meeting illegal, and directed 
 the sheriff to make open proclamation for all persons to 
 disperse, and keep the King's peace. When he had retired, 
 they resumed their seats, but, on. further consideration, ad 
 journed to another house, and, after some conversation, 
 wrote fetters to all the towns in the Province, requesting 
 them to send deputies to hold a convention at Exeter, who 
 should choose delegates for a general Congress, and to pay 
 their respeccive quotas of two hundred pounds, agreeably to 
 the past proportion of the Provincial tax. They also recom 
 mended a day of fasting and prayer, to be observed by the 
 several congregations on account of the gloomy appearance 
 of public affairs. The day was observed with religious 
 solemnity. The money was collected. Eighty -five deputies 
 were chosen and met at Exeter, where they delegated 
 Nathaniel Folsom and John Sullivan, Esquires, to attend the 
 proposed Congress at Philadelphia in September, and de 
 livered to them the money which had been collected, to de 
 fray their expenses. They also recommended the distressed 
 state of Boston to the conmiseration of their brethren in New 
 Hampshire; and contributions were raised in many of the 
 towns for their relief. 
 
 " The Governor was now convinced, and in his letters to 
 the Ministry acknowledged ' that the union of the Colonies 
 would not be lost in New Hampshire.' At the same time, he 
 
THE BIRTH Of THE REPUBLIC 1 . 137 
 
 did the people the justice to say that they had abstained 
 from violence and outrage, and that the laws had their 
 course. In his letters, which were published by the Ministry, 
 there appears a spirit of candor towards the people, as well 
 as a desire to recommend himself to the approbation of his 
 superiors." 
 
 In December, 1774, the Committee of Safety of Portsmouth 
 learning that a British ship of war would soon arrive to take 
 possession of Fort William and Mary, at the entrance of the 
 harbor, " with all possible secrecy and despatch, collected a 
 company from that and some of the neighboring towns ; and 
 before the Governor had any suspicion of their intentions, 
 they proceeded to New Castle and assaulted the fort." The 
 garrison, consisting of only five men, was confined, and 
 one hundred barrels of powder were carried off. The next 
 day fifteen of the lightest cannon and all the small arms 
 were removed. Major John Sullivan and Captain John 
 Langdon, subsequently sent as delegates to Philadelphia, 
 were the leaders of this movement. 
 
 The following letters are taken from the first volume of 
 the American Archives (4th series) : 
 
 Governor Wentworth to Governor Gage. 
 
 " PORTSMOUTH, N. H., December 14, 1774. 
 
 " Sm: I have the honor to receive your Excellency's let 
 ter of the 9th instant, with the letter from the Secretary of 
 State, which were both delivered to me on Monday evening 
 last by Mr. Whiting. 
 
 "It is with the utmost concern I am called upon, by my 
 duty to the King, to communicate to your Excellency a most 
 unhappy affair perpetrated here this day. 
 
 "Yesterday afternoon Paul Revere arrived in this town, 
 express from a committee in Boston to another committee 
 in this town, and delivered his despatch to Mr. Samuel 
 Cutts, a merchant of this town, who immediately convened 
 the committee, of which he is one, as I learned, and laid it 
 before them. This dajr, about noon, before any suspicion 
 could be had of their intentions, about four hundred men 
 were collected together, and immediately proceeded to his 
 Majesty's Castle William and Mary, at the entrance of this 
 harbor, and forcibly took possession thereof, notwithstand 
 ing the best defence that could be made by Captain Cochran 
 (whose conduct has been extremely laudable, as your Ex 
 cellency will see by the inclosed letter from him), and by 
 violence carried off upwards of one hundred barrels of pow 
 der, belonging to the King, deposited in the Castle. I am 
 informed that expresses have been circulated through the 
 neighboring towns to collect a number of people to-morrow 
 or as soon as possible, to carry away all the cannon and 
 
138 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 arms belonging to the Castle, which they will undoubtedly 
 effect unless some assistance should arrive from Boston in 
 time to prevent it. This event too plainly proves the imbe 
 cility of this government to carry into execution his Majes 
 ty's order in council, for seizing and detaining arms and 
 ammunition imported into this Province, without some strong 
 ships of war in this harbor; neither is this Province or Cus 
 tom-house treasury in any degree safe, if it should come into 
 the mind of the popular leaders to seize upon them. 
 
 " The principal persons who took the lead in this enormity 
 are well known. Upon the best information I can obtain, 
 this mischief originates from the publishing of the Secretary 
 of State's letter, and the King's order in Council at Rhode 
 Island, prohibiting the exportation of military stores from 
 Great Britain, and the proceedings in that Colony in conse 
 quence of it, which have been published here by the fore- 
 mentioned Mr. Revere, and the despatch brought, before 
 which all was quiet and peaceable here, 
 
 . "lam, etc., 
 
 "J. WENTWORTH. 
 " To the Honorable Governor Gage." 
 
 Captain Cochran, Commander of Fort William and Mary, 
 in New Hampshire, to Governor Wentworth, dated Decem 
 ber 14, 1774: 
 
 " MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY: I received your Ex 
 cellency's favor of yesterday, and, in obedience thereto, kept 
 a strict watch all night, and added two men to my usual 
 number, being all I could get. Nothing material occurred 
 till this day, one o'clock, when I was informed there was a 
 number of people coming to take possession of the fort ; upon 
 which, having only five effective men with me, I prepared 
 to make the best defence I could, and pointed some guns to 
 those places where I expected they would enter. About 
 three o'clock the fort was besieged on all sides, by upwards 
 of four hundred men. I told them, on their peril, not to en 
 ter; they replied they would; I immediately ordered three 
 four- pounders to be fired on them, and then the small arms, 
 and before we could be ready to fire again we were stormed 
 on all quarters, and they immediately secured both me and 
 my men and kept us prisoners about one hour and a half, 
 during which time they broke open the powder-house and 
 took all the powder away except one barrel ; and having put 
 it into boats and sent it off, they released me from my con 
 finement. 
 
 " To which I can only add that I did all in my power to 
 defend the fort ; but all my efforts could not avail against so 
 great a number. 
 
 "I am your Excellency's, etc., 
 
 "JOHN COCHRAN." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Extracts of a letter from Governor Wentworth to Gov 
 ernor Gage, dated Portsmouth, New Hampshire, December 
 16, 1774: 
 
 "On Wednesday last, at 12 o'clock, an insurrection sud 
 denly took place in this town, and immediately proceeded 
 to his Majesty's castle, attacked, overpowered, wounded, 
 and confined the captain, and thence took away all the 
 King's powder. Yesterday, numbers more assembled, and 
 last night brought off many cannon, etc., and about sixty 
 muskets. This day the town is full of armed men, who 
 refuse to disperse, but appear determined to complete the 
 dismantling the fortress entirely. Hitherto the people ab 
 stain from private or personal injuries ; how long they will 
 be so prevailed on, it is impossible to say. I must sincerely 
 lament the present distraction which seems to have burst 
 forth by means of a letter from William Cooper to Samuel 
 Cutts, delivered here on Tuesday last, P.M., by Paul Revere. 
 I have not time to add further on this melancholy subject. 
 
 "P. S. The populace threaten to abuse Colonel Fen ton, 
 because he has to them declared the folly of their conduct, 
 and that he will do his duty, as a justice, in executing the 
 laws. They will never prevail on him to retract, if all the 
 men in the Province attack him. If I had two hundred such 
 men, the castle and all therein would yet have been safe. At 
 this moment the heavy cannon are not carried off, but how 
 soon they may be, I cannot say." 
 
 Extract of a letter from Exeter, in New Hampshire, dated 
 January 2, 1775 : 
 
 "At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of this town, held 
 here last Monday, among other things, it was voted unani 
 mously to adopt the Association of i;he Continental Congress, 
 and a numerous committee was chosen to see the same, was 
 duly observed, and strictly adhered to. 
 
 "At the same meeting, five deputies were appointed to 
 assist at the Convention to meet here the 25th instant, for 
 the choice of delegates to represent this Province at the 
 Continental Congress proposed to be held at Philadelphia 
 in May next; and the said deputies were empowered to join 
 with the other deputies of the Convention in choosing a 
 committee of their body to proportion the sum to be allowed 
 such delegates among the several towns and parishes in this 
 Government. It was also voted not to suffer any hawkers, 
 pedlers, or petty chapmen to sell or expose to sale among 
 us any goods, wares, or merchandise. 
 
 "It is the opinion of many that if this vote, with the law 
 of the Province, should prove ineffectual to prevent the in 
 trusion of such persons, an experiment ought to be made of 
 tar and feathers." 
 
 Epsom (New Hampshire) Resolves: 
 
 "At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the town of 
 
140 THE BIRT3 OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Epsom, held on Monday, January 9, 1775, deputies were 
 chosen to meet at Exeter on the 25th instant, agreeable to 
 the letter sent to that town for the purpose. 
 
 "Whereas, The grand Continental Congress has recom 
 mended a non importation and non-consumption of goods 
 to be the most effectual method to ease our deplorable situ 
 ation; and, as we view the Scotch merchants and traders in 
 general to be no friends to our country, and are altogether 
 for self interest and lucrative gain, and, to accomplish their 
 designs, have filled the country with hawkers, pedlers, and 
 petty chapmen, with their lawns, cambrics, ribbons, etc., 
 tempting women, girls, and boys with their unnecessary 
 fineries, which is a moth to our country, and a damage to 
 all honest merchants and traders that are true friends to our 
 country, and that deal upon honor, and to prevent all such 
 diabolical proceedings for the future: 
 
 4 'Resolved, That no pedlers, hawkers, or petty chapmen 
 shall be tolerated for the future to sell or dispose of any 
 goods, of whatsoever name or nature, in said town, upon no 
 less penalty than receiving a new suit agreeable to the mod 
 ern mode, and forfeiture of their goods. 
 
 A committee of inspection was then chosen to see that the 
 above resolve is carefully executed. 
 
 PROVINCIAL CONVENTION. 
 
 "At the Convention of Deputies, appointed by the several 
 towns in the Province aforesaid, held at Exeter on the 25th 
 day of January, 1775, there were present one hundred and 
 forty- four members. 
 
 "Hon. John Went worth, Esq., president. Voted unani 
 mously, That we heartily approve of the proceedings of the 
 late grand Continental Congress, respecting the just state 
 of the rights and liberties of the British Colonies, and of 
 the meang recommended to restore, secure, and protect the 
 same ; and that we return our most unfeigned thanks to the 
 late members of that Congress in general, and to those of 
 this Province in particular, for the faithful discharge of the 
 important trust reposed in them. 
 
 "Voted, That John Sullivan and John Langdon, Esqrs., 
 be delegates to represent this Province in the Continental 
 Congress proposed to be held at Philadelphia, on the 10th day 
 of May next ; and that they, and each of them in the absence 
 of the other, have full and ample power in behalf of this 
 Province to consent and agree to all measures which said 
 Congress shall deem necessary to obtain redress for Ameri 
 can grievances. 
 
 "Voted, That two hundred and fifty pounds lawful money 
 be raised for defraying the expenses of said Delegates. 
 
 "Voted, That the Honorable John Wentworth, Esq., 
 Colonel Nathaniel Folsom, Honorable Mesheck Weare, Esq., 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 141 
 
 Colonel Josiah Bartlet, Colonel Christopher Tappan, Ebene- 
 zer Thompson, and William Whipple, Esqrs., be a committee 
 in behalf of this Province, to call a Provincial Convention 
 of Deputies when they shall judge the exigencies of public 
 affairs require it ; and that they, together with Samuel Cutts 
 and John Pickering, Esqrs., be a Committee of Correspond 
 ence for this Province. 
 
 " Voted, The following address : 
 
 " To the Inhabitants of the Province of New Hampshire 
 
 "BRETHREN: When we consider the unhappy condition 
 to which you and your American brethren are reduced; 
 when we reflect that for near ten months past you have 
 been deprived of any share in your own Government, and 
 of those advantages which flow to society from legislative 
 assemblies ; when we view the lowering clouds charged with 
 Ministerial vengeance, fast spreading over this extensive 
 continent, ready to burst on the heads of its inhabitants, 
 and to involve the whole British Empire in one common ruin ; 
 at this alarming juncture, duty to Almighty God, to our 
 country, ourselves, and posterity loudly demands our most 
 strenuous exertions to avoid the impending danger. Such 
 are the measures adopted by the British Ministry for enslav 
 ing you, and with such incessant vigilance has their plan 
 been prosecuted, that tyranny already begins to wave its 
 banners in your borders, and to threaten those once happy 
 regions with infamous and detestable slavery. 
 
 "Shall we, knowing the value of freedom, and nursed in 
 the arms of liberty, make a, base and ignominous surrender 
 of our rights, thereby consigning succeeding generations to 
 a condition of wretchedness from which perhaps all human 
 efforts will be insufficient to extricate them ? 
 
 "Duty to oursejves and regard for our country should 
 induce us to defend our liberties and to transmit the fair 
 inheritance to our posterity unimpaired. 
 
 "We therefore earnestly recommend, 
 
 "1st. That you discountenance and discourage all tres 
 passes and injuries against individuals and their property, 
 and all disorders of every kind ; and that you cultivate and 
 maintain peace and harmony among yourselves. 
 
 ' ' 2d. That you yield due obedience to the magistrates with 
 in this Government, and carefully endeavor to support the 
 laws thereof. 
 
 * ' 3d. That you strictly adhere to the Association of the late 
 Continental Congress, and deal with the violators of it in the 
 manner therein recommended. 
 
 "4th. That you endeavor particularly to enforce the laws 
 of the Province against hawkers, pedlers, and petty chap 
 men. 
 
 "5th. That you abstain from the use of East India tea 
 whenever or by whatever means it has or may be imported. 
 
142 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ''6th. That you encourage and support your several Com 
 mittees of Correspondence and Inspection in. discharging the 
 very important trust you have reposed in them. 
 
 u 7th. That, in case any inhabitant of these Colonies should 
 be seized in order to be transported to Great Britain, or other 
 parts beyond seas, to be tried for offences supposed to be 
 committed in America, you conduct yourselves agreeable 
 to the advice of the late Continental Congress. 
 
 "llth. That, as the inhabitants of the town of Boston, in the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay, are now laboring under a 
 load of Ministerial vengeance, laid upon them to enforce 
 obedience to certain arbitrary and unconstitutional acts, 
 which, if once submitted to, must involve all America in 
 slavery and ruin ; conscious that all these Colonies are largely 
 indebted to the virtue and fortitude of those patriotic asser- 
 tors of freedom, we heartily recommend a continuation of 
 your contributions for the relief of that oppressed people; 
 and that you keep yourselves in constant readiness to sup 
 port them in their just opposition whenever necessity may 
 require." 
 
 When news of the battles of Lexington and Concord 
 reached New Hampshire, the people of that, as of the other, 
 Colonies, took up arms and flew to the assistance of their 
 brethren of Massachusetts. 
 
 A new convention, very fully attended, assembled at Ex- 
 etsr early in June ; they passed votes of thanks to those who 
 had seized the powder and arms at Fort William and Mary, 
 and to those who had made a more recent seizure at Jerry's 
 Point. The committee of Portsmouth early in July forcibly 
 took the public records out of the hands of the Secretary of 
 State ; and from this time forward the King's government 
 became a mere shadow in New Hampshire, while all real 
 power was in the hands of the Provincial Congress, and the 
 Committee of Safety acting as an executive. 
 
 An attempt had been made by the Governor to strengthen 
 his party in the legislature by issuing writs of election to 
 new and inconsiderable townships. While older and more 
 populous towns were overlooked. When the Assembly met, 
 the first step taken by the House was the expulsion of three 
 of these members. 
 
 The Governor then adjourned the Assembly. " One of the 
 expelled members having spoken his mind freely without 
 doors, was assaulted by the populace, and took shelter in 
 the Governor's house. The people demanded him and brought 
 a gun mounted on a carriage to the door, upon which the 
 offender was delivered up and conveyed to Exeter." The 
 Governor retreated to the Fort, and his house was pillaged 
 by the mob. The Assembly met July llth, and received a 
 message from the Governor, still resident in the Fort, by 
 which he adjourned them to the 28th September. But this 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 143 
 
 was the end of royal government. The Assembly never met 
 again, and the Governor soon after went on board a ship of 
 war to Boston. 
 
 In November, steps were taken to reorganize the govern 
 ment on a more permanent footing. The Convention asked 
 the advice of the Continental Congress, which was given to 
 the effect that a convention should be called to agree upon 
 a plan of government. Their first scheme was to establish 
 a single representative body ; but in the course of six months 
 the Delegates became convinced "that it was improper for 
 a representative assembly to consist of one house only." 
 They accordingly adopted for themselves the name of a 
 House of Representatives, and proceeded to elect twelve 
 Councillors to constitute a distinct branch of the legislature. 
 These were chosen from the several counties, in proportion 
 to population. This was early in January, 1776. In future 
 elections, the people were to elect Councillors, as well as 
 members of the House of Representatives. A Committee of 
 Safety was appointed to act as an executive. The president 
 of the Council was to be president of this Committee. Upon 
 the adoption of this plan of government, the convention made 
 this declaration, viz. : 
 
 " We conceive ourselves reduced to the necessity of estab 
 lishing a form of government to continue during the present 
 unhappy and unnatural contest with Great Britain ; protest 
 ing and declaring that we never sought to throw off our de 
 pendence on Great Britain, but felt ourselves happy under 
 her protection whilst we could enjoy our constitutional 
 rights and privileges ; and that we shall rejoice if such a 
 reconciliation between us and our parent-state can be ef 
 fected as shall be approved by the Continental Congress, in 
 whose prudence and wisdom we confide." 
 
 Thus in advance of the Declaration of Independence was 
 a government, entirely free from British control, established 
 in New Hampshire ; and on the 15th June, 1776, the Assembly 
 of New Hampshire instructed their Delegates to the Con 
 tinental Congress to vote for independence : 
 
 " Saturday, June 15, 1776. 
 
 "The House met according to adjournment. 
 
 "The draught made by the committee of both Houses, re 
 lating to independence, and voted as the sense of this House 
 as in the preceding page, is as follows, viz. : 
 
 "Whereas, It now appears an undoubted fact that, not 
 withstanding all the dutiful petitions and decent remon 
 strances from the American Colonies, and the utmost exer 
 tions of their best friends in England on their behalf, the 
 British Ministery, arbitrary and vindictive, are yet deter 
 mined to reduce by fire and sword pur bleeding country to 
 their absolute obedience ; and for this purpose, in addition to 
 
144 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 their own forces, have engaged great numbers of foreign 
 mercenaries, who may now be on their passage here, accom 
 panied by a formidable fleet, to ravage and plunder the sea- 
 coast ; from all which we may expect the most dismal scenes 
 of distress the ensuing year, unless we exert ourselves by 
 ever means and precaution possible ; 
 
 "And whereas, We of this Colony of New Hampshire have 
 the example of the most respectable of our sister-Colonies 
 before us, for entering upon that most important step of 
 disunion from Great Britain, and declaring ourselves free 
 and independent of the Crown thereof, being impelled thereto 
 by the most violent and injurious treatment, and it appear 
 ing most necessary in this most critical juncture of our pub 
 lic affiirs, that the honorable Continental Congress who 
 have this most important object under their immediate con 
 sideration, should be also informed of our resolution there 
 on without loss of time; We do hereby declare that it is 
 the opinion of our Assembly that our Delegates at the Con 
 tinental Congress should be instructed, and they are hereby 
 instructed, to join with the other Colonies in declaring the 
 thirteen united Colonies a free and independent state, 
 solemnly pledging our faith and honor that we will on our 
 parts support the measure with our lives and fortunes; and 
 that in consequence thereof they, the Continental Congress, 
 on whose wisdom, fidelity, and integrity we rely, may enter 
 into and form such alliances as they may judge most con 
 ducive to the present safety and future advantage of these 
 American Colonies, provided the regulation of our internal 
 police be under the direction of our own Assembly. 
 
 "Entered according to the original. 
 
 "Attest: 
 
 "NOAH EMERY, Clerk." 
 
 Connecticut. 
 
 Having already explained the character of the act of Par 
 liament of 1767, for taxing tea, it is needless to restate it in 
 this place. Connecticut was one of the earliest of the Col 
 onies to enter into the non-intercourse agreement, by which 
 the tax was rendered of no other effect than that of serving 
 to alienate the affections of the Colonists from the mother- 
 country. In August, 1768, a non importation agreement 
 was formed between the merchants of Connecticut and those 
 of New York. It was as follows: 
 
 "We will not import, on our own account or on commis 
 sion, or purchase of any who shall import, from any other 
 Colony in America, from January, 1769, to January, 1770, 
 any tea, glass, paper, or other goods commonly imported 
 from Great Britain," etc. 
 
 A public meeting was held at Glastenbury, August 27, 
 1770, to appoint Delegates to a general convention to be held 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 145 
 
 September 13th at New Haven. Its object was stated to be 
 to "Resolve upon such measures as are proper to be taken 
 for the support of the non-importation agreement, so im 
 portant at this critical juncture to the plantations in Amer 
 ica belonging to the British Crown." Two Delegates were 
 appointed, who were directed to support to the uttermost 
 the non-intercourse agreement. Complaint was made of 
 bad faith on the part of the New York merchants. Similar 
 town meetings were held all over the Colony, at which the 
 most determined and patriotic resolutions were adopted. It 
 seems that no record of the convention of September 13th has 
 been preserved, or at least no reference is made to it by the 
 historian. Much enthusiasm sprang up in favor of domestic 
 manufactures. The women, no less than the men, agreed 
 to wear nothing but home-spun. * ' Committees of inspection 
 were appointed by the towns to see that no man or woman 
 should infringe upon the sanctity of the non-importation 
 agreement. These committees were by no means idle. The 
 gentleman who wished to drink a glass of brandy or other 
 imported liquor, and dame who felt that her patriotism 
 needed the gentler stimulant of tea, were obliged to keep 
 the tempting beverage out of sight and watch a secret mo 
 ment to nourish the cherished appetite. Woe betide the 
 wretch who should be caught in the act of transgression! If 
 a male, publication in the Gazette, the cry of the populace 
 at his heels, and the insults of every boy who was large 
 enough to shout the word ' Liberty,' was the least that he 
 could expect, even should he be fortunate enough to escape 
 the tenacious affinities of tar and feathers. If a woman, it 
 were better for her that she should never have been born. 
 No sighs were in reserve to be breathed in her ears by the 
 young or the brave, though her face were fair as an angel's; 
 and those of her own sex were sure to turn from her as if 
 her eye had in it an evil charm." Hollister, vol. 2, page 149. 
 The spirit of the people will be indicated by the following 
 resolutions : 
 
 " FARMINGTON, Conn., May 19, 1774. 
 
 "Early in the morning was found the following handbill, 
 posted up in various parts of the town: 
 
 u ' To pass through the fire at 6 o'clock this evening in 
 honor to the immortal Goddess of Liberty, the late infamous 
 act of the British Parliament for further distressing the 
 American Colonies ; the place of execution will be the public 
 parade, where all Sons of Liberty are desired to attend.' 
 
 " Accordingly, a very numerous and respectable body were 
 assembled of near one thousand people, when a huge pole, 
 just forty -five feet high, was erected and consecrated to the 
 shrine of Liberty; after which the act of Parliament, for 
 blocking up the Boston harbor, was read aloud, sentenced to 
 the flames, and executed by the hands of the common hang 
 man, Then the following resolves were passed, nem. con,: 
 
146 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 u '1st. That it is the greatest dignity, interest, and happiness 
 of every American to be united with our parent state, while 
 our liberties are duty secured, maintained, and supported by 
 our rightful sovereign, whose person we greatly revere; 
 whose government, while duly administered, we are ready 
 with our lives and properties to support. 
 
 " ' 2d. That the present Ministry, being instigated by the 
 Devil, and led on by their wicked and corrupt hearts, have 
 a design to take away our liberties and properties, and to 
 enslave us forever. 
 
 " ' 3d. That the late act which their malice has caused to 
 be passed in Parliament, for blocking up the port of Boston, 
 is unjust, illegal, and oppressive; and that we, and every 
 American, are sharers in the insults offered to the town of 
 Boston. 
 
 " ' 4th. That these pimps and parasites who dared to advise 
 their master to such detestable measures, be held in utter 
 abhorrence by us, and every American, and their names 
 loaded with the curses of all succeeding generations. 
 
 " * 5th. That we scorn the chains of slavery; we despise 
 every attempt to rivet them upon us ; we are the Sons of 
 Freedom : and resolved that, till time shall be no more, that 
 Godlike virtue shall blazen our hemisphere." American 
 Archives (4th series), vol. 1. 
 
 The passage of the Boston Port Bill by the British Parlia 
 ment everywhere awakened among the people of Connecti 
 cut a lively sympathy with their Massachusetts brethren. 
 At the May session of the General Assembly, energetic 
 measures were taken to prepare the Colony for war : arms 
 were collected, officers were appointed, and military com 
 panies were formed. A series of resolutions were adopted, 
 which assert the exclusive right of the people of the Colony 
 to tax themselves, by their representatives, in their General 
 Assembly ; deny the right of taxation to the British Parlia 
 ment; condemn the establishment of Admiralty Courts in 
 America, which take away the common -law jurisdiction, as 
 unconstitutional; and declare that the acts of Parliament 
 which shut up the port of Boston and take away the char 
 tered rights of that Colony are subversive of liberty. The 
 resolutions are as follows : 
 
 Connecticut Resolutions : 
 
 11 In the House of Representatives of the English Colon j 
 of Connecticut, on the second Thursday in May, 1774, this 
 House, taking into their serious consideration sundry acts 
 of the British Parliament, in which their power and right to 
 impose duties and taxes upon hi? Majesty's subjects in the 
 British Colonies and Plantations in America, for the purpose 
 of raising a revenue, are declared, attempted to be exer 
 cised, and in various ways enforced and carried into execu- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 147 
 
 tion; and especially a very late act, in which pains and 
 penalties are inflicted on the capital of a neighboring Prov 
 ince, a precedent justly alarming to every British Colony 
 in America, and which, being admitted and established, their 
 lives, liberties, and properties are at the mercy of a tribunal 
 where innocence may be punished upon the accusation and 
 evidence of wicked men, without defence, and even without 
 knowing the accuser a precedent calculated to terrify them 
 into silence and submission, whilst they are stripped of their 
 invaluable rights and liberties; do think it their duty, and 
 expedient at this time, to renew their claim to the rights, 
 liberties, and immunities of free-born Englishmen, which 
 they are justly entitled to by the laws of nature, by the 
 Eoyal Grant and Charter of his late Majesty King Charles 
 the Second, and by long and uninterrupted possession; and 
 thereupon do declare and resolve as follows, viz. : 
 
 "1st. In the first place we do most expressly declare, 
 recognize, and acknowledge his Majesty King George the 
 Third to be the lawful and rightful King of Great Britain, 
 and all other his dominions and countries ; and that it is the 
 indispensable duty of this Colony, as being part of his Ma 
 jesty's dominions, always to bear faithful and true allegiance 
 to his Majesty, and them to defend, to the utmost of their 
 power, against all attempts upon his person, Crown, or 
 dignity. 
 
 " 2d. That the subjects of his Majesty in this Colony ever 
 have had, and of right ought to have and enjoy, all the liber 
 ties, immunities, and privileges of free and natural born sub 
 jects within any of the dominions our said King, his heirs 
 and successors, as fully and amply as if they and every of 
 them were born within the realm of England. That they 
 have a property in their own estate, and are to be taxed by 
 their own consent only, given in person or by their repre 
 sentatives, and are not to be disseized of their liberties or 
 free customs, sentenced, or condemned but by lawful judg 
 ment of their peers ; and that the said rights and immunities 
 are recognized and confirmed by the inhabitants of the Col 
 ony, by the Eoyal Grant and Charter aforesaid, and are 
 their undoubted right to all intents, constructions, and pur 
 poses whatsoever. 
 
 " 3d. That the only lawful representatives of the freemen 
 of this Colony are the persons they elect to serve as mem 
 bers of the General Assembly thereof. 
 
 "4th. That it is the just right and privilege of his Majesty's 
 liege subjects of this Colony to be governed by their Gen 
 eral Assembly in the article of taxing, and internal police, 
 agreeable to the powers and privileges recognized and con 
 firmed in the royal Charter aforesaid, which they have 
 enjoyed for more than a century past, and have neither for 
 feited nor surrendered, but the same have been constantly 
 recognized by the King and Parliament of Great Britain. 
 
148 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "5th. That the erecting new and unusual Courts of Admir 
 alty, and vesting them with extraordinary powers, above, 
 and not subject to the control of the Common-law Courts 
 in this Colony, to judge and determine in suits relating to 
 the duties and forfeitures contained in said acts foreign to 
 the accustomed and established jurisdiction of the former 
 Courts of Admiralty in America, is, in the opinion of this 
 House, highly dangerous to the liberties of his Majesty's sub 
 jects in America, contrary to the great Charter of English 
 liberty, and destructive of one of their most darling rights 
 that of trial by juries, which is justly esteemed one chief ex 
 cellence of the British Constitution, and a principal branch 
 of English liberty. 
 
 ' ' 6th. That the apprehending and carrying persons beyond 
 the sea to be tried for any crime alleged to be committed 
 within this Colony, or subjecting them to be tried, by com 
 missioners, or by any court constituted by act of Parliament, 
 or otherwise, within this Colony in a summary way, with 
 out a jury, is unconstitutional and subversive of the liber 
 ties and rights of the free subjects of this Colony. 
 
 "7th. That any harbor or port, duly opened and consti 
 tuted, cannot be shut up and discharged but by an act of 
 the legislature of the Province or Colony in which such 
 harbor or port is situated, without subverting the rights 
 and liberties, and destroying the property, of his Majesty's 
 subjects. 
 
 " 8th. That the late act of Parliament inflicting pains and 
 penalties on the town of Boston, by blocking up their har 
 bor, is a precedent justly alarming to the British Colonies in 
 America, and wholly inconsistent with and subversive of 
 their constitutional rights and liberties. 
 
 "9th. That whenever his Majesty's service shall require 
 the aid of the inhabitants of this Colony, the same fixed 
 principles of loyalty, as well as self -preservation, which have 
 hitherto induced us fully to comply with his Majesty's requi 
 sitions, together with the deep sense we have of its being our 
 indispensable duty (in the opinion of this House), will ever 
 hold us under the strongest obligations, which can be given 
 or desired, most cheerfully to grant his Majesty, from time 
 to time, our further proportion of men and money for the 
 defence, protection, security, and other services of the Brit 
 ish-American dominions. 
 
 " 10th. That we look on the well-being and greatest secur 
 ity of this Colony to depend (under God) on our connection 
 with Great Britain, which, it is ardently wished, may con 
 tinue to the latest posterity ; and that it is the humble 
 opinion of this House that thp Constitution of this Colony, 
 being understood and practised upon as it has, ever since it 
 existed (till very lately), is the surest bond of union, confi 
 dence, and mutual prosperity of our mother-country and us ? 
 
THE BIRTH OP THE REPUBLIC. 149 
 
 and the best foundation on which to build the good of the 
 whole, whether considered in a civil, military, or mercantile 
 light ; and of the truth of this opinion we are the more con 
 fident as it is not formed on speculation only, but has been 
 verified in fact, and, by long experience found to produce, 
 according to our extent and other circumstances, as many 
 loyal, virtuous, industrious, and well-governed subjects as 
 any part of his Majesty's dominions ; and as truly zealous 
 of, and as warmly engaged to promote, the best good and real 
 glory of the grand whole which constitutes the British Em 
 pire. 
 
 " llth. That it is an indispensable duty which we owe to 
 our King, our country, ourselves and our posterity, by all 
 lawful ways and means in our power, to maintain, defend, 
 and preserve these our rights and liberties, and to transmit 
 them entire and in violate to the latest generations ; and that 
 it is our fixed, determined, and unalterable resolution faith 
 fully to discharge this our duty. 
 
 "At their sessions at Hartford on the second Thursday of 
 May, 1774, in the fourteenth year of his Majesty's reign, 
 the foregoing resolutions reported to the House by their 
 Committee were unanimously voted and ordered to be 
 entered on their Journal or Record." American Archives 
 (4th Series), vol. 1, p. 355. 
 
 On the 6th June, a town meeting in Norwich, "being le 
 gally warned and convened," 
 
 "Voted, That we will, to the utmost of our abilities, 
 assert and defend the liberties and immunities of British 
 America ; and that we will co-operate, with our brethren in 
 this and other Colonies, in such reasonable measures as 
 shall, in a General Congress, or otherwise, be judged most 
 proper to relieve us from the burdens we now feel, and 
 secure us from greater evils we fear will follow from the 
 principles adopted by the British Parliament respecting the 
 town of Boston." American Archives (4th Series), vol. 
 1st, page 390. 
 
 *' June 23, 1774, a town meeting was held at Glastonbury, 
 which appointed a Committee of Correspondence in order 
 ' to promote and forward such contributions as shall be 
 made in this town for the relief of our distressed friends in 
 Boston.' The Committee, composed of Col. Elizur Talcott, 
 Mr. William Willis, Captain Elisha Hollister, Mr. Ebenezer 
 Plummer, Mr. Isaac Mosely, Mr. Thomas Kimberly, and Mr. 
 Josiah Hale, forwarded with the resolutions an eloquent 
 address, in which they say : ' We cannot but deeply sympa 
 thize with you under the gloomy prospects which at present 
 are before you on account of those oppressive acts of Parlia 
 ment which have been lately passed, respecting Boston in 
 particular and the Province of Massachusettes Bay in gen 
 eral. Especially when we consider that our Liberties and 
 
150 THE BIRTH OF 1 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 privileges are so nearly and indissolubly connected with 
 yours, that an encroachment upon one, at least, destroys all 
 the security of the other. It seems that the Parliament of 
 Great Britain are determined to reduce America to a state 
 of vassalage ; and unless we all unite in the common cause, 
 they will undoubtedly accomplish their design. . . . You 
 may depend on us, and we believe all Connecticut, almost to 
 a man. to stand by you and assist you in the defence of our 
 invaluable rights and privileges, even to the sacrificing of 
 our lives and fortunes, in so good a cause. . . .We are 
 informed that your House of Representatives have ap 
 pointed a time for a meeting of the General Congress, in 
 which we hope all the Colonies will concur, and that a non 
 importation and non-exportation agreement will be imme 
 diately come into, which, we doubt not, will procure the 
 desired effect ; ana notwithstanding the gloomy aspect of 
 things at present, we cannot but look forward with fond 
 hopes and pleasing expectations to that glorious era when 
 America, in spite of all the efforts of her enemies to the con 
 trary, shall rise superior to all opposition, overcome oppres 
 sion, be a refuge for the oppressed, a nurse of liberty, a 
 scourge to tyranny, and the envy of the world ; then (if you 
 stand firm and unshaken amidst the storm of ministerial 
 vengeance) shall it be told, to your everlasting honor, that 
 Boston stood foremost in the cause of liberty, when the 
 greatest power on earth was striving to divest them of it; 
 and by their noble efforts, joined with the united virtue of 
 her sister- Colonies, they overcame, and thereby transmitted 
 to posterity, those invaluable rights and privileges which 
 their forefathers purchased with their blood.' " 
 
 This address is as remarkable for its prophetic as for its 
 bold and patriotic spirit. 
 
 Extract from the proceedings of the town meeting in 
 Windham, in Connecticut : 
 
 "June 23, 1774. 
 
 "We cannot close this meeting without expressing our 
 utmost abhorrence and detestation of those few in a devoted 
 Province styling themselves ministers and merchants, bar 
 risters and attorneys, who have, against the sense and 
 opinion of this vast continent, distinguished themselves in 
 their late fawning, adulating address to Governor Hutch- 
 inson, the scourge of the Province which gave him birth, 
 and the pest of America. His principles and conduct evi 
 denced by his letters and those under his approbation are 
 so replete with treason against his country, and with the 
 meanest of self -exaltation, as cannot be palliated by art, nor 
 distinguished by subtlety. We esteem those addresses a high 
 handed insult on the town of Boston and the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay in particular, and all the American Col 
 onies in general. Those styled merchants may plead their 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 151 
 
 profound ignorance of the Constitutional rights of English 
 men as an excuse, in some degree. But for those who style 
 themselves barristers and attorneys they have either as 
 sumed a false character, or they must in some measure be 
 acquainted with the Constitutional rights of Englishmen, 
 and those of their own Province. For them to present such 
 an address is a daring affront to common-sense, a high in 
 sult on all others of the profession, and a treason against 
 law; and from that learned profession who are supposed to 
 be well acquainted with the English Constitution, and have 
 the best means and are under the greatest advantages to 
 defend the rights of society, and who have been famed as 
 the greatest supporters of English liberties, for any of them 
 to make a sacrifice of their all to this pagod of vanity and 
 fulsome adulation, is mean, vile, and unpardonable, and 
 cannot be accounted for upon any other principles but those 
 of their master, who would sacrifice his country to be the 
 independent head of a respectable Province, and the few 
 leaders of this infamous law band would, it seems, give 
 their aid and support therein to obtain the first places in this 
 new kingdom. The addressing clergy we leave to the re 
 proaches of their own consciences, but lament to find they 
 are the first in their ignominious homage to their idol." 
 
 In September of this year, 1774, a Dr. Beebe was "tarred 
 and feathered " at East Hampton, on the charge of being a 
 Tory. He could not obtain a warrant of arrest against the 
 perpetrators of the outrage, from a magistrate, the latter 
 excusing himself on the ground that it could not be ex 
 ecuted. 
 
 On the 15th September, 1774, a delegate meeting was held 
 at Hartford, representing the counties of Hartford, New 
 London, and Windham, and a part of the county of Litch- 
 field. A pledge was given that they would strictly observe 
 a non -importation agreement about to be entered into by 
 the Continental Congress; and denouncing in advance all 
 who should attempt to disregard it. 
 
 The following is the report of the proceedings: 
 
 "At a meeting of delegates from the towns ir the coun 
 ties of Hartford, New London, and Windham, and a part of 
 the county of Litchfield, held at Hartford, in Connecticut, 
 on the 15th of September, 1774. 
 
 " William Wolcott, Esq., chairman. 
 
 "Captain Samuel Wyllys, Clerk. 
 
 "This meeting, taking into their serious consideration the 
 absolute necessity of a non-consumption agreement, as shall 
 be recommended by the general Congress of Delegates, from 
 all the free British Colonies in America, now convened at 
 Philadelphia, and also that their opinion and resolution 
 thereon hath not been yet fully made known to the dele 
 gates from this Colony, in said Congress, Do declare and 
 resolve, 
 
152 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ''That, in case the .said general Congress shall recommend 
 a non-imnortation of British goods only, or of British and 
 West India goods, we will enter into a solemn contract and 
 agreement not to purchase or consume any articles that 
 shall be prohibited by such non-importation agreement, and 
 use our utmost endeavors to render the same general and 
 effectual ; and we do hereby make known that we have in 
 general been assured by the towns we represent that they 
 will readily accede to adopt and religiously observe such 
 non- consumption agreement as aforesaid. 
 
 44 And whereas, This meeting is informed that great quan 
 tities of English and India goods are ordered by sundry 
 sordid and avaricious men in our neighboring Colonies to 
 be purchased in England and imported this fall to give them 
 an unreasonable advantage and prevent the salutary effects 
 of a non-importation agreement,, 
 
 "Resolved, That such mercenary wretches whose avarice 
 can seek for gratification in the distress and ruin of their 
 country are wholly unworthy of our confidence, friendship, 
 or support; and that our non-consumption agreement may 
 be useful to any good purpose, we will not purchase any 
 merchandise of them, or transact any business for them, or 
 suffer them to transact any for us, but will wholly withdraw 
 from them, and leave them to the consolation of possessing 
 and contemplating the curious movements of British indus 
 try and American slavery, which they would so greedily 
 amass to themselves for such sordid and wicked purposes; 
 and shall consider in the same light, and treat in the same 
 manner, every person that shall purchase any such goods of 
 them, or do business for them, or employ them in their 
 business. 
 
 "Resolved, That the Committee .of Correspondence for 
 the several towns were present be desired to make diligent 
 inquiry after the persons who have ordered goods as afore 
 said, and inform the next county and Colony meeting of 
 what they shall discover, that their names may be published, 
 their conduct exposed, and their persons avoided. 
 
 "Resolved, That if any merchant or trader in the towns 
 aforesaid shall attempt to engross any great or unusual 
 quantity of goods, with design to forestall and elude a non 
 importation agreement, we will find ways and means, with 
 out violating his private rights, to defeat his views and make 
 him sensible that virtue and public spirit will be more for 
 his interest than low selfishness and avarice can be. These 
 measures, dictated by necessity, we enter upon for the pres 
 ervation of our liberties, which we have received from our 
 Creator; and may not resign or suffer to be ravished from 
 us. At the same time it is the warmest wish of our hearts 
 that the wisdom and equity of the British Parliament may 
 relieve us from our fears and danger, and that we may once 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 153 
 
 more and forever look up to our parent country with con 
 fidence and pleasure, and, secure of our own rights, con 
 tribute all in our power to promote the honor, interest, and 
 happiness of our elder brethren in Great Britain ; and, 
 
 ' ' Whereas, We cannot yet be advised what measures the 
 general Congress will recommend, and therefore are unable 
 at present to adjust the particulars of a non-consumption 
 agreement, we think it may be of use to the merchants and 
 traders in the aforesaid towns to bs made acquainted with 
 our resolutions aforesaid, and that we determine in proper 
 time to carry them into execution, 
 
 "Resolved, That the thanks of the meeting be given the 
 Committee of Correspondence for the town of Hartford, for 
 their care and attention to the interest of the public in call 
 ing this meeting ; and that they be desired to call a Colony 
 meeting at a suitable time and place to finish the business 
 now begun and entered upon, taking the advice of the Com 
 mittee of Correspondence for the towns of Windsor, Weth- 
 ersfield, and Middletown therein. 
 
 u The foregoing resolutions voted and passed, nemine con- 
 tradicente. 
 
 " SAMUEL WYLLYS, 
 
 " Clerk of the Meeting." 
 
 On the 4th September, a false report, which was spread 
 over Connecticut, to the effect that the British troops had 
 attacked the people of Boston and killed several citizens, 
 served to bring out the determined spirit of the people of 
 Connecticut. Before the rumor could be contradicted, 
 many thousand men were under arms, and were marching 
 or ready to march to the defence of that town. 
 
 Stamford (Connecticut) Town Meeting. 
 
 " At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Stamford, 
 legally warned and convened, on the 7th day of October, 
 1774: 
 
 "The inhabitants of this town, sensibly affected with the 
 distresses to which the town of Boston and Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay are subjected by several late unconstitu 
 tional acts of the British Parliament, and also viewing the 
 Quebec Bill, whereby the Roman Catholic religion is estab 
 lished over a great part of his Majesty's extensive continent 
 of America, as an attempt not barely to destroy our civil 
 liberties, but as an open declaration that our religious priv 
 ileges, which our fathers fled their native country to enjoy, 
 are very soon to be abolished (hoping to convince the people 
 of this extensive continent that, notwithstanding our long 
 silence, we are by no means unwilling to join with our sister- 
 towns to assert our just rights and oppose every design of a 
 corrupt Ministry to enslave America), do declare that we ac 
 knowledge our subjection to the Crown of Great Britain, and 
 
154 THE BIRTH: OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 all the constitutional powers thereto belonging, as estab 
 lished in the illustrious house of Hanover, and that it is our 
 earnest desire that the same peaceable connection should 
 subsist between us and the mother-country that has sub 
 sisted for a long time before the late unconstitutional meas 
 ures adopted by the Parliament of Great Britian ; and we 
 hope that some plan will be found out by the General Con 
 gress to effect the reconciliation we wish for ; yet we are 
 determined in every lawful way to join with our sister-Colo 
 nies resolutely to defend our just rights and oppose all illegal 
 and unconstitutional acts of the British Parliament that re 
 spect America. 
 
 "That we are pleased that a Congress of Deputies from the 
 Colonies is now met at Philadelphia, and, relying upon the 
 wisdom of that body, we declare that we are ready to adopt 
 such reasonable measures as shall by them be judged for the 
 general good of the inhabitants of America. 
 
 "Voted, That Messrs. John Lloyd and Samuel Hutton, 
 Captain Samuel Young, Captain David Hait, and Charles 
 Weed, be a committee to receive subscriptions for the 
 supply of the poor in the town of Boston who suffer in con 
 sequence of an act of Parliament called the Port Act ; and 
 that the said committee cause anything that shall be col 
 lected to be transported to the care of the Committee of 
 Ways and Means in the town of Boston, to be employed by 
 them as they shall think fit. The above is a true copy of 
 record, it being a very full meeting almost an unanimous 
 vote. S. JARVTS, 
 
 "Town Clerk." 
 
 Danbury (Connecticut} Town Meeting. 
 
 " At a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the town of 
 Danbury in Connecticut, December 12, 1774, 
 
 "Captain Thomas Stevens, Moderator, 
 
 "The town took into consideration the present alarming 
 situation of the American Colonies from several late uncon 
 stitutional and oppressive acts of the British Parliament, 
 and feeling deeply impressed with a sense of our common 
 danger, we should have earlier manifested our sense of the 
 natural and constitutional rights we are or ought to be 
 possessed of, and of the wanton infringement made upon 
 them by the oppressive plan of policy now prosecuting by 
 the British Ministry, were it not that we thought there was 
 the greatest propriety in waiting till they were stated by a 
 general Congress lest, by every town's attempting particu 
 larly to state them, there might be a disagreement in their 
 claims, which might occasion disunion among ourselves and 
 give cause of triumph to our enemies. But pur rights and 
 the infringements of them having been particularly stated 
 by the late American Congress, in their resolutions, or Bill 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 155 
 
 of Rights, which, from the best knowledge and information 
 we are able to obtain, we apprehend to be accurately and 
 judiciusly done ; we do therefore, 
 
 u (l) Declare our full concurrence with said resolutions, as 
 trully stating the rights and privileges we mean to defend, 
 and the oppressive infringements we mean to oppose, to the 
 extent of those abilities which God and Nature have fur 
 nished us with. 
 
 "(2) We do heartily approve of the Association containing 
 a non-importation, non-exportation, and non-consumption 
 agreement, entered into by the General Congress as the 
 most salutary, wise, and probable measure for obtaining 
 redress of the grievances we labor under; and will use our 
 utmost endeavors to render the same effectual by a full 
 compliance therewith ourselves, and by treating with de 
 served neglect any one who shall dare, in opposition to the 
 voice of America, by counteracting this agreement, to seek 
 his own emolument to the endangering the liberties of his 
 country. And, that such as break through this agreement 
 and refuse to be reclaimed by gentler means, may be held 
 up to public view as objects to be shunned and avoided by 
 every friend to liberty and lover of his country, we have 
 appointed the following gentlemen a committee for the pur 
 pose specified in the eleventh article of said Association, via. : 
 Doctor John Wood, Thaddeus Benedict, and Daniel Taylor, 
 Esqrs., Lieutenant Noble Benedict, Colonel Joseph Platt 
 Cook, Captain Silas Hamilton, Samuel Taylor, Esq., Messrs. 
 Andrew Comstock, James Sisly, Daniel Benedict, and Rich 
 ard Shute, Captain Thomas Stevens, and Mr. Joseph Bebee. 
 
 "(4) It is with singular pleasure we notice the second 
 article of the Association, in which it is agreed to import no 
 more negro slaves, as we cannot but think it a palpable 
 absurdity so loudly to complain of attempts to enslave us, 
 while we are actually enslaving others ; and that we have 
 great reason to apprehend the enslaving the Africans is one 
 of the crying sins of our land, for which Heaven is now chas 
 tising us. We notice also with pleasure the late act of our 
 General Assembly imposing a fine of one hundred pounds 
 on any one who shall import a negro slave into this Colony. 
 We could also wish that something further might be done 
 for the relief of such as are now in a state of slavery in the 
 Colonies, and such as may hereafter be born of parents in 
 that unhappy condition. 
 
 "(5) As we look upon the town of Boston to be suffering in 
 the common cause of American liberty, we would manifest 
 our hearty sympathy with them in their present calamitous 
 state, and readiness to administer, to the relief of their suffer 
 ing poor, according to our abilities; and do accordingly 
 recommend to the several inhabitants of this town to con 
 tribute liberally of money or provisions. For this purpose 
 
156 THE BIRTH Off THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 we have appointed Captain Daniel Starr, Messrs. John 
 McLean, Zadock Benedict, and Andrew Comstock a com 
 mittee to receive such donations and transmit the same to 
 the committee appointed to receive them in the town of 
 Boston. Our being so late in contributing to their relief 
 hath not arisen from our haying been unconcerned specta 
 tors of their distressed condition; but hearing of the lauda 
 ble zeal of others, we were ready to conclude there was a 
 sufficient present supply, and that our donations would be 
 more needed and more acceptable in some future time. 
 "Voted by a large majority. 
 
 "MAJOR TAYLOR, 
 
 " Town Clerk." 
 
 FAIRFIELD (CONNECTICUT) COMMITTEE. 
 
 " A a legal meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Fair- 
 field, Connecticut, held by adjournment on the 29th day of 
 December, A.D. 1774, 
 
 " Ebenezer Silliman, Esq., Moderator, 
 
 " This meeting haying duly considered the agreement and 
 association entered into by the Continental Congress lately 
 held at Philadelphia, do heartily approve thereof and adopt 
 the same, and take this opportunity to express their most 
 grateful sense of the good services of the worthy delegates 
 from this Colony who attended said Congress. 
 
 "Voted, That if any person or persons shall directly or 
 indirectly, with intent to dissuade, disunite, or otherwise 
 prevent us from strictly complying with and conforming to 
 said agreement and association, publish, send, or sell, or 
 otherwise dispose of any books, pamphlets, or publications 
 in this town directly tending thereto, such person or persons 
 shall be dealt with and exposed in the same way and man 
 ner as is prescribed in said eleventh article for such person 
 or persons as violate said agreement and association." 
 
 Mr. Hollister, the historian, whose narrative has been 
 followed, states that the battle of Lexington, "growing out 
 of an attempt to seize military stores, led to a movement, 
 originating in Connecticut, and paid for out of the treasury 
 of that Colony, that resulted in the capture of Ticonderoga, 
 and in the seizure of all its guns and munitions for the use 
 of the Colonies. The general Assembly was in session when 
 the news of the battle of Lexington reached Hartford, and 
 the plan was entered into of surprising Ticonderoga, without 
 any ostensible action of the Assembly, but with their tacit 
 assent. 
 
 " Several gentlemen borrowed money, to pay the expenses 
 of the expedition, from the Colonial treasury, and gave their 
 individual obligations with security." 
 
 The names of the signers to the notes were Samuel Holden, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 157 
 
 Parsons, Silas Deane, Samuel Wyllis, Samuel Bishop, Jr., 
 William Williams, Thomas Munford, Adam Babcock, Joshua 
 Porter, Jesse Boot, Ezekiel Williams, and Charles Wells. 
 The amount borrowed was 810 pounds ; and two years after 
 wards, the notes were cancelled by order of the Assembly. 
 
 "A Committee was appointed by the leaders of this dar 
 ing project," continues Hollister, "to complete all the ar 
 rangements. This Committee selected sixteen Connecticut 
 men, and then proceeded to Berkshire, where they elicited 
 the sympathy and co operation of some of the principal gen 
 tlemen of the place, and a re-enforcement of about forty 
 men. They then advanced to Bennington, where they were 
 joined by Colonel Ethan Allen, Seth Warner, and about one 
 hundred volunteers. After stopping there long enough to 
 bake bread and provide themselves with such other neces 
 saries as they needed, this little company of one hundred 
 and fifty picked men followed Colonel Allen to Castleton, 
 whither he had preceded them with a view of raising more 
 troops." 
 
 At Castleton they met Colonel Allen with reinforcements, 
 and "Their numbers now amounted to two hundred and 
 seventy men, most of them Green Mountain boys, who, born 
 in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, and 
 inured to the rough warfare of border life, in contending 
 with the executive officers, and defying the authority of the 
 Provincial legislature of New York, had become wild and 
 free in all their actions and opinions as the green ridges 
 whence they took their name. Sentries were now posted 
 on all the roads leading to Ticonderoga, to prevent the news 
 of the enterprise being carried to the garrison by the Tor 
 ies." 
 
 At this point the party was joined by Benedict Arnold, 
 who had been commissioned as a colonel by the Massachu 
 setts authorities; but as he brought no troops with him, 
 Allen very properly refused to give way to him, but agreed 
 to accept him as an aid. The fort, which was garrisoned by 
 about fifty men and officers, was surprised by Allen, and 
 surrendered at discretion almost without bloodshed. This 
 event happened May 10, 1775. Crown Point, garrisoned 
 by only a sergeant "and twelve men, surrendered on the 
 same day to Captain Warner. 
 
 A British sloop of war lay at the head of the lake, Chain- 
 plain. A plan was formed for its capture. A small schooner 
 was armed and fitted out, of which Arnold was put in com 
 mand. Allen commanded some batteaux which were to 
 accompany the schooner and aid in the attack. But Arnold 
 sailed far ahead and without difficulty, surprised and cap 
 tured the sloop, though larger and better armed than the 
 assailant. So the whole expedition was a success, and in 
 fused great enthusiasm throughout the Colonies. The arms 
 
158 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 and ammunition captured made a very considerable addi 
 tion to the meagre equipments of the Americans Hollister 
 concludes his account of those events as follows: " It was, 
 as we have seen, from the beginning a Connecticut measure, 
 conceived by gentlemen from that Colony, approved by her 
 general Assembly, carried out by officers who were born in 
 her towns of Litchfield, Woodbury, and Norwich, and paid 
 for, as our State papers still show, from her treasury. Thus 
 Connecticut had the honor, of which neither envy nor false 
 hood have been quite able to rob her, of striking the first 
 aggressive blow at the British power in America." But Con 
 necticut will generously concede to the people who inhabit 
 ed the disputed territory which afte wards became the State 
 of Vermont a large share in the glory of this achievement. 
 
 Connecticut had the honor, among all the Colonies, of 
 having the only patriot Governor at the commencement of 
 hostilities. This was Jonathan Trumbull. Like Rhode 
 Island, she had always enjoyed the right, under her charter, 
 of electing her Governors, which fact accounts for the singu 
 lar distinction. When news arrived of the battle of Lexing 
 ton, he immediately "despatched a messenger to Colonel 
 Putnam, directing him to repair forthwith to Lebanon." 
 Like Cincinnatus, the Connecticut hero, when called to the 
 defence of his country, was found at the plow-handles ; and 
 left the plow in the unfinished furrow, and, after giving 
 some hasty directions to his servants, hurried home, 
 mounted his horse, and rode off at a full gallop. He found 
 the " rebel Governor" ready to receive him. The interview 
 was brief. " Hasten forward to Concord," said his Excel 
 lency ; * ' don't stay for troops. I will take care of that 
 hurry forward, and I will send the troops after you." 
 These initial facts are sufficient to indicate the spirit which 
 animated the leading men of Connecticut, without following 
 up the brilliant history of their actions. 
 
 On the 14th June, 1776, Governor Trumbull convoked 
 "the general Assembly of the Governor and Company of 
 the English Colony of Connecticut, in New England, in 
 America." On the same day the following preamble and 
 resolution was adopted. 
 
 " Instructions to Connecticut Delegates in the Continental 
 Congress, to vote for independence. 
 
 CONNECTICUT ASSEMBLY, i 
 June 14, 17T6. 
 
 " Whereas, the King and Parliament of Great Britain, by 
 many acts of said Parliament, have claimed and attempted 
 to exercise powers incompatible with and subversive or the 
 ancient, just, and constitutional rights of this and the other 
 English Colonies in America, and have refused to listen to 
 their many and frequent humble, decent, and dutiful peti 
 tions for redress of grievances and restoration of such their 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 159 
 
 rights and liberties; and, turning from them with neglect 
 and contempt to support such claims, after a series of accu 
 mulated wrong and injury, have proceeded to invade said 
 Colonies with fleets and armies to destroy our towns, shed 
 the blood of our countrymen, and involve us in the calam 
 ities incident to war ; and are endeavoring to reduce us to 
 an abject surrender of our natural and stipulated rights, and 
 subject our property to the most precarious dependence on 
 their arbitrary will and pleasure, and our persons to slavery ; 
 and have at length declared us out of the King's protection ; 
 have engaged foreign mercenaries against us, and are evi 
 dently and strenuously striving to effect our ruin and de 
 struction; these and many other transactions, too well 
 known to need enumeration, the painful experience of which 
 we have suffered and feel, make it evident, beyond the pos 
 sibility of a doubt, that we have nothing to hope from the 
 justice, humanity, or temperate councils of the British 
 King or his Parliament ; and that all hopes of reconciliation 
 upon just and equal terms are illusory and vain. In this 
 state of extreme danger, when no alternative is left us but 
 absolute and indefinite submission to such claims as must 
 terminate in the extreme of misery and wretchedness, or 
 a total separation from the King of Great Britain, and 
 renunciation of all connection with that nation, and a suc 
 cessful resistance to that force which is intended to effect 
 our destruction ; appealing to that God who knows the se 
 crets of all hearts, for the sincerity of former declarations of 
 our desire to preserve our ancient and constitutional rela 
 tion to that country, and protesting solemnly against their 
 oppression and injustice which have drawn us from them, 
 and compelled us to use such means as God in his provi 
 dence hath put in our power for our necessary defence and 
 preservation, 
 
 "Eesolved unanimously by this Assembly, that the Dele 
 gates of this Colony, in General Congress, be and they are 
 hereby instructed to propose to that respectable body to de 
 clare the United Colonies free and independent States, ab 
 solved from all allegiance to the King of Great Britain, and 
 to give the assent of this Colony to such Declaration when 
 they shall judge it expedient and best, and to whatever meas 
 ures may be thought proper and necessary by the Congress 
 for forming foreign alliances, or any plan of operations for 
 necessary and mutual defence ; and also that they move and 
 promote, as fast as may be convenient, a, regular and perma 
 nent plan of Union and Confederation cf the Colonies for the 
 security and preservation of their just rights and liberties, 
 and for mutual defence and security : caving that the admin 
 istration of government, and the power of forming govern 
 ments for, and the regulation of, the internal concerns and 
 police of each Colony ought to be left and remain to the re- 
 
160 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 spective Colonial legislatures, and also that such plan of 
 confederation be laid before such respective legislatures for 
 their previous considerations and assent." 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 
 The enactment of the duty on tea in May, 1767, by Parlia 
 ment was the signal for the renewal of angry controversy 
 between the Colonies and the mother-country. There had 
 existed an export duty on this article, of one shilling per 
 pound, which was in reality as great an infringement of the 
 rights of the Colonies as the more direct duty which was 
 substituted in its place. Great Britain might lawfully de 
 clare that no tea should be re-exported from her shores to 
 foreign nations without paying a tax ; but to require it on 
 teas sent to her Colonies, which Colonies at the same time 
 were not allowed to buv in other than English markets, was 
 as arbitrary and as unjust as the direct tax which the Act 
 of 1767 required to be collected in the Colonial ports. The 
 new act was really an abatement of the amount of the tax, 
 as it only imposed threepence per pound. But it was a di 
 rect and offensive mode of asserting the right of the Parlia 
 ment to tax the Colonies " in all cases whatsoever "a decla 
 ration which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. The 
 roundabout mode of collecting twelvepence in England on 
 the export of tea, although four times heavier than the im 
 port duty of threepence, to be collected in the Colonial ports, 
 by men sent from England, was felt to be a more intolerable 
 burthen. And whereas the greater tax thus imposed might 
 have been borne for an indefinite length of time without se 
 rious complaint, the lesser became the signal for resistance 
 from one end of the Continent to the other, and, more than 
 any other one measure of government, caused the triumph 
 ant Revolution and the loss of "the brightest jewel in the 
 British Crown." The American Revolution was achieved on 
 a principle, as well as on account of the practical and serious 
 injuries that were inflicted on the Colonists. 
 
 The publication of the new Revenue Act, in October, 1767, 
 in the Colonies, was immediately followed by public meet 
 ings, first in Boston, and then in Providence and Newport, in 
 which "it was resolved to discontinue the use of British 
 goods and the consumption of all unnecessary articles." 
 " Thus the combination spread rapidly throughout the Colo 
 nies, and the agreements were everywhere signed." The 
 Assembly reasserted the exclusive right of the Colonies to 
 tax themselves, and enacted "that special courts and Com 
 mon Pleas might be held for the Custom-house officers 
 charged with violations of the fee list established by the 
 Colony, or with neglect of duty ; the decision of such courts 
 to be final," 
 
THE BIRTH OF TEE REPUBLIC. 161 
 
 In July, 1769, "the British armed sloop Liberty, Captain 
 Wm. Reid, cruising in Long Island Sound and Narragansett 
 Bay, in search of contraband traders, had needlessly annoyed 
 all the coasting craft that came in her way. Two Connecti 
 cut vessels, a brig and a sloop, were brought into Newport 
 on suspicion of smuggling. An altercation ensued between 
 the captain of the brig and some of the Liberty's crew, in 
 which the former was maltreated and his boat fired upon 
 from the vessel. The same evening the people obliged Reid, 
 while on the wharf, to order all his men, except the first of 
 ficer, to come on shore to answer for their conduct. A party 
 then boarded the Liberty, sent the officer on shore, cut the 
 cable, and grounded the sloop at the Point. There they cut 
 away the mast and scuttled the vessel, and then carried her 
 boats to the upper end of the town and burnt them. This 
 was the first overt act of violence offered to the British au 
 thorities in America. Meanwhile the two prizes got under 
 way and escaped. Governor Wanton, at the request of the 
 collector and comptroller, issued a proclamation for the ar 
 rest of the offenders, and the Revenue Board at Boston of 
 fered a reward of one hundred pounds sterling to any one 
 who would inform against them ; but without effect." See 
 Arnold, vol. 2, p. 207. 
 
 In 1772, another collision between the British Revenue 
 Marine and the people, similar to the affair of the Liberty, 
 but on a greater scale, occurred. In the spring of that year 
 the people vyere greatly annoyed by the British schooner 
 Gaspee, of eight guns, which with the Beaver had been sta 
 tioned in Narragansett Bay to enforce the revenue laws. 
 "Lieutenant Duddingston, the commander, had practised 
 every annoyance upon vessels in the Bay, detaining them 
 often without a colorable pretext, stopping even market 
 boats, and in some cases plundering the people on shore. 
 He had violated the Charter of the Colony in acting without 
 showing his commission, and had exceeded his authority by 
 making illegal seizures and sending captured property to 
 Boston for trial, contrary to an act of Parliament that re 
 quired such trials to be held in the Colony where the seizure 
 was made." Chief Justice Hopkins gave the opinion " that 
 no commander of any vessel has a right to use any authority 
 in the body of the Colony without previously applying to 
 the Governor and showing his warrant for so doing, and also 
 being sworn to a due exercise of his office." The Governor 
 accordingly sent the sheriff on board the schooner, u with a 
 letter to the commanding officer, requiring him to produce 
 his commission and instructions." Duddington returned an 
 arrogant reply, and inclosed the correspondence to Admiral 
 Montagu, at Boston. The Admiral sustained the Lieutenant, 
 and addressed an insolent letter to Governor Wanton, in 
 which he threatened, if an attempt were made to rescue the 
 
162 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 prizes, that he would "hang as pirates" the parties con 
 cerned. The Governor replied, with spirit, "that I do not 
 receive instructions for the administration of my govern 
 ment from the King's Admiral stationed in America ; " and 
 having laid the correspondence before the Assembly, that 
 body sent copies of it to England, with a narrative of the 
 events to which it related. 
 
 At length "The sloop Hannah, Captain Benjamin Lindsey, 
 from New York, arrived at Newport, reported at the Custom 
 house, and the next day proceeded up the river. The Gas- 
 
 Namquit, since 
 the Hannah es- 
 sunset. The sit 
 uation of the enemy" was soon proclaimed by beat of drum, 
 calling those who desired to go and destroy the vessel to 
 meet that evening at the house of James Sabin. Eight long 
 boats, with five oars each, were provided by Mr. John Brown, 
 and soon after ten o'clock the party embarked at the wharf 
 directly opposite the house and proceeded with muffled oars, 
 but undisguised, upon their daring enterprise. Captain 
 Abraham Whipple, afterwards Commodore, who three years 
 later fired, in Narragansett Bay, the first American broadside 
 ever discharged at any portion of his Majesty's Navy, com- 
 manced the expedition. It was long past midnight when 
 the party approached the vessel, where they were joined by 
 another boat from Bristol. Twice the hail of the sentinel 
 was disregarded, when Duddingston himself leaping on the 
 gunwale, hailed but received no answer. A second time he 
 hailed, and was answered, in terms energetic and profane, by 
 Whipple, who at the same time ordered his men to spring 
 to their oars. Shots were then fired from the vessel and 
 returned by the boats. While Whipple was replying, a mus 
 ket ball, fired by Joseph Bucklin, wounded the lieutenant in 
 the groin, and, as he fell, the attacking party boarded the 
 schooner at the bow, and, after a brief struggle, drove the 
 crew below and became masters of the deck. The men sur 
 rendered, were bound, and put on shore. Duddingston was 
 severely wounded in the arm and body. He was attended 
 by Dr. John Mawney, then a student of medicine, who ac 
 companied the expedition as surgeon. This was the first 
 British blood shed in the war of independence. 
 
 "It was near daylight when the lieutenant's wounds, 
 being dressed, he was landed at Pawtuxet, and the captives, 
 having set fire to the vessel, returned to Providence. In the 
 flames of the burning Gaspee, were consumed that night the 
 last hope or wish of pardon." Arnold, pp. 312, 313. 
 
 Efforts were made, by the offer of large rewards amount 
 ing to several hundred pounds, to discover and punish the 
 ringleaders in this bold enterprise, which the Ehode Island 
 ers compare with the Boston tea party. But although the, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 163 
 
 parties were well known as among the most respectable 
 citizens of the Colony, no direct testimony against them 
 could be obtained, except that of a mulatto slave named 
 Aaron Briggs, "who was engaged in the expedition, and 
 afterwards escaped from his master and went on board the 
 Beaver." He came near exposing the whole party, "most 
 of whom were among the leading men in Providence, and 
 some from Bristol. " But it was shown to the Court of In 
 quiry that his testimony was given under compulsion, to 
 Captain Linzee, of the Beaver, and was therefore thrown out. 
 So the parties engaged all escaped even a trial, although 
 some of the younger among them had boasted of their 
 achievements. 
 
 In January, 1773, Governor Wanton exhibited to the 
 court his instructions to arrest the parties engaged in the 
 destruction of the Gaspee, and send them to England for 
 trial. The people of Ehode Island determined to resist its 
 enforcement. Chief Justice Hopkins consulted the Assem 
 bly as to the course he should pursue, and was advised to 
 use his own discretion when the case arose. * ' ' Then, for the 
 purpose of transportation for trial, I will neither appre 
 hend any person by my own order nor suffer any execu 
 tive officers in the Colony to do it,' was the prompt reply," 
 says Arnold, ' ' of this fearless champion and earliest advocate 
 of Colonial freedom." The failure to identify any of the 
 parties engaged in the destruction of the Gaspee fortunately 
 prevented a collision between the Colonial and British au 
 thorities at this time. 
 
 In May, the Assembly unanimously adopted the plan of 
 Virginia for forming Committees of Correspondence, which 
 were "to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence 
 of all such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament, 
 and measures of the Ministry, as may relate to or affect the 
 British Colonies in America ; and to maintain a correspond 
 ence and communication with the other Colonies respecting 
 these important considerations. " Warlike precautions were 
 also taken at this time. The platforms for the battery at 
 Fort George were repaired, and new carriages were niade 
 for the guns formerly used on the Colony war sloop. 
 
 In January, 1774, the people of Newport and the other 
 towns in Rhode Island, following the example of Philadel 
 phia, "Resolved, That we will have nothing to do with the 
 East India Company's irksome tea, nor any other subject 
 to the like duty," and, further, that they would stand with 
 the other Colonies in vindicating the rights of America 
 against the power of taxation claimed by Great Britain. 
 
 May 17, 1774, "The people of Providence, assembled in 
 town meeting, formally proposed the last remaining act 
 necessary to a union of the Colonies the Continental Con 
 gress. The id.ea had become familiar to the popular mind ; 
 
164 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 it had been proposed in the addresses of public speakers 
 and suggested by Committees of Correspondence ; but the 
 formal proposition had never yet been made by any respon 
 sible and authorized body. The movement had not re 
 ceived the sanction of any legally constituted authority 
 until made at this meeting of the freemen of Providence." 
 Arnold, vol. 2, p. 334. 
 
 The author further says that "Rhode Island, as she had 
 been the first, through the means of town meetings, to pro 
 pose a Continental Congress, was also the earliest to appoint 
 delegates to attend it. It is significant of the unanimity of 
 the people on this matter, that the two delegates selected, 
 were the ex-Governors whose rival parties had for so many 
 years divided the Councils of the Colony." 
 
 "At a town meetinglield at Providence, Rhode Island, on 
 the 17th day of May, A.D. 1774, called by warrant, 
 
 ' ' Samuel Nightengale, Moderator, 
 
 "Resolved, That this town will heartily join with the 
 Province of the Massachusetts Bay, and the other Colonies, 
 in such measures as shall be generally agreed on by the 
 Colonies for the protecting and securing their invaluable, 
 natural rights and privileges, and transmitting the same to 
 the latest posterity. 
 
 " That the deputies of this town be requested to use their 
 influence at the approaching session of the General Assem 
 bly of this Colony for promoting a Congress as soon as may 
 be, of the representatives of the General Assemblies of the 
 several Colonies and Provinces of North America, for estab 
 lishing the firmest union, and adopting such measures as to 
 them shall appear the most effectual to answer that import 
 ant purpose, and to agree upon proper methods for execut 
 ing the same. 
 
 " That the Committee of Correspondence of this town be 
 desired to assure the town of Boston that we do consider 
 ourselves greatly interested in the present alarming conduct 
 of the British Parliament towards them, and view the whole 
 English- American Colonies equally concerned in the event; 
 and that we will, with the utmost firmness, act aocordingly 
 whenever aiiy plan shall be agreed on. In the mean time we 
 are of opinion that an universal stoppage of all trade with 
 Great Britain, Ireland, Africa, and the West Indies, until 
 such time as the port of Boston shall be reinstated in its 
 former privileges, etc., will be the best expedient in the case; 
 and that a proper time should be generally agreed on for the 
 same universally to take place. 
 
 "Whereas, The inhabitants of America are engaged in 
 the preservation of their rights and liberties ; and as personal 
 liberty is an essential part of tlie natural rights of mankind, 
 the deputies of the town are directed to use their endeavors 
 to obtain an act of the General Assembly prohibiting the im- 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 165 
 
 portation of negro slaves in this Colony ; and that all negroes 
 born in the Colony should be free at attaining to a certain 
 age. 
 
 "Voted, That James Angell, Esq., be added to the Com 
 mittee of Correspondence of this town, and that he sign 
 their letters as clerk." 
 
 Rhode Island Resolutions. 
 
 " At the General Assembly of the Governor and Company 
 of the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plan 
 tations, in New England, in America, begun and hold en by 
 adjournment, at Newport, within and for the said Colony, 
 on the second Monday in June, in the year of our Lord, one 
 thousand seven hundred and seventy -four, and in the four 
 teenth year of the reign of his most sacred Majesty King 
 George the Third, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, 
 and so forth. 
 
 "This Assembly, taking into their most serious considera 
 tion several acts of the British Parliament for levying taxes 
 upon his Majesty's subjects in America without their con 
 sent ; and particularly an act lately passed for the blocking 
 up the port of Boston, which act, even upon the supposition 
 that the people of Boston had justly deserved punishment, is 
 scarcely to be parallelled in history for the severity of the 
 vengeance executed upon them; and also considering to 
 what a deplorable state this and all the other Colonies are 
 reduced when, by an act of Parliament, in which the subjects 
 of America have not a single voice, and without being heard, 
 they may be divested of property and deprived of liberty; 
 do, upon mature deliberation, 
 
 "Resolve, 1st, That it is the opinion of this Assembly that 
 a firm and inviolable union of all the Colonies in counsels 
 and measures is absolutely necessary for the preservation of 
 their rights and liberties; and that for that purpose a con 
 vention of representatives from all the Colonies ought to be 
 holden in some suitable place as soon as may be, in order to 
 consult upon proper measures to obtain a repeal of the said 
 acts, and to establish the rights and liberties of the Colony 
 upon a just and solid foundation. 
 
 "3d, That the honorable Stephen Hopkins, and the Honor 
 able Samuel Ward, Esqrs., be and they are hereby appointed 
 by this assembly to represent the people of this Colony in a 
 General Congress of Representatives from the other Colonies 
 at such time and place as shall be agreed upon by the major 
 part of the committees appointed or to be appointed by the 
 Colonies in general. 
 
 " 3d, That they consult and advise, with the representatives 
 of the other Colonies who shall meet in such Congress, upon 
 a loyal and dutiful petition and remonstrance to be presented 
 
166 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC, 
 
 to his Majesty, as the united voice of his faithful subjects in 
 America, setting forth the grievances they labor under, and 
 praying his gracious interposition for their relief. 
 
 "And that, in case a major part of the representatives of all 
 the Colonies shall agree upon such petition and remonstrance, 
 they be empowered to sign the same in behalf of this Colony. 
 
 "4th, That they also consult upon all such reasonable and 
 lawful measures as may be expedient for the Colonies in a 
 united manner to pursue, in order to procure a redress of 
 their grievances, and to ascertain and establish their rights 
 and liberties. 
 
 " 5th, That they also endeavor to procure a regular annual 
 convention of representatives from all the Colonies to con 
 sider of proper means for the preservation of the rights and 
 liberties of all the Colonies. 
 
 "6th, That the speaker of the lower House transmit, as soon 
 as may be, copies of these resolutions to the present or late 
 speakers of the respective Houses of Representatives of all 
 the British Colonies upon the continent. 
 
 "HENRY WARD, Secretary" 
 
 Providence (Rhode Island) Town Meeting. 
 
 "At a town meeting held at Providence, Rhode Island, con 
 vened by warrant on the 12th day of August, 1774, 
 
 " Benjamin Man, Esq., Moderator, 
 
 "Instructions to the deputies of this town in General As 
 sembly : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN: The suffering and distresses of the people of 
 the town of Boston, occasioned by a relentless execution of 
 that cruel edict for blocking up the port, awakens our atten 
 tion and excites our compassion. Their cause is our cause ; 
 and unless aid and succour be afforded them, thev may be 
 discouraged into a hurtful submission, and Ministerial 
 vengeance may next be directed against this Colony, and in 
 the end alight upon all. You are therefore requested to use 
 your endeavors, at the next session of the General Assembly, 
 to procure a grant, to be made from this Colony, of such sum 
 of money as they may think fit towards relieving and 
 mitigating the difficulties and distresses which that town 
 must experience from the operation of that most unrighteous 
 inhibition, the hostile manner of carrying the same into force, 
 and a general arrest of their liberties. 
 
 "Permit us to observe that in doing this it will be evidenced 
 that as a community we would do unto others as \ve would 
 that they should do unto us in a like circumstance ; and that 
 it will be a greater testimony of unanimity in the general 
 concernments of America in this day of struggle and danger, 
 than private contributions, and far more equal." 
 
 "At a town meeting held at Providence, Rhode Island, on 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 167 
 
 the 21st day of November, 1774, A.M., called by warrant, to 
 order a town tax, etc., 
 
 " Nicholas Brown, Esq., Moderator, 
 
 "Voted, That the Committee of Correspondence for this 
 town be hereby empowered to receive of the town treasury 
 the sum of one hundred and twenty five pounds lawful 
 money, and to transmit the same to the committee in the 
 town of Boston for receiving donations for the distressed in 
 habitants of the town of Boston and Charlestown ; and the 
 treasurer is hereby ordered to pay said sum out of the first 
 money he shall receive of the tax now ordered." 
 
 Extract from a letter of Captain Wallace to Vice-admiral 
 Graves, dated on board his Majesty's ship Hose, at New- 
 
 r 's snip 
 : which 
 
 I had the honor to acquaint you the 8th instant. Since my 
 absence from this place, I find the inhabitants (they say here 
 of Providence) have seized upon the King's cannon that was 
 upon Fort Island, consisting of six 24-pounders, eighteen 18- 
 pounders, fourteen 6-pounders, and six 4-pounders (the latter 
 they say formerly belonged to a Province sloop they had 
 here), and conveyed them to Providence. 
 
 " A procedure so extraordinary caused me to wait upon 
 the Governor, to inquire of Mm, for your information, why 
 such a step had been taken. He very frankly told me they 
 had done it to prevent their falling into the hands of the 
 Zing, or any of his servants, and that they meant to make 
 use of them to defend themselves against any power that 
 shall offer to molest them. I then mentioned if, in the course 
 of carrying on the King's service here, I should ask assistance, 
 whether I might expect any from him or any others in the 
 government. He answered, as to himself, he had no power, 
 and, in respect to any other part of the government, I should 
 meet with nothing but opposition and difficulty. So much 
 from Governor Wanton. Then I endeavored to" get the best 
 information of what they were at from other quarters, and 
 inclosed I send it to you ; among some of their votes you will 
 find they intend to procure powder and ball and military 
 stores of all kinds wherever they can get them." 
 
 Extract of a letter to a gentleman in New York, dated 
 Newport, R. I., December 14, 1774: 
 
 "The people here have, I think, openly declared them 
 selves against government, and in such manner as surely 
 must be pronounced rebellion. Is it possible that a people 
 without arms, ammunition, money, or navy should dare 
 brave a nation dreaded and respected by all the powers on 
 earth ? What black ingratitude to the parent-state who has 
 nourished, protected, and supported them in their infancy ! 
 What can these things indicate but a civil war ? Horrid re- 
 
168 TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 flection! and such as freezes the blood of every Tinman 
 heart. 
 
 "There has been a most extraordinary movement here a 
 few days ago. The public authority of the Colony have dis 
 mantled the King's fort and moved all the cannon and stores 
 to Providence, in order, as it is said, to assist the Bostonians 
 against the King's troops. 
 
 44 Underneath is a list of the cannon: 
 
 " Six 24-pounders, eighteen 18-pounders given by the late 
 King to the fort ; fourteen 6-pounders, six 4-pounders belong 
 ing to the Colony. 
 
 " God send us better times ! 
 
 1 'Yours, etc." 
 
 Committee of Newport, E. I., to the Philadelphia Com 
 mittee : 
 
 " NEWPORT, January 5, 1775. 
 
 " GENTLEMEN: Being informed that it is reported at New 
 York, and at other parts of the continent, that the inhabitants 
 of this town are fitting out vessels and determined to carry 
 on their trade in violation of the Continental Association, 
 and as the propagators of this infamous falsehood can have 
 no other intention than to weaken the bonds of union be 
 tween the Colonies, we think it our duty to acquaint you 
 that several vessels designed for the coast of Africa, which 
 could not be got ready by the 1st of December, have been 
 actually laid up ; that several parcels of sheep purchased for 
 exportation have been stopped ; and that, so far as we can 
 learn, the Association hath been strictly adhered to by the 
 merchants in this Colony, who declare their intention to 
 abide by it. Indeed, the absolute necessity of an union in 
 common measures for the common safety is so obvious that 
 we can assure you that the trade o Rhode Island will be 
 carried on with a punctual regard to the Association. 
 
 14 We pray an early communication of any intelligence 
 you may receive of importance to the Colonies, and are, 
 with great esteem, gentlemen, your most humble servants." 
 
 The Committeee of Correspondence to the Committee 
 of Correspondence for Philadelphia : 
 
 " PROVIDENCE, R. I., March 4, 1775. 
 
 " On Thursday last, the 2d instant, about 12 o'clock, at 
 noon, the town crier gave the following notice through the 
 town : ' At 5 o'clock this afternoon, a quantity of India tea 
 will be burnt in the market-place. All true friends of their 
 country, lovers of freedom, and haters of shackles and hand 
 cuffs are hereby invited to testify their good disposition by- 
 bringing in and casting into the fire a needless herb, which 
 for a long time hath been highly detrimental to our liberty, 
 interest, and health.' About five o'clock in the afternoon 
 a great number of inhabitants assembled at the place, when 
 
TSE BIRTH Off THE REPUBLIC. 169 
 
 there was brought in about three hundred pound weight of 
 tea by the firm contenders for the true interests of America. 
 
 " A large fire was kindled, and the tea cast into it. A tar 
 barrel, Lord North's speech, Rivingston's and Mill's, and 
 Hick's newspapers, and divers other ingredients were also 
 added. There appeared great cheerfulness in committing 
 to destruction so pernicious an article, many worthy women, 
 from a conviction of the evil tendency of continuing the 
 habit of tea-drinking, made free-will offerings of their re 
 spective stocks of the hurtful trash. On this occasion the 
 bells were tolled, but it is referred to the learned whether 
 tolling or ringing would have been most proper. 
 
 "Whilst the tea was burning, a spirited Son of Liberty 
 went along the streets with his brush and lampblack, and 
 obliterated or unpainted the word ' tea' on the shop signs." 
 
 " PROVIDENCE, April 25, 1775. 
 u To the Speaker of the House of Commons of Connecticut: 
 
 " SIR: I am directed by the lower House of Assembly to 
 inform you that William Bradford, Esq., and Mr. Nathaniel 
 Greene, two of the members of this House, are appointed 
 ' to wait upon the General Assembly of the Colony of Con 
 necticut, to consult upon measures for the common defence 
 of the four New England Colonies, and to make report to 
 the next session of Assembly (which will be next week at 
 Providence) at our general election.' 
 
 "The Assembly this day have passed an act to raise fifteen 
 hundred effective men for the service of this Colony and the 
 general cause. Great firmness and resolution for the defence 
 of the common rights of this country most certainly prevail 
 in this Colony ; and greater unanimity was scarce ever found 
 than was manifested in the lower House, on the great ques 
 tions which came before them." 
 
 " GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF RHODE ISLAND, ) 
 PROVIDENCE, R. I., May 20, 1775. f 
 
 "WHhereas, The Ministry and Parliament of Great Brit 
 ain, sacrificing the glory and happiness of their sovereign, 
 and the good of Britain and the Colonies to their own am 
 bitious and lucrative views, have entered into many arbi 
 trary, illegal resolutions for depriving his Majesty's subjects 
 in America of every security for the enjoyment of life, 
 liberty, and property ; and have sent and are still sending 
 troops and ships of war into their Colonies to enforce their 
 tyrannical mandates, and have actually begun to shed the 
 blood of the innocent people of these Colonies; in conse 
 quence whereof, this Assembly, at the session held on the 22d 
 of April last, passed an act for raising fifteen hundred men, 
 as an army of observation, and to assist any of our sister- 
 Colonies ; 
 
170 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "And whereas, The Honorable Joseph Wanton, Esq., the 
 Governor of this Colony, did enter a protest against the said 
 act, conceived in such terms as highly to reflect upon the 
 General Assembly, and upon the united opposition of all 
 America to the aforesaid tyrannical measure ; 
 
 "And whereas, The said Joseph Wanton, Esq., hath ne 
 glected to issue a proclamation for the due observance of the 
 Thursday, the llth of May instant, as a day of fasting and 
 pray er, agreeable to an act passed at the said session ; 
 
 "And whereas, The said Joseph Wanton, Esq., hath been 
 elected to the office of Governor of this Colony for the pres 
 ent year, and been duly notified by this Assembly, not 
 withstanding which he hath not attended at this General 
 Assembly and taken the path required by law ; 
 
 " And whereas, The said Joseph Wanton, Esq., hath posi 
 tively refused to si^n the commissions for the officers ap 
 pointed to command the troops so ordered to be raised: by 
 all which he hath manifested his intention to defeat the 
 good people of these Colonies in their present glorious strug 
 gle to transmit, inviolate to posterity, those sacred rights 
 they have received from their ancestors; 
 
 "Be it therefore enacted by this General Assembly, and 
 by the authority thereof it is enacted, That the Deputy-gov 
 ernor and associates be and they are hereby forbid to ad 
 minister the oath of office to the said Joseph Wanton, Esq., 
 unless in free and open General Assembly, according to the 
 unvaried practice or this Colony, and with the assent of such 
 Assembly; that until the said Joseph Wanton, Esq., shall 
 have taken the oath of office as aforesaid, it shall not be law - 
 ful for him to act as governor of this Colony in any case 
 whatsoever; and that every act done by him in the prece 
 dent capacity of Governor shaU be null and void in itself, 
 and shall not operate as a warrant or discharge to any per 
 son acting under his order or by his authority. 
 
 "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
 That Henry Ward, Esq., Secretary of the Colony, be and he 
 is hereby directed, and is fully authorized and empowered, 
 to sign the commissions for the officers, civil and military, 
 chosen by this Assembly, as well those given in the ser 
 vice aforesaid as others, he receiving therefor out of the 
 general treasury two shillings and eightpence for each com 
 mission. And that such commissions so signed, with the 
 Colony seal affixed, shall be as full and effectual warrants 
 to every and all such officers so chosen for the faithful dis 
 charge of his and their duty, as if the same were signed by 
 a governor of this Colony duly elected and engaged accord 
 ing to law ; any law, custom, or usage to the contrary hereof 
 in any wise notwithstanding:. 
 
 "And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, 
 That his Honour the Deputy-governor be requested and fully 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 171 
 
 authorized and empowered to call the General Assembly to 
 gether upon any emergency, to meet at such time and place 
 as he shall think most fit for the interest of the Colony." 
 
 "RHODE ISLAND ASSEMBLY, ) 
 August, 1775 ) 
 
 " Whereas, Notwithstanding the humble and dutiful peti 
 tion of the last Congress to the King, and other wise and 
 pacific measures taken for obtaining a happy reconciliation 
 between Great Britain and the Colonies, the Ministry, lost to 
 every sense of justice, liberty, and humanity, continue to send 
 troops and ships of war into America, which destroy our 
 trade, plunder and burn our towns, and murder the people 
 of these Colonies, 
 
 "It is therefore Voted and Resolved, That this Colony 
 most ardently desire to see the former friendship, harmony, 
 and intercourse between Great Britain and these Colonies re 
 stored, and a happy, lasting connection established between 
 both countries, upon terms of just and equal liberty; and 
 will concur with the other Colonies in all proper measures 
 for obtaining those desirable blessings. And as every prin 
 ciple, divine and human, require us to obey that great and 
 fundamental law of nature, self-preservation, until peace 
 shall be restored upon constitutional principles, this Colony 
 will most heartily exert the whole power of government for 
 carrying on this just and necessary war, and bringing the 
 same to a happy issue. And amongst other measures for 
 obtaining this most desirable purpose, this Assembly is per 
 suaded that the building and equipping an American fleet, 
 as soon as possible, would greatly and essentially conduce 
 to the preservation of the lives, liberty, and property of the 
 good people of these Colonies; and therefore instruct their 
 delegates to use their whole influence, at the ensuing Con 
 gress, for building, at the continental expense, a fleet of suf 
 ficient force for the protection of these Colonies, and for em 
 ploying them in such manner and places as will most effec 
 tually annoy our enemies and contribute to the common 
 defence of these Colonies. And they are also instructed to 
 use their influence for carrying on the war in the most 
 vigorous manner, until peace, liberty, and safety be restored 
 and secured to these Colonies upon an equitable and per 
 manent basis." 
 
 Rhode Island promptly responded to the proposition made 
 by Massachusetts, that the New England Colonies should 
 raise 30,000 men. Some four thousand men were soon under 
 arms ; and on the 20th April, when news of the British at 
 tack on Lexington and Concord reached Providence, one 
 thousand men were sent to the aid of the sister-Colony. The 
 order for the march, however, was countermanded; the im 
 mediate necessity for their presence having ceased. 
 
 May 3d, the Assembly adopted the bold measure of sus- 
 
172 THE BIRTH Off THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 pending the functions of the Governor, Joseph Wanton. ' * He 
 had protested against the act for raising the army of observa 
 tion ; he had neglected to issue his proclamation for the fast- 
 day appointed by the Assembly ; he had failed to be present 
 to take the oath of office at this session ; and he now refused 
 to sign the commission for officers of the new army ; ' by all 
 which he hath manifested bis intentions to defeat the good 
 people of these Colonies in their present glorious struggle to 
 transmit, inviolate to posterity, those sacred rights they 
 have received from their ancestors.' The magistrates were 
 therefore forbidden to administer to him the official oath 
 unless in open Assembly, * according to the unvaried prac 
 tice' and with the consent of the Assembly ; and until this 
 oath was thus taken he was disqualified from acting as 
 governor. Henry Ward, Secretary, was empowered to 
 sign all commissions, civil or military, and the Deputy-gov 
 ernor was authorized to convene the Assembly at his discre 
 tion." 
 
 June 15th, a small vessel which had been detained or seized 
 by the British naval commander Captain Wallace, was re 
 captured by an armed sloop commanded by Captain Whip- 
 pie, in the Colony's service, "after a sharp firing on both 
 sides." "Two armed vessels were at once ordered to be 
 equipped for the defence of the Colony : the largest to carry 
 ten 4-pounders, and fourteen swivel guns, with eighty 
 men ; the smaller to carry thirty men. They were called 
 the Washington and the Katy. Both were placed under the 
 command of Abraham Whipple, the hero of the Gaspee, 
 with the rank of Commodore. Such was the commencement 
 of the American Navy." Arnold, vol. 2, p. 351. 
 
 June 17th, "The Rose frigate, Swan sloop of war, and a 
 tender came up the river in pursuit of prizes, and, while ab 
 sent from Newport, five vessels which they had previously 
 taken were boarded and carried off by the people of that 
 town." Page 352. 
 
 In August two "row-galleys," or gun-boats, each to carry 
 sixty men, were added to the naval force of Rhode Island ; 
 and at the same session of the Assembly, the delegates 'in 
 Congress were instructed " to use their whole influence for 
 building, at the continental expense, a fleet of sufficient force 
 for the protection of these Colonies." 
 
 In November, Governor Wanton, who had been suspended 
 in May, was deposed and the office declared vacant. The 
 Deputy governor, Nicholas Cooke, succeeded him. 
 
 It was contended by Arnold that the Whigs of Rhode 
 Island aimed at independence from the year 1768 forward. 
 Her Constitution or Charter had always been republican in 
 character; all her officers were elected by the people or ap 
 pointed by the Provincial Government; and the people had 
 thus been trained, for generations, to the exercise of self- 
 
THE BIETH OF THE REPUBLIC. 173 
 
 government. On the 4th May, 1776, the Assembly passed 
 the following act, which is practically a declaration or inde 
 pendence of Great Britain : 
 
 u An Act Repealing 'An Act for the more Effectually Secur 
 ing to his Majesty the Allegiance of his Subjects, in this his 
 Colony and Dominion of Rhode Island and Providence 
 Plantations,' and Altering the Forms of Commissions of all 
 Writs and Processes in the Courts, and of the Oaths pre 
 scribed by law. 
 
 " Whereas in all states existing by compact, protection 
 and allegiance are reciprocal, the latter being only due in 
 consequence of the former ; and whereas, George the Third 
 King of Great Britain, forgetting his dignity, regardless of 
 the compact most solemnly entered into, ratified : and con 
 firmed to the inhabitants of this Colony by his illustrious 
 ancestors, and, till of late, fully recognized by him; and, 
 entirely departing from the duty and character of a good 
 King, instead of protecting, is endeavoring to destroy the 
 good people of this Colony, and of all the united Colonies, 
 by sending fleets and armies to America to confiscate our 
 property and spread fire, sword, and desolation throughout 
 our country in order to compel us to submit to the most 
 debasing and detestable tyranny ; whereby we are obliged 
 by necessity, and it becomes our highest duty, to use every 
 means with which God and nature have furnished us, in 
 support of our invaluable rights and privileges, to oppose that 
 power which is exerted only for our destruction. 
 
 "Be it therefore enacted by this General Assembly, and 
 by the authority thereof it is enacted, That an act entitled 
 ' An Act for the more Effectually Securing to his Majesty the 
 Allegiance of his Subjects in this his Colony and Dominion 
 of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations' be and the 
 same is hereby repealed. 
 
 44 And it is further enacted by this General Assembly, and 
 by the authority thereof it is enacted, That in all commissions 
 for officers, civil and military, and in all writs and processes 
 in law, whether original, judicial, or executory, civil or 
 criminal, wherever the name and authority of the said King 
 is made use of, the same shall be omitted, and in the room 
 thereof the name and authority of the Governor and Com 
 pany of this Colony shall be substituted, in the following 
 words, to wit: ' The Governor and Company of the English 
 Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations;' that 
 all such commissions, writs, and processes shall be otherwise 
 of the same form and tenor as they heretofore were ; that 
 the courts of law be no longer entitled or considered as the 
 King's courts; and that no instrument of writing, of any 
 nature or kind, whether public or private, shall, in the date 
 thereof, mention the year of the said King's reign : provided, 
 nevertheless, that nothing in this act contained shall render 
 
174 THE BIRTII OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 void, or vitiate, any com mission, writ, process, or instrument 
 heretofore made or executed, on account of the name and 
 authority of the said King "being therein inserted." 
 
 The records of the Assembly had always closed, says 
 Arnold, with the loyal motto, "God save the King!" but at 
 this session the closing words were, ' ' God save the United 
 Colonies !" 
 
 General Greene, the distinguished patriot-soldier of Ehode 
 Island, as early as October, 1775, expressed a strong convic 
 tion that independence was inevitable. And in no one Colony 
 was this sentiment more prevalent in advance of the event. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 The merchants of New York were among the foremost 
 and most determined in opposition to the Stamp Act ; but 
 they for a long while resisted the enforcement of the non 
 importation agreements which were entered into by the 
 other Colonies ; and aided by the Crown officers, they for a 
 while had sufficient influence in the Colony to prevent their 
 adoption. A letter from Lieutenant-governor Colden to the 
 Earl of Hillsborough, dated New York, July 7, 1770, says: 
 
 "As there still remains a restless faction who, from pop 
 ular arguments, rumors, and invectives, are endeavoring to 
 excite riots and opposition among the lower class of people, 
 a number of gentlemen went round the town to take the 
 sentiments of individuals. I am told that 11S0 2 among 
 which are the principal inhabitants, declared for importa 
 tion, about 300 were neutral or unwilling to declare their 
 sentiments, and (only) a few of any distinction declared in 
 opposition to it. I am informed likewise that the merchants 
 of this place resolved to acquaint the merchants of Boston 
 and Philadelphia with their inclinations to import." O'Cal- 
 laghan's N. Y. Historical Collection. 
 
 The sequel will show that the undistinguished class, whose 
 opinions were not thought worth inquiring into, when the 
 issue was made carried the day. They overcame the mer 
 chants and the government and compelled the adoption of 
 the non-importation agreement. Within a week this ob 
 scure clement, the common people, led by what is styled an 
 ' l inconsiderable, noisy, blustering faction, whose whole aim 
 is to keap the country in confusion, in order to answer their 
 purposes and keep up a popularity which, by vile means, 
 they have obtained among the lower class of mechanics and 
 inhabitants," this faction had sufficient influence to get up 
 a public meeting at the City Hall, at which Isaac Sears 
 "publicly declared if any merchant or number of merchants 
 presumed to break through the non-importation agreement 
 till the several Provinces had agreed to do the same, he 
 would lose his life in the attempt or the goods imported 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 175 
 
 should be burnt as soon as landed ; and strenuously advised 
 that every measure in the power of that faction should be 
 attempted, to frustrate the resolutions taken or to be taken 
 by the gentlemen and merchants for bringing about an 
 importation." 
 
 Governor Tryon, who had succeeded Governor Moore in 
 1769, writes to Earl Dartmouth under date of November 3, 
 1773, that "It is with real regret I acquaint your lordship 
 of the ferment the minds of many of his Majesty's subjects 
 have been in since the late arrival here of some of the coun 
 try ships in the London trade, which brought intelligence 
 of the East India Company's intention to ship tea on their 
 own account to America; and the refusal of the masters of 
 those vessels to take it on board." With this letter Tryon 
 inclosed newspapers containing ''productions calculated to 
 sow sedition." 
 
 Tryon again writes, under date, New York, 1st Dec. , 1773, 
 as follows : 
 
 "Since information has been received that the teas 
 shipped by the East India Company are subject to the im 
 portation duty in America, the commissioners appointed for 
 sending those teas, finding it would be impossible to carry 
 into execution the powers granted them, have this day pre 
 sented a memorial requesting government would take the 
 teas uuder its protection. The memorial and minute of 
 Council herewith transmitted will explain both the extent 
 of the request and the measure of protection advised to be 
 granted. I have accordingly applied to Captain Ascough, 
 of his Majesty's sloop the Swan, to take the vessel, when 
 arrived, under his protection until the tea could be landed, 
 which, I am informed, will be effected without obstruction, 
 though the general voice is no sales, no consumption while 
 the American duty remains unrepealed by Parliament. 
 
 "The publications inclosed are by no means to be thought 
 the sense of the inhabitants further than the general reluc 
 tance to take any articles from Great Britain subject to 
 duties in America." 
 
 So this reluctance was general, and not confined to a small 
 faction. 
 
 January 3, 1774, Tryon writes to Earl Dartmouth, that, 
 
 "Until the arrival of the account of the tea being de 
 stroyed at Boston, I had conceived very sanguine hopes that 
 temperate measures might have been manifested in the con 
 duct of the body of the people of this Province on the ar 
 rival of the tea, " etc. But he concludes : ' ' From the general 
 appearance of the united opposition to the principle of the 
 monopoly and the importation duty in America, I can form 
 no other opinion than that the landing, storing, and safe 
 keeping of the tea when stored, could be accomplished, but 
 only under the protection of the point of the bayonet and 
 
176 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 muzzle of the cannon ; and even then I do not see how the 
 consumption could be effected." 
 
 Governor Tryon, having gone to England on leave of ab 
 sence on account of impaired health, the Lieutenant gov 
 ernor, Golden, again resumed authority. Under date of May 
 4, 1774, he wrote : 
 
 'Captain Lockyer, with the so-long-locked-for tea from 
 the India Company, arrived at Sandy Hook on the 19th of 
 last month. The ship came no farther up, and, a few days 
 after, sailed from thence again for London, with the tea on 
 board. Neither the captain nor any other made the least 
 application to me about the ship or her cargo. The ac 
 count of this affair published in the inclosed newspaper is 
 as particular and full as any that I could procure. 
 
 ' ' In the same paper your lordship will find an account 
 of some more violent proceedings against a parcel of tea 
 imported by Captain Chambers of the ship London ; who 
 arrived here while Captain Lockwood was in this place. 
 As no application was made to me by Captain Chambers or 
 any other before or since this riotous event 2 I cannot give 
 your lordship a better account of it than is contained in 
 the printed paper. It happened early in the evening, and, 
 though a pretty large number of spectators were assembled, 
 the quarter where I reside and the greater part of the town 
 was perfectly quiet." 
 
 In a subsequent letter Golden says that "The destruction 
 of Captain Chambers' tea was so unexpected and sudden 
 that no measures could be previouslv thought of to prevent 
 it. 
 
 "A few days after Governor Tryon went from hence, a 
 small sloop loaded with Dutch tea, duck, etc., was seized 
 by an officer of the Custom-house. She was taken in tliis 
 port at noonday and secured without any tumult on the 
 occasion." 
 
 July 6, 1774, Golden writes to Dartmouth that a commit 
 tee of fifty-one persons had been appointed to correspond 
 with similar committees in other Colonies. He admits his 
 inability to suppress the movement, and attempts to console 
 himself and his lordship with the statement that some of 
 the better sort of gentlemen had joined in the movement, 
 in order to prevent excesses. 
 
 The following are extracts from the proceedings of this 
 committee : 
 
 " NEW YORK COMMITTEE OF CORRESPONDENCE, ) 
 " NEW YORK, Monday, May 16, 1774. \ 
 
 "The merchants and other inhabitants of the city of New 
 York assembled at the Exchange in said city and nominat 
 ed the following gentlemen to form a committee to corre 
 spond with our sister-Colonies upon all matters of moment, 
 and that fifteen be a board, all being duly summoned: 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Ill 
 
 John Alsop, 
 Peter V. B. Livingston, 
 David Johnston, 
 Alex. McDougall, 
 Isaac Low, 
 James Duane, 
 Elias Desbrosses, 
 John Delaney, 
 John Broom e, 
 Joseph Hallett, 
 James Jauncey, 
 Abraham Walton, 
 Henry Remson, 
 Peter T. Curtenius, 
 Abraham P. Lott, 
 Abraham Duryee, 
 Richard Sharpe, 
 William Bayard, 
 Philip Livingston, 
 Charles McEvers, 
 Capt. Th. Randall, 
 Leonard Lispenard, 
 Edward Laight, 
 William Walton, 
 
 John Jay, 
 Charles Shaw, 
 Gabriel H. Ludlow, 
 Gerandus Duyckinck, 
 Hamilton Young, 
 Peter Goelet, 
 David Van Home, 
 Joseph Bull, 
 Thomas Marston, 
 Theophilas Bache, 
 Isaac Sears, 
 Charles Nicholl, 
 John Moore, 
 Jac. Van Zandt, 
 Thomas Pearsall, 
 Richard Yates, 
 John Thurman, 
 Benjamin Booth, 
 Alexander Wallace, 
 Nicholas Hoffman, 
 Peter Van Schaach, 
 George Brown, 
 Abraham Brosher, 
 Gerard W. Beekman, 
 William Me Adam. 
 
 Miles Sherbrook, 
 
 On Tuesday the following notice was published in hand 
 bills : 
 
 u To the public: An advertisement having appeared at 
 the Coffee-house, in consequence of the late extraordinary 
 and very alarming advices received from England, inviting 
 the merchants to meet at the house of Mr. Samuel Francis, 
 on Monday evening, May 16th, in order to consult on meas- 
 uresproper to be pursued on the present critical and import 
 ant occasion : 
 
 " A very respectable and large number of the merchants 
 and other inhabitants did accordingly appear at the time 
 and place appointed, and then and there nominated for the 
 approbation of the public a committee of fifty persons, of 
 Which fifteen to be a sufficient number to do business. 
 
 " That therefore no formality may be wanting to constitute 
 a committee duly chosen, the inhabitants of this city and 
 county are requested to attend at the Coffee-house on 
 Thursday, the 19th instant, at 1 o'clock, to approve of the 
 committee nominated as aforesaid, or to appoint such other 
 persons as in their discretion and wisdom may seem meet." 
 
 "NEW YORK, Tuesday, May 17, 1774. 
 
 "In consequence of the foregoing advertisement, a great 
 concourse of the inhabitants met at the Coffee house on 
 Thursday, May 19th, to confirm or alter the nomination of a 
 
178 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 committee to correspond with our sister- Colonies when Mr. 
 Isaac Low addressed his fellow-citizens in the following 
 words: 
 
 "'GENTLEMEN: You have been duly apprised, both by 
 handbills and advertisements in this day's papers, of the 
 intention of your present meeting. 
 
 " ' I hope, gentlemen, you will manifest by your conduct 
 that you are actuated by the dictates of calm reason only in 
 the choice of the committee I am to propose for your appro 
 bation. 
 
 " * It is but charitable to suppose we all mean the same 
 thing, and that the only difference among us is, or at least 
 ought to bo, the mode of effecting it, I mean the preservation 
 of our just rights and liberties. Let us then call down wis 
 dom to our aid, and endeavor to walk in her hallowed paths. 
 
 " * Ze^l in a good cause is most laudable ; but when it trans 
 ports beyond the bounds of reason, it often leaves room for 
 bitter reflection. 
 
 " ' We out, therefore, gentlemen, to banish from our hearts 
 all little party distinctions, feuds, and animosities, for to our 
 unanimity and virtue we must at last resort for sat ety ; and 
 that man will approve himself the best friend to his country 
 whose highest emulation is to inculcate those principles, both 
 by precept and example." 
 
 The nomination of the fifty gentlemen made at the Ex 
 change on the 16th instant was then submitted by Mr. 
 Low and confirmed by the meeting, and Mr. Francis Lewis 
 was added to the number by unanimous consent. 
 
 "NEW YORK, Monday, May 23, 1774. 
 
 "The committee appointed to correspond with our sister- 
 Colonies upon all matters of moment met at the Coffee 
 house, pursuant to notice for that purpose given. 
 
 " The committee proceeded to choose Mr. Isasc Low to be 
 their chairman, and Mr. John Alsop their deputy chairman. 
 
 "The committee received a letter from the body of me 
 chanics, signed Jonathan Blake, their chairman, informing 
 them of their concurrence with the other inhabitants of this 
 city in their nomination. 
 
 ''' Ordered, That Mr. Duane, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Van Schaack 
 be a committee to draw up a set of rules for the regulation 
 of the committee, and present the same at the next meeting. 
 
 "Ordered, That the first five members on the list, who 
 shall be in town, be a committee to open all letters directed 
 to the committee, in the absence of the chairman and deputy 
 chairman. 
 
 "Letters from the Committee of Correspondence of Boston, 
 with the vote of the town of Boston, of the 13th instant, and 
 a letter from the committee of Philadelphia were read. 
 
 "Ordered, That Mr. McDougall, Mr. Low, Mr. Duane, and 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 179 
 
 Mr. Jay be a committee to prepare and report a draft of an 
 answer to the Boston committee at eight o'clock P.M. ; to 
 which hour the grand committee were then adjoined. 
 
 " NEW YORK, May 23, 1774. 
 
 "The committee met at the Coffee-house at 8 o'clock in 
 the evening, pursuant to adjournment. 
 
 "The committee appointed this morning to prepare a 
 draft of a letter, in answer to those received from Boston,, 
 presented a draft to the committee, which was unanimously 
 approved of and ordered to be signed by the chairman and 
 transmitted to the Committee of Correspondence at Boston, 
 in words following: 
 
 " NEW YORK, May 23, 1774. 
 
 " ' GENTLEMEN: The alarming measures of the British Par 
 liament relative to your ancient and respected town, which 
 has so long been the seat of freedom, fill the inhabitants of 
 this city with inexpressible concern. As a sister-Colony 
 suffering in defence of the rights of America, we consider 
 your injuries as a common cause, to the redress of which it 
 is equally our duty and our interest to contribute. But 
 what ought to be done in a situation so truly critical while 
 it employs the anxious thoughts of every generous mind, is 
 very hard to be determined. 
 
 ' ' ' Our citizens have thought it necessary to appoint a large 
 committee consisting of fifty-one persons to correspond with 
 our sister Colonies on this and every other matter of public 
 moment, and at ten o'clock this forenoon we were first 
 assembled. 
 
 "' Your letter inclosing the vote of the town of Boston, 
 and the letter of your Committee of Correspondence, were 
 immediately taken into consideration. 
 
 " ' While we think you justly entitled to the thanks of your 
 sister-Colonies for asking their advice on a case of such ex 
 tensive consequences, we lament our inability to relieve 
 your anxiety by a decisive opinion. The cause is general 
 and concerns a whole continent, who are equally interested 
 with you and us ; and we f orsee that no remedy can be of 
 avail unless it proceeds from the joint act and approbation 
 of all, from a virtuous and spirited union, which may be 
 expected ; while the feeble efforts of a few will only be at 
 tended with mischief and disappointment to themselves and 
 triumph to the adversaries of our liberty. 
 
 ' ' ' Upon these reasons we conclude that a Congress of 
 Deputies from the Colonies in general is of the utmost mo 
 ment; that it ought to be assembled without delay, and some 
 unanimous resolution formed on this fatal emergency, not 
 only respecting your deplorable circumstances, but for the 
 security of our common rights. Such being our sentiments, 
 
180 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 it must be premature to pronounce any judgment on the ex 
 pedient which you have suggested. 
 
 " * We beg, however, that you will do us the justice to 
 believe that we shall continue to act with a firm and becom 
 ing regard to American freedom, and to co-operate with our 
 sister-Colonies in every measure which shall be thought 
 salutary and conducive to the public good. 
 
 " * We have nothing to add, but that we sincerely condole 
 with you in your unexampled distress, and to request your 
 speedy opinion of the proposed Congress that, if it should 
 meet with your approbation, we may exert our utmost en 
 deavors to carry it into execution. 
 
 " 4 We are, etc.' 
 
 ' ' Ordered, That the chairman send a copy of this letter to 
 the committee at Boston and to the Committee of Corres 
 pondence at Philadelphia, acknowledging the receipt of a 
 copy of their letter to Boston, approving the sentiments 
 contained in it. 
 
 " The committee ad joumed to the Exchange, to meet on 
 the 30 of May inst. at six o'clock in the evening." 
 
 Copy of the letter sent by the New York committee to the 
 Committee of Correspondence in Boston : 
 
 " NEW YORK, June 7, 1774. 
 
 "GENTLEMEN: We have received your favor of the 30th 
 May, and you may rest assured we shall eagerly embrace 
 all proper opportunities of contributing our mite towards 
 bringing to a favorable issue the unhappy disputes which 
 at present subsist between the parent-state and her Colonies. 
 
 "You say that 'a speedy, united, and vigorous effort is 
 certainly all tha,t can be depended upon to yield us any 
 effectual relief, and that this effort is on all hands acknowl 
 edged to be the suspension of trade so wisely defined by 
 you.' 
 
 " To the first we entirely concur with you in sentiments; 
 but in the last we apprehend you have made a mistake, for, 
 on revising our letter to you, so far from finding a word 
 mentioned of a ' suspension of trade, ' the idea is not even 
 conceived. 
 
 " That and every other resolution we have thought it most 
 prudent to leave for the discussion of the proposed general 
 Congress. 
 
 "Adhering therefore to that measure as most conducive to 
 promote the grand system of politics we have in view, we 
 have the pleasure to acquaint you that we shall be ready on 
 our part to meet at any time and place that you shall think 
 fit to appoint, either of deputies from the general Assemblies, 
 or such other deputies as shall be chosen, not only to speak 
 the sentiments, but also to pledge themselves for the con 
 duct of the people of the respective Colonies they represent. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 181 
 
 * ' We can undertake to assure you, in behalf of the people 
 of this Colony, that they will readily agree to any measure 
 that shall be adopted by the general Congress. It will be 
 necessary that you give a sufficient time for the deputies 
 of the Colonies as far southward as the Carplinas to assem 
 ble, and acquaint them as soon as possible with the proposed 
 measures of Congress. Your letters to the southward of us 
 we will forward with great pleasure. 
 
 "You may have seen all the names of our committee in 
 the public prints; and as we never heard the names of those 
 which constitute your committee, we request the favor of 
 you to give us that satisfaction in your next. We beg that 
 your letters for the future may be sealed and directed to our 
 chairman. 
 
 "We are, gentlemen, your friends and most humble ser 
 vants. By order of the committee, 
 
 1 'I. Low, Chairman." 
 
 South Haven (New York) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the inhabitants of the parish of South 
 Haven, in the county of Suffolk and Colony of New York, 
 the 13th of June, 1774, Mr. William Smith moderator, 
 
 " It is voted and agreed, That the act of Parliament for 
 blocking up the harbor of Boston is unconstitutional, and 
 has a direct tendency to enslave the inhabitants of America 
 and put an end to all property. 
 
 "And it is also the opinion of this meeting that, if the 
 Colonies all unite and strictly adhere to a non importation 
 agreement from Great Britain and the West Indies, and 
 have no trade with them, we should have great reason to 
 expect in a short time a repeal of that oppressive act; and 
 for that purpose we do heartily desire that such an agree 
 ment may be entered into." 
 
 On the 17th of the same month a town meeting was 
 held at Easthampton. 
 
 Easthampton (Suffolk Co., N. Y.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of East 
 hampton, in the county of Suffolk, legally warned by the 
 trustees of said town, the 17th of June, 1774, 
 
 "Eleazar Miller, Esq., moderator, 
 
 "1st, Voted, That we will, to the utmost of our abilities, 
 assert and in a lawful manner defend the liberties and immu 
 nities of British America ; that we will co-operate with pur 
 brethren in this Colony in such measures as shall from time 
 to time appear to us the most proper and the best adapted to 
 save us from the burthens we fear, and in a measure already 
 feel, from the principles adopted by the British Parliament 
 respecting the town of Boston in particular, and the British 
 Colonies in North America in general. 
 
182 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "2d. Voted, That a non -importation agreement through 
 the Colonies is the most likely means to save us from pres 
 ent and further troubles." 
 
 Hunting ton (Suffolk Co., N. Y.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a general town meeting on the 21st day of June, 1774, 
 the inhabitants of Huntington came into the following reso 
 lutions : 
 
 k ' 1st. That every freeman's property is absolutely his own ; 
 and that no man has a right to take it from him without his 
 consent, expressed either by himself or his representatives. 
 
 "2d. That therefore all taxes and duties imposed on his 
 Majesty's subjects in the American Colonies by the authority 
 of Parliament are wholly unconstitutional and a plain vio 
 lation of the most essential rights of the British subjects. 
 
 ' ' 3d. That the act of Parliament lately passed for shutting 
 up the port of Boston, or any other means or device under 
 color or pretext of law to compel them or any other of his 
 Majesty's American subjects to submit to Parliamentary 
 taxation, are subversive of their just and constitutional 
 liberty. 
 
 "4th. That we are of opinion that our brethren of Boston 
 are now suffering in the common cause of British America. 
 
 " 5th. That therefore it io the indispensable duty of all the 
 Colonies upon this continent to unite in some effectual meas 
 ures for the repeal of the said act for shutting up the port 
 of Boston, and every other act of Parliament whereby they 
 are taxed for raising a revenue. 
 
 " 6th. That it is the opinion of this meeting, the most 
 effectual means for obtaining a speedy repeal of the said acts 
 will be to break of all commercial intercourse with Great 
 Britain, Ireland, and theEnglish West Indies Colonies. 
 
 "7th. And we do hereby declare ourselves ready to enter 
 into these or such other measures as shall be agreed upon 
 by a general Congress of all the Colonies ; and we do recom 
 mend to the general Congress to take such measures as shall 
 be most effectual to prevent such goods as are at present in 
 America from being raised to an extravagant price. 
 
 "And lastly, We do choose and appoint Colonel Platt 
 Conkling, John Sloss Hobart, Esq., and Mr. Thomas Wicker 
 for a committee for this town, to act in conjunction with the 
 committees of the other towns in the county as a general 
 committee for the county to correspond with the commit 
 tee of New York. 
 
 [Signed] "ISRAEL WOOD, President." 
 
 Orange Town (N. F.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of Orange 
 Town and Province, of New York, on Monday the 4th day 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 183 
 
 of July, 1774, at the house of Mr. Yoast Mabie, in said town, 
 the following resolves were agreed upon and passed, viz. : 
 
 "1st. That we are and ever wish to be true and loyal 
 subjects of his Majesty George the Third, King of Great 
 Britain. 
 
 "2d. That we are most cordially disposed to support his 
 Majesty and defend his Crown and dignity in every Consti 
 tutional measure as far as lies in our power, 
 
 "3d. That however well disposed we are toward his Ma 
 jesty, we cannot see the late acts of Parlament imposing 
 duties upon us, and the act for shutting up the port of Bos 
 ton, without declaring our abhorrence of measures so uncon 
 stitutional and big with destruction. 
 
 " 5th. That it is our unanimous opinion that the stopping 
 all exportation and importation to and from Great Britain 
 and the West Indies would be the most effectual method 
 to obtain a speedy repeal. 
 
 " 6th. That it is our most ardent wish to see concord and 
 harmony restored to England and her Colonies. 
 
 "7th. That the following gentlemen, to wit: Colonel Abra 
 ham Lent, John Haring, Esq., Mr. Thomas Out water, Mr. 
 Gardiner Jones, and Peter T. Haring, Esq., be a committee 
 for this town to correspond with the city of New York, and 
 to conclude and agree upon such measures as they shall 
 judge necessary in order to obtain a repeal of said acts." 
 
 Rye (New York) Resolutions. 
 
 On the 10th of August, 1774, the freeholders and inhabit 
 ants of the township of Eye made choice of John Thomas, 
 Jr., James Horton, Jr., Esq., Bobert Bloomer, Zeno Car 
 penter, and Ebenezer Haviland for a committee to consult 
 and determine, with the committees of the other towns and 
 districts in the county of Westchester, upon the expediency 
 of sending one or more Delegates to Congress, to be held in 
 Philadelphia on the first day of September next. 
 
 "Eesolved, 1st, That they think it their greatest happiness 
 to live under the illustrious house of Hanover, and that they 
 will steadfastly and uniformly bear true faith and allegiance 
 to his Majesty King George the Third, under the enjoyment 
 of their Constitutional rights and privileges as fellow-subjects 
 with those in England. 
 
 " 2d. That we conceive it a fundamental part of the British 
 Constitution that no man shall be taxed but by his own con 
 sent or that of his representatives in Parliament; and as we 
 are by no means represented, we consider all acts of Parlia 
 ment imposing taxes on the Colonies an undue exertion of 
 power and subversion of one of the most valuable privileges 
 of the English Constitution. 
 
 "3d. That it is the opinion of this meeting that the act of 
 
184 THE Bl&TH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Parliament for the shutting up the port of Boston and di 
 vesting some of the inhabitants of private property is a most 
 unparalleled, rigorous, and unjust piece of cruelty and des 
 potism. 
 
 ' ' 4th. That unanimity and firmness of measures in the Col 
 onies are the most effectual means to secure the invaded 
 rights and privileges of America, and to avoid the impend 
 ing ruin which now threatens this once happy country. 
 
 ''5th. That the most effectual mode of redressing our griev 
 ances will be by general Congress of Delegates from the dif 
 ferent Colonies; and that we are willing to abide by such 
 measures as they in their wisdom shall consider necessary 
 to be adopted on that important occasion. 
 
 " By order of the Committee. 
 
 "EBENEZER HAVILAND, Chairman." 
 
 Westchester (N. F.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
 borough town of Westchester, in New York, the 20th day 
 of August, 1774, 
 
 " Resolved, 1st, That we do and will bear true allegiance to 
 his Majesty George the Third, King of Great Britain, and ac 
 cording to the British Constitution. 
 
 4 '3d. That we coincide in opinion with our friends in New 
 York and every other Colony, that all acts of the British 
 Parliament imposing taxes on the Colonies, without their 
 consent or by their representatives, are arbitrary and op 
 pressive, and should meet the abhorrence and destination of 
 all good men; that they are replete with the purpose of 
 creating animosities and dissensions between the mother- 
 country and the Colonies, and thereby tend to destroy the 
 harmony and mutual agreement which it is so much the in 
 terest or both to cherish and maintain. 
 
 " 3d. That we esteem it our duty, and think it incumbent 
 on all the Colonies in America, to contribute towards the re 
 lief of the poor and distressed people of Boston ; and that a 
 person of this borough be appointed to collect such chari 
 table donations within the same as may be offered for their 
 support." 
 
 Palatine (Try on County, N. Y.) Resolutions. 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the inhabitants of Palatine dis 
 trict, Tryon county, New York, at a meeting held August 
 27, 1774: 
 
 "3d. That we think it our undeniable privilege to be taxed 
 only with our own consent, given by ourselves or our repre 
 sentatives. 
 
 " That taxes otherwise laid and exacted are unjust and un 
 constitutional. That the late acts of Parliament declarative 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 185 
 
 of oheir right of laying internal taxes on the American Colo 
 nies are obvious encroachments on the rights and liberties 
 of the British subjects in America. 
 
 " 4th. That the act for blocking up the port of Boston is op 
 pressive and arbitrary, injurious in its principles, and par 
 ticularly oppressive to the inhabitants of Boston, whom we 
 consider brethren suffering in the common cause. 
 
 " 5th. That we will unite and join with the different dis 
 tricts of this county in giving whatever relief it is in our 
 power, to the poor, distressed inhabitants of Boston ; and that 
 we will join and unite with our brethren of the rest of this 
 Colony in anything tending to support and defend our rights 
 and liberties." 
 
 Jamaica (N. F.) Town Meeting. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of Ja 
 maica, in Queen's county, held in the Court-house on Tues 
 day the 6th December, 1774, 
 
 "Eesolved, 2d, That it is our undoubted right to be taxed 
 only by our own consent, given by ourselves or our repre 
 sentatives; and that all acts made by the British Parlia 
 ment imposing taxes on the Colonies are unjust, unconstitu 
 tional, and a manifest infringement of our dearest and most 
 valuable privileges. 
 
 "5th. That we heartily sympathize with our brethren of 
 Boston and the Massachusetts Bay, under their present un 
 exampled sufferings, and that we regard the acts of Parlia 
 ment under which they now groan as cruel, unjust, uncon 
 stitutional, and oppressive in the highest degree, levelled not 
 only at them in particular, but at the liberties of the other 
 Colonies, and the British Empire in general ; and that there 
 fore we think our aforesaid brethren, as sufferers in the com 
 mon cause, are entitled to the encoragement, compassion, 
 and charitable assistance of all the friends of liberty and 
 foes of oppression both in England and America. 
 
 " Eesolved, 6, That we do most gratefully acknowledge the 
 difficult and important services rendered to their country by 
 the late general Congress held at Philadelphia, and that we 
 do highly approve of the measures by them concerted for the 
 public good of their constituents, and that we will use all 
 prudent and constitutional endeavors to carry those measures 
 into execution." 
 
 Ulster County (N. Y.} Meeting. 
 
 "At a meeting of a great number of the most respectable 
 freeholders of the towns of Kingston, Hurley, Marbletown, 
 Rochester, and New Paley, in the town of Hurley, in Ulster 
 county, New York, on Friday, the 6th day of January, 1775, 
 a committee of six being chosen, viz. : Colonel Johannes 
 
186 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Hardenbergh, Captain John Elmendorph, Adrian Wyckoop, 
 Matthew Contine, Johannes G. Hardenbergh, and Jacob 
 Hasbrouck, Jr., Esqrs., of whom Colonel Johannes Harden 
 bergh was chosen chairman, 
 
 44 Resolved, 1st, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 we most heartily approve of the Association, and acquiesce 
 in all the other measures entered into by the late general 
 Congress, and we will use every means in our power to 
 render them effectual ; and that it is recommended to the 
 several towns and precincts within this county to choose 
 committees to see the same faithfully observed and carried 
 into execution. 
 
 "A certain pamphlet entitled "Free Thoughts on the Re 
 solves of the Congress," etc., under the signature of A. W. 
 Farmer, dated November 16, 1774, being then produced and 
 publicly read, it was, 
 
 " Resolved, 3d, That it is replete with falsehoods artfully 
 calculated to impose upon the illiterate and unthinking ; to 
 frustrate the resolves of the Congress, and to destroy that 
 union so necessary for the preservation of our constitutional 
 liberty; therefore, 
 
 " Resolved, 3d, That the said pamphlet, in detestation and 
 abhorrence of such infamous publications, be now burnt ; and 
 that the authors, publishers, and circulators of such perform 
 ances be henceforth deemed the enemies of their country. 
 
 "Resolved, 4th, That the chairman transmit copies of the 
 above resolves to the Committee of Correspondence, for the 
 several towns and precincts within this county. 
 
 "Which resolves being read and unanimously approved, 
 the above pamphlet was burnt accordingly. 
 
 "Ordered likewise, That the resolves be printed." 
 
 Hanover (N. Y.) Committee. 
 
 At a meeting of the freeholders of the precinct of Hanover, 
 in Ulster county, at the house of Mr. Ajrthur Parks, on Fri 
 day the 27th pi January, 1775, a committee of the following 
 gentlemen being chosen, viz. : Charles Clinton, Alexander 
 Trimble, Arthur Parks, Hendrick Smith, James Latta, Wil 
 liam Jackson, and Jacob Newkirk; Charles Clinton was 
 chosen chairman, and the following resolves were made: 
 
 "'1st. Resolved, That this meeting do unanimously ap 
 prove of the association, and gratefully rely on the wise and 
 patriotic measures of the late Continental Congress, and 
 that we will, to the utmost of our power, use every prudent 
 measure to render them effectual ; at the same time, that we 
 will earnestly recommend to the respective towns and pre 
 cincts within this county to choose committees to act for 
 their respective districts in conjunction with us.' 
 
 "A certain pamphlet entitled 'Free Thoughts on the Re- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 187 
 
 solves of the Congress' being then exhibited and publicly 
 read, it was 
 
 " ' 2d, Resolved, That it contains a false but specious show 
 of reasoning, contrived only to induce the ignorant and 
 credulous to counteract the resolves of the Congress, by dis 
 couraging that happy union that subsists among us for the 
 preservation of our constitutional liberty. ' 
 
 " ' 3d, Resolved, That the said pamphlet, exemplary to all 
 such guilty performances, be now publicly burnt, and that 
 the authors and propagators of such performance be held in 
 due contempt as enemies of their country.' 
 
 '" It was burnt accordingly. 
 
 "Signed by order of the committee. 
 
 "CHARLES CLINTON, Chairman" 
 
 The Congress at Philadelphia having recommended non 
 importation, the committee of fifty-one, of New York, re 
 signed, and a new committee of sixty was appointed to 
 execute the plan of Congress. Coldeii, December 7th, says 
 that the moderate men in the committee were obliged to 
 support the measures of Congress in order to save the city 
 from destruction by the mob, a pretty sure sign that the 
 body of the people were in sympathy with that body. The 
 Assembly held out against the ratification of the recommen 
 dations of the Continental Congress; and this fact served 
 to delude Colden with the hope that the Province would 
 remain firm in the support of the measures of the govern 
 ment; but there were other facts that he could not quite 
 reconcile with this happy state of things. On the 1st March, 
 1775, he wrote to Dartmouth as follows : 
 
 " It is surprising, my lord, that, notwithstanding the firm 
 ness with which the Assembly have discountenanced the 
 measures of the late Congress, and the approbation this part 
 of their conduct has received from a large majority of their 
 constituents, the non-importion association of the Congress 
 is ever rigidly maintained in this place." 
 
 This admission of the Lieutenant-governor proves that, 
 when he says that a "large majority of the constituents" 
 of the Assembly approved their rejection of the measures 
 of Congress, he refers to the wealthy class of gentlemen; 
 while there must have been a decided majority of the 
 whole people in favor of the Congress measures. In the 
 same letter he mentions other facts equally inconsistent 
 with the statement that a majority of the people were op 
 posed to the measures of Congress. He says : ' ' Two vessels 
 have arrived here since the 1st of February. One of them, 
 from Glasgow, has been obliged to depart with her cargo to 
 Jamaica. Neither the master of the ship, nor the merchant 
 to whom the cargo was consigned, would demand any assist 
 ance, or showed any disposition to have the goods landed. 
 It was not therefore possible for government to interfere 
 
188 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 with any propriety. The second ship is from London ; she 
 still lies a few miles below the harbor, and, it is said, is to 
 carry her cargo to Halifax. Neither the master or owners 
 of this ship or cargo have made any application to govern 
 ment. The success, my lord, which the violent party have 
 had in preventing these vessels from landing their cargoes 
 here has given them great spirits, and is a strong counter 
 poise to the conduct of the Assembly. Your lordship will 
 believe me, it has chagrined me a good deal." 
 
 These are wretched excuses for permitting a mob to block 
 ade the harbor ; and it would have shown more good sense 
 as weU as candor in Golden to have acknowledged himself 
 utterly powerless to prevent the unlawful proceeding. But 
 in his next two letters he had to confess that only the shadow 
 of the British government remained in New York. The 
 people feeling outraged at the course of the Assembly, 
 elected a very full Provincial Congress, in which every 
 county, except three very remote and inconsiderable ones, 
 were represented. They proceeded to ratify the measures 
 of the Continental Congress and to take the reins of local 
 government into their hands. Golden attempts to explain 
 the triumph of the mob, as he styles the people, over the 
 higher classes, by saying that a combination was formed in 
 the other Colonies to crush and ruin New York if she refused 
 to enter into their measures ; and that the news of the battles 
 of Lexington and Concord so increased the enthusiasm of 
 the people that the powers of government were completely 
 prostrated. But the whole tenor of Colden's letters for the 
 five preceding years shows that there was an irrepressible 
 sympathy of all classes with the cause of Massachusetts, and 
 that it was only held in check by the mingled terrorism and 
 blandishments of the government. 
 
 Early in June open appeals were made to the handful of 
 British troops in the city to desert, and many of them did so. 
 To put a stop to the desertion, it was determined to ship the 
 troops on board a man-of-war. But so bold had become the 
 rioters, and so feeble the government, that even this meas 
 ure could not be executed without insult and interruption. 
 "As soon as the troops marched from the barracks," says 
 Gulden, ** several people began to harangue them, exhorting 
 them to desert, and assuring them of sufficient protection. 
 Two or three fellows had the hardiness to turn off with their 
 arms from the ranks, and were immediately carried away 
 by the people." When the troops arrived at the water's 
 edge, ready to embark, the mob seized and carried off all 
 the ammunition and spare arms, and u the troops embarked 
 without their baggage." 
 
 On the llth May, 1775, the "General Committee of Asso 
 ciation" of New York sent an address to the Lieutenant- 
 governor, in which the great cause for which the Colonies 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 189 
 
 were struggling is stated with remarkable clearness and 
 force. The following extracts will serve to convey a notion 
 of the spirit and character of the address. In execution of 
 the trust reposed in them by the people, the committee de 
 clare, 
 
 ' ' That our constituents, while they cheerfully yield that 
 the legislature of the parent-state may make provisions in 
 their nature merely calculated to regulate the trade of the 
 empire, yet they claim as their indefeasible birthright a total 
 exemption from all taxes, internal and external, by author 
 ity of Parliament, and from every aid to the Crown but on 
 royal requisition to their representatives in Assembly, con 
 stitutionally convened and freely deliberating and deter 
 mining upon every such requisition. 
 
 " That they never can nor will submit to the establishment 
 of unconstitutional admiralty jurisdiction; but will ever re 
 gard them as engines that may be employed for the most 
 tyrannical purposes. 
 
 u That they are determined never to part with their pre 
 cious and lately invaded right of trial by peers of their 
 vicinage in any case whatsoever. 
 
 " That they look with the utmost dread on every expe 
 dient, by authority of Parliament or otherwise, that may 
 tend to secure from condign punishment offenders against 
 the most essential rights of human nature, by removing 
 them for their trial to places distant from the scene of per- 
 pet^ration, at the discretion of a governor or commander-in- 
 chief. 
 
 " That they esteem, and therefore will by every lawful 
 means oppose, the late oppressive restraints upon commerce, 
 as subversive in their nature of the liberties of America. 
 
 "That they regard the hostile blockade of the port of Bos 
 ton, the attack upon the venerable Charter of Rights of Mas 
 sachusetts, the extension of the bounds of Quebec, the estab 
 lishment of popery, and an arbitrary form of government 
 in that Province, and the exclusive privileges virtually 
 given to it in the Indian trade, as so many steps of an ill- 
 judging administration that most eminently endanger the 
 liberty and prosperity of the whole empire. 
 
 "That they view with inexpressible horror the bloody 
 standard erected in the eastern part of the Confederated 
 Colonies; and feel as in their own bodies every stroke which 
 their brave compatriots have received from the hands of 
 their fellow-subjects, cruelly and unnaturally armed against 
 them by mistaken Ministerial severity. 
 
 " In short, that they are determined to equip themselves 
 for maintaining with successful bravery and resolution, the 
 unquestionable rights of Englishmen." 
 
 The whole address is conceived in this manly spirit, while 
 it is perfectly respectful to the Lieutenant-governor. His 
 
190 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 reply is equally courteous, and evinces a conviction that a 
 redress of the popular grievances was a prerequisite to the 
 restoration of peace. It is due to Golden, and to Tryon, to 
 say that they were both convinced of this fact, and that 
 they had the candor to express the opinion in their com 
 munications with the government. 
 
 In Tryon's letter to Earl Dartmouth, dated New York, 
 July 4, 1775, he announces his return to the Colony in the 
 following significant language : "I arrived in the Govern 
 ment the 25th of last month, with apparent satisfaction to 
 the inhabitants of this city, and received the next morning 
 the great seal of the Province, and the diminished authority 
 the Lieutenant governor had to transfer to me. 
 
 "The general revolt that has taken place in the Colonies 
 has put his Majesty's civil Governors in the most degraded 
 situation, left in the exercise of only such feeble executive 
 powers as suits the present conveniences of the country, and 
 this dependent on the caprice of a moment." 
 
 In the same letter Tryson sagaciously remarks : "If it 
 were the wish, it is not in the power of any one Province to 
 accommodate with Great Britain, being overawed and con 
 trolled by the general confederacy. Oceans of blood may 
 be spilt, but in my opinion America will never receive Par 
 liamentary taxation. I do not meet with any of the inhabi 
 tants who show the smallest inclination to draw the sword 
 in support of that principle. I apprehend, the extremity of 
 calamity which threatens America will not induce her to 
 accept." 
 
 Three days later Tryon asks leave to return to England a b 
 his discretion, "it being very probable," he declares, "I 
 may be either taken prisoner as a state hostage, or obliged 
 to retire on board of his Majesty's ships of war, to avoid the 
 insolence of an inflamed mob," etc. 
 
 On the same date he writes that the Mayor and Corpora 
 tion had come to a resolution to present him an address ; but 
 that they had been forbidden to do so by the Provincial 
 Congress, and must yield. They, however, privately left 
 with him a copy, to which he graciously made a reply. But 
 in his letter to Dartmouth he says "That the intimidation 
 and apprehension under which the Mayor and Corporation 
 have acted on this occasion is a melancholy evidence of the 
 impotence of his Majesty's officers and Ministers of Justice 
 of this Province, and of the despotic power with which con 
 gresses and committees can control any body of people 
 among the inhabitants of America." 
 
 The following is the polite admonition of the Congress to 
 the Mayor and Corporation. It is admirable as an intimation 
 of reserved power : 
 
 " IN PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, NEW YORK, { 
 July 5. 1775. \ 
 
 " This Congress, being informed that the Corporation of 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 191 
 
 the city of New York intend to address his Excellency 
 Governor Try on, 
 
 " Eesolved, That though this Congress entertain the high 
 est respect for his Excellency, yet it will be altogether 
 improper for the said corporation, or any other body corpo 
 rate or individuals in this Colony, to address his Excellency 
 at this most critical juncture. Eesolved also, That one of 
 the secretaries of this Congress do forthwith serve his Wor 
 ship the Mayor with a copy hereof.' 
 
 " A true copy from the minutes. 
 
 "KOBT. BENSON, Secretary." 
 
 " The above copy of an order was served on me the day of 
 the date thereof. 
 
 u WHITEHEAD HICKS, Mayor." 
 
 On the 23d August, the citizens carried off twenty-one 
 pieces of ordnance from the battery under Fort George, and 
 ransacked the Governor's house in search of Captain Foy. 
 Notwithstanding this and similar instances of rough treat 
 ment, Try on became more fully persuaded that the Govern 
 ment of Great Britain should desist from the policy of taxing 
 America ; and that the Americans would never lay down 
 their arms ' ' unless they are called back by some liberal and 
 conciliatory assurances." He seems to have been the only 
 one ef the royal Governors who was capable of comprehend 
 ing the situation of affairs. " The Colonies have outgrown 
 the goveriimerit anciently set over them," said he, ** which 
 ought to rise in strength and dignity as they increase in 
 wealth and population." These were the views of a states 
 man ; and if as much wisdom had ruled in the British Cabi 
 net as was sent to administer the local affairs of New York, 
 the independence of America would have been postponed 
 for a generation at least. 
 
 On the 19th October, Governor Tryon left his residence in 
 the city, and went on board a British vessel in the harbor, 
 as a measure' of security for his person. This was after a 
 correspondence with the Mayor, in which he required a 
 guaranty of security against arrest and insult as a condition 
 of his remaining longer in the city. Both the Mayor and 
 corporate authorities, and the committee, expressed an 
 earnest desire for him to remain : but they failed to give him 
 the positive assurance he demanded, and he therefore re 
 tired on board a ship under the protection of the Asia man- 
 of-war. All the Crown officers followed his example ; 
 leaving the control of affairs entirely to the Provincial Con 
 gress. 
 
 In November a general permission was sent from the 
 King, through Earl Dartmouth, to the colonial Governors 
 and King's officers, to leave their posts whenever their safety 
 should demand the step. Most of them had acted on this 
 principle long before the permission arrived, 
 
192 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 The following " letter produced to the Continental Con 
 gress and the copy sent to this, in New York,' induced Tryon 
 to desert the shore : 
 
 "Tryon, with all his malignity of heart, is obliged to lay 
 still as the four regiments are gone to Boston ; he is high 
 in esteem with administration for his behavior at N. 
 Carolina; his plan that he laid for enslaving his country 
 when in England is not laid aside. It will be a capital 
 stroke to secure Governor Tryon's person." 
 
 The reference above is to Tryon's suppression of the Reg 
 ulators in North Carolina, which will be treated of in its 
 proper place His extravagant expenditures while Gov 
 ernor of that Colony, and the corrupt practices of his sub 
 ordinates, provoked the revolt of the common people, under 
 the name of Regulators. 
 
 This narrative thus far, and much of that which follows, 
 has been gathered from the copious New York historical 
 collection made by Dr. O'Callaghan. Strange to say, with 
 the most ample materials at hand, the history of New York 
 has never been written, except in meagre and fragmentary 
 parts. As to the Colonial period, her histories, so far as I 
 can find, are mere sketches. 
 
 Meeting of Freeholders, etc., in New Windsor (Ulster 
 County), New York: 
 
 "March 14, 1775. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants 
 of the precinct of New Windsor, in the county of Ulster 
 and Province of New York, legally convened by mutual con 
 sent in order to elect a Committee of Observation and de 
 liberate on other matters relative to our political welfare, 
 this 14th day of March, 1775 ; then proceeded and chose 
 Mr. George Denniston, chairman and the following persons 
 for the above-named commit tee, viz. : Mr. George Denniston, 
 Mr. Robert Cross, Mr. Joseph Belknap, Mr. Francis Mande- 
 ville, Mr. Nuoc Shutts, and Mr. Hezekiah White ; after 
 wards did solemnly agree to and with each other in observ 
 ing the following resolutions ourselves, and, as far as our 
 influence may extend, recommend them to the observation of 
 others, viz. : 
 
 u Resolved, 2dly, nem. con., That we will yield to none in 
 point of affection, and loyalty to our most gracious sover 
 eign, but will each one for himself, when thereto legally 
 called (even though to the most distant and remote parts of 
 his Majesty's empire), venture our lives and properties in 
 defence of our sovereign's person, family, and government, 
 when exercised on the above-named principles. It is with 
 the greatest regret and deepest concern of heart, we conceive 
 a plan adopted and invariably pursued for a number of 
 years past by the British Parliament for enslaving us by 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 193 
 
 levying taxes on us without our consent, and declaring they 
 (the Parliament) are fully vested with power to make laws 
 obligatory on us in all cases whatsoever. 
 
 "Resolved therefore, 3dly, nem. con., That such declara 
 tions and unbounded power assumed are subversive of our 
 natural and legal rights as British subjects; and that we 
 would be far deficient in point of duty to our King and the 
 British Constitution were we to yield a tame submission to 
 them. 
 
 "But as the wisdom and prudence of the whole continent 
 had been called forth in appointing and holding a Constitu 
 tional Congress in order to state our grievances and point 
 out the means by which we may be relieved from them, 
 
 "Resolved, 4thly, nem. con., That we do sincerely and 
 willingly accord to the Association entered into by that body, 
 with a full determination to abide by and observe the same, 
 and do unfeigned] y^ thank our worthy Delegates of the Prov 
 ince of New York, in conjunction with the rest of that honor 
 able body, for the care they have taken for the security of 
 our liberties, and the patriotic principles they have exhibited 
 to the world, which will remain more sure and permanent 
 in the annals of American history than monuments either 
 of brass or marble erected to the honor and perpetuity of 
 their memory." 
 
 ASSOCIATION OF NEW YORK. 
 
 " NEW YORK, May 4, 1775. 
 
 "The following Association was set on foot here last 
 Saturday, April 29th, and has been transmitted for signing 
 to all the counties in the Province, and. signed by most of 
 the men of this city : 
 
 1 * Persuaded that the salvation of the rights and liberties 
 of America depend under God on the firm union of its in 
 habitants in a vigorous prosecution of the measures neces 
 sary for its safety, and convinced of the necessity of prevent 
 ing the anarchy and confusion which attend a dissolution of 
 the powers of government; we, the freemen, freeholders, 
 and inhabitants of the city and county of New York, being 
 greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to 
 raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody 
 scene now acting in the Massachusetts Bay, do in the most 
 solemn manner resolve never to become slaves; and do as 
 sociate under all the ties of religion, honor, and love of coun 
 try to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever 
 measures may be recommended by the Continental Congress, 
 or resolved upon by our Provincial Convention, for the pur 
 pose of preserving our Constitution and opposing the execu 
 tion of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of the 
 British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great' 
 Britain and America on Constitutional principles (which we 
 
194 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 most ardently desire) can be obtained ; and that we will in 
 all things follow the advice of our General Committee re 
 specting the purposes aforesaid the preservation of peace 
 and good order, and the safety of individuals and private 
 property." 
 
 Cumberland County (N. F.) Committee. 
 
 "At a full meeting of the Delegates from the several towns 
 in the county of Cumberland, Colony of New York, convened 
 at Westminster, June 6, 1775 : 
 
 " The county of Cumberland, having received certain intel 
 ligence from Mr. Isaac Low, chairman of the Committee of 
 Correspondence at New York, that it is the desire of the said 
 respectable Committee of Correspondence of New York that 
 the sense of the people in said county of Cumberland should 
 be fully known with regard to the hostile measures that are 
 using by the British Parliament to enforce the late cruel, 
 unjust, and oppressive acts of said British Parliament 
 through the British Colonies in America; we, the Delegatss 
 from the several towns and districts in said county of Cum 
 berland, being chosen by the freeholders and inhabitants of 
 the same to exhibit to the Provincial Congress the sense and 
 voice of the people with regard to the unjust proceedings 
 of the British Parliament, etc., do pass the following re 
 solves : 
 
 "1st. Resolved, nem. con., That the late acts of the British 
 Parliament passed in order to raise a revenue in America 
 are unjust, illegal, and diametrically opposite to the Bill of 
 Eights and a fundamental principle of the British Constitu 
 tion which is ' that no person shall have his property taken 
 from him without his consent.' 
 
 "2d. Resolved, nem. con., That we will resist and oppose 
 the said acts of Parliament, in conjunction with our brethren 
 in America, at the expense of our lives and fortunes, to the 
 last extremity, if our duty to God and our country require 
 the same. 
 
 "3d. Resolved, nem. con., That we think it needless to 
 pass many resolves exhibiting our sentiments with regard 
 to the unhappy controversy subsisting between Great Britain 
 and America. Let it suffice, therefore, that we fully ac 
 quiesce with what our brethren have lately done at New 
 York in their late Association ; and it is hereby resolved, That 
 the late Association entered into at New York is perfectly 
 agreeable to the sentiments of the freeholders and inhabitant s 
 ot this county, and that they fully acquiesce in the same." 
 
 BrooJchaven (New York} Committee. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 the town of Brookhaven, in the county of Suffolk and 
 Province of New York, on the 8th day of June, 1775 : Then 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 195 
 
 by a large majority of votes were chosen and elected sixteen 
 persons as a Committee of Observation to represent said 
 town, and to deliberate on other matters relative to our 
 present political welfare. 
 
 " Agreed that the last Tuesday in June be appointed as a 
 day for the above-named committee to meet." 
 
 "Then proceeded and chose John Woodhull, Esq., chair 
 man, and Mr. Samuel Thompson, clerk, and entered into 
 the following votes and resolutions : 
 
 " 1st. Resolved, nem. con., That we express our loyalty to 
 his Majesty King George the Third, and acknowledge him 
 as our rightful lord and sovereign, as settled on Revolu 
 tionary principles, being of legal descent from the illustrious 
 house of Brunswick, to the utter exclusion of the family of 
 the Stuarts, who by their despotic and tyrannical principles 
 were deservedly banished and rendered unfit to sway the 
 British sceptre. 
 
 U 2d. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee 
 that the above resolution was the opinion of the Continental 
 Congress that sat last year, and is also the opinion of the 
 Continental Congress and our Provincial Congress now sit 
 ting ; and that it is also the opinion of very far the greater 
 part of English inhabitants of this most extensive continent. 
 
 "3d. Resolved unanimously, That it is the opinion of this 
 committee that the several acts passed in the British Parlia 
 ment for the express purpose of raising a revenue in America ; 
 also the acts for stopping the port of Boston, for altering 
 their charter and government, for establishing the Roman 
 Catholic religion, and abolishing the equitable system of 
 English laws, and erecting in their stead French despotic 
 government in Canada ; as also the act for restraining the 
 New England fishery, and many other acts of a similar nat 
 ure ; and further declaring they have power vested in them 
 to make laws binding on us in all cases whatsoever, are con 
 trary to the Constitution and subsersive of our legal rights 
 as English freemen and British subjects. 
 
 "4th. Resolved, nem. con., That we will use our utmost 
 endeavors as far as in us lie, and we will earnestly recom 
 mend it to our constituents strictly and invariably to abide 
 by and adhere to the determinations and resolutions of the 
 honorable the Continental Congress and also strictly to 
 comply with the injunctions of our Provincial Convention, 
 which (under God), we hope is the most effectual means to 
 obtain a redress of our present public grievances, and save 
 us from impending ruin. 
 
 "A Committee of Correspondence was also appointed by 
 the Assembly, which approved of a general Congress." 
 
 The mechanics were organized into an association, and it 
 was found expedient to consult their views and wishes. 
 
 On the 6th July, 1774, a public meeting was held in the 
 
196 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " Fields," which favored more vigorous measures than those 
 proposed by the committee. Kesolutions were adopted 
 which denounced the Boston Port Bill as ''oppressive to the 
 inhabitants of the town, unconstitutional in its principles, 
 and dangerous to the liberties of British America." They 
 also resolved in favor of non-intercourse, and in favor of 
 sending relief to the distressed inhabitants of Boston. This 
 meeting was presided over by Alexander McDouprall, whom 
 Lieutenant-governor Golden styled the John Wilkes of 
 America. Though a member or the committee, he was too 
 radical for that body, and this meeting was called without 
 its approbation and disapproved of. The other members of 
 the committee who participated in this meeting in the 
 "Fields," the Bowery were Francis Lewis, Joseph Hal- 
 lett, P. V. B. Livingston, Isaac Sears, Thomas Band all, 
 Abraham P. Lott, and Leonard Lispenard. They withdrew 
 from the Committee ; and were joined in this step by three 
 other members who were not present, viz. : John Browne, 
 Abraham Brosher, and Jacobus van Zandt. 
 
 Notwithstanding this schism, all parties agreed in sending 
 the same five Delegates to Philadelphia, who were pledged 
 to vote for non-importation. 
 
 The committee, at a meeting on May 8, 1775, denounced as 
 enemies all who shall sell arms to persons who are not 
 friends to the rights of the Colony. They also required a 
 regular return of all arms on hand or to be purchased. 
 
 The Delegates in the Continental Congress were not au 
 thorized to assent to a Declaration of Independence, on the 
 4th of July, 1776, but authority was promptly given when 
 the fact was made known to the convention of the Colony, 
 sitting in New York City, July 9th. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 No Colony displayed more gratitude to the King and Par 
 liament when news of the repeal of the Stamp Act was re 
 ceived, than Pennsylvania, as has been seen in a preceding 
 chapter ; but when that repeal was followed up by a declar 
 ation of the right of the Parliament to bind the Colonies 
 "in all cases whatsoever," and by the practical assertion of 
 that claim bv the passage of the tax on paper, glass, tea, 
 and other articles, she was as prompt and as spontaneous in 
 her opposition as the foremost of her sisters. 
 
 On the 20th February, 1768, the Assembly instructed their 
 agents in London "to co-operate with the agents of the 
 other Colonies in any decent and respectful application to 
 Parliament, in case such application should be made by 
 them, for a repeal of the late acts imposing duties on the im 
 portation of paper, glass, etc., into the American Provinces: 
 which act, they said, was looked upon as highly injurious 
 to the rights of the people and their commercial interest." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 197 
 
 "In September of the folio wing year," says Gordon, "the 
 Governor laid before them a letter from the Earl of Hills- 
 borough, lately appointed to the new office of Secretary to 
 the Colonies, denouncing the circular [of the Massachusetts 
 Assembly, which remonstrated against the new act for tax 
 ing the Colonies] as of the most dangerous and factious 
 tendency, calculated to inflame the minds of the Colonists, 
 promote unwarrantable combinations, excite and encourage 
 open opposition to and denial of the authority of Parlia 
 ment, and to subvert the true nrinciples of the Constitution. 
 He was commanded ' to use his utmost influence to defeat 
 this flagitious attempt to disturb the public peace by pre 
 vailing upon the Assembly of his Province to take no notice 
 of it, thereby treating it with the contempt it deserved.' 
 The repeated proofs, continued the Secretary, 'which the 
 Assembly of Pennsylvania had given of their reverence and 
 respect for the Constitution, left no doubt of their showing 
 a proper resentment of this unjustifiable attempt to revive 
 those distractions which have operated so fatally to the 
 prejudice of the kingdom and Colonies.' But, should it be 
 otherwise, and a disposition appear in the Assembly to coun 
 tenance this siditious paper, the Governor was further com 
 manded to prorogue and dissolve them a C9mmand which 
 could be executed by the abrogation of their Charter only. 
 Immediately after the letter had been read, Mr. Galloway, 
 the speaker, laid before the house a circular from the As 
 sembly of Virginia, recapitulating the grievances and agree 
 ments of Massachusetts, and recommending a union of the 
 Colonies in opposition to the measures having an immediate 
 tendency to enslave them, by which means they anticipated 
 the re-establishment of the Constitution upon its genuine 
 principles. 
 
 ' ' This recommendation wa adopted by the Assembly, 
 and a committee appointed to prepare petitions to the King, 
 and upper and lower Houses of Parliament. And that no 
 mistake might exist in regard to their sentiments on the 
 letter of the Earl of Hillsborough, they resolved, * That, by 
 their Charter and laws, they had a right to sit on their own 
 adjournments ; and that the Governor had no constitutional 
 authority to prorogue or dissolve them; and that it was 
 their undoubted right to correspond with the representatives 
 of the freemen, of any of his Majesty's Colonies in America, 
 relative to grievances which might affect the general welfare 
 of the Colonies, in order to obtain, by decent petitions to 
 his Majesty and his Parliament, redress of such grievances." 
 
 The petitions to the King and Parliament, Mr. Gordon 
 suggests, were probably written by Mr. Allen, who was the 
 representative from Cumberland, and Chief Justice. " Our 
 ancestors," say the petitioners, in their address to the King, 
 "near a century past, with a view of enjoying that liberty, 
 
198 THE SIRTff OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 both civil and religious, of which they were in a great meas 
 ure deprived in their native land, to extend the empire of 
 the British dominions, to increase its commerce, and pro 
 mote its wealth and power before the accession of your Ma 
 jesty's illustrious house to the British throne, removed from 
 the mother-country to the Province of Pennsylvania, then a 
 wilderness. The disadvantages, dangers, and distresses nec 
 essarily attendant upon this separation from their friends and 
 relatives, and the land of their nativity, we trust must ap 
 pear to your Majesty's wisdom too evident to need a repe 
 tition; and yet, with inexpressible labor, toil, and expense, 
 and without the least assistance from the parent-state, they 
 and their descendants, by their prudence and strict economy, 
 have peopled, planted, and improved that wilderness into 
 an extensive and heretofore flourishing Colony, and thereby 
 greatly added to the commerce and wealth of the nation, 
 and to the power and dignity of your Majesty's empire. 
 
 " While thus contributing to the welfare of the mother- 
 state, and struggling with innumerable difficulties to enlarge 
 its dominions, we most humbly conceive that your Majes 
 ty's faithful subjects of this Province have, by no act what 
 ever, surrendered up or forfeited those constitutional rights 
 and liberties which were inseparably annexed to their persons 
 as natural-born subjects of the British Government; but, on 
 the contrary, that those rights, brought over by our ances- 
 cestors to this land, are now vested in their descendants as 
 an inheritance the most important and valuable, on the en 
 joyment whereof their future safety and happiness depend." 
 
 " Thus possessed of the rights of Englishmen derived to 
 them from the most excellent Constitution, and under a firm 
 persuasion that the enjoyment and full exercise thereof 
 would be continued down to your people of this Colony, and 
 their latest posterity, it is with inexpressible concern and 
 anxiety that we find ourselves under the necessity of repre 
 senting to your Majesty that certain duties and taxes for 
 the sole purpose of raising a revenue have been imposed by 
 Parliament on your Majesty's American subjects, although 
 they have no representative or voice in tha,t most respecta 
 ble and august body. That this taxation, we most humbly 
 apprehend, is destructive of those rights and that freedom 
 which they are by birth entitled to as men and Englishmen, 
 who cannot be legally taxed, either by the principles of 
 equity or the Constitution, but by themselves or legal repre 
 sentatives; and that, should this law remain unrepealed, 
 and the Commons of Great Britain exercise in future the 
 power of granting the property of your Majesty's American 
 subjects without their consent, and without having any 
 Constitutional opportunity of being informed of their true 
 circumstances and ability to bear such taxation, which their 
 situation and distance from the mother-country render im- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 199 
 
 practicable, your faithful people of these Colonies will pos 
 sess nothing which they can call their own all security of 
 property will be lost." 
 
 The modification of the revenue act by the repeal of all 
 the duties except that on tea was far from satisfying the 
 Colonies, since the right to tax was still asserted. The non 
 importation and non-consumption agreements of the Colo 
 nists as to this article, imported from Great Britain, effec 
 tually nullified the act; and for some years there was a 
 cessation of political excitement on the subject, until the 
 arrival of the East India Company's cargoes of tea, in the 
 latter part of 1773, precipitated the conflict. 
 
 But the " Assembly of Pennsylvania renewed their protest 
 against the revenue act," says Gordon, " after its modifica 
 tion, as a precedent for future oppression; and they in 
 structed their agent, Dr. Franklin, to oppose whatever 
 might affect the liberties of America or the rights of the 
 Province, and, more especially, any plan which might be 
 proposed for an American representation in Parliament." 
 
 "The conduct of the Pennsylvanians was prompt, bold, 
 yet temperate. At a meeting of the inhabitants of Phila 
 delphia, held on the eighteenth of October, 1773, it was re 
 solved, 
 
 "That the disposal of their own property is the inherent 
 right of freemen; that there can be no property in that 
 which another can of right take from us without our con 
 sent: that the claim of Parliament to tax America is, in 
 other words, a right to levy contributions on us at pleasure; 
 
 " That the duty imposed by Parliament on tea landed in 
 America is a tax on the Americans, or levying contribu 
 tions on them without their consent ; 
 
 " That the express purpose for which the tax is levied on 
 the Americans namely, for the support of the Government, 
 administration of justice, and defence of his Majesty's 
 dominions in America has a direct tendency to render 
 Assemblies useless, and to introduce arbitrary government 
 and slavery; 
 
 * ' That a virtuous and steady opposition to this Ministerial 
 plan of governing America is absolutely necessary to pre 
 serve even the shadow of liberty, and is a duty which 
 every freeman in America owes to his country, to himself, 
 and to posterity ; 
 
 "That the resolution lately entered into by the East India 
 Company, to send out their tea to America, subject to the 
 payment of duties on its being landed here, is an open 
 attempt to enforce this Ministerial plan and a violent attack 
 on the liberties of America ; 
 
 "That it is the duty of every American to oppose this 
 attempt ; 
 
 "That whoever shall directly or indirectly countenance 
 
200 THE BIRTH OF THE HEPUBLIO. 
 
 this attempt, or in any wise aid or abet in unloading, re 
 ceiving, or vending the tea sent or to be sent out by the 
 East India Company, while it remains subject to the pay 
 ment of a duty here, is an enemy to his country ; 
 
 " That a committee be immediately chosen to wait on 
 those gentlemen, who, it is reported, are appointed by the 
 East India Company to receive and sell said tea, and re 
 quest them, from a regard to their own characters and the 
 peace and good order of the city and province, immediately 
 to resign their appointment." 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, Monday, June 13, 1774. 
 
 "On Thursday evening last, June 9th, about twelve hun 
 dred mechanics of this city and suburbs assembled at the 
 State-house to hear a letter read from the mechanics of the 
 city of New York, and to form such resolutions as should 
 be "judged proper for ^their future conduct at this most 
 alarming and critical time when American liberty is so 
 deeply wounded, and her rights so unjustly invaded by 
 levying taxes on us, without our consent, for the purpose of 
 raising a revenue; and for refusing payment of those illegal 
 taxes; blocking up with divers ships of war the port and 
 town of Boston, thereby most unjustly depriving that once 
 flourishing town of its whole trade, the inhabitants of their 
 private property, and the laboring poor of the means of 
 subsisting themselves and families. These proceedings of 
 the parent -state against her American children call aloud 
 upon all Americans to assemble, consult, and determine 
 firmly to pursue such measures for their own and neighbors' 
 future security as shall be judged most likely to avert the 
 present calamity, and secure to them the perfect enjoy 
 ment of their Liberties and properties upon a fixed and last 
 ing foundation; for which purpose the mechanics of this 
 city did propose and intend at this meeting to form such 
 resolutions to co-operate with the committee of merchants, 
 and to strengthen their hands, as will convince the world 
 Americans were born and determined to live free, and that 
 they never will be slaves; that liberty is their birthright, 
 they cannot, they will not, give it up." 
 
 Lancaster (Penn.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the inhabitants of the borough of Lan 
 caster, at the Court-house in said borough, on Wednesday 
 the 15th day of June, 1774, 
 
 "Agreed, That, to preserve the Constitutional rights of the 
 inhabitants of America, it is incumbent on every Colony to 
 unite, and use the most effectual means to procure a repeal 
 of the late acts of Parliament against the town of Boston ; 
 
 That the act of Parliament for blocking up the port and 
 harbor of Boston is an invasion of the rights of the inhabi- 
 
TBE BIRTH Off THE REPUBLIC. 201 
 
 tants of the said town as subjects of the Crown of Great 
 Britain; that it is the opinion of the inhabitants of this 
 meeting that the most proper and effectual means to be 
 used to obtain a repeal of the said act will be to put an 
 immediate stop to all imports and exports to and from Great 
 Britain until the same act be repealed; that the traders 
 and inhabitants of this town will join and concur with the 
 patriotic merchants, manufacturers, tradesmen, and free 
 holders of the city and county of Philadelphia, and other 
 parts of the Province, in the association of solemn agree 
 ment to this purpose, if it shall be by them thought necessary." 
 
 City and County of Philadelphia (Penn.} Resolutions. 
 
 At a yery large and respectable meeting of the freeholders 
 and freemen of the city and county of Philadelphia, in the 
 province of Pennsylvania, held on Saturday, June 18, 1774, 
 
 T. Willing and John Dickinson, chairmen : 
 
 "Eesolved, 1st. That the act of Parliament for shutting 
 up the port of Boston is unconstitutional, oppressive to the 
 inhabitants of that town, dangerous to the liberties of the 
 British Colonies, and that therefore we consider our breth 
 ren at Boston as suffering in the common cause of America. 
 
 "2d. That a congress of deputies from the several Colo 
 nies in North America is the most probable and proper mode 
 of procuring relief for our suffering brethren, obtaining re 
 dress of American grievances, securing our rights and liber 
 ties, and re-establishing peace and harmony between Great 
 Britain and these Colonies on a Constitutional foundation. 
 
 " 3d. That a large and respectable committee be immedi 
 ately appointed for the city and county of Philadelphia, to 
 correspond with the sister-Colonies, and with the several 
 counties in this Province, in order that all may unite in pro 
 moting and endeavoring to attain the great and valuable 
 ends mentioned in the foregoing resolutions." 
 
 Chester County (Penn.) Resolutions. 
 
 At a meeting of a respectable body of the freeholders, 
 inhabitants of the county of Chester, on Saturday the 18th 
 of June, 1774, the following .esolutions were deliberately 
 and unanimously agreed on, viz. : 
 
 " 1. That it is an absolute right, inherent in every English 
 subject, to have the free use, enjoyment, and disoppsal of all 
 his property, either by himself or his representatives; and 
 that no other power on earth can legally divest himself 
 of it. 
 
 U 2d. That we apprehend the act of Parliament for shut 
 ting up the port of Boston (until his Majesty's duties be duly 
 collected, etc.) is highly arbitrary and oppressive to the in- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 habitants of that town, and in its consequence may en 
 danger the liberties of all the British Colonies in America. 
 
 "3d. That the two bills mentioned in the last advices 
 from London to be passing in Parliament, one changing the 
 chartered Constitution ot the Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay into a military government, and the other empowering 
 the Governor or Lieutenant-governor to send any person 
 or persons to England to be tried for actions committed in 
 that Colony, are subversive of every idea of liberty, and 
 serve as a prelude to the fate of each chartered British 
 Colony on this continent." 
 
 "4th. That a Congress of Deputies from the said Colonies 
 is the probable and proper mode of procuring relief for our 
 suffering brethren, obtaining redress, and preserving our 
 natural rights and liberties, and the establishing peace and 
 mutual confidence between the mother-country and her 
 Colonies on a Constitutional foundation." 
 
 Northampton County (Pa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the justices, the gentlemen of the bar, 
 Grand Jury, and principal inhabitants of the county of 
 Northampton, held at Easton on the 21st day of June, 1774, 
 
 " George Taylor, Esq., in the chair, 
 
 "It being considered that it was necessary for all the 
 counties of this Province to join with their brethren of 
 Philadelphia in expressing their sentiments upon the present 
 interesting occasion relative to the oppressive acts of Parlia 
 ment lately passed in Great Britain, tending to destroy the 
 liberties of North America, it was unanimously resolved as 
 follows : 
 
 "1st. That the act of Parliament for shutting up the 
 port of Boston is an act of the highest oppression and a vio 
 lation of the liberties of America. 
 
 "2d. That as we consider the inhabitants of the said 
 town as suffering in the common cause of American free 
 dom, we will assist them to obtain redress by every legal act 
 in our power. 
 
 "3d. That it is our opinion the most constitutional and 
 effectual method for obtaining such redress is by having a 
 general Congress of committees, to be composed and chosen 
 out of the members of the different Assemblies of each 
 Colony." 
 
 Pennsylvania Convention. 
 
 "At a Provincial Meeting of Deputies chosen by the 
 several counties in Pennsylvania, held at Philadelphia, Fri 
 day, July 15, 1774, and continued by adjournments from 
 day to day, Agreed, That, in case of any difference in senti 
 ment, the question be determined by the Deputies voting by 
 counties. The letters from Boston of the 13th of May were 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 203 
 
 then read, and a short account given of the steps taken in 
 consequence thereof, and the measures now pursuing in this 
 and the other neighboring Provinces. After which the fol 
 lowing resolves were passed : 
 
 "Unanimously, 1, That we acknowledge ourselves, and 
 the inhabitants of this Province, liege subjects of his 
 Majesty King George the Third, to whom they and we owe 
 and will bear true and faithful allegiance. 
 
 " Unanimously, 2, That, as the idea of an unconstitutional 
 independence on the parent-state is utterly abhorrent to our 
 principles, we view the unhappy differences between Great 
 Britain and the Colonies with the deepest distress and anxiety 
 of mind, as fruitless to her, grievous to us and destructive 
 of the best interests of both. 
 
 "Unanimously, 3, That it is therefore our ardent desire 
 that our ancient harmony with the mother-country should 
 be restored, and a perpetual love and union subsist between 
 us, on the principles of the Constitution, and an interchange 
 of good offices, without the least infraction of our mutual 
 rights. 
 
 "Unanimously, 4, That the inhabitants of these Colonies 
 are entitled to the same rights and liberties within these 
 Colonies that the subjects born in England are entitled to 
 within that realm. 
 
 "Unanimously, 5, That the power assumed by the Parlia 
 ment of Great Britain to bind the people of these Colonies 
 'by statutes in all cases whatsoever' is unconstitutional, 
 and therefore the source of these unhappy differences. 
 
 "Unanimously, 6, That the act of Parliament for shutting 
 up the port of Boston is unconstitutional, oppressive to the 
 inhabitants of that town, dangerous to the liberties of the 
 British Colonies, and therefore that we consider our breth 
 ren at Boston as suffering in the common cause of these 
 Colonies. 
 
 "Unanimously, 7, That the bill for altering the adminis 
 tration of justice in certain criminal cases within the Pro 
 vince of Massachusetts Bay, if passed into an act of Parlia 
 ment, will be as unconstitutional, oppressive, and dangerous 
 as the act above mentioned. 
 
 "Unanimously, 8, That the bill for changing the Consti 
 tution of the Province of Massachusetts Bay established by 
 charter and enjoyed since the grant of that charter, if 
 passed into an act of Parliament, will be unconstitutional 
 and dangerous in its consequence to the American Colonies. 
 
 "Unanimously, 9, That there is an absolute necessity that 
 a Congress of Deputies from the several Colonies be im 
 mediately assembled, to consult together and form a general 
 plan of conduct to be observed by all the Colonies for the 
 purpose of procuring relief for our suffering brethren, ob 
 taining redress of our grievances, preventing future dis- 
 
204 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 sensions, firmly establishing our rights and restoring har 
 mony between Great Britain and her Colonies on a Consti 
 tutional foundation. 
 
 ''Unanimously, 10, That, although a suspension of the 
 commerce of this large trading Province with Great Britain 
 would greatly distress multitudes of our industrious in 
 habitants, yet that sacrifice and a much greater we are 
 ready to offer for the preservation of our liberties ; but in 
 tenderness to the people of Great Britain, as well as of this 
 country, and in hopes that our just remonstrances will at 
 length reach the ears of our gracious sovereign and be no 
 longer treated with contempt by any of our fellow-subjects 
 in England, it is our earnest desire that the Congress should 
 first try the gentler mode of stating our grievances and 
 making a firm and decent claim of redress. 
 
 "11, Resolved, by a great majority, That yet, notwith 
 standing, as an unanimity of counsels and measures is indis 
 pensably necessary for the common welfare, if Congress 
 shall judge agreements of non-importation and non-exporta 
 tion expedient, the people of this Province will join with 
 the other principal and neighboring Colonies in such an 
 association of non-importation from and non-exportation to 
 Great Britain as shall be agreed at the Congress." 
 
 "ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA, ) 
 July 23, 1774. ] 
 
 "Ordered, That the resolve of the Committee of the Whole 
 be received immediately. Mr. Rhodes then (according to 
 order) reported the said resolve, which he first read in his 
 place, and then delivered at the clerk's table, where the said 
 resolve was again read by order, and follows in these words, 
 viz. : The Committee of the Whole House, taking into their 
 most serious consideration the unfortunate differences which 
 have long subsisted between Great Britain and the American 
 Colonies, and been greatly increased by the operation and 
 effects of divers late acts of the British Parliament, 
 
 " 'Resolved, N. C. D., That there is an absolute necessity 
 that a Congress of Deputies from the several Colonies be 
 held, as soon as conveniently may be, to consult together 
 upon the present unhappy state of the Colonies, and to form 
 and adopt a plan for the purposes of obtaining redress of 
 American grievances, ascertaining American rights upon 
 the most solid Constitutional principles, and for establishing 
 that union and harmony between Great Britain and the 
 Colonies which is indispensably necessary for the welfare 
 and happiness of both.' 
 
 "The House resumed the consideration of the resolve from 
 the Committee of the Whole House, and, after some debate 
 thereon, adopted and confirmed the same." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 205 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION. 
 
 Proceedings of the convention for the Province of Penn 
 sylvania, held at Philadelphia, January 23, 1775, and con 
 tinued by adjournments to the 28th : 
 
 " Eesolved unanimously, That this convention most heart 
 ily approve of the conduct and proceedings of the Continental 
 Congress ; that we will faithfully endeavor to carry into ex 
 ecution the measures of the association entered into and re 
 commended by them ; and that the members of that very 
 respectable body merit our warmest thanks by their great 
 and disinterested labours for the preservation of the rights 
 and liberties of the British Colonies. 
 
 " Thursday, December 8, 1774. 
 
 " The members deputed in behalf of this Province to at 
 tend the general Congress held at the city of Philadelphia 
 in September and October last, presented to the chair a 
 printed journal of the resolutions and proceedings of the 
 said Congress, together with a report in writing, which 
 latter was read by order, and follows in these words, viz. : 
 
 " ' We, the committee appointed on the part of this Prov 
 ince by the late and present Houses of Representatives to at 
 tend the Congress of deputies from the several Colonies, beg 
 leave to report the performance of that service as contained 
 in a journal ofthat Congress here with delivered, which we 
 humbly submit to the consideration of the House : 
 
 " ' EDWARD BIDDLE, 
 CHAS. HUMPHREYS, 
 JOHN DICKINSON, 
 JOHN MORTON, 
 THOMAS MIFFLIN. 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA December 8, 1774. 
 
 " Ordered, That the reading and consideration of the jour 
 nal of the proceedings of the general Congress be deferred 
 till to-morrow. 
 
 " Friday, December 9, 1774. 
 
 " The House proceeded in the consideration of the resolu 
 tions of the Congress, and, after some debate, ordered that 
 the further consideration thereof be deferred till to-morrow 
 morning. 
 
 " Saturday, December 10, 1774. 
 
 "The House, agreeable to the order of yesterday, taking 
 into consideration the report of the committee appointed to 
 attend the general Congress, and the papers therein referred 
 to, 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That this House approve the 
 proceedings and resolves of the Congress, and do most seri 
 ously recommend to the good people of this Province a strict 
 attention to and an inviolable observation of the several 
 
206 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 matters and things contained in the journal of the Congress. 
 Upon motion, 
 
 "Ordered That the foregoing resolution he immediately 
 made public." 
 
 NEWTOWN (BUCKS COUNTY), PA., ) 
 " January 16, 1775. \ 
 
 " A large majority of the committee chosen in said county 
 on the 15th of December last, in pursuance of notice for that 
 purpose given, this day assembled in said town and unani 
 mously chose 
 
 " Joseph Hart, Esq., chairman, and John Chapman, clerk. 
 
 " The committee, then taking into consideration the meas 
 ures recommend by the Continental Congress for the re 
 dress of American grievances, entered into the following re 
 solves unanimously : 
 
 " 1st. That we highly approve of the pacific measures re 
 commended by the Continental Congress for the redress of 
 American grievances, and do hereby render our unfeigned 
 thanks to the worthy gentlemen who composed that august 
 assembly, for the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in 
 them. 
 
 " 2d. That we hold ourselves bound, in justice to ourselves, 
 our posterity, our King, and our country, strictly to observe 
 and keep the association of said Congress, especially as it is 
 recommended to us by the united voice of our representatives 
 in Assembly, and, as a committee, will use our utmost en 
 deavors to have it carried into execution. 
 
 4 ' 3d. That we hold it as our bounden duty,both as Christians 
 and as countrymen, to contribute towards the relief and sup 
 port of the poor inhabitants of the town of Boston now suffer 
 ing in the general cause of all the Colonies ; and we do hereby 
 recommend the raising of a sum of money for that purpose, 
 to every inhabitant or taxable in this county, as soon as pos 
 sible." 
 
 Chester County (Pa.) Committee. 
 
 March 20, 1775. 
 
 "Pursuant to adjournment and public notice given, the 
 committee of Chester County met at the house of Richard 
 Cheyney, in East Coin. 
 
 "On motion, ordered, That Mr. Hockley, Mr. Johnston, 
 Mr. Grenow, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Frazer, Mr." Moore, and Mr. 
 Taylor be and they are hereby appointed a committee to 
 essay a draft of a petition to present to the general Assem 
 bly of this Province, with regard to the manumission of 
 slaves; especially relating to the freedom of infants here 
 after born of black women within this Colony ; and do make 
 report of the .same to this committee at their next meeting. 
 
 " On motion, ordered, That each member in this commit 
 tee will use his utmost diligence in collecting the several 
 sums of money subscribed for the use of Boston, and pay 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 207 
 
 the same into the hands of Anthony Wayne, Esq. , treasurer, 
 
 at the next meeting of this committee." 
 
 " ' Committee of Yorktown, York County, Iknn., to John Hancock and Thomas 
 
 Gushing; 
 
 " ' YORKTOWN, April 13, 1775. 
 
 u * HONOURED FRIENDS AND COUNTRYMEN: Sorry are we to 
 hear that the hand of oppression still bears hard on your 
 city, and that the distresses of your poor are not yet allevi 
 ated. If your misfortunes and sufferings could be divided, 
 the inhabitants of this county would,, cheerfully bear a part. 
 This, it seems, cannot be done ; your destined town must 
 stand the shock alone. We want words to express the high 
 sense we have of your conduct and virtue ; few men in the 
 world would have opposed despotism and stood the torrent 
 of Ministerial despotism with BO much steadiness, intrepidity, 
 and resolution as the inhabitants of your town and county 
 have done. You have true notions of liberty. You have 
 purchased it. You ought to enjoy it. The noble stand 
 made by the Province of Massachusetts Bay, if faithfully 
 adhered to, has laid the foundation for establishing Ameri 
 can liberty on the most firm basis. The other Colonies will 
 be equally gainers by a favorable determination of the con 
 test, and will not desert you in the time of danger; they will 
 doubtless grant you the most effectual assistance. 
 
 " 'This county, upon the earliest intelligence of your dis 
 tress, forwarded subscriptions for the poor of Boston. Grain 
 was generally subscribed ; we expected to have sent it last 
 fall, but could not collect it at any seaport before the winter 
 season came on ; so that the shipping of it was postponed 
 till the spring. Upon the meeting of the committee of this 
 county in February last, shortly after the receipt of the King's 
 speech to the Parliament, it was thought that it would not 
 be safe to send grain. The committee therefore determined 
 to convert the grain into cash, and remit the same in specie 
 or bills of exchange to you. Your poor have suffered much 
 by this resolution, as the price of wheat is greatly fallen. 
 The subscriptions of but a part of the county have yet come 
 in. We send you the sum of 246 8s. lOd. , to be remitted to 
 you in bills of exchange or specie, by Messrs. Jonathan B. 
 Smith and John Mitchell, merchants, of Philadelphia, which 
 be pleased to distribute among our poor and unhappy coun 
 trymen in your town, or in its neighborhood, in such man 
 ner as you shall think proper. As there are a few disaf 
 fected people in this Province, we must trouble you to 
 publish the receipt of the donations as is mentioned in the 
 inclosed paper. Your friends here are numerous, and most 
 heartily interested themselves in your favor. As soon as 
 the rest of the subscriptions in this county are paid, we 
 
 shall cheerfully remit the same to you. 
 ** * We wish you a speedy relief from all 
 
 your sufferings, 
 
208 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 and are, gentlemen, with the greatest respect, your real 
 friends and most obedient humble servants, 
 
 * ' ' James Smith, Pres. Com. ; 
 " 'Geo. Eichelberger, Geo. Fuvin, 
 
 David Grier, Jos. Donaldson, 
 
 Michael Dowdle, Michael Schmyser, 
 
 Michael Swope, Balzard Spangler, 
 
 Peter Reel, John Hay. 
 
 Thomas Hartley, 
 
 " * Committee of Correspondence of York County. 
 " ' To John Hancock and Thomas Gushing, Esqrs., commit 
 tee for receiving and distributing the donations for the poo r 
 of Boston.'" 
 
 "PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY, j 
 May 4, 1775. 
 
 " The House met pursuant to adjournment. The commit 
 tee appointed to prepare and bring in a draft of an answer 
 to the Governor's message, reported an essay for that pur 
 pose, which, being read by paragraphs, and, after some 
 alteration, agreed to by the House, was ordered to be trans 
 cribed. The answer of the House to Governor's message, 
 being transcribed according to order, was again read, signed 
 by the speaker, and follows as in these words, viz. : 
 
 " ' May it Please Your Honour: "We have taken into our 
 serious consideration your message of the second instant, 
 and the resolution of the British House of Commons therein 
 referred to. 
 
 "'Having "weighed and considered this plan with the 
 temper, calmness, and deliberation that the importance of 
 the subject and the present critical situation or affairs de 
 mand," we are sincerely sorry that we cannot " think the 
 terms pointed out "afford u a just and reasonable ground 
 for a final accommodation " between Great Britain and the 
 Colonies. Your Honour observes " that the Colonies, amidst 
 all those complaints which a jealousy of their liberties has 
 occasioned, have never denied the justice or equity of con 
 tributing towards the burdens of the mother-country ;" but 
 your Honour must know that they have ever unanimously 
 asserted it as their indisputable right that all aids from 
 them should be their own free and voluntary gifts, not taken 
 by force nor extorted by fear. Under which of these de 
 scriptions the "plan held forth and offered by the parent to 
 her children " at this time, with its attendant circumstances, 
 deserves to be classed, we choose rather to submit to the 
 determination of your Honour's good sense, than to attempt 
 proving by the enumeration of notorious facts or the rep- 
 etion of obvious reasons. If no other objection to "the 
 plan proposed ' occurred to us, we should esteem it a dishon 
 orable desertion of sister-Colonies, connected by a union, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. '209 
 
 founded on great motives and mutual faith, and conducted 
 by general councils, for a single Colony to adopt a measure 
 so extensive inconsequence, without the advice and consent 
 of those Colonies engaged with us by solemn ties in the 
 same common cause.' " 
 
 Extract of a letter from Carlisle (Cumberland Co.), Penn 
 sylvania, dated May 6, 1775 : 
 
 "Yesterday the county committee met from nineteen 
 townships on the short notice they had. About three thou 
 sand men have already associated. The arms returned 
 amount to about fifteen hundred. The committee have 
 voted five hundred effective men, besides commissioned 
 officers, to be immediately drafted, taken into pay, armed, 
 and disciplined, to march on the first emergency ; to be paid 
 and supported as long as necessary by a tax on all estates, 
 real and personal, in the county ; the returns to be taken 
 by the township committees and the tax laid by the com 
 missioners and assessors; the pay of the officers and men 
 nearly as usual in times past. This morning we met again 
 at eight o'clock ; among the subjects of inquiry this day, the 
 mode of drafting or taking into pay, arming, and victualling 
 immediately, the men and the choice of "field and other 
 officers will, among other important matters, be the subject 
 of deliberation. The strength of spirit of this county may 
 perhaps appear small if judged of by the number of men pro 
 posed ; but when it is considered that we are ready to raise 
 fifteen hundred cr two thousand, should we have support 
 from the Province, and that, independent and in uncertain 
 expectation of such support, we have voluntarily drawn 
 upon this county a debt of about twenty seven thousand 
 pounds per annum, I hope we shall not appear contempti 
 ble. We make great improvement in military discipline ; 
 it is yet uncertain who may go." 
 
 Bucks County (Pa.) Committee. 
 
 " At a meeting of the committee of the county of Bucks, 
 held at the house of Richard Leedom, May the 8, 1775, 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That we do heartily approve of 
 the resolves of the late Provincial convention held at Phila 
 delphia the 23d day of January last, and do earnestly re 
 commend it to the observation of the inhabitants of this 
 county. 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That notwithstanding the dis 
 approbation we have hitherto shown to the prosecution of 
 any violent measures of opposition arising from the hopes 
 and expectations that the humanity, justice, and magna 
 nimity of the British nation would not fail of affording us 
 relief; being now convinced that all our most dutiful appli 
 cations have hitherto been fruitless and vain, and that'at- 
 
210 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tempts are now making to carry the oppressive acts of Par 
 liament into execution by military force, we do therefore 
 earnestly recommend to the peoply of this county to form 
 themselves into associations in their respective townships, 
 to improve themselves in the military art, that they may 
 be rendered capable of affording their country that aid 
 which its particular necessities may at any time require. 
 
 "Joseph Hart, John Kidd, Joseph Kirkbride, James Wal 
 lace, and Henry Wynkoop, or any three of them, are ap 
 pointed as delegates to meet in Provincial convention, if 
 any should be found necessary. 
 
 "The committee request all persons who have taken sub 
 scriptions for the relief of the poor of Boston as soon as pos 
 sible to collect and pay the same into the hands of the treas 
 urer, Henry Wynkoop, that it may be speedily applied 
 towards the benevolent purpose for which it was intended; 
 and at the same time to give those who have not subscribed 
 an opportunity to contribute also. 
 
 ' { By order of the committee. 
 
 "HENRY WYNKOOP, Clerk. 
 
 Chester County (Pa.) Committee. 
 
 "At a meeting of the committee for the county of Ches 
 ter, at the borough of Chester, May 15, 1775, 
 
 " Anthony Wayne, Esq., in the chair, the following re 
 solves were made, viz. : 
 
 "Whereas, The British Parliament, instead of hearing pur 
 just complaints or showing the least regard to the dutiful 
 and lawful petition of the late Continental Congress on be 
 half of America, have proceeded to fresh acts of tyranny and 
 oppression, which, added to an address of both Lords and 
 Commons to his Majesty, declaring the inhabitants of the 
 Province of Massachusetts Bay to be in a state of open re 
 bellion, and several of the other Colonies encouragers of the 
 same, have induced the soldiery under the command of 
 General Gage, at Boston, to commence a civil war by wan 
 tonly firing upon and murdering a number of the inhabi 
 tants of that Province: And whereas, The said address mili 
 tates equally against all the inhabitants of the other Colonies 
 who have the virtue to refuse obedience to laws and meas 
 ures destructive to the best rights and liberties of America, 
 which, if suffered to take effect, must inevitably reduce these 
 Colonies to a state of abject slavery, from which in all prob 
 ability no human efforts would ever be able to rescue them ; 
 and although we will not yield to any of our fellow-subjects in 
 point of duty and loyalty to our most gracious sovereign, yet 
 we cannot be so far negligent of our own happiness as totally 
 to neglect providing for our common safety : Therefore, 
 
 " Resolved unanimously, 1st, That it is the indispens 
 able duty of all the freemen of this county immediately 
 
THE BIHTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 211 
 
 to form and enter into associations for the purpose of 
 learning the military art ; and that they provide themselves 
 with proper arms and ammunition to be ready in case of 
 emergency to defend our liberty, property, and lives against 
 all attempts to deprive us of them. And we solemiily en 
 gage to promote such associations to the utmost of our 
 power. 
 
 " 2d, Eesolved, nem. con., That no powder be expended in 
 this county except on emergent occasions, and the store- 
 and shop-keepers are requested not to dispose of any except 
 to some one or more of this committee, who are ordered to 
 purchase the same. 
 
 4 '3d, Resolved, nem. con., That this committee, confiding 
 in the wisdom and virtue of the Continental Congress now 
 sitting in Philadelphia, will adopt and use their utmost 
 endeavors to carry into execution all such measures as the 
 said Congress shall recommend for the preservation of 
 American liberty. 
 
 1 ' ' 4th. Resolved, nem. con. , It is earnestly recommended, 
 to every subscriber in this county for the relief of the poor 
 in Boston, that they immediately pay the same, as it is much 
 wanted for the benevolent purposes intended. 
 
 " '5th. Resolved, nem. con., That each member of this com 
 mittee will give his attendance at the borough of Chester, 
 on the the 31st of this instant, at ten o'clock A.M., in order 
 to consult the justices, Grand Jury, and Board of Commis 
 sioners and Assessors on ways and means to procure a proper 
 quantity of arms and ammunition for the use of this county.' 
 
 " The committee then adjourned to the time and place 
 above mentioned. By order of the committee. 
 
 " FRANCIS JOHNSTON, 
 
 'Secretary." 
 
 Meeting of the inhabitants of Westmoreland County, Pa. 
 
 " At a general meeting of the inhabitants of this county of 
 Westmoreland, held at Hanna's Town, the 16th day of May, 
 1775, for taking into consideration the very alarming situa 
 tion of this county occasioned by the dispute with Great 
 Britain, 
 
 * ' Resolved unanimously, That the Parliament of Great Brit 
 ain, by several late acts, have declared the inhabitants of the 
 Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion, and the Ministry, by 
 endeavoring to enforce these acts, have attempted to reduce 
 the said inhabitants to a more wretched state of slavery 
 than ever before existed in any state or country. Not con 
 tent with violating their Constitutional and Chartered privi 
 leges, they would strip them of the rights of humanity, ex 
 posing lives to the wanton and unpunishable sport of a 
 licentious soldiery, and depriving them of the very means of 
 subsistence. 
 
212 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That there is no reason to doubt 
 but the same system of tyranny and oppression will (should 
 it meet with success in the Massachusetts Bay) be extended 
 to every other part of America; it is therefore become the 
 indispensable duty of every American, of every man who 
 has any public virtue or love for his country, or any bowels 
 for posterity, by every means which God has put in his 
 power, to resist and oppose the execution of it : that for us 
 we will be ready to oppose it with our lives and fortunes. 
 And the better to enable us to accomplish it, we will imme 
 diately form ourselves into a military body to consist of com 
 panies to be made up out of the several townships under the 
 following association, which is declared to be the Association 
 of Westmoreland County : 
 
 4 'Possessed with unshaken loyalty and fidelity to his Majes 
 ty, King George the Third, whom we acknowledge to be our 
 lawful and rightful King, and who we wish may long be 
 the beloved sovereign of a free and happy people through 
 out the whole British Empire ; we declare to the world that 
 we^do not mean, by this association, to deviate from that loy 
 alty which we hold it our bounden duty to observe; but 
 animated with the love of liberty, it is no less than duty to 
 maintain and defend our just rights (which with sorrow we 
 have seen of late wantonly violated in many instances by a 
 wicked Ministry and a corrupted Parliament), and transmit 
 them entire to our posterity, for which purpose we do agree 
 and associate together, 
 
 "1st. To arm and form ourselves into a regiment or regi 
 ments, and choose officers to command us in such propor 
 tion as shall be thought necessary,' " etc. 
 
 " PENNSYLVANIA ASSEMBLY, ) 
 Friday, June 23, 1775. f 
 
 "The bill entitled 'An Act for the Support of the Govern 
 ment of this Province and the Payment of the Public Debt ' 
 being read the second time and debated by paragraphs, was 
 ordered to be transcribed for a third reading. 
 
 u A petition and memorial from the Committee of the City 
 and Liberties of Philadelphia was presented to the House and 
 read, setting forth that the petitioners, reflecting upon the 
 great and imminent danger to which the liberties of America 
 are exposed by the open and declared determination of the 
 British Ministry to enforce certain cruel and oppressive acts 
 of Parliament; and contemplating those mournful events 
 which have already happened, as well as those which may 
 happen during this important struggle, have been induced 
 to form and recommend a military association within this 
 city and liberties; that, in forming such association, they 
 have extended their views beyond a mere parade and useless 
 show ; and animated with a lively sense of the inestimable 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 213 
 
 have 
 efend 
 
 value of the blessings of civil liberty themselves, they 
 endeavored to inculcate upon others the necessity of d 
 ing and supporting them by actual service, if the exigency 
 of public affairs should require it : that under these circima- 
 stances they find various difficulties which require the aid 
 and assistance of the honorable House. 
 
 "Reposing therefore the fullest confidence in the virtue and 
 spirit of their Representatives, they beg leave to lay before 
 them several particulars which seem, in a peculiar manner, 
 to claim, their attention and regard. 
 
 "Friday, June 30, 1775. 
 
 " The House met pursuant to adjournment and proceeded 
 in the consideration of the resolves of the committees, which, 
 being j)ut to the question, were agreed to by the House, and 
 follow in these words, viz : 
 
 " ' 1. Resolved, That this House approve the association en 
 tered into by the good people of this Province for the de 
 fence of their lives, liberty, and property. 
 
 " ' 2. Resolved, That if any invasion or. landing of British 
 troops or others shall be made in this or the adjacent 
 Colonies during the present controversy, or any armed ships 
 or vessels shall sail up the river Delaware in a hostile man 
 ner, and such circumstances shall render it expedient, in the 
 judgment of the committee hereafter to be appointed, for 
 any number of the officers and privates, men of the associa 
 tion, within this Colony to enter into actual service for re 
 pelling such hostile attempts, this House will provide for 
 the pay and necessary expenses of such officers and soldiers 
 performing such military duty while they are in such actual 
 service.' " 
 
 Dr. Franklin to Dr. Jos. Priestly : 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, PA., Octobers, 1775. 
 
 "DEAR SIR: I am to set out to-morrow for the camp, and 
 having but just heard of this opportunity, can onlv write a 
 line to say that I am well and hearty. Tell our dear good 
 friend Dr. Price, who sometimes has his doubts and despon 
 dences about our firmness, that America is determined and 
 unanimous, a very few Tories and Placemen excepted, who 
 will probably very soon export themselves. 
 
 "Britain, at the expense of three millions, has killed one 
 hundred and fifty Yankees this campaign, which is twenty 
 thousand pounds a head ; and at Bunker's Hill, she gained 
 a mile of ground, half of which she lost again by our taking 
 Post on Ploughed Hill. During the same time sixty thou 
 sand children have been born in America. From these data 
 his mathematical head will easily calculate the time and ex- 
 
214 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 pense necessary to kill us all and conquer our whole terri 
 tory. My sincere respects to and to the club of 
 
 honest Whigs at. ... Adieu. 
 
 "I am ever yours most affectionately, 
 
 "B. FRANKLIN." 
 
 Dr. Franklin to David Hartley, London : 
 
 "PHILADELPHIA, PA., October 3, 1T75. 
 
 "SiR: I wish as ardently as you can do for peace, and 
 should rejoice exceedingly in co-operating with you to that 
 end. But every ship from Britain brings some intelligence 
 of new measures that tend more and more to exasperate ; 
 and it seems to me that, until you have found by dear expe 
 rience the reducing us by force impracticable, you will 
 think of nothing fair and reasonable. We have as yet 
 resolved only on defensive measures. If you would recall 
 your forces and stay at home, we should meditate nothing 
 to injure you. A little time so given for cooling on both 
 sides would have excellent effects. But you will goad and 
 provoke us. You despise us too much; and you are insensi 
 ble of the Italian adage that * There is no little enemy.' 
 
 " I am persuaded the body of the British people are our 
 friends ; but they are changeable, and, by your lying gazettes, 
 may soon be made our enemies. Our respect for them will 
 proportionally diminish ; and I see clearly we are on the 
 high road to mutual enmity, hatred, and detestation. A 
 separation will of course be inevitable. It is a million of 
 
 Eities, so fair a plan as we have hitherto been engaged in, 
 )r increasing strength and empire with public fidelity, 
 should be destroyed by the mangling hands of the few 
 blundering Ministers. It will not be destroyed; God will 
 protect and prosper it; you will only exclude yourselves 
 from any share in it. We hear that more troops and ships 
 are coming out. We know you may do us a great deal of 
 mischief, but we are determined to bear it patiently as long 
 as we can. But if you flatter yourselves with beating us 
 into submission, you know neither the people nor the coun 
 try. The Congress is still sitting, and will wait the result of 
 their last petition." 
 
 Doctor Franklin to M. Dumas: 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, December 19, 1775. 
 
 1 'We are threatened from England with a very powerful 
 force, to come next year against us. We are making all the 
 provisions in our power here to prevent that force, and we 
 nope we shall be able to defend ourselves. But as the events 
 of war are always uncertain, possibly, after another cam 
 paign, we may find it necessary to ask aid of some foreign 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 215 
 
 power. It gives us great pleasure to learn from you that 
 * all Europe wishes us the best success in the maintenance 
 of our liberty.' But we wish to know whether any one of 
 them, from principles of humanity, is disposed magnani 
 mously to step in for the relief of an oppressed people; or 
 whether if, as it seems likely to happen, we should be 
 obliged to break off all connection with Britain and declare 
 ourselves an independent people, there is any state or power 
 in Europe who would be willing to enter into an alliance 
 with us for the benefit of our commerce, which amounted 
 before the war to near seven millions sterling per annum, 
 and must continually increase, as our people increase most 
 rapidly. Confiding, my dear friend, in your good-will to 
 us and our cause, and in your sagacity and abilities for 
 business, the committee of Congress appointed for the pur 
 pose of establishing and conducting a correspondence with 
 our friends in Europe, of which committee I have the honor 
 to be a member, have directed me to request of you that, as 
 you are situated at The Hague, where ambassadors from all 
 the courts reside, you would make use of the opportunity 
 which that situation affords you of discovering, if possible, 
 the disposition of the several courts with respect to such as 
 sistance or alliance, if we should apply for the one or pro 
 pose for the other. As it may possibly be necessary, in 
 particular instances, that you should, for this purpose, con 
 fer directly with some great Ministers, and show them this 
 letter as your credential, we only recommend it to your 
 discretion that you proceed therein with such caution as to 
 keep the same from the knowledge of the English ambassa 
 dor, and prevent any public appearance, at present, of your 
 being employed in such business, as thereby we imagine 
 many inconveniences may be avoided and your means of 
 rendering us service increased." 
 
 11 Common-sense." 
 
 From Thomas Paine's "Common-sense," published in 
 Philadelphia : 
 
 " 'Tis repugnant to reason, to the universal order of 
 things, to all examples from former ages, to suppose that 
 this continent can long remain subject to any external 
 power. The most sanguine in Britain doth not think so. 
 The utmost stretch of human wisdom cannot at this time 
 compass a plan, short of separation, which can promise 
 the continent even a year's security. Reconciliation is now 
 a fallacious dream. Nature hath deserted the connection, 
 and Art cannot supply her place ; for as Milton wisely ex 
 presses ' Never can true reconcilement grow where wounds 
 of deadly hate have pierced so deep.' " 
 
216 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Instructions of the Assembly of Pennsylvania to their Dele 
 gates in Congress. 
 
 " IN ASSEMBLY, June 8, 1776. 
 
 "GENTLEMEN: When by our instructions of last Novem 
 ber we strictly enjoined you in behalf of this Colony to dis 
 sent from and utterly reject any proposition, should such 
 be made, that might cause or lead to a separation from 
 Great Britain or a change of the form of this government, 
 our restrictions did not arise from any diffidence of your 
 ability, prudence, or integrity, but from an earnest desire to 
 serve the good people of Pennsylvania with fidelity in times 
 so full of alarming dangers and perplexing difficulties. The 
 situation of public affairs is since so greatly altered that we 
 now think ourselves justifiable in removing* the restrictions 
 laid upon you by those instructions. The contempt with 
 which the last petition of the honorable Congress has been 
 treated; the late act of Parliament declaring the just resist 
 ance of the Colonists against violances actually offered to be 
 rebellion, excluding them from the protection of the Crown, 
 and even compelling some of them to bear arms against their 
 countrymen ; the treaties of the King of Great Britain with 
 other princes for engaging foreign mercenaries to aid the 
 forces of that kingdom in their hostile enterprises against 
 America; and his answer to the petition of the Lord Mayor, 
 Aldermen, and Commons of the city of London, manifest 
 such a determined and implacable resolution to effect the 
 utter destruction of these Colonies that all hopes of recon 
 ciliation on reasonable terms are extinguished. 
 
 "Nevertheless, it is our ardent desire that a civil war, 
 with all its attending miseries, could be ended by a secure 
 and honorable peace. 
 
 " We therefore hereby authorize you to concur with the 
 other Delegates in Congress in forming such further com 
 pacts between the United Colonies, concluding such treaties 
 with foreign kingdoms and states, and in adopting such 
 other measures as shall be judged necessary for promoting 
 the liberty, safety, and interests of America; reserving to 
 the people of this Colony the sole and exclusive right of 
 regulating the internal government and police of the same. 
 The happiness of these Colonies has, during the whole course 
 of this fatal controversy, been our first wish ; their recon 
 ciliation with Great Britain our next. Ardently have we 
 prayed for the accomplishment of both. But if we must 
 renounce the one or the other, we humbly trust in the mer 
 cies of the Supreme Governor of the Universe, that we shall 
 not stand condemned bsfore his throne if our choice is 
 determined by that overruling law of self -preservation 
 which his divine wisdom has thought fit to implant in the 
 Jiearts of his creatures." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 217 
 
 Provincial Conference of Pennsylvania Instructs Delegates 
 to Vote for Independence. 
 
 "June 24, 1776, P.M. 
 
 ""The Conference met. 
 
 " The committee appointed for that purpose brought in a 
 draft of a declaration 011 the subject of the independence, of 
 this Colony, of the Crown of Great Britain, which was ordered 
 to be read \>y special order. The same was read a second 
 time, and, being fully considered, it was, with the greatest 
 unanimity of all the members, agreed to and adopted, and 
 is in the following words, viz. : 
 
 "'Whereas, George the Third, King of Great Britain, 
 etc., in violation of the principles of the British Constitu 
 tion and of the laws of justice and humanity, hath, by an 
 accumulation of oppressions unparalleled in history, ex 
 cluded the inhabitants of this with the other American 
 Colonies, from his protection ; and whereas he hath paid no 
 regard to any of our numerous and dutiful petitions for a 
 redress of our complicated grievances, but hath lately pur 
 chased foreign troops to assist in enslaving us, and hath ex 
 cited the savages of this country to carry on a war against 
 us, as also the negroes to imbrue their hands in the blood of 
 their masters in a manner unpractised by civilized nations ; 
 and hath lately insulted our calamities by declaring that he 
 will show us no mercy until he has reduced us ; and whereas, 
 the obligations of allegiance and protection (being reciprocal 
 between a King and his subjects) are now dissolved, on the 
 side of the Colonists, by the despotism of the said King, in 
 somuch that it now appears that loyalty to him is treason 
 against the good people of this country ; and whereas, not 
 only the Parliament, but, there is reason to believe, too many 
 of the people of Great Britain, have concurred in the afore 
 said arbitrary and unjust proceedings against us; and 
 whereas, the public virtue of this Colony (so essential to its 
 liberty and happiness) must be endangered by a future 
 political union with or dependence upon a crown and nation 
 so lost to justice, patriotism, and magnanimity ; we, the 
 deputies of the people of Pennsylvania, assembled in full 
 Provincial Conference for forming a plan for executing the 
 resolve of Congress of the 15th of May last for suppressing 
 all authority in this Province derived from Great Britain, 
 and for establishing a government upon the authority of the 
 people only, now, in this public manner, in behalf of ourselves, 
 and with the approbation, consent, and authority of our con 
 stituents, unanimously declare our willingness to concur in a 
 vote of the Congress declaring the United Colonies free and 
 independent States, provided the forming of the govern 
 ment and the regulation of the internal police of this Colony 
 be always reserved to the people of the said Colony. And we 
 do, further, call upon the nations of Europe, and appeal to 
 
218 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the Great Arbiter and Governor of the empires of the world, 
 to witness for us that this declaration did not originate in 
 ambition or in an impatience of lawful authority, but that 
 we were driven to it, in obedience to the first principles of 
 nature, by the oppressions and cruelties of the aforesaid 
 King and Parliament of Great Britain, as the only possible 
 measure that was left us to preserve and establish our liber 
 ties, and to transmit them inviolate to posterity.' 
 
 " Ordered, That the Declaration be signed at the table and 
 that the president deliver it to Congress." 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 The first action taken by New Jersey in opposition to the 
 new taxes imposed by Parliament in June, 1767, on tea and 
 other articles, was in response to a circular sent out by the 
 ever-watchful Massachusetts Assembly. " This circular," 
 says Mulford, " was laid before the Assembly of New Jersey 
 by the speaker, on the 15th April, 1768 ; and on the following 
 day it was referred to a committee to prepare and bring in 
 an answer. A suitable reply was accordingly prepared and 
 was transmitted to the Massachusetts Assembly. Soon after, 
 the House resolved that a dutiful and loyal address should 
 be presented to his Majesty, humbly beseeching him to con 
 sider the distressed condition of the Colonies. On the 7th 
 May the address was agreed to." This address sets forth 
 that " The subjects thus emigrating, brought with them, as 
 inherent in their persons, all the rights and liberties of nat 
 ural-born subjects within the parent state; in consequence 
 of these, a government was formed, under which they have 
 been constantly exercised and enjoyed by the inhabitants, and 
 repeatedly and solemnly recognized and confirmed by your 
 royal predecessors and the legislature of Great Britain. One 
 of these rights and liberties vested in the people of this Col 
 ony is the privilege of being exempt from any taxation but 
 such as is imposed on them by themselves or by their repre 
 sentatives. And this they esteem so invaluable that they 
 are fully persuaded no other can exist without it. Your 
 Majesty's signal distinction is that you reign over freemen, 
 and your peculiar glory that you reign in such a manner 
 that your subjects, the disposers of their own property, are 
 ready and willing, whenever your service calls upon them, 
 with their lives and fortunes to assist your cause. . . . With 
 such sentiments, your people observe, with the greatest 
 anxiety and concern, that duties have been lately imposed 
 on them by Parliament, for the sole and express purpose of 
 raising a revenue. This is a taxation upon them from which 
 they conceive they ought to be protected by the acknowl 
 edged principles of the Constitution that freemen cannot be 
 taxed but by themselves or by their representatives; and 
 that they are represented in Parliament, they not only can- 
 
BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 not allow, but are convinced that, from their local circum 
 stances, they never can be." 
 
 The act of Parliament for sending criminals from the Col 
 onies to England to be tried, awakened a spirit of universal 
 alarm and opposition. The Assembly of New Jersey, De 
 cember, 1769 (in accordance with the previous action of the 
 House of Burgesses in Virginia), passed a resolution " That 
 all trials for treason, or any felony or crime whatever, com 
 mitted by any person residing in the Colony: ought to be in 
 and before his Majesty's courts in the Colony; and that the 
 seizing any person residing in the Colony, suspected of any 
 crime committed there, and sending such person to places 
 beyond the seas to be tried, is highly derogatory of the rights 
 of British subjects; as thereby the inestimable privilege of a 
 trial by jury of the vicinage, as well as the liberty of pro 
 ducing witnesses in such trial, will be taken away." 
 
 The Colonies resorted to non-importation agreements. 
 " New Jersey," says Mulford, " from her limited trade, was 
 unable to give decisive support to measures of this descrip 
 tion by direct co-operation ; but her cordial approval was ex 
 pressed. In October, 1769, the General Assembly resolved, by 
 an unanimous vote, that the thanks of the House be given to 
 the merchants and traders of this Colony, and of the Colo 
 nies of New York and Pennsylvania, for their disinterested 
 and public-spirited conduct in withholding their importations 
 of British merchandise until certain acts of Parliament laying 
 restrictions on American commerce, for the express purpose of 
 raising a revenue in America, be repealed." Meetings of the 
 people were also held, where similar views were expressed, 
 and the violations of the non-importation agreements, which 
 had occurred at different places, were severely condemned. 
 
 The repeal of the Revenue Act of 1767 took place on the 
 12th of April, 1770. But the reservation of the tax on tea, 
 for the avowed purpose of continuing to assert the right of 
 Parliamentary taxation, marred the effect of the concession. 
 The people of the Colonies were far from being satisfied, and 
 continued their policy of non-importation as to that article, 
 and their other measures of protest and opposition. This 
 tax on tea, with other irritating measures, affecting particu 
 larly Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut, kept the 
 whole continent in a state of continued irritation and excite 
 ment. 
 
 " On the 8th of February, 1774, the Assembly of New Jer 
 sey resolved that a ' Committee of Correspondence and In 
 quiry be appointed to obtain the most early and authentic 
 intelligence of all acts and resolutions of the British Parlia 
 ment, or the proceedings of administration, that may have 
 any relation to or may affect the liberties and privileges of 
 his Majesty's subjects in the British Colonies in America, 
 and to Keep up and maintain a correspondence with our sis- 
 
220 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ter-Colonies respecting these important considerations; and 
 that they occasionally lay their proceedings before the 
 House.' It was also agreed that the resolution of the House 
 should be transmitted to the Assemblies of the several Col 
 onies, and that thanks should be returned to the Assembly 
 of Virginia for their early attention to the liberties of 
 America." 
 
 Lower Freehold (N. J".) Resolutions. 
 
 At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
 township of Lower Freehold, in the county of Moninouth, in 
 New Jersey, on Monday, the 6th day of June, 1774, after no 
 tice given of the time, place, and occasion of the meeting, 
 
 " Resolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this meet 
 ing that the cause in which the inhabitants of the town of 
 Boston are now suffering is the common cause of the whole 
 continent of North America; and that, unless some general 
 spirited measures for the public safety be speedily entered 
 into, there is just reason to fear that every Province may in 
 turn share the same fate with them ; and that therefore it 
 is highly incumbent on them all to unite in some effectual 
 means to obtain a repeal of the Boston Port Bill, and any 
 other that may follow it which shall be deemed subversive 
 of the rights and privileges of free-born Americans. 
 
 "And that it is also the opinion of this meeting that, in case 
 it shall appear hereafter to be consistent with the general 
 opinion or the trading towns and the commercial part of our 
 countrymen, that an entire stoppage of importation and ex 
 portation from and to Great Britain and the West Indies 
 until the said Port Bill and other acts be repealed, will be 
 really conducive to the safety and preservation of North 
 America and her liberties, they will yield a cheerful acquies 
 cence in the measure, and earnestly recommend the same to 
 all their brethren in this Province." 
 
 Essex County (N. J.) Resolutions. 
 
 At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
 county of Essex, in the Province of New Jersey, at Newark, 
 in said county, on Saturday, the llth day of June, 1774: 
 " This meeting taking into serious consideration some late 
 alarming measures adopted by the British Parliament for 
 depriving his Majesty's American subjects of their un 
 doubted and constitutional rights and privileges, and par 
 ticularly the act for blockading the port of Boston, which 
 appears to them pregnant with the most dangerous conse 
 quences to all his Majesty's dominions in America, do unani 
 mously resolve and agree, 
 
 " * 1. That, under theenjoyjnent of our Constitutional priv 
 ileges and immunities, we will ever cheerfully render all due 
 obedience to the Crown of Great Britain, as well as full 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 221 
 
 faith and allegiance to his most gracious Majesty King 
 George the Third ; and to esteem a firm dependence on the 
 mother-country essential to our political security and hap 
 piness. 
 
 "2. That the late act of Parliament, relative to Boston, 
 which so absolutely destroys every idea of safety and confi 
 dence, appears to us big with the most dangerous and alarm 
 ing consequences ; especially as subversive of that very de 
 pendence which we should earnestly wish to continue, as 
 our best safeguard and protection; and that we conceive 
 every well-wisher to Great Britain and her Colonies is now 
 loudly called upon to exert his utmost abilities in promoting 
 every legal and prudential measure towards obtaining a 
 repeal of the said act of Parliament, and all others subver 
 sive of the undoubted rights and liberties of his Majesty's 
 American subjects. 
 
 * ' 3. That it is our unanimous opinion that it would conduce 
 to the rest9ration of the liberties of America should the Colo 
 nies enter into a joint agreement not to purchase or use any 
 articles of British manufacture ; and especially any commo 
 dities imported from the East Indies, under such restrictions 
 as may be agreed upon by a general Congress of the said 
 Colonies, hereafter to be appointed. 
 
 "4. That this county will most readily and cheerfully 
 join their brethren of the other counties in this Province, in 
 promoting such Congress of deputies to be sent from each 
 of the Colonies, in order to form a general plan of union, 
 so that the measures to be pursued for the important ends 
 in view may be uniform and firm; to which plan, when 
 concluded upon, we do agree faithfully to adhere. And do 
 now declare ourselves ready to send a committee, to meet 
 with those from the other counties, at such time and place 
 as may be agreed upon, in order to elect proper persons to 
 represent this Province in the said general Congress. 
 
 4 ' 5. That the freeholders and inhabitants of the other coun 
 ties in this Province be requested speedily to convene them 
 selves together to consider the present distressing state of 
 our public affairs, and to correspond and consult with such 
 other committees as may be appointed, as well as with our 
 committee, who are hereby directed to correspond and con 
 sult with such other committee, as also with those of any 
 other Province; and particularly to meet with the said 
 county committees, in order to nominate and appoint depu 
 ties to represent this Province in general Congress." 
 
 Bergen County (N. J.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
 county of Bergen, in the Province of New Jersey, convened 
 agreeable to advertisement, at the Court-house of said 
 county, on Saturday, the 23d of June, 1774; 
 
222 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "This meeting being deeply affected with the calamitous 
 condition of the inhabitants of Boston, in the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay, in consequence of the late act of Par 
 liament for blocking up the port of Boston, and considering 
 the alarming tendency of the act of the British Parliament 
 for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, do resolve, 
 
 " 1st. That they think it their greatest happiness to live 
 under the Government of the illustrious House of Han 
 over; and that they will steadfastly and uniformly bear 
 true and faithful allegiance to his Majesty King George the 
 Third, under the enjoyment of their Constitutional rights 
 and privileges. 
 
 " 2d. That we conceive it to be our indubitable privilege to 
 be taxed only by our own consent, given by ourselves or 
 by our reprentatives ; and that we consider the late acts of 
 Parliament declarative of their right to impose internal taxes 
 on the subjects of America as manifest encroachments on 
 our national rights and Drivileges as British subjects, and 
 as inconsistent with the idea of an American Assembly or 
 House of Representatives. 
 
 "3d. That we will heartily unite with this Colony in 
 choosing Delegates to attend at a general Congress of the 
 several Provinces of America, in order to consult on and 
 determine some effectual method to be pursued for obtain 
 ing a repeal of the said acts of Parliament' which appear 
 to us evidently calculated to destroy that mutual harmony 
 and dependence between Great Britain and her Colonies 
 which are the basis and support of both." 
 
 Morris County (N. J.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of a respectable body of the freeholders 
 and inhabitants of the county of Morris, in the Province of 
 east New Jersey, at the Court-house in Morristown, in said 
 county, on Monday the 27th of June, 1774, resolved, 
 
 " 2d. That it is our wish and desire, and we esteem it our 
 greatest happiness and security, to be governed by the laws 
 of Great Britain, and that we will always cheerfully submit 
 to them as far as can be done consistently with the consti 
 tutional liberties and privileges of free-born Englishmen. 
 
 "3d. That the late acts of Parliament for imposing taxes 
 for the purpose of raising a revenue in America are op 
 pressive and arbitrary, calculated to disturb the minds and 
 alienate the affections of the Colonies from the mother- 
 country, are replete with ruin to both; and consequently 
 that the authors and promoters of said acts, or of such doc 
 trines of the right of taxing America, being in the Parlia 
 ment of Great Britain, are and should be deemed enemies 
 to our King and happy Constitution. 
 
 "4th. That it is the opinion of this meeting that the act 
 of Parliament for shutting up the port of Boston is uncoil- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 223 
 
 stitutional, injurious in its principles to the general cause 
 of American freedom, particularly oppressive to the inhab 
 itants of that town, and that therefore the people of Boston 
 are considered by us as suffering in the general cause of 
 America. 
 
 "5th. That unanimity and firmness in the Colonies are 
 the most effectual means to relieve our suffering brethren at 
 Boston, to avert the dangers justly to be apprehended from 
 that alarming act commonly styled the Boston Port Bill, 
 and to secure the invaded rights and privileges of America. 
 
 "6th. That it is our opinion that an agreement between 
 the Colonies not to purchase or use any articles imported 
 from Great Britain or from the East Indies, under such re 
 strictions as may be agreed upon by the general Congress 
 hereafter to be appointed by the Colonies, would be of ser 
 vice in procuring a repeal of those acts." 
 
 Hunter don County (N. J.) Resolutions. 
 
 "The freeholders and inhabitants of Hun terdon county, 
 in the Province of New Jersey, convened by advertisement, 
 at the house of John Ringo, in Am well, in said county, on 
 Friday, the 8th July, 1774, Samuel Tucker, Esq., in the 
 chair, came to the following resolutions without a dissent 
 ing voice, viz. : 
 
 "3d. That any act of Parliament for the apprehending 
 and carrying persons into another Colony or to Great Brit 
 ain, to be tried for any crime alleged to be committed within 
 this Colony, or subjecting them to be tried by commissioners 
 or any court, constituted by acts of Parliament or otherwise 
 within this Colony, in a summary way without a jury of the 
 vicinage, is unconstitutional and subversive of the rights and 
 liberties of the free subjects of this Colony. 
 
 "4th. That it is our indispensable duty, which we owe to 
 our King, our country, ou ;selves, and cur posterity, by all 
 lawful ways and means in our power to maintain, defend, 
 and preserve our loyalty, rights, and liberties, and transmit 
 them inviolate to the latest generations; and that it is our 
 fixed, determined, and unalterable resolution faithfully to 
 discharge this our bounden duty. 
 
 " 5th. That it is our unanimous opinion that it would con 
 duce to the restoration of the liberties of America should 
 the Colonies enter into a joint agreement not to purchase or 
 use any articles of British manufacture, nor any commodi 
 ties imported from the East Todies, under such restrictions 
 as may be agreed upon by a general Congress of delegates 
 from all the Colonies, hereafter to be appointed. 
 
 " 6th. That, as the town of Boston is now suffering in the 
 common cause of American freedom, it is the opinion of this 
 meeting that subscriptions be hereafter opened in every 
 town in this country, and the money subscribed to be ap- 
 
224 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 plied towards the relief of the suffering poor in said town 
 of Boston until they may be relieved by being restored to 
 their just rights and privileges. 
 
 Middlesex County (N. J.} Resolutions. 
 
 According to notice which had been given to the freehold 
 ers and inhabitants of the county of Middlesex, New Jersey, 
 a great number from every quarter of the county met at 
 the Court-house in New Brunswick, on Friday, 15th day of 
 July, 1774, at two o'clock, and chose John Moores, Esq., to 
 the chair; but as the Court-house could not contain half 
 the number, the meeting adjourned to the Presbyterian 
 meeting-house, where, after some deliberation upon the dan 
 gerous situation of the public affairs in America, the meet- 
 ins: unanimously resolved as follows, viz. : 
 
 r ' 1st. That the members of this meeting, their fellow-sub 
 jects in this Province, and they are persuaded the inhabi 
 tants of America in general are firm and unshaken in their 
 allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third ; that they 
 have ever demonstrated their readiness to support his Maj 
 esty's government over them, and also to grant aids to his 
 Majesty on any emergency, by their own representatives, to 
 the utmost of their power. 
 
 " 2d. That all other modes of taxation in th6 Colonies by 
 a British Parliament, under whatever name or form at 
 tempted to be introduced, is not only arbitrary and oppres 
 sive, but has a direct tendency to alienate the affections of 
 the Colonies from the parent-country, to widen the breach 
 already made by Ministerial influence ; which it is earnestly 
 wished may be speedily healed, and a permanent union es 
 tablished on a solid Constitutional foundation. 
 
 "3d. That the unexampled dis resses brought on the Col 
 ony of Massachusetts Bay, particularly that of blocking up 
 the port of Boston and depriving them of all trade and com 
 merce, in virtue of an act or acts of Parliament, is a cruel 
 oppression, in which all the Colonies are intimately con 
 cerned ; tending, by a numerous train of consequences, to fas 
 ten on them the chains of vassalage, and slavery, or lay 
 prostrate, at the feet of an unjustly incensed Ministry, the 
 inhabitants of this wide-extended country, who would tri 
 umph over their liberties, sport with their lives, and chain 
 their properties at will. 
 
 "4th. We concur in the general opinion of our brethren, 
 that the Congress of deputies from the several Colonies 
 should present a dutiful address to his Majesty, praying for 
 a general redress of the grievances complained of. 
 
 5th. We are of opinion (which we submit to be consid 
 ered in general Congress) that a general stop of all imports 
 and exports of merchandise especially to Great Britain, by 
 all the Colonies, is the only probable, if not the only po- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 225 
 
 sible, measure to preserve the liberties of this country, at 
 present in such imminent danger of being annihilated." 
 
 Sussex County (N. J.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
 county of Sussex, in the Province of New Jersey, at the 
 Court-house in Newtown, in said county, on Saturday, the 
 16th of July, A.D. 1774, 
 
 u ' 1st. Eesolved, That it is our duty to render true and 
 faithful allegiance to George the Third, King of Great Brit 
 ain, and to support and maintain the just dependence of his 
 Colonies upon the Crown of Great Britain under the enjoy 
 ment of our Constitutional rights and privileges. 
 
 "' 2d. That it is undoubtedly our right to be taxed only by 
 our own consent, given by ourselves or our representatives ; 
 and that the late acts of Parliament for imposing taxes for 
 the purpose of raising a revenue in America, and the act of 
 Parliament for shutting up the port of Boston, are oppres 
 sive, unconstitutional, and injurious in their principles to 
 American freedom, and that the Bostonians are considered 
 by us as suffering in the general cause of America. 
 
 " ' 3d. That it is the opinion of this meeting that firmness 
 and unanimity in the Colonies, and an agreement to not use 
 any articles imported from Great Britain or the East Indies 
 (under such restrictions as may be agreed upon by the gen 
 eral Congress hereafter to be appointed by the Colonies), 
 may be the most effectual means of averting the dangers 
 that are justly apprehended, and securing the invaded 
 rights and privileges of America.' " 
 
 Monmouth County (N. 7.) Resolutions. 
 
 "On Tuesday, July 19, 1774, a majority of the commit 
 tees from the several townships in the county of Monmouth, 
 of the Colony of New Jersey, met according to appointment 
 at the Court-house at Freehold, in said county ; and appear 
 ing to have been regularly chosen and constituted by their 
 respective townships, they unanimously agreed upon the 
 propriety and expediency of instructing a committee to rep 
 resent the whole county at the approaching Provincial con 
 vention to be held at the city of New Brunswick, for the 
 necessary purpose of constituting a delegation from the 
 Province to the general Congress of the Colonies, and for all 
 such other important purposes as shall hereafter be found 
 necessary. 
 
 " They at the same time also recorded the following resolu 
 tions, determinations, and opinions, which they wish to be 
 transmitted to posterity as an ample testimony of their loy 
 alty to his British Majesty, of their firm attachment to the 
 principles of the glorious Be volution, and their firm and un- 
 
226 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 alterable purpose by every lawful means in their power to 
 maintain and defend themselves in the possession and en 
 joyment of those inestimable civil and religious privileges 
 which their fathers, at the expense of so much blood and 
 treasure, have established and handed down to them." 
 
 New Jersey Resolutions. 
 
 11 At a meeting of the committees of the several counties in 
 the Province of New Jersey, at New Brunswick, on Thurs 
 day the 21st of July, 1774, and continued to the Saturday 
 following, (present, seventy-two members), Stephen Crane, 
 Esq., in the chair; 
 
 ' * The committee, taking into their serious consideration the 
 dangerous and destructive nature of sundry acts of the 
 British Parliament with respect to the fundamental liberties 
 of the American Colonies, conceive it their indispensable 
 duty to bear their open testimony against them, and to con 
 cur with the other Colonies in prosecuting all legal and nec 
 essary measures for obtaining their speedy repeal. 
 
 " '2d. We think ourselves warranted, from the principles 
 of our excellent Constitution, to affirm that the claim of the 
 British Parliament (in which we neither are nor can be rep 
 resented), to make laws which shall be binding on the King's 
 American subjects k in all cases whatsoever,' and particular 
 ly for imposing taxes for the purpose of raising a revenue in 
 America, is unconsitutional and oppressive ; and which we 
 think ourselves bound in duty to ourselves and our posterity 
 by all Constitutional means in our power to oppose. 
 
 " 3d. We think the several late acts of Parliament for 
 shutting up the port of Boston ; invading the Charter rights 
 of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay ; and subjecting 
 supposed offenders to be sent for trial to other Colonies or 
 to Great Britain ; the sending over an armed force to carry 
 the same into effect, and thereby reducing many thousands 
 of innocent loyal inhabitants to poverty and distress, are 
 not only subversive of the undoubted rights of his Majesty's 
 American subjects, but also repugnant to the common prin 
 ciples of humanity and justice. These proceedings, so vio 
 lent in themselves and so truly alarming to the other Colo- 
 onies (many of which are equally exposed to Ministerial 
 vengeance), render it the indispensable duty of all heartily 
 to unite in the most proper measures to procure redress for 
 their oppressed countrymen now suffering in a common 
 cause, and for the re-establishment of the Constitutional 
 rights of America on a solid and permanent foundation. 
 
 " 5th. That we do earnestly recommend a general non 
 importation and a non-consumption agreement to be entered 
 into at such time and regulated in such manner as to the 
 Congress shall appear the most advisable. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 227 
 
 Letter from the Committee of Correspondence of New Jersey 
 to the Committee of Correspondence of Boston. 
 
 " ELIZABETHTOWN, NEW JERSEY, ) 
 " July 28, 1774. f 
 
 "GENTLEMEN: The arbitrary and cruel oppression under 
 which your metropolis now labours from the suspension of 
 commerce must inevitably reduce multitudes to inexpressi 
 ble difficulty and distress. Suffering in a glorious and 
 common cause, sympathy and resentment with peculiar 
 energy fill the breasts of your anxious countrymen. As 
 the King of Kings and the Ruler of Princes seems, in a re 
 markable manner, to be inspiring these Colonies with a spirit 
 of union, to confound the counsels of your unrighteous 
 oppressors, and with a spirit of humanity and benevolence 
 towards an innocent and oppressed people, so we trust He 
 will also inspire your town with patience, resignation, and 
 fortitude until this great calamity shall be overpast. We 
 have the pleasure to acquaint you that on the 21st instant, 
 at the City of New Brunswick, the Province of New Jersey 
 with singular unanimity, seventy-two Delegates from the 
 several counties and a majority of the House of Representa 
 tives present and approving, entered into similar resolutions 
 with the other Colonies, elected five deputies for the pro 
 posed Congress, and the county committees then agreed to 
 promote collections in their respective counties for the relief 
 of such of the unhappy inhabitants of the town of Boston as 
 may now be reduced to extremity and want. To accomplish 
 this purpose with the more acceptation to yourselves, we, 
 the Committee of Correspondence for the eastern division, 
 request that by the return of the post you will be pleased to 
 advise us in what way we can best answer your present 
 necessities ; whether cash remitted or what articles of pro 
 vision, or other necessaries we can furnish from hence would 
 be most agreeable; and which we hope we shall be able to 
 forward to Boston very soon after your advice shall be re 
 ceived. 
 
 "We doubt not gentlemen are devising every possible 
 method for the employment of those who by their deplora 
 ble situation are cut off from all former means of subsist 
 ence. 
 
 "We are, gentlemen, your very humble servants, 
 
 " By order, WILLIAM P. SMITH, 
 
 Chairman." 
 
 " To the Honorable Frederick Smith, Esq., Chief Justice of New Jersey : 
 
 "The address of the Grand Jury for the body of the 
 county of Essex, at a Court of Oyer and Terminer and 
 General Gaol Delivery, held at Newark,, in the said County, 
 the first Tuesday in November, 1774, 
 
228 THE BIRTH OF TEE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " May it please your Honour: 
 
 " As your Honour's charge from, the Bench was not so 
 properly directed to us with respect to our duty as the 
 Grand Inquest of this county, as matter of instruction for 
 the regulation of our own personal conduct amidst the 
 present commotions of the Continent, we think ourselves 
 obliged from the singularity of the charge and its paternal 
 tenderness for our welfare to express our gratitude for vour 
 Honour's friendly admonitions (which doubtless derived 
 great solemnity from the place in which they were deliv 
 ered), and at the same time to inform you how far we have 
 the misfortune to differ from you in sentiment, both as to 
 the origin and tendency of the present uneasiness so gener 
 ally diffused through all the Colonies. If we rightly under 
 stood a particular part of your Honour's charge, you were 
 pleased to tell us that while we were employed in guarding 
 against ' imaginary tyranny three thousand miles distant ' 
 we ought not to expose ourselves to a * real tyranny at our 
 own doors.' As we neither know, sir, nor are under the 
 least apprehension of any tyranny at our own doors, unless 
 it should make its way hither from the distance you men 
 tion, and then we hope that all those whom the Constitu 
 tion has entrusted with the guardianship of our liberties will 
 rather strive to obstruct than accelerate its progress, we are 
 utterly at a loss for the idea thereby intended to be com 
 municated. But, respecting the tyranny at the distance of 
 three thousand miles, which your Honour is pleased to rep 
 resent as imaginary, we have the unhappiness to differ 
 widely from you in opinion. The effect, sir, of that tyranny 
 is too severely felt to have it thought altogether visionary. 
 We cannot think, sir, that taxes imposed upon us by our 
 fellow-subjects in a Legislature in which we are not repre 
 sented, is an imaginary, but that it is a real and actual, 
 tyranny, and of which no Nation whatsoever can furnish a 
 single instance. We cannot think, sir, that depriving us of 
 the inestimable right of trial by jury, seizing our persons 
 and carrying us for trial to Great Britain, is a tyranny merely 
 imaginary. Nor can we think with your Honour that de 
 stroying Charters and changing our forms of government 
 is a tyranny altogether ideal. That an act passed to protect, 
 indemnify, and screen from punishment such as may be 
 guilty even of murder, is a bare idea. That the establish 
 ment of French laws and Popish religion in Canada the 
 better to facilitate the arbitrary schemes of the British 
 Ministry, by making the Canadians instruments in the 
 hands of power to reduce us to slavery, has no other than a 
 mental existence. In a word, sir, we cannot persuade our 
 selves that the fleet now blocking up the Port of Boston, 
 consisting of ships built of real English oak and solid iron, 
 and armed with cannon of ponderous .metal with actual 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 229 
 
 powder and ball ; nor the army lodged in the town of Boston 
 and the fortifications thrown about it (substantial and for 
 midable realities), are all creatures of the imagination. 
 These, sir, are but a few of the numerous grievances under 
 which America now groans. These are some of the effects 
 of that deliberate plan of tyranny concerted at ' three thou 
 sand miles' distance,' and which to your Honour appears only 
 like the 'baseless fabric of a vision.' To procure redress of 
 these grievances which to others assume the form of odious 
 and horrid realities, the Continent, as we learn, has very 
 naturally been thrown into great commotions ; and as far as 
 this county, in particular, has taken part in the alarm, we 
 have the happiness to represent to your Honour that in the 
 prosecution of measures for preserving American liberties, 
 and obtaining the removal of oppressions, the people have 
 acted in all their popular assemblies (which it is the right of 
 Englishmen to convene whenever they please) with the 
 spirit, temper, and prudence becoming freemen and loyal 
 subjects. 
 
 " To trespass no longer on your Honour's patience, we con 
 clude with our hearty wishes, that while the great cause of 
 liberty is warmly and at the same time so peaceably vindi 
 cated, by all honest Americans as essentially necessary 
 to public happiness, no bias of self-interest, no fawning 
 servility towards those in power, no hopes of future prefer 
 ment, will induce any man to damp his laudable and patriotic 
 ardour, nor lend his helping hand to the unnatural and 
 diabolical work of riveting the chains which are forging for 
 us by that same actual tyranny at the distance of three 
 thousand miles." 
 
 Newark (New Jersey} Committee. 
 
 " Pursuant to the eleventh article of the Association en 
 tered into by the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia, 
 at a meeting of the Freeholders of the township of Newark, 
 in the county of Essex, at the Court-house on Wednesday, 
 the 7th of December, 1774, 
 
 "Joseph Briggs, Junr., Esq., in the chair: 
 
 "At a meeting of a majority of the above committee held 
 in Newark January 5, 1775, Caleb Camp, chairman ; Eobert 
 Johnston, clerk, 
 
 " Voted, That the thanks of this committee be presented 
 to the Honorable Delegates for this Province, members of 
 the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia in September 
 last, for the faithful discharge of the important trust reposed 
 in them. 
 
 " ' To the Delegates for New Jersey in the Continental Congress. 
 
 "'GENTLEMEN: While we feel our inviolable attachment 
 to the person of the King and the present reigning family, it 
 
230 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 is with the highest esteem of and gratitude to you, the par 
 ticular Delegates for this Province (in conjunction with the 
 whole of that venerable body), that we view the many wise 
 and prudent measures by you adopted to support and hand 
 down to posterity inviolate those valuable and important 
 privileges, both civil and sacred, so highly prized by our 
 ancestors. 
 
 "And 'tis with the greatest resentment that we so often 
 behold your virtuous and patriotic endeavors wickedly tra 
 duced and made the subject of ridicule and slander by those 
 sons of Belial whose attachedness to their master will prompt 
 them to commit violence to their own judgments and even 
 feed their wickedness with the very blood of their country. 
 But you, sirs, may be assured that such authors (when known 
 as their criminal production) shall ever be treated by us with 
 the utmost contempt as they merit. 
 
 ' ' And as a further mark of acquiescence in the Association, 
 and demonstration of our sincerity, we think it our duty for 
 ourselves, and we will with the utmost of our influence re 
 commend to. our constituents as the onty probably means of 
 securing our liberties, that the said Association be punctually 
 adhered to and strictly put in execution. 
 
 "That the blessings of Heaven may succeed all our endea 
 vors to vanquish our enemies and effectually secure the lib 
 erties of British America, and finally establish a happy Con 
 stitutional and lasting union between Great Britain and her 
 Colonies, is the sincere wish of, gentlemen, your much- 
 obliged and very humble servants. 
 
 "By order of the Committee. 
 
 "CALEB CAMP, Chairman. 
 
 " NEW JERSEY ASSEMBLY, ) 
 4 'January 11, 1775. f 
 
 "Mr. Crane and Mr. Kensey also laid before the House the 
 proceedings of the Continental Congress held at Philadelphia 
 in September last, which were read. On the question whether 
 the House approved of the said proceedings, it passed in 
 the affirmative. 
 
 "Resolved, That this house do unanimously approve of 
 the proceedings of 'the Congress, such as are of the people 
 called Quakers, excepting only to such parts as seem to wear 
 an appearance or may have a tendancy to force (if any such 
 there be) as inconsistent with their religious principles. 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That James Einsey, Stephen 
 Crane, William Livingston, John de Hart, and Richard 
 Smith, Esqrs., or any three of them, be and they are hereby 
 appointed to attend the Continental Congress of the Colonies, 
 intended to be held at the city of Philadelphia in May next, 
 or at any other time and place; and that they report their 
 proceedings to the next session of the general Assembly : in 
 structing the said Delegates to propose and agree to every 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 231 
 
 reasonable and Constitutional measure for the accommoda 
 tion of the unhappy differences at present subsisting between 
 our mother-country and the Colonies, which the House 
 most ardently wish for." 
 
 Woodbridge (TV. 7.) Committee. 
 
 u At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the township 
 of Woodbridge, in the county of Middlesex, in New Jersey, 
 on Saturday the 7th day of January, 1775, 
 
 * ' Captain Eeuben Potter, Moderator, 
 
 I 'The Association entered into and recommended by the 
 late general Congress at Philadelphia, being read and ap 
 proved of, it was, 
 
 " ' 1st. Eesolved unanimously, That the said Association be 
 adopted by this town and carried into execution.' " 
 
 Burlington (N~. J.) Committee. 
 
 "At a general meeting of the freeholders and other inhabi 
 tants of the city and county of Burlington, in New Jersey, 
 qualified to vote for representatives in the legislature held 
 at the Court-house on Tuesday, the 14th of February, 1775, 
 
 " Peter Fallman, Esq., chairman, 
 
 " The Association entered into by the general American 
 Congress, convened at Philadelphia on the 5th of September 
 last, was read and approved : 
 
 " * Eesolved, That, in pursuance with the eleventh article of 
 the said Association, a Committee of Observation for the city 
 and county be now appointed for the purposes in that article 
 mentioned.'" 
 
 "Newark (N. J.) Committee. 
 
 II At a meeting of the Committee of Observation for the 
 township of Newark, April 24, 1775, present 18 members, 
 
 "Mr. Caleb Camp, chairman, 
 
 "The chairman having opened the business of the meeting, 
 and related the purport of the expresses lately received from 
 Boston, the following motions were made and agreed to una 
 nimously : 
 
 " l That the members of this committee are willing, at this 
 alarming crisis, to risk their lives and fortunes in support of 
 American liberty ; and that it be recommended to our con 
 stituents to give all necessary support in their power to our 
 brethren in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in the present 
 alarming exigency. 
 
 " * That it be also recommended to the captains of the mili 
 tia in the township to muster and exercise their respective 
 companies at least once every week, and carefully to exact 
 that each man be provided with arms and and ammunition 
 as the militia law directs. 
 
232 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " ' That it be requested of all heads of families and masters 
 of apprentices, to encourage all of proper age under their di 
 rection to learn the military exercise, and to allow them such 
 portions of time as may be necessary to make them perfect 
 therein.' 
 
 "ROBERT JOHNSTON, Clerk." 
 
 Woodbridge (N. J.) Committee to the Several Committees of 
 Massachusetts. 
 
 11 IN COMMITTEE, WOODBRIDGE. N. J. ) 
 "May, 1,1775. f 
 
 ** GENTLEMEN: We have received repeated intelligence by 
 expresses, of your engaging and defeating the Regulars under 
 the command of General Gage, which is universally credited 
 in this Colony ; and we have the pleasure of assuring you 
 your conduct and bravery on that occasion is greatly ap 
 plauded and admired by all ranks of men. In consequence 
 of the intelligence, a Provincial convention will be held as 
 soon as the members can possibly be convened. In the mean 
 time the inhabitants are putting themselves in the best pos 
 ture of defence, being determined to stand or fall with the 
 liberties of America. We have for some time past feared 
 the New Yorkers would desert American liberty, but are now 
 fully convinced that they are determined to support the 
 grand cause. 
 
 " We also learn, with pleasure, that the inhabitants of 
 Pennsylvania and of the other southern Provinces are firm, 
 unanimous, and spirited. 
 
 "We have only to add that you have our unfeigned and 
 hearty thanks for the noble stand you have made, and our 
 sincere and fervent prayers for a speedy deliverance from all 
 your calamaties. 
 
 "We are, very respectfully, gentlemen, your ob't humble 
 serv'ts. 
 
 " By order of the committee. 
 
 " MOSES BLOOMFIELD, Chairman." 
 
 Town Meeting, Upper Freehold, Monmouth County. 
 
 " NEW JERSEY, May 4, 1775. 
 
 ' ' This day, agreeable to previous notice, a very consider 
 able number of the principal inhabit ants of this township met 
 at Imlay's Town, 
 
 " John Lawrence, Esq., in the chair, 
 
 "When the following resolves were unanimously agreed 
 to: 
 
 " * Resolved, That it is our first wish to live in union with 
 Great Britain, agreeable to the principles of the Constitution ; 
 that we consider the unnatural civil war which we are about 
 to be forced into with anxiety and distress: but that we are 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 233 
 
 determined to oppose the novel claim of the Parliament of 
 Great Britain to raise a revenue in America, and risk every 
 possible consequence rather than submit to it.' " 
 
 Somerset County (N. J.) Committee. 
 
 "Pursuant to notice given by the chairman of the Com 
 mittee of Correspondence for the county of Somerset, in 
 New Jersey, the freeholders of the county met at the Court 
 house the llth of May, 1775, 
 
 "Hendrick Fisher, Esq., chairman; 
 
 "Frederick Frelinghuysen, clerk. 
 
 "'Resolved, That the several steps taken by the British 
 Ministry to enslave the American Colonies, and especially 
 the late alarming hostilities commenced by the troops under 
 General Gage against the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, 
 loudly call 051 the people of this Province to determine what 
 part they will act in this situation of affairs ; and that we 
 therefore readily consent to elect deputies for a Provincial 
 Congress to meet at Trenton on Tuesday the 23d instant, 
 agreeable to the advice and direction of the provincial Com 
 mittee of Correspondence.' " 
 
 "NEW JERSEY PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, ) 
 " Saturday, June 22, 1776. \ 
 
 "The Congress proceeded to the election of Delegates to 
 represent this Colony in the Continental Congress, when 
 Richard Stockton, Abraham Clark, John Hart, Francis 
 Hopkinson, Esquires, and Dr. John Witherspoon, were elected 
 by ballot to serve for one year unless a new appointment be 
 made before that time. 
 
 " Eesolved, That the following instructions be given to the 
 Delegates so elected, viz.: To Richard Stockton, Abraham 
 Clark, John Hart, Francis Hopkinson, Esquires, and the 
 Rev. Dr. John Witherspoon, Delegates appointed to represent 
 the Colony of New Jersey in the Continental Congress, 
 
 " The Congress empower and direct you, in the name of 
 the Colony tojoin with the Delegates of the other Colonies in 
 Continental Congress in the most rigorous measures for sup 
 porting the just rights and liberties of America. And, if you 
 shall judge it necessary and expedient for this purpose, we 
 empower you to join with them in declaring the United 
 Colonies independent of Great Britain, entering into a con 
 federacy for union and common defence, making treaties 
 with foreign nations for commerce and assistance, and to 
 take such other measures as to them and you may appear 
 necessary for these great ends, promising to support them 
 with the whole force of this Province ; always observing that, 
 whatever plan of confederacy you enter into, the regulating 
 the internal police of this Province is to be reserved to the 
 Colony Legislature." 
 
234 THE 3IETH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 Delaware, though settled many years in advance of Penn 
 sylvania, was annexed to the larger Colony shortly after the 
 organization of the latter. But as early as 1702 they were 
 finally separated, except that both Colonies remained under 
 the proprietary governors, the descendants of William 
 Penn, until the Revolution. Prior to that period the Colony 
 had usually been styled "The three lower counties, New 
 Castle, Kent and Sussex on the Delaware;" but when it 
 threw off the Colonial government, its people abandoned the 
 clumsy practice of naming all the counties every time allu 
 sion was made to it, and the single word Delaware was 
 adopted as expressive of the idea of one people under one 
 government. No Colony was more prompt or determined 
 in resistance of British aggression upon the rights of British 
 America than Delaware. In 1769, her Assembly adopted 
 the Virginia resolves against the right of Parliament to tax 
 the Colonies; and as the following manifestations of popular 
 sentiment will show, she bore her full share in the burthens 
 and sacrifices of the Revolution : 
 
 Delaware Convention. 
 
 "August 1, 1774. 
 
 "The Representatives of the freemen of the Government 
 of the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex upon Dela 
 ware met at New Castle, in pursuance of circular-letters 
 from the Speaker of the House, who was requested to write 
 and forward the same to the several members of the As 
 sembly, by the Committees of Correspondence for the sev 
 eral counties aforesaid, chosen and appointed for that among 
 other purposes by the freeholders and freemen of the said 
 counties respectively. 
 
 " Present : For the county of New Castle, Thomas McKean, 
 John Evans, John McKinly, James Latimer, George Read, 
 Alexander Porter ; for the county of Kent, Charles Ridgely, 
 William Killen, CaBsar Rodney^ Thomas Collins; for the 
 county of Sussex, Thomas Robinson, Levin Cropper, Boaz 
 Manlove, John Wiltbank, Stephen Townsend; who im 
 mediately proceed to the choice of a chairman, and Caesar 
 Rodney, Esquire, was chosen chairman, nemine contradicente, 
 and David Thompson, Esquire, clerk. The resolves of the 
 several committees appointed by the inhabitants of these 
 counties respectively were read, and follow in these words, 
 to wit : 
 
 " At a general meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants 
 of the county of New Castle on Delaware, at New Castle, 
 the 29th of June, 1774, 
 
 " Thomas McKean, Esquire, chairman, 
 
 " Resolved, 1. That the act of Parliament for shutting up 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 235 
 
 the port of Boston is unconstitutional, oppressive to the in 
 habitants of that town, dangerous to the liberties of the 
 British Oolonies, and that therefore we consider our breth 
 ren at Boston as suffering in the common cause of America. 
 
 " 2. That a Congress of deputies from the several Colonies in 
 North America is the most probable and proper mode of 
 procuring relief for our suffering brethren, obtaining redress 
 for American grievances, securing our rights and liberties, 
 and re-establishing peace and harmony between Great Brit 
 ain and these Colonies on a Constitutional foundation. 
 
 * * 3. That a respectable committee be immediately appointed 
 for the county of New Castle, to correspond with the sister- 
 Colonies and with the other counties in this Government, 
 in order that all my unite in promoting and endeavoring to 
 obtain the great and valuable end mentioned in the foregoing 
 resolution." 
 
 Kent County Resolutions. 
 
 The freeholders and other inhabitants of Kent county on 
 Delaware, now assembled at the Court-house in the town of 
 Dover, this 20th day of July, anno domini 1774, taking into 
 their most serious consideration sundry acts of the British 
 Parliament in which their power and right to impose duties 
 and taxes on his Majesty's subjects in the British Colonies 
 and Plantations in America, for the purpose of raising a 
 revenue, are declared, attempted to be exercised, and in 
 various ways enforced and carried into execution; more 
 especially the act depriving the great and lately flourishing 
 town of Boston of all trade whatsoever, by shutting up their 
 port and harbor with a formidable fleet and army, 
 
 " Resolved, nemine contradicente, 1. That we dp acknowl 
 edge, recognize, and most expressly declare his Majesty 
 King George the Third to be lawful and rightful King of 
 Great Britain and all other his dominions and countries; 
 and that it is the indispensable duty of the people of this 
 county, as being part of his Majesty's dominions, always to 
 bear faithful and true allegiance to his Majesty, and him to 
 defend to the utmost of their power against all attempts upon 
 his person, Crown, or dignity. 
 
 ' ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, 2. That the act of Parlia 
 ment for shutting up the port of Boston is unconstitutional, 
 oppressive to the inhabitants of that town, dangerous to the 
 liberties of the British Colonies, and that therefore we con 
 sider our brethren at Boston as suffering in the common 
 cause of America. 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, 3. That a congress of 
 deputies from the several Colonies in North America is the 
 most probable and proper mode of procuring relief for our 
 suffering brethren, obtaining redress of American grievances, 
 securing our rights and liberties, and re-establishing har- 
 
236 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 mpny between Great Britain and these Colonies on a Con 
 stitutional foundation. 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, 4. That a respectable 
 committee be immediately appointed for the county of Kent, 
 to correspond with the committees of the sister-Colonies and 
 the other counties in the Government, in order that all may 
 unite in promoting and endeavoring to obtain the great and 
 valuable end mentioned in the foregoing resolution. 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, 6. That the committee 
 now to be appointed 'consist of thirteen persons to wit: 
 Charles Ridgely, William Killen, Caesar Rodney, John 
 Haslet, John Clarke, Thomas Collins, Esquires, Jacob Stout, 
 Esquire, James Sykes, Esquire, James Wells, Thomas Rod 
 ney, Richard Bassett, Esquire, Richard Lock wood, Esquire, 
 and Zadock Crapper, Esquire, and that seven of them 
 may act. 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, 7. That the said com 
 mittee immediately set on foot a subscription for the relief 
 of such poor inhabitants of the town of Boston as may be 
 deprived of the means of sustenance by the act of Parlia 
 ment commonly called the Boston Port Bill; the money 
 arising from such subscription to be laid out as the com 
 mittee shall think will best answer the ends proposed. 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, 8. That the inhabitants 
 of this county do agree with their brethren of New Castle 
 County, in adopting and carrying into execution all and 
 singular such peaceable and Constitutional measures as 
 shall be agreed on by a majority of the Colonies by their 
 deputies at the intended Congress, and will have no trade, 
 commerce, or dealings whatsoever with that Province, city, 
 or town on this continent (if any such should be), or with 
 any individual therein, who shall refuse to adopt the same, 
 until the before-mentioned act of Parliament, and two bills 
 respecting the Province of Massachusetts Bay depending in 
 Parliament (if passed into acts), are repealed. 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, 9. That this committee 
 embrace this public opportunity to testify their gratitude 
 and most cordial thanks to the patrons and friends of liberty 
 in Great Britain, for their patriotic efforts to prevent the 
 present calamity of America." 
 
 Sussex County (Del.) Resolutions. 
 
 11 At a general meeting of the freeholders and other inhab 
 itants of the county of Sussex on Delaware, at the Court 
 house in Lewistown, on Saturday, the 23d of July, 1774 
 
 "This assembly, taking into their very serious considera 
 tion the present very critical situation of America; of the 
 exclusive right of the Colonists of imposing taxes upon 
 themselves ; of the invasion of that right by the statute of 
 Sixth George the Third, chapter twelve, by which statute 
 and sundry others the Parliament of Great Britain have 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 237 
 
 assumed the power of making laws to bind the Colonies 
 without their consent either by themselves or by their rep 
 resentatives ; a recent instance of which is exhibited in a 
 late statute commonly called the Boston Port Bill: there 
 fore, in order to collect the voice and sentiments of this as 
 sembly, the following articles were proposed, voted, and 
 agreed to : 
 
 "'1. That the inhabitants of this county owe and will 
 pay due allegiance to his Majesty King George the Third. 
 
 " ' 2. That it is the inherent right of British subjects to be 
 taxed by their own consent, or by representatives chosen 
 by themselves only ; and that every act of the British Par 
 liament respecting the internal police of North America is 
 unconstitutional and an invasion of our just rights and 
 privileges. 
 
 " '3. That the late act of Parliament inflicting pains and 
 penalties on the town of Boston by blocking up their har 
 bor is a precedent justly alarming to the British Colonies in 
 America, and utterly inconsistent with and subversive of, 
 their Constitutional rights and liberties. 
 
 " ' 4. That a Congress of deputies from the several Colonies 
 in North America is the most probable and proper mode of 
 obtaining redress of American grievances, securing our 
 rights and liberties, and re-establishing peace and harmony 
 between Great Britain and these Colonies on a Constitu 
 tional foundation. 
 
 " ' 5. That the inhabitants of this county will adopt and 
 carry into execution all and singular such peaceable and 
 Constitutional measures as shall be agreed on by a majority 
 of the Colonies by their deputies at the intended Congress. 
 
 " ' 7. That it is our opinion that it would conduce to the 
 restoration of the liberties of America should the Colonies 
 enter into joint agreement not to import any article of 
 British manufacture or carry on any branch of trade un 
 less under such restrictions as may be agreed upon by the 
 Congress. 
 
 " ' 8. That the committee hereinafter appointed are hereby 
 desired to receive the subscriptions of such charitable per 
 sons in this county who shall incline to contribute towards 
 the distressed and suffering inhabitants of the town of Bos 
 ton; and that the money raised by such subscriptions be 
 disposed of by the said committee for the use of the said in 
 habitants, whom we consider as suffering in the common 
 cause of America.' 
 
 Delaware Convention. 
 
 Aug. 2, 1774. 
 
 At a meeting of the representatives of the freemen of 
 the government of the counties of New Castle, Kent, and 
 Sussex upon Delaware on the 2d of August, 1774, A.M., it 
 was unanimously resolved to instruct the deputies then ap- 
 
238 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 pointed in behalf of the people of the said Government to 
 attend the general Congress, that they do endeavor to pre 
 vail with the deputies of the other Colonies and Provinces at 
 the general Congress, to adopt the following or similar reso 
 lutions : 
 
 "1. In the first place, that we most solemnly and sincerely 
 promise and declare that we do and wiU bear "faith and true 
 allegiance to his most sacred Majesty King George the 
 Third, our most gracious sovereign and rightful liege and 
 lord; that we will upon true revolution principles, and to 
 the utmost of our power, support and defend the Protestant 
 succession as established in the illustrious House of Han 
 over; and it is our most earnest desire that the connection 
 which subsists between Great Britain and her Colonies, 
 whereby they are made one people, may continue to the 
 latest period of time. 
 
 U 2. That the subjects of his Majesty in the British- Ameri 
 can Colonies have had, and of right ought to have and en 
 joy, all the liberties, privileges, and immunities of free and 
 natural born subjects within any of his Majesty's dominions, 
 as full and amply as if they and every one of them were 
 born within the realm of England ; that they have a prop 
 erty in their own estates, and are to be taxed by their own 
 consent only, given in person, or by their Eepresentatives, 
 and not to be disseized of their liberties and free customs, 
 sentenced or condemned, but by lawful judgment of their 
 peers. 
 
 U 3. That the only Representatives of the freemen in the 
 several Colonies are persons they elect to serve in the Gen 
 eral Assembly thereof, and that it is the just right and priv- 
 ileg;e of the said freemen to be governed by laws made by 
 their General Assembly, in the article of taxation, and in 
 ternal police. 
 
 <k 4. That ah 1 trials for treason, misprison of treason, or for 
 any felony or crime whatsoever, committed or done in the 
 said Colonies ought of right to be had and conducted in his 
 Majesty's courts held within the same, according to the 
 fixed and known course of proceeding ; and that the seizing 
 any person or persons suspected of any crime whatsoever, 
 committed in them, and sending such person or persons to 
 places beyond the seas to be tried, is highly derogatory of the 
 rights of British subjects, as thereby the inestimable privi 
 lege of being tried by a jury from the vicinage, as well as 
 the liberty of summoning and producing witnesses on such 
 trials, will be taken away from the party accused. 
 
 " 5. That all acts and proceedings of the British Parliament 
 for prohibiting and restraining American manufactures, im 
 posing taxes on the British Colonies, extending the powers 
 of Custom House officers and Admiralty courts here, beyond 
 their ancient limits, and seizing and sending persons sus- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 239 
 
 pected of committing treason or misprision of treason in 
 these Colonies, to England for trial, are unwarrantable as 
 sumptions of power, unconstitutional, and destructive of 
 British liberty. 
 
 ' ' 6. That the successive acts of Parliament made in the last 
 session, for inflicting pains and penalties on the town of Bos 
 ton, by shutting up their port and blocking up their harbor ; 
 for altering the administration of justice in certain criminal 
 cases within the Province of Massachusetts Bay ; and for 
 new modelling of the Constitution of that Province, estab 
 lished by royal Charter, are in the highest degree arbitrary 
 in their principles, unparalleled in their rigor, oppressive in 
 their operation, and subversive of every idea of justice and 
 freedom. 
 
 " 7. That it is the indispensable duty of all the Colonies not 
 only to alleviate the unexampled distresses of our brethren 
 of Massachusetts Bay, who are suffering in the common 
 cause of America, but to assist them by all lawful means in 
 removing their grievances, and for re-establishing their con 
 stitutional rights, as well as those of America, on a solid and 
 
 permanent foundation. 
 
 ******* * 
 
 RODNEY, Chairman" 
 
 August 2, P.M. 
 
 " The convention met according to adjournment. 
 
 ' ' And several letters from the respective Committees of 
 Correspondence of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, the 
 Dominion of Virginia, the Colonies of Ehode Island, South 
 Carolina, and Maryland being read, and the convention 
 taking the same into consideration, together with the pro 
 ceedings of the freemen of the counties aforesaid, unani 
 mously entered into the following resolutions, to wit : 
 
 "'We, the representatives aforesaid, by virtue of the 
 power delegated to us as aforesaid, taking into our most 
 serious consideration the several acts of the British Parlia 
 ment for restraining manufactures in his Majesty's Planta 
 tions and Colonies in North America ; for taking away the 
 property of the Colonists without their participation or con 
 sent; for the introduction of the arbitrary powers of the 
 excise into the customs here; for the making all revenue 
 causes triable without jury, and under the decision of a 
 single dependent judge, for the trial in England of persons 
 accused of capital crimes committed in the Colonies; for 
 shutting up the port of Boston ; for new modelling the Gov 
 ernment of Massachusetts Bay; and the operation of the 
 same on the property, liberty, and lives of the Colonists, 
 and also considering that the most eligible mode of deter 
 mining upon the premises, and of endeavoring to procure 
 relief and redress of our grievances, would have been by us 
 assembled in a legislative capacity; but as the House had 
 
240 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 adjourned to the 30th day of September next, and it is not 
 to be expected his Honor the Governor would call us by 
 writs of summons on this occasion, having refused to do the 
 like in his other Province of Pennsylvania the next and most 
 proper method of answering the expectations and desires of 
 our constituents, and of contributing our aid to the general 
 cause of America, is to appoint commissioners or deputies 
 on behalf of the people of this Government to meet and act 
 with those appointed by the other Provinces in general Con 
 gress. And we do therefore unanimously nominate and 
 appoint Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, and George Read, 
 Esqrs. , or any two of them, deputies on the part and behalf 
 of this Government in a general Continental Congress pro 
 posed to be held at the city of Philadelphia on the first 
 Monday in September next, or at any other time and place 
 that may be generally agreed on, then and there to consult 
 and advise with the deputies from the other Colonies, and 
 to determine upon all such prudent and lawful measures as 
 may be judged most expedient for the Colonies immediately 
 and unitedly to adopt, in order to obtain relief for an op 
 pressed people, and the redress of our general grievances.' 
 " Signed by order of the convention, 
 
 RODNEY, Chairman" 
 
 New Castle County (Del.} Committee. 
 
 "December 5, 1774. 
 
 "The committee chosen in the several hundreds of this 
 county on the 28th of last month, in pursuance of notice for 
 that purpose given, this day assembled at the Court-house 
 in the town of New Castle, and unanimously chose 
 
 4 'John McKinly, Esq., chairman ; 
 
 " David Thompson, clerk. 
 
 " On motion, by order of the association entered into by 
 the Continental Congress at the city of Philadelphia on the 
 fifth day of September last, was read, and the committee 
 taking the same into consideration, Resolved, That this com 
 mittee highly approve the said association, and earnestly 
 recommend to their constituents a strict and due observance 
 thereof." 
 
 "DELAWARE ASSEMBLY, ) 
 Monday, March 13, 1775. \ 
 
 " The House met at New Castle pursuant to their adjourn 
 ment (on the 26th of October last), and adjourned till to 
 morrow morning ten o'clock." 
 
 " Tuesday, March 14, 1775. 
 
 " Messrs. George Read, Thomas McKean, and John Clarke, 
 members of this House, who were absent at the beginning 
 of this session, now appeared in the house, took and sub 
 scribed to the usual qualifications, and took their seats ac 
 cordingly. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 241 
 
 " Mr. McKean informed the house that the late represen 
 tatives of the freemen of this government met in convention 
 at New Castle on the first and second days of August last, 
 and among other things nominated and appointed the Hon 
 orable Csesar Rodney, Esq., George Read, Esq., and him 
 self, or any two of them, deputies or delegates on the part and 
 in behalf of this government, in a General Continental Con 
 gress, then proposed to be held at the City of Philadelphia, 
 on the first Monday in September following, or at any other 
 time or place that might be generally agreed on, then and 
 there to consult and advise with the deputies from the other 
 Colonies, and to determine upon all such prudent and lawful 
 measures as might be judged most expedient for the Colo 
 nies immediately and unitedly to adopt in order to obtain re 
 lief for an oppressed people, and the redress of our general 
 grievances ; that the proceedings of which Convention being 
 delivered in at the table, the same were by order read. 
 He then proceeded to inform the house that they, the said 
 Csesar Rodney, George Read, and himself, repaired to the 
 City of Philadelphia according to appointment, and that the 
 Congress had agreed to the several particulars contained in 
 a printed pamphlet entitled ' The Journal of the Proceedings 
 of the Congress held at Philadelphia, September 5th, 1774,' 
 and certified to be a genuine and exact copy of the original 
 by Charles Thompson, their secretary, which he delivered in 
 at the table for the perusal and consideration of the house. 
 
 " Ordered, That the same be read. 
 
 " And the same was done accordingly. 
 
 "Resolved, That the same be detained under considera 
 tion till to-morrow morning. 
 
 " Then the house adjourned till to-morrow morning at 10 
 o'clock." 
 
 " Wednesday, March 15, A.M. 
 
 " The house resumed the consideration of the proceedings 
 of the late convention and of the Continental Congress, and 
 after due deliberation, 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, That this house do ap 
 prove of the conduct of the late representatives of this gov 
 ernment in their said convention, and of their appointment 
 of the said Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, and George 
 Read, as deputies on the part and in behalf of this govern 
 ment. 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, That this house do ap 
 prove of the proceedings of the late Congress held at the city 
 of Philadelphia, and of the conduct of the gentlemen ap 
 pointed deputies to attend the same on the part of this gov 
 ernment. 
 
 " On motion of Mr. Ridgely, that a committee be; appointed 
 to prepare and bring in a bill to prohibit the importation of 
 slaves into this government. 
 
242 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " Ordered, That Messrs. Eidgely, Read, and Clewes be a 
 committee for that purpose. 
 
 " On motion, Ordered, That Messrs. Ridgely, Clewes, and 
 Clark be a committee to wait upon his Honor, the Gov 
 ernor, with the bill to prohibit the importation of slaves into 
 this government, to which his Honor cannot give his 
 assent." 
 
 " DELAWARE ASSEMBLY. 
 
 "In the House of Representatives for the counties of New 
 Castle, Kent, and Sussex upon Delaware, at New Castle, 
 Friday, June 14, 1776, A.M. 
 
 u Mr. McKean delivered in at the chair a certified copy 
 of a resolution of Congress of the 15th of May last, which 
 was by order read, and is in the words following, to wit : 
 
 " <!N CONGRESS, May 15, 1776. 
 
 " 'Whereas, His Britannick Majesty, in connection with 
 the Lords and Commons of Great Britain, has by a late Act 
 of Parliament excluded the inhabitants of these United Col 
 onies from the protection of his Crown ; and whereas, no an 
 swer whatever to the humble petitions of the Colonies for 
 redress of grievances and reconciliation with Great Britain 
 has been or is likely to be given, but the whole force of that 
 kingdom, aided by foreign mercenaries, is to be exerted for 
 the destruction or the good people of these Colonies; and 
 whereas, it appears absolutely irreconcilable to reason and 
 good conscience for the people of these Colonies now to take 
 the oaths and affirmations necessary for the support of any 
 government under the Crown of Great Britain, and it is nec 
 essary that the exercise of every kind of authority under 
 the said Crown should be totally suppressed, and all the 
 power of government exerted under the authority of the 
 people of the Colonies for the preservation of internal peace, 
 virtue, and good order, as well as for the defence of their 
 lives, liberties, and properties, against the hostile and cruel 
 depredations of their enemies: Therefore, Resolved, That 
 it be recommended to the respective assemblies and conven 
 tions of the united Colonies, where no government sufficient 
 to the exigencies of their affairs has been hitherto established, 
 to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the rep 
 resentatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and 
 safety of their constituents in particular, and America in 
 general. 
 
 " * Extract from the minutes. 
 
 " 'CHARLES THOMPSON, Secretary.' 
 
 "By special order, the same was read a second time and, 
 on motion, 
 
 " * Resolved unanimously, That this house do approve of 
 the said resolution of Congress.' 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 243 
 
 " Saturday, June 15, P.M. 
 
 "Whereas, It is become absolutely necessary for the 
 safety, protection, and happiness of the good people of this 
 Colony forthwith to establish some authority adequate to 
 the exigencies of their affairs, until a new government can 
 be formed ; and whereas, the representatives of the people 
 in this Assembly met, alone can and ought at this time to 
 establish such temporary authority : 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That all persons holding any 
 office, civil or military, in this Colony, on the 13th day of 
 June instant, may and shall continue to execute the same in 
 the name of the government of the counties of New Castle, 
 Kent, and Sussex upon Delaware, as they used legally to 
 exercise in the name of the King, until a new government 
 shall be formed, agreeable to the resolution of Congress of 
 the 13th of May last. 
 
 "Extract from the minutes. 
 
 "JAMES BOOTH, Clerk of Assembly." 
 
 The instructions of the Delaware Assembly to their dele 
 gates in the Continental Congress, authorizing them to vote 
 for independence, seem to be lost; but there can be no 
 doubt of the fact. The delegates voted for and signed the 
 Declaration on the 4th of July ; and a letter of John Adams, 
 of June 14, 1876, to Samuel Chase, contains this statement : 
 
 " McKean has returned from the ' Lower Counties ' [a title 
 by which Delaware was known] with full powers. Their 
 instructions are in the same words with the new ones to the 
 Delegates of Pennsylvania." 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 The Colony of Maryland, after the disposal of the Stamp 
 Act, was for some years involved in local controversies, 
 which absorbed the attention of the people, to the exclusion 
 of those which were soon to involve her and her sisters in a 
 war with the mother-country. She did not fail, however, to 
 join them in protesting against the tax imposed by Parlia 
 ment, in 1766, on tea, and other articles. 
 
 At their session in 1768, says McMahon, " the transactions 
 of this house, at this session, in opposition to the new system 
 of taxation, were characterized by the same unanimity 
 which marked the proceedings of the Assembly in resistance 
 to the Stamp Act ; and their memorials in vindication of 
 their liberties are at once firm and temperate, fearless and 
 dignified. Their resolves assert, as the exclusive right of 
 the Assembly, the power to impose taxes and to regulate 
 the internal polity of the Colony; and denounce as unconsti 
 tutional all taxes or impositions proceeding from any other 
 authority. Their petition to the King may safely challenge 
 a comparison with any similar paper of that period, as an 
 
244 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 eloquent and affecting appeal to the Crown." The non-im 
 portation agreements having been effectual in bringing 
 about the repeal 9f the Stamp Act, "the proposition to re 
 vive it at this period," says McMahon, " originated with one 
 of the political clubs of Boston, and, as early as October, 
 1767, it received the sanction of a public meeting in that 
 city, over which the distinguished James Otis presided as 
 moderator. For reasons for which it is not necessary to de 
 tail, it did not then enlist the concurrence of the other cities, 
 and was soon abandoned by the Bostonians themselves. 
 But if then premature, it was now the last peaceable resort. 
 Remonstrances had failed, and petitions were called fac 
 tious. The proposition was therefore revived in April, 1768; 
 and letters were then addressed by several merchants of 
 Boston and New York to the merchants of Philadelphia, 
 soliciting their concurrence in its adoption. By the latter it 
 was declined as still premature, but the design was not 
 therefore abandoned. On the 1st of August,' 1768, a non 
 importation association was formed in Boston, which was 
 followed in the course of that month by similar associations 
 in New York and Connecticut. The measure was not, how 
 ever, adopted until the ensuing session of Parliament had 
 dispelled all hopes of relief from the justice of England. 
 Abandoning their scruples upon the results of that session, 
 the merchants of Philadelphia acceded to the association in 
 April, 1769 ; and their accession was immediately followed 
 by that of Maryland and Virginia. 
 
 4 'In Maryland there had been previously several county as 
 sociations of this description ; but it was now deemed neces 
 sary to give them a more imposing character and effective op 
 eration. At the solicitation of many gentlemen of the differ 
 ent counties, a circular was therefore addressed, on the 9th 
 of May, 1769, by Messrs. Dick and Stewart, McCubbin, Wal 
 lace, and W. Stewart, merchants of Annapolis, to the people 
 of the several counties, inviting a general meeting of the 
 merchants and others of that place, " for the purpose of con 
 sulting on the most effectual means of promoting frugality, 
 and lessening the future importation of goods from Great 
 Britain." The meeting was accordingly held on the 20th 
 June, 1769, and was very fully attended. A non-importation 
 association was then established by that meeting, for the 
 whole Province, which was similar in its general character 
 and objects to those of the other Colonies." 
 
 Chestertown, Kent. Co. (Md.), Resolutions. 
 
 " May 18, 1774. 
 
 " It must be universally allowed that the essential circum 
 stance which constitutes the political happiness of a free 
 people consists in their being governed by laws of their own 
 making, or to which their consent is given by delegates of 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 245 
 
 their own choice and nomination. This maxim, founded on 
 the genius of the British Constitution, the most perfect un 
 der Heaven, cannot be supposed partial or confined, but 
 must be as extensively diffusive in its benign operations as 
 are the regions subordinate to, and claiming protection un 
 der, that constitution. 
 
 "The act of Parliament, therefore, subjecting the British 
 Colonies in America to the payment of a duty on tea for the 
 purpose of raising a revenue being passed without their con 
 sent, and calculated to enslave them, cannot but be deemed 
 unconstitutional and oppressive ; from whence it clearly fol 
 lows, that it highly behooves the Americans, as loyal and 
 free-born subjects of Great Britain, to take every prudent 
 and justifiable measure in order to evade its baneful effects, 
 thus to baffle the designs of a corrupt and despotic Min 
 istry. Our brethren of the northern Colonies have al 
 ready declared their opposition to this act; and as it 
 equally affects the good people of this loyal Province of 
 Maryland, a number of respectable gentlemen, friends to 
 liberty, met at a public house in Chestertown, on Friday, 
 the 13th of May, 1774, when a chairman was chosen, a com 
 mittee appointed, and it was agreed upon to have a gen 
 eral meeting of the inhabitants of the county on Wednesday, 
 the 18th of the same month, to declare their sentiments re 
 specting the importation of tea while subject to a duty. A 
 numerous and very respectable meeting was accordingly 
 held, when the committee was enlarged and the following 
 resolutions were repeatedly read and unanimously agreed 
 to, viz. : 
 
 " ' 1st. Resolved, That we acknowledge his Majesty George 
 the Third King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, to be 
 our rightful and lawful sovereign, to whom we owe and 
 promise all dutiful allegiance and submission. 
 
 u '3d. Resolved, That no duties or taxes can constitution 
 ally be imposed on us but by our own consent, given per 
 sonally or by our representatives. 
 
 4 "3d. Resolved, That the act of the British Parliament, 
 of the 7th of George the Third (chapter 46), subjecting the 
 Colonies to the payment of a duty on tea, for the purpose of 
 raising a revenue in America, is unconstitutional, oppres 
 sive, and calculated to enslave the Americans. 
 
 " * 4th. Resolved, therefore, That whoever shall import, or 
 in any way aid or assist in importing or introducing from 
 any part of Great Britain, or any other place whatsoever, 
 into this town or county, any tea subject to the payment of 
 any duty imposed by the aforesaid act of Parliament ; or 
 whoever shall willingly and knowingly sell, buy, or con 
 sume, or in any way assist in the sale, purchase, or con 
 sumption of any tea imported as aforesaid subject to a duty, 
 
246 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 he or they shall be stigmatized as enemies to the liberties of 
 America. 
 
 u * 5th. Resolved, That we will not only steadily adhere to 
 the foregoing resolves, but will endeavor to excite our 
 worthy neighbors to a like patriotic conduct ; and whoever 
 among us shall refuse his concurrence, or after complying 
 shall desert the cause and knowingly deviate from the true 
 spirit and meaning of these, our resolutions, we will mark 
 him out as inimical to the liberties of America, an unworthy 
 member of the community, and a person not deserving our 
 notice or regard. 
 
 " '6th. Resolved, That the foregoing resolves be printed, 
 that our brethren in this and the other Colonies may know 
 our sentiments as they are therein contained. ' 
 
 " Signed by order of the committee, 
 
 "W. WRIGHT, Clerk." 
 
 " N. B. The above resolves were entered into upon a dis 
 covery of the late importation of the dutiable tea (in the 
 brigantine Geddes, of this port) for some of the neighbor 
 ing counties. Further measures are in contemplation in 
 consequence of a late and very alarm ing act of Parliament." 
 
 Talbot Court House (Md.) Meeting. 
 
 11 May 24, 1774. 
 
 "Alarmed at the present situation of America, and im 
 pressed with the most tender feelings for the distresses of 
 their brethren and fellow-subjects in Boston, a number of 
 gentlemen having met at this place, took into their serious 
 consideration the part they ought to act as friends to liberty 
 and to the general interests of mankind: 
 
 " To preserve the rights and to secure the property of the 
 subject, they apprehend is the end of government. But 
 when those rights are invaded ; when the mode prescribed 
 by the laws for the punishment of offences and obtaining 
 justice is disregarded and spurned; when, without being 
 heard in their defence, force is employed and the severest 
 penalties inflicted, the people, they clearly conceive, have a 
 right not only to complain, but likewise to exert their ut 
 most endeavors to prevent the effect of such measures as 
 may be adopted by a weak ot corrupt Ministry to destroy 
 their liberties, deprive them of their property, and rob them 
 of their dearest birth-right as Britons. 
 
 " Impressed with the warmest zeal for and loyalty to their 
 most gracious sovereign, and with the most sincere affection 
 for their fellow-subjects in Great Britain, they are deter 
 mined calmly and steadily to unite with their fellow-sub 
 jects in pursuing every legal and constitutional measure, to 
 avert the evils threatened by the late act of Parliament for 
 shutting up the port and harbor of Boston, to support the 
 
BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 247 
 
 common rights of America, and to promote that union and 
 harmony between the mother-country and her Colonies, on 
 which the preservation of both must finally depend." 
 
 Annapolis, Anne Arundel Co. (Md.\ Meeting. 
 
 " May 26, 1774. 
 
 "At a meeting of the inhabitants of the city of Annap 
 olis on Wednesday, the 23d day of May, 1774, after notice 
 given of the time, place, and occasion of this meeting : 
 
 " Eesolved, That it is the unanimous opinion of this meet 
 ing that the town of Boston is now suffering in the common 
 cause of America, and that it is incumbent on every Colony 
 in North America to unite in effectual means to obtain a re 
 peal of the late act of Parliament for blocking up the har 
 bor of Boston. 
 
 " That it is the opinion of this meeting that if the Colonies 
 come into a joint resolution to stop all importations from, 
 and exportations to, Great Britain, till said act be repealed, 
 the same will preserve North America and her liberties. 
 
 " Eesolved, therefore, That the inhabitants of this city 
 will join in an association with the several counties of this 
 Province and the principal Colonies of America, to put an 
 immediate stop to all exports to Great Britain, and that 
 after a short day hereafter to be agreed on that there be no 
 imports from Great Britain till said act be repealed, and 
 that such association be on oath. 
 
 " That it is the opinion of this meeting that the gentlemen 
 of the law of this Province bring no suit for the recovery of 
 any debt due from any inhabitant of this Province to any 
 inhabitant of Great Britain until the said act be repealed. 
 
 "That the inhabitants of this city will, and it is the opin 
 ion of this meeting that this Province ought immediately to 
 break off all trade and dealings with that Colony or Prov 
 ince which shall refuse or decline to come into similar reso 
 lutions with a majority of the Colonies. 
 
 " That Messrs. John Hall, Charles Carroll, Thomas John 
 son, Jr., William Paca, Matthias Hammond, and Samuel 
 Chase be a committee for this city to join with those who 
 shall be appointed for Baltimore town and other parts of 
 this Province to constitute one general committee, and that 
 the gentlemen appointed for this city immediately corre 
 spond with Baltimore town and other parts of this Province 
 to effect such association as will best secure American 
 liberty." 
 
 An earnest protest was made a day or two later bv a 
 large number of citizens in the following resolution, which 
 is among the above : 
 
 "That it is the opinion of this meeting that the gentlemen 
 of the law of this Province bring no suit for the recovery of 
 
248 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 any debt due from any inhabitant of this Province to any 
 inhabitant of Great Britain until the said act be repealed." 
 
 Queen Anne (Md.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of a considerable number of the Magistrates, 
 and other the most respectable inhabitants of Queen Anne's 
 County, at Queenstown, on the thirtieth day of May, 1774, 
 in order to deliberate upon the tendency and effect of the 
 act of Parliament for blocking up the port of Boston, That 
 they look upon the cause of Boston, in its consequences, to 
 be the common cause of America. 
 
 " That the act of Parliament for blocking up the port and 
 harbor of Boston appears to them a cruel and oppressive 
 invasion of their natural rights as men, and constitutional 
 rights as English subjects, and if not repealed will be a 
 foundation for the utter destruction of American freedom. 
 
 ' * That all legal and constitutional means ought to be used by 
 all America for procuring a repeal of the said act of Parlia 
 ment. That the only effectual means of obtaining such re 
 peal, they are at present of opinion, is an association, under 
 the strongest ties, for breaking off all commercial connections 
 with Great Britain until the said act of Parliament be re 
 pealed, and the right assumed by Parliament for taxing 
 America in all cases whatsoever be given up, and American 
 freedom ascertained and settled upon a permanent consti 
 tutional foundation." 
 
 Baltimore County Resolutions. 
 
 1 'At a meeting of the freeholders, gentlemen, merchants, 
 tradesmen, and other inhabitants of Baltimore County, held 
 at the Court House of said county, on Tuesday, the 31st of 
 May, 1774, 
 
 "Captain Charles Ridgely, Chairman, 
 
 " 1st. Eesolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 the town of Boston is now suffering in the common cause of 
 America, and that it is the duty of every Colony in America 
 to unite in the most effectual means to obtain a repeal of the 
 late act of Parliament for blocking up the harbor of Boston. 
 (Dissentient, three.) 
 
 "2d. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 if the Colonies come into a joint resolution to stop importa 
 tions from and exportation s to Great Britain and the West 
 Indies, until the act for blocking up the harbor of Boston 
 be repealed, the same may be the means of preserving North 
 America in her liberties. (Dissentient, three.) 
 
 4 * 3d. Resolved , That therefore the inhabitants of this county 
 will join in an association with the several counties in this 
 Province and the principal Colonies in America to put a 
 stop to exports to Great Britain and the West Indies, after 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 249 
 
 the 1st day of October next, or such other day as may be 
 agreed on, and to put a stop to the imports from Great 
 Britain after the first day of December next, or such other 
 day as may be agreed upon, until the said act shall be re 
 pealed, and that such association shall be upon oath. (Dis 
 sentient, nine.) 
 
 "4th. Eesolved, unanimously, That it is the opinion of 
 this meeting that the most effectual means of uniting all 
 parts of this Province in such association as proposed, a 
 general Congress of deputies from each county be held at 
 Annapolis at such time as may be agreed upon, and that if 
 agreeable to the sense of our sister Colonies delegates shall 
 be appointed from this Province to attend a general Con 
 gress of delegates from the other Colonies at such time and 
 place as shall be agreed on, in order to settle and establish a 
 general plan of conduct for the important purposes afore 
 mentioned." 
 
 Kent County (Md.} Resolutions. 
 
 "A numerous and very respectable meeting of the in 
 habitants of Kent County, in Maryland, was held at the 
 Court House in Chestertown, on Thursday, the 2d day of 
 June, 1774, pursuant to public notice given for that purpose. 
 
 "The gentlemen of the Committee being moved with the 
 most tender sympathy for the distresses of their suffering 
 brethren of Boston, particularly of the laboring poor, who 
 are deprived of the means of supporting themselves and 
 their families by the operation of the act for blocking up 
 their harbor, opened a subscription for their relief, which in 
 a little time was filled up to a considerable amount, and is 
 left in the hands of the Chairman to be collected and shipped 
 to them in such articles of provisions as may be most wanted, 
 whenever it shall be necessary." 
 
 Anne Arundel County (Md.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of a very considerable and respectable 
 body of inhabitants of Anne Arundel County, inclusive of 
 those of the City of Annapolis, on Saturday, the 4th day of 
 June, 1774, 
 
 "Mr. Brice Beale Worthington, Moderator, 
 
 "1. Eesolved unanimously, That it is the opinion of this 
 meeting that the town of Boston is now suffering in the 
 common cause of America, and that it is incumbent on every 
 Colony in America to unite in effectual means to obtain a 
 repeal of the late act of Parliament for blocking up the har 
 bor of Boston. 
 
 " 2. Eesolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that if 
 the Colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all importa 
 tions from and exportations to Great Britain and the West 
 
250 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Indies till the said act be repealed, the same will be the most 
 effectual means to 6btain a repeal of the said act, and pre 
 serve North America and her liberties. 
 
 "3. Resolved, therefore, unanimously, That the inhabit 
 ants of this county will join in an association with the several 
 counties in this Province and the principal Colonies in 
 America to put a stop to exports to Great Britain and the 
 West Indies after the ninth day of October next, or such 
 other day as may be agreed on, and to put a stop to the im 
 ports of goods not already ordered, and of those ordered 
 that shall not be shipped from Great Britain by the 20th day 
 of July next, or such other day as may be agreed on, until 
 the said act shall be repealed ; and that such association be 
 on oath." 
 
 Harford County (Md.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of a very considerable and respectable body 
 of the inhabitants of Harford County of Maryland, on the 
 llth day of June, 1774, 
 
 "AquilaHall, Chairman, 
 
 " 1st. Resolved, That it is the 9pinion of this meeting that 
 the town of Boston is now suffering in the common cause of 
 America, and that it is the duty of every Colony to unite in 
 the most effectual constitutional means to obtain a repeal of 
 the late act of Parliament for blocking up the harbor and 
 port of Boston. 
 
 "2d. Resolved, 
 tion with the 
 
 to export to or import from Great Britain any kind of prod 
 uce or merchandise after such a day as the committees of 
 the several counties at their general meeting shall fix, until 
 the repeal of the Boston Port Act. 
 
 "3d. Resolved, That we will deal with none of the West 
 India Islands, Colony or Colonies, person or persons resid 
 ing therein, who shall not enter into similar resolves with a 
 majority of the Colonies, within such time as the general 
 committees of this Province shall agree, but hold him or them 
 as an enemy or enemies to American liberty." 
 
 Frederick County (Md.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of a respectable and numerous body of the 
 Freemen of the lower part of Frederick County at Charles 
 Hungeeford's Tavern, on Saturday, the llth day of June, 
 1774, 
 
 "Mr. Henry Griffith, Moderator, 
 
 "1. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 the town of Boston is now suffering in the common cause of 
 America. 
 
 "2. Resolved unanimously, That every legal and consti- 
 
 X. 
 
 red, That, therefore, we will join in an associa- 
 other counties of this Province, on oath, not 
 
THE BIRTII OF THE REPUBLIC. 251 
 
 tutional measure ought to be used by all America for pro 
 curing a repeal of the act of Parliament for blocking up the 
 harbor of Boston. 
 
 "3. Resolved unanimously, That it is the opinion of this 
 meeting that the most effectual means for securing Ameri 
 can freedom will be to break off all commerce with Great 
 Britain and the West Indies, until the said act be repealed 
 and the right of taxation given up on permanent principles." 
 
 Charles County (Md.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the inhabitants of Charles County, on 
 the 14th of June, 1774, at the Court-house in Port-Tobacco 
 town to deliberate on the effect and tendency of the act of 
 Parliament for blocking up the port and harbor of Boston, 
 
 "Mr. Walter Hanson unanimously chosen chairman, 
 
 " 1st. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 the act of the British Parliament passed to block up the 
 harbor and port of Boston and suspend the trade and com 
 merce of that town is a violent attack upon the liberty and 
 property of the inhabitants thereof, and in its consequences 
 tends to render insecure and destroy the rights and privi 
 leges of all British America. 
 
 "2d. That the town of Boston now suffering under the 
 execution of the said act justly demands the most speedy 
 and effectual assistance of every Colony in America to ob 
 tain a repeal of the same. 
 
 "3d. That the inhabitants of this county will join in an 
 association with the several counties of this Province to put 
 a stop to all imports from Great Britain after the first day 
 of August next, except the articles of medicine, until the 
 said act be repealed. 
 
 "4th. That if the said act of Parliament is not repealed by 
 the 31st day of October, in the year 1775, that then the in 
 habitants of this county will join with the several counties 
 of this Province and the principal Colonies in America, to 
 break off all commercial connection with Great Britain and 
 the West Indies." 
 
 Caroline County (Md.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of respectable inhabitants of Caroline 
 county at Mellville's warehouse, on Saturday the 18th day 
 of June, 1774, by adjournment from Wednesday the 8th of 
 the same month, 
 
 " Charles Dickinson, Esq., in the chair, 
 
 "1st. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this county are 
 by duty and inclination firmly attached to his most sacred 
 Majesty King George the Third, to whom they owe all due 
 obedience and allegiance. 
 
 " 2d. That it is the unanimous opinion of this meeting that 
 
252 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the Boston Port Act is principally grounded on the oppo 
 sition made by the inhabitants of that town to the tea duty ; 
 that the said town of Boston is now suffering in the com 
 mon cause of British America, and that it is the duty of 
 every Colony thereof to unite in the most effectual means 
 to obtain a repeal of the late act of Parliament for shutting 
 up the port of Boston. 
 
 "3d. That it is the unanimous opinion of this meeting 
 that if the Colonies come into a resolution to forbear all 
 importations whatsoever from Great Britain (except such 
 articles as are absolutely necessary) until the acts of Parlia 
 ment for shutting up the port of Boston and for levying a 
 duty on America for the express purpose of raising a rev 
 enue, shall be repealed, it will be the means of preserving 
 the liberties of North America." 
 
 Maryland Convention. 
 
 " At a meeting of the committees appointed by the several 
 counties of the Province of Maryland, at the city of Ajinap- 
 oHs, the 22d day of June, 1774, and continued by adjourn 
 ment from day to day till the 25th day of the same month, 
 all the counties represented ; 
 
 "Matthew Tilghman, Esquire, chairman; 
 
 "John Duckett chosen clerk; 
 
 "The letter and vote of the town of Boston, several letters 
 and papers from Philadelphia and Virginia, the act of Par 
 liament for blocking up the port and harbor of Boston, the 
 bill depending in Parliament subversive of the charter of 
 Massachusetts Bay, and the enabling the Governor to send 
 supposed offenders from thence to other Colonies or Eng 
 land for trial, were read, and after mature deliberation 
 thereon, 
 
 "1st. Resolved, That the said act of Parliament and bills 
 if passed into acts are cruel and oppressive invasions of the 
 natural rights of the people of the Massachusetts Bay as 
 men, and of their constitutional rights as English subjects ; 
 and that the said act, if not repealed, and the said bills if 
 passed into acts, will lay a foundation for the utter destruc 
 tion of British America; and therefore, that the town of 
 Boston and Province of Massachusetts Bay are now suffer 
 ing in the common cause of America. 
 
 "2d. Resolved, That it is the duty of every Colony in 
 America to unite in the most speedy and effectual means to 
 obtain a repeal of the said act, and also of the said bills if 
 passed into acts. 
 
 "3d. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this committee 
 that if the Colonies come into a joint resolution to stop all 
 importations from and exportations to Great Britain, until 
 the said act or bills, if passed into acts, be repealed, the same 
 will be the most speedy and effectual means to obtain a 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 253 
 
 repeal of the said act or acts and preserve North America 
 and her liberties. 
 
 4 '4th. Resolved, Notwithstanding the people of this Prov 
 ince will have many inconveniences and difficulties to en 
 counter by breaking off their commercial intercourse with 
 their mother-country, and are deeply affected at the dis 
 tress which will thereby be necessarily brought on many of 
 their fellow-subjects in Great Britain, yet their affections 
 and regard to an injured and oppressed sister Colony, their 
 duty to themselves, their posterity, and their country, de 
 mand the sacrifice ; and therefore that this Province will 
 join in an association with the other principal and neigh 
 boring Colonies to stop all exportations to, and importations 
 from, Great Britain, until the said act and bills, if passed 
 into acts, be repealed; the non-importation and non-expor 
 tation to take place on such future day as may be agreed on 
 by a general Congress of deputies from the Colonies, the 
 non-export of tobacco to depend and take place only on a 
 similar agreement by Virginia and North Carolina, and to 
 commence at such time as may be agreed on by the deputies 
 for this Province, and the said Colonies of Virginia and 
 North Carolina. 
 
 " 5th. Eesolved, That the deputies of this Province are au 
 thorized to agree to any restrictions upon exports to the 
 West .ndies which may be deemed necessary by a major 
 ity of the Colonies at the general Congress. 
 
 "llth. Resolved, unanimously, That this Province will 
 break off all trade and dealings with that Colony, Province, 
 or town which shall decline or refuse to come into the gen 
 eral plan which may be adopted by the Colonies." 
 
 "MARYLAND CONVENTION. 
 
 " At a meeting of the "deputies appointed by the. several 
 counties of the Province of Maryland, at the city of Annap 
 olis, by adjournment, on the 8th day of December, 1774, and 
 continued till the 12th day of the same month were present 
 eighty-five members, viz. : 
 
 County. 
 
 For St. Mary's 4 
 
 Charles 3 
 
 Calvert 5 
 
 Prince George's 8 
 
 Frederick 8 
 
 Anne Arundel( and 
 
 Annapolis City) 10 
 
 Baltimore 8 
 
 Harford 9 
 
 "Mr. John Hall in the chair and Mr. John Duckett, clerk, 
 "The proceedings of the Continental Congress were read, 
 considered, and unanimously approved. 
 
 County. 
 
 ForCecil 2 
 
 Kent 2 
 
 Queen Anne's 4 
 
 Caroline 4 
 
 Talbot 1 
 
 Dorchester 5 
 
 Somerset 7 
 
 Worcester 5 
 
254 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That every member of this Convention will, 
 and every person in the Province ought, strictly and invio 
 lably observe and carry into execution the Association agreed 
 on by the said Continental Congress.' 
 
 4 'On motion, 
 
 " ' Resolved unanimously, That the thanks of this conven 
 tion be given by the chairman to the gentlemen who repre 
 sented this Province as deputies in the late Continental Con 
 gress, for their faithful discharge of that important trust.' 
 
 "And the same was accordingly done. 
 
 " As a further regulation to enforce an observance of the 
 late Continental Association, 
 
 " * Resolved unanimously, That in all cases where breaches 
 of the Continental Association, or the resolves of this Con 
 vention, shall happen and be declared such by any commit 
 tee of a county, no gentleman of the law ought to bring or 
 Erosecute any suit whatever for such offender; and if any 
 ictor shall commit any breach of the said Association or 
 resolves, that no gentleman of the law ought to bring or 
 prosp-mte any ouit for any debt due to the store of which 
 the said factor has the management, after notice as afore 
 said. 
 
 " 'Resolved unanimously, That if the late acts of Parlia 
 ment relative to the Massachusetts Bay shall be attempted 
 to be carried into execution by force in that Colony, or if 
 the assumed power of Parliament to tax the Colonies shall 
 be attempted to be carried into execution by force in that or 
 any other Colony, that in such case this Province will sup 
 port such Colony to the utmost of their power. 
 
 " ' Resolved unanimously, That a well-regulated militia, 
 composed of the gentlemen, freeholders, and other freemen, 
 is the natural strength and only suitable security of a free 
 government ; and that such militia will relieve our mother- 
 country from any expense in our protection and defence; 
 will obviate the pretence of necessity for taxing us on that 
 account, and render it unnecessary to keep any standing 
 army (ever dangerous to liberty) in this Province ; and there 
 fore it is recommended to such of the said inhabitants of 
 this Province as are from sixteen to fifty years of age to 
 form themselves into companies of sixty-eight men; to 
 choose a captain, two lieutenants, an ensign, four sergeants, 
 four corporals, and one drummer for each company, and use 
 their utmost endeavors to make themselves master of the 
 military exercise ; that each man be provided with a good 
 firelock and bayonet fitted thereon, half a pound of powder, 
 two pounds of lead, and a cartouch-box or powderhorn, and 
 bag tor ball, and be in readiness to act on any emergency. 
 
 ' * Resolved unanimously, That it is recommended to the 
 committee of each county to raise, by subscription, or in 
 such other voluntary manner as they may think proper and 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 255 
 
 will be most agreeable to their respective counties, such sums 
 of money as, with any moneys already raised, will amount 
 to the following sums in the respective committees, to wit : 
 
 County. 
 
 In St. Mary's 600 
 
 Charles 800 
 
 Calvert 366 
 
 Prince George's 833 
 
 Anne Arundel 866 
 
 Frederick 1,333 
 
 Baltimore 933 
 
 Harford 466 
 
 Worcester 533 
 
 County. 
 
 Somerset 533 
 
 Dorchester 480 
 
 Caroline 358 
 
 Talbot 400 
 
 Queen Anne's 533 
 
 Kent 566 
 
 Cecil 400 
 
 IB 10,000 
 
 " 'And that the committees of the respective counties lay 
 out the same in the purchase of arms and ammunition for 
 the use of such county, to be secured and kept in proper and 
 convenient r laces under the direction of the said commit 
 tees.'" 
 
 u MARYLAND CONVENTION, ) 
 " Monday, August 14, 1775. j 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, That the following Association 
 be signed by the members of this convention, and by all 
 other the freemen of this Province : 
 
 " 'ASSOCIATION OF THE FREEMEN or MARYLAND, ) 
 " ' July 26, 1775. \ 
 
 " 'The long-premeditated and now avowed design of the 
 British government to raise a revenue from the property of 
 the Colonists, without their consent, on the gift, grant, and 
 disposition of the Commons of Great Britain ; the arbitrary 
 and vindictive statutes passed under color of punishing a 
 riot, to subdue by military force and by famine the Massa 
 chusetts Bay ; the unlimited power assumed by Parliament 
 to alter the Charter of that Province and the Constitutions 
 of all the Colonies, thereby destroying the essential securi 
 ties of the lives, liberties, and properties of the Colonists; 
 the commencement of hostilities by tiie Ministerial forces, 
 and the cruel prosecution of the war against the people of 
 Massachusetts Bay, followed by General Gage's proclama 
 tion declaring almost the whole of the inhabitants of the 
 United Colonies by name or description rebels and traitors, 
 are sufficient causes to arm a free people in defence of their 
 liberty, and to justify resistance, no longer dictated by pru 
 dence merely, but by necessity, and leave no alternative but 
 base submission or manly opposition to uncontrollable 
 tyranny. The Congress chose the latter; and for the express 
 purpose of securing and defending the United Colonies and 
 preserving them in safety against all attempts to carry the 
 above-mentioned acts into execution by force of arms, re 
 solved that the said Colonies be immediately put into a state 
 
256 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 of defence ; and now support at the joint expense an army 
 to restrain the further violence and repel the future attacks 
 of a disappointed and exasperated enemy. 
 
 "'We, therefore, inhabitants of the Province of Mary 
 land, firmly persuaded that it is necessary and justifiable to 
 repel force by force, do approve of the opposition by arms 
 to the British troops employed to enforce obedience to the 
 late acts and statutes of the British Parliament for raising a 
 revenue in America, and altering and changing the Charter 
 and Constitution of the Massachusetts Bay, and for destroy 
 ing the essential securities for the li ves, liberties, and prop 
 erties of the subjects in the United Colonies. And we do 
 unite and associate as one band, and firmly and solemnly 
 engage and pledge ourselves to each other and to America 
 that we will to the utmost of our power promote and sup 
 port the present opposition carrying on, as well by arms, as 
 by the Continental Association restraining commerce. 
 
 " * And as in these times of public danger, and until a re 
 conciliation with Great Britain on Constitutional principles 
 is effected (an event we most ardently wish may soon take 
 place) the energy of government may be greatly impaired, 
 so that even zeal unrestrained may be productive of anarchy 
 and confusion; we do in like manner unite, associate, and 
 solemnly engage in maintenance of good order and the pub 
 lic peace, to support the civil power in the due execution of 
 the laws, so far as may be consistent with the present plan 
 of opposition, and to defend with our utmost power all per 
 sons from any species of outrage to themselves or their 
 property, and to prevent any punishment from being in 
 flicted on any offenders other than such as shall be adjudged 
 by the civil magistrate, the Continental Congress, our con 
 vention, council of safety, or committees of observation.' " 
 
 Instructions to Maryland Delegates in Congress. 
 
 1 1 IN CONTENTION HELD AT ANNAPOLIS, IN MARYLAND. ) 
 " January 11, 1776. f 
 
 " To the Honorable Matthew Tilghman, Esq., Thomas Johnson, Jun., Robert 
 Goldsborough, William Ikca, Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, Ifobert Alex 
 ander, and John Bogers, Esquires: 
 
 "The convention, taking into their most serious considera 
 tion the present state of the unhappy dispute between Great 
 Britain and the United Colonies, think it proper to deliver 
 you their sentiments, and to instruct you in certain points 
 relative to your conduct in Congress as representatives of 
 this Province. 
 
 "We further instruct you that you do not, without he 
 previous knowledge and approbation of the convention of 
 this Province, assent to any proposition to declare these 
 Colonies independent of the Crown of Great Britain, nor to 
 any proposition for making or entering into alliance with 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 257 
 
 any foreign power, nor to any union or confederation of 
 these Colonies which may necessarily lead to a separation 
 from the mother-country, unless in your judgments, or in 
 the judgments of any four of you, or a majority of the whole 
 of you (if all shall then be attending in Congress), it shall be 
 thought absolutely necessary for the preservation of the 
 liberties of the United Colonies : and should a majority of the 
 Colonies in Congress against such, your judgment, resolve 
 to declare these Colonies independent of the Crown of Great 
 Britain ; or to make or enter into alliance with any foreign 
 power, or into any union or confederation of these Colonies 
 which may necessarily lead to a separation from the mother- 
 country, then we instruct you immediately to call the con 
 vention of this Province, and repair thereto with such prop 
 osition and resolve, and lay the same before the said conven 
 tion for their consideration. And this convention will not 
 hold this Province bound by such majority in Congress 
 until the representative body of the Province in convention 
 assent thereto." 
 
 Robert Alexander to Maryland Council of Safety. 
 (Extract.) 
 
 " PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 27, 1776. 
 
 "One of the letters was directed to Willing and Morris, 
 without any signature : it contained a printed copy of my 
 Lord North's Conciliatory Act, by which all American vessels 
 found on the coasts of Great Britain or Ireland are to be 
 seized and confiscated on the 1st day of January. All Amer 
 ican vessels sailing into or out of the ports of America after 
 the 1st of March are to be seized and confiscated ; all foreign 
 vessels trading to America after the 1st of June to be seized; 
 all communication between Great Britain, or Ireland, or 
 the British West Indies, with America, to be cut off; all 
 captures made by British ships of -war, or by the officers of 
 the King's troops in America, adjudged by this act to be 
 lawful prizes, and, as such, Courts of Admiralty to proceed 
 in their condemnation. AJ1 orders for the regulation of 
 Courts of Admiralty in America, heretofore made by the 
 King in council, or which may hereafter be made, are con 
 firmed. The Boston Port Bill, the Fishing Bill, and the 
 Restraining Act are repealed by this bill; the Colonies being 
 in the like circumstances and situation. The last clause of 
 this more than diabolical act enables the King to appoint 
 commissioners to grant pardons, and receive the submissions 
 of any Province, county, tovyn,or district. I shall make 
 no comments on this act ; it is only a further stage in that 
 
 system of tyranny hitherto pursued by that , who 
 
 under the influence of a Scotch Junto, now disgraces the 
 British throne. 
 
258 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 11 What measures Congress may pursue in consequence of 
 this act, I know not. With me the very idea of reconciliation 
 is precluded by the conduct of Great Britain ; and the only 
 alternative, absolute slavery or independence ; the latter I 
 have often reprobated, both in public and private, but am 
 now almost convinced the measure is right and can be justi 
 fied by necessity." 
 
 " MARYLAND CONVENTION, ) 
 44 June 28, 1776. f 
 
 " Resolved unanimously, That the instructions given by 
 the convention of December last (and renewed by the con 
 vention in May) to the deputies of this Colony in Congress be 
 recalled, and the restrictions therein contained removed; 
 that the deputies of this Colony attending in Congress, or a 
 majority of them, or any three or more of them, be author 
 ized ana empowered to concur with the other United Colonies 
 or a majority of them, in declaring the United Colonies free 
 and independent states, in forming such further compact and 
 confederation between them ; in making foreign alliances ; and 
 in adopting such other measures as shall be adjudged neces 
 sary for securing the liberties of America. And this Colony 
 will hold itself bound by the resolutions of a majority of the 
 United Colonies in the premises: provided, the sole and 
 exclusive right of regulating the internal government and 
 police of this Colony be reserved to the people thereof." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 THE following account of the action of the Virginia 
 House of Burgesses, with reference to the tax on tea and 
 other articles, is taken from Burk's history of that State. 
 
 The House also earnestly remonstrate against the trans 
 portation to England, for trial, of persons charged with 
 treason, misprison of treason, and other felonies. This high 
 handed procedure, as elsewhere seen, was in pursuance of an 
 act of 35th Henry VIII., revived in 1768 and made applica 
 ble to America. 
 
 No Colony excelled Virginia in the elevated tone and 
 diction of the resolutions, addresses, and other papers that 
 emanated from her public bodies. In those times her wealthy 
 gentry sent their sons to Europe to be educated, in many 
 instances ; and besides, she had an excellent institution of her 
 own, in William and Mary College. To her honor, also, Vir 
 ginia has ever been distinguished for filling the high places of 
 state with her best men. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 259 
 
 "ASSEMBLY, ) 
 "May 11, 1769. f 
 
 "The Governor, Botetourt, having proposed no specific 
 objects for their consideration, the House proceeded, without 
 delay, to a spirited inquiry into the nature and tendency of 
 the late Parliamentary duties which they scrupled not to 
 ascribe to a deliberate intention of subverting the ancient 
 rights and Constitution of the Colony. In the investigation 
 of this important subject, they were no longer embarrassed 
 by the sophistry of opposition, one unanimous sentiment 
 having absolved all the shades and distinctions of opinion. 
 In this spirit the following resolutions were submitted and 
 adopted : 
 
 ** ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the sole right of 
 imposing taxes on the inhabitants of this his Majesty's 
 Colony and dominion of Virginia is now, and ever has been, 
 legally and constitutionally vested in the House of Burgesses, 
 lawfully convened according to the ancient and established 
 practice, with the consent of the Council, and of his Majesty, 
 the King of Britain, or his Governor for the time being. 
 
 " ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, That it is the undoubted 
 privilege of the inhabitants of this Colony to petition their 
 sovereign for redress of grievances ; and that it is lawful and 
 expedient to procure the concurrence of his Majesty's other 
 Colonies, in dutiful addresses, praying the royal interposi 
 tion in favor of the violated rights of America. 
 
 44 ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, That all trials for trea 
 son, misprison of treason, or for any felony or crime whatso 
 ever committed or done in this his Majesty's said Colony 
 and dominion, by any person or persons residing therein, 
 ought of right to be had and conducted in and before his 
 Majesty's courts held within his said Colony, according to 
 the fixed and known course of proceeding; and that the 
 seizing any person or persons residing in this Colony, sus 
 pected of any crime whatsoever committed therein, and 
 sending such person or persons to places beyond the sea to 
 be tried, is highly derogatory of the rights of British sub 
 jects, as thereby the inestimable privilege of being tried by 
 a jury from their vicinage, as well as the liberty of summon 
 ing and producing witnesses in such trial, will be taken 
 away from the party accused. 
 
 ''Resolved, nemine contradicente, That an humble, dutiful, 
 and loyal address be presented to his Majesty, to assure him 
 of our inviolable attachment to his sacred person and gov 
 ernment, and to beseech his royal interposition, however 
 remote from the seat of his empire, to quiet the minds of his 
 loyal subjects of this Colony, and to avert from them those 
 dangers and miseries which will ensue from the seizing 
 and carrying beyond sea any person residing in America, 
 suspected of any crime whatsoever, to be tried in any other 
 
260 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 manner than by the ancient and long-established course of 
 
 It was then "Ordered, That the speaker of this House do 
 transmit without delay, to the speakers of the several Houses 
 of Assembly on this continent, a copy of the resolutions 
 now agreed to by the House, requesting their concurrence 
 therein." 
 
 On the adoption of these resolutions, the Assembly re 
 ceived the following communication from the Governor : 
 
 "MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE OF BUR 
 GESSES : I have heard of your resolves, and augur ill of their 
 effects. You have made it my duty to dissolve you, and 
 you are dissolved accordingly." 
 
 The members of the House then agreed to the following 
 Association : 
 
 "Therefore, in justice to ourselves and our posterity, as 
 well as to the traders of Great Britain concerned in the 
 American commerce, we, the subscribers, have voluntarily 
 and unanimously entered into the following' resolutions, in 
 hopes that our example will induce the good people of this 
 Colony to be frugal in the use and consumption of British 
 manufactures, and that the merchants and manufacturers 
 of Great Britain may, from motives of interest, friendship, 
 and justice, be engaged to exert themselves to obtain for 
 us a redress of those grievances under which the trade 
 and inhabitants of America at present labor. We do there 
 fore most earnestly recommend this our association, to the 
 serious attentions of all gentlemen, merchants, traders, 
 and other inhabitants of this Colony, in hopes that they 
 will very readily and cordially accede thereto. 
 
 "First, It is unanimously agreed on and resolved this 
 18th day of May, 1769, that the subscribers, as well by their 
 own example as all other legal ways and means in their 
 power, will promote and encourage industry and frugality, 
 and discourage all manner of luxury and extravagance. 
 
 "Secondly, That they will not at any time hereafter, 
 directly or indirectly, import or cause to be imported any 
 manner of goods, merchandise, or manufactures which are 
 or shall hereafter be taxed by act of Parliament, for raising 
 a revenue in America (except paper not exceeding eight 
 shillings sterling per ream, and except such articles only 
 as orders have been already sent for), nor purchase any such 
 after the first day of September next, of any person what 
 soever, but that they will always consider such taxation in 
 every respect as an absolute prohibition, and in all future 
 orders direct their correspondents to ship them no goods 
 whatever taxed as aforesaid, except as is above excepted." 
 
 "Fifthly, That they will not import any slaves, or pur 
 chase any imported after the first day of November next, 
 until the said acts are repealed." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 261 
 
 The foregoing account of the action of the House of Bur 
 gesses is taken from Burk's History of Virginia, vol. IV. 
 
 In 1772, the House of Burgesses adopted the following 
 resolutions : 
 
 ''Whereas, The minds of his Majesty's faithful subjects 
 in this Colony have been much disturbed by various 
 rumours and reports of proceedings tending to deprive 
 them of their ancient, legal, and constitutional rights ; and 
 whereas the affairs of this Colony are frequently connected 
 with those of Great Britain, as well as of the neighboring 
 Colonies, which renders a communication of sentiments 
 necessary: In order, therefore, to remove the uneasiness 
 and to quiet the minds of the people, as well as for the other 
 good purposes above mentioned, be it, 
 
 " Resolved, That a standing Committee of Correspondence 
 and Inquiry be appointed, to consist of eleven persons, to- 
 wit, the Honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, Robert Car 
 ter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin 
 Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Dig- 
 ges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary, and Thomas Jefferson, 
 Esquires, any six of whom to be a committee whose business 
 it shall be to obtain the most early and authentic intelli 
 gence of such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament, 
 or proceedings of administration, as may relate to or affect 
 the British Colonies in America ; and to keep up and main 
 tain a correspondence and communication with our sister- 
 Colonies respecting these important considerations, and the 
 result of such their proceedings, from time to time, to lay 
 before the House. 
 
 "Resolved, That it be an instruction to said committee, 
 that they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly 
 of the principle and authority on which was constituted a 
 Court of Inquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode 
 Island, with powers to transport persons accused of offences 
 committed in America to places beyond the seas to be tried. 
 
 "Resolved, That the speaker of this House do transmit to 
 the speakers of the different Assemblies of the British 
 Colonies on this continent, copies of the said resolutions, 
 and desire that they will lay them before their respective 
 Assemblies, and request them to appoint some person or per 
 sons of their respective bodies to communicate, from time 
 to time, with the said committee." 
 
 " WILLIAMSBURG, May 30, 1774. 
 
 "The House of Burgesses of Virginia, on the 24th of May, 
 adopted the following resolution, which was directed to be 
 forthwith printed and published : 
 
 " Tuesday, 24th May(14th George III.), 1774. 
 1 ' This House, being deeply impressed with apprehension 
 of the great dangers to be derived to British America from 
 
262 THE BIRTH OF THIS REPUBLIC. 
 
 the hostile invasion of the city of Boston, in our sister-Colony 
 of Massachusetts Bay, whose commerce and harbor are, on 
 the first day of June next, to be stopped by an armed force, 
 deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June be 
 set apart by the members of this House as a day of fasting, 
 humiliation, and prayer; devoutly to implore the divine in 
 terposition for averting the heavy calamity which threatens 
 destruction to our civil rights, and the evils of civil war; to 
 give us one heart and one mind firmly to oppose by all just 
 and proper means every injury to American rights; and 
 that the minds of his Majesty and his Parliament may be 
 inspired from above with wisdom, moderation, and justice, 
 to remove from the loyal people of America all cause of 
 danger from a continued pursuit of measures pregnant with 
 ruin. 
 
 " ' Ordered, therefore, That the members of this House do 
 attend in their places at the hour of ten in the forenoon on 
 the said first day of June next, in order to proceed with the 
 speaker and the mace to the church in this city for the pur 
 poses aforesaid; and that the Eeverend Mr. Price be ap 
 pointed to read prayers and to preach a sermon suitable to 
 the occasion.'" 
 
 A letter to the inhabitants of Charleston, S. C. : 
 
 " NORFOLK, May 31, 1774. 
 
 "GENTLEMEN: The occasion is too serious to admit of 
 apologies for this unsolicited communication of our senti 
 ments to you at this alarming crisis to American freedom; 
 for the time is come, the unhappy era has arrived, when the 
 closest union among ourselves and the firmest confidence 
 in each other are our only securities for those rights which, 
 as men and freemen, we derive from nature and the Con 
 stitution, The late hostile Parliamentary invasion of the 
 town of Boston, we deem an attack upon the liberties of us all. 
 Of the particulars of that unhappy transaction we presume 
 you are already fully informed, and, we doubt not, shudder 
 with us at this systematic mode of depriving the unrepre 
 sented American of his rights and possessions, and vesting 
 the Crown with such despotic power over the free-born in 
 habitants of the capital of Massachusetts Bay. What meas 
 ures are most proper to be adopted on this sad occasion we 
 are at a loss to point out ; but we look to the wisdom of your 
 city, in conjunction with the other large commercial towns 
 on this continent, to take more immediately the lead in 
 these important matters, and to fix upon such expedients in 
 the regulation of trade as may be most productive of relief 
 to our suffering brethren of Boston, and the general estab 
 lishment of the rights of these Colonies; and you may rest 
 assured that, in every measure conducive to this grand con- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THIS REPUBLIC. 263 
 
 tinental object, you will always meet with our most hearty 
 concurrence. 
 
 "We are under great apprehensions for the people of 
 Boston, lest they may sink under the weight of their mis 
 fortunes. And at the same time that we highly approve of 
 the expediency of a Congress as proposed by several of the 
 Colonies, we think the trading part of the community 
 ought particularly to interfere ; for nothing but the most 
 speedy and efficacious measures can relieve them; and if, 
 after all, there should be found an unhappy necessity to reim 
 burse the India Company for that just punishment they re 
 ceived for their invidious attempts on our liberties, we trust 
 there is no inhabitant of these Colonies who feels and thinks 
 himself a freeman, but will cheerfully put his hand to his purse 
 and join in the general expense. Inclosed we transmit you 
 the proceedings of the inhabitants of the borough of Norfolk 
 and'town of Portsmouth, together with the letters and other 
 papers from Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, as also 
 copies of the resolutions and other proceedings of the mem 
 bers of our late House of Burgesses both before and after 
 their dissolution. We hope to be able to inform you more 
 particularly of the collected sense of the trade of this Colony 
 at the general meeting of the merchants next week at Will- 
 iamsburg, when we expect further despatches from the north 
 ward. We hope the favor of a free and full communica 
 tion of your sentiments on this important occasion, and 
 trust that your nourishing and respectable Province will 
 still continue their generous endeavors for the establishment 
 of the rights of the Colonies, that the opposition of all Amer 
 ica may be as extensive as the oppression. 
 
 "With the warmest attachment to the interests of the 
 Colonies, we are, gentlemen, most respectfully, your most 
 obedient humble servants, 
 
 THOMAS NEWTON, JUNR., JOHN GREENWOOD, 
 
 JOSEPH HUTCHINGS, ALEXANDER SKINNER, 
 
 PAUL LOYALL, WILLIAM HARVEY, 
 
 ALEXANDER LOVE, NIEL JAMIESON." 
 
 SAMUEL INGLIS, 
 
 Prince William (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders, merchants, and other in 
 habitants of the county of Prince William, and town of 
 Dumfries, in the Colony of Virginia, at the Court-house of 
 said county, on Monday the 6th day of June, in the year of 
 our Lord 1774, 
 
 " ' Resolved, and it is the unanimous opinion of this meet 
 ing, That no person ought to be taxed but by his own consent, 
 expressed either by himself or his representatives ; and that 
 therefore any act of Parliament levying a tax to be collected 
 in America, depriving the people of their property, or prohib- 
 
264 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 itingthem from trading with one another is subversive of our 
 natural rights and contrary to the first principles of the Con 
 stitution. 
 
 " * Resolved, That the city of Boston, in the Massachusetts 
 Bay, is now suffering in the common cause of American lib 
 erty, and on account of its opposition to an act of the Brit 
 ish legislature for imposing a duty upon the tea to be col 
 lected in America.' " 
 
 Woodstock (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 the county of Dunmore, held at the town of Woodstock, the 
 16th day of June, 1774, to consider the best mode to be 
 fallen upon to secure their liberties and properties ; and also 
 to prevent the dangerous tendency of [which] an act of Par 
 liament passed in the fourteenth year of his present Majesty's 
 reign, entitled, * An Act to Discontinue in Such Manner and 
 for Such Time as is Therein Mentioned, the Landing and Dis 
 charging, Lading or Shipping of Goods, Wares, and Mer 
 chandise, at the Town and Within the Harbor of Boston, in 
 the Province of the Massachusetts Bay, in North America,' 
 evidently has, to invade and deprive us of the same. 
 
 " ' Resolved, 1st. That we will always cheerfully pay due 
 submission to such acts of government as his Majesty has a 
 right by law to exercise over his subjects, as sovereign, to 
 the British dominions, and to such only. 
 
 u '2d. That it is the inherent right of British subjects to 
 be governed and taxed by representatives chosen by them 
 selves only; and that every act of the British Parliament 
 respecting the internal policy of North America is a dan 
 gerous and unconstitutional invasion of our rights and 
 privileges. 
 
 " * 3d. That the act of Parliament above mentioned is not 
 only itself repugnant to the fundamental laws of natural 
 justice in condemning persons, for supposed crime, unheard ; 
 but also a despotic exertion of unconstitutional power, cal 
 culated to enslave a free and loyal people. 
 
 " * 4th. That the enforcing the execution of the said act of 
 Parliament by a military power will have a necessary ten 
 dency to raise a civil war, thereby dissolving that union 
 which has so long happily subsisted between the mother- 
 country and her Colonies; and that we will most heartily 
 and unanimously concur with our suffering brethren of 
 Boston, and every other part of North America that may 
 be the immediate victims of tyranny, in promoting all 
 proper measures to avert such dreadful calamities, to pro 
 cure a redress of our grievances, and to secure our common 
 liberties. 
 
 " ' 5th. It is the unanimous opinion of this meeting that a 
 joint resolution of all the Colonies to stop all importations 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 265 
 
 from Great Britain, and expectations to it, till the said act 
 be repealed, will prove the salvation of North America and 
 her liberties; on the other hand, if they continue their im 
 ports and exports, there is the greatest reason to fear that 
 power and the most odious oppression will rise triumphant 
 over right, justice, social happiness, and freedom.' " 
 
 Westmoreland County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a respectable meeting of the freeholders and other in 
 habitants of the county of Westmoreland, assembled, on 
 due notice, at the Court-house of the said county, on Wed 
 nesday the 22d of June, 1774, 
 
 " k Eesplved, 1st. That to be taxed solely in our Provincial 
 Assemblies, by representatives freely chosen by the people, 
 is a right that British subjects in America are entitled to 
 from natural justice, from the English Constitution, from 
 charters, and from a confirmation of these by usage since 
 the first establishment of these Colonies. 
 
 " *2d. That an endeavor to enforce submission from one 
 Colony, to the payment of taxes not so imposed, is a danger 
 ous attack on the liberty and property or British America, 
 and renders it indispensably necessary that all should 
 firmly unite to resist the common danger. 
 
 " * 3d. It is the opinion of this meeting that the town of 
 Boston, in our sister-Colony of Massachusetts Bay, is now 
 suffering in the common cause of North America, by hav 
 ing its harbor blocked up, its commerce destroyed, and the 
 property of many of its inhabitants violently taken from 
 them, until they submit to taxes not imposed by their con 
 sent: and therefore this meeting resolve, 
 
 " ' 4th. That the inhabitants of this county will most cor 
 dially and firmly join with the other counties in this Colony, 
 and the other Colonies on this continent, or the majority of 
 them, after a short day, hereafter to be agreed on, to stop 
 all exports to Great Britain and the West Indies, and all 
 imports from thence, until as well the act of Parliament en 
 titled ' An Act to Discontinue in Such Manner and for Such 
 Time as are Therein Mentioned, the Landing and Discharg 
 ing, Lading and Shipping, of Goods, Wares, and Merchandise, 
 at the Town and Within the Harbor of Boston, in the Prov 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay, in North America, ' as the several 
 acts laying duties on America, for the purpose of raising a 
 revenue, and all the acts of the British legislature made 
 against our brothers of Massachusetts Bay, in consequence 
 of their just opposition to the said revenue acts, are re 
 pealed ; and it is the opinion of this meeting that such a non- 
 importing and non-exporting plan should be quickly entered 
 upon, as well on the evident principle of self-preservation, 
 as to relieve our suffering countrymen and fellow-subjects 
 in Boston and to restore between Great Britain and Amer- 
 
266 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ica that harmony so beneficial to the whole empire, and so 
 ardently desired by all America.' " 
 
 Spottsylvania County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 "We, the freeholders and inhabitants of the county of 
 Spottsylvania, being assembled on this 24th day of June, 
 1774, to advise and consult with our late representatives 
 (agreeable to their invitation) on the present state of British 
 America, and having taken under our most serious considera 
 tion the several acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, made 
 during the present reign, respecting America, particularly 
 one act wherein a duty on tea is made payable in America for 
 the puroose of raising a revenue, and three other acts of the 
 last session of the present Parliament respecting the Prov 
 ince of Massachusetts Bay, are of opinion : That the said sev 
 eral acts of Parliament are unconstitutional, arbitrary, and 
 unjust, manifestly calculated for the destruction of the 
 rights of America and the British Constitution in general, 
 and ought to be opposed by all well-wishers as well of the 
 mother-country as of the Colonies, whose interests are mu 
 tual, and ought ever to be considered as inseparable. 
 
 " Resolved further, That we owe no obedience to any act 
 of the British Parliament that is or shall be made respecting 
 the internal police of this Colony, and that we will oppose 
 any such acts with our lives and fortunes. 
 
 Resolved, That the said acts of the British Parliament re 
 specting the Province of the Massachusetts Bay and the 
 town of Boston, tending to enforce obedience to the aforesaid 
 unconstitutional act imposing a duty upon tea for raising a 
 revenue in America, ought to be considered as an attempt 
 against the rights and liberties of America in general, and 
 that the same ought to be opposed by the people of this Col 
 ony. 
 
 "Resolved, That the most effectual method of opposing 
 the said several acts of Parliament will be to break off all 
 commercial connection with Great Britain till the said acts 
 be repealed." 
 
 Richmond County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a respectable meeting of the freeholders and freemen 
 of the county of Richmond, Virginia, after due notice to at 
 tend at the Court-house of said county, on Wednesday the 
 29th of June, 1774, in order to give their sentiments to their 
 late representatives invited to meet in Williamsburg on the 
 first day of August next, to deliberate on the matters of the 
 utmost importance to this country, they after making choice 
 of the Reverend Isaac William Giberne as moderator, came 
 to the following resolutions : 
 
 "1st. That it is the undoubted right of the people of 
 British America to be taxed only by their respective Provin- 
 
THE BIRTH OF TITS REPUBLIC. 267 
 
 cial Assemblies, which right they claim from Charter, nat 
 ural justice, and constant usage ever since their first settle 
 ment in America ; and that an attempt to force one Colony 
 to pay tax imposed by the British Legislature where they 
 have not nor could have any representative, is a violent at 
 tack on their constitutional rights. 
 
 "3d. They do respect the Bostonians in their sister Col 
 ony of Massachusetts Bay as suffering in the common cause 
 of British America; and that the hostile attack now made 
 on them by the Parliament of Great Britain in blocking up 
 their harbor and violently taking away the property of 
 many individuals, by preventing them the use of their 
 wharfs, quays, etc., is an avowed intention to reduce all 
 America to a state of slavery. 
 
 " 3d. It is the opinion of this meeting that nothing will be 
 more conducive to prevent such oppressi9ns than imme 
 diately to stop all imports from Great Britain, and at a ;3hort 
 day hereafter to be fixed to stop all exports to Great Britain 
 and the West Indies until there is a total repeal of not only 
 the act called the Boston Port Bill, but also of all the several 
 acts of the British Parliament laying taxes on the Americans 
 for the purpose of raising a revenue, and those other acts 
 made against the rights of the people of Massachusetts Bay 
 on account of their virtuous opposition to the said revenue 
 acts." 
 
 Prince George County (Ta.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a general meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of 
 Prince George County, Virginia (in June, 1774), the follow 
 ing resolves were proposed and unanimously agreed to : 
 
 * ' Resolved, That we will at all times, whenever we are 
 called upon for that purpose, maintain and defend, at the 
 expense of our lives and fortunes, his Majesty's right and 
 title to the Crown of Great Britain and his dominions in 
 America, to whose royal person and government we profess 
 all due obedience and fidelity. 
 
 " Resolved, That the right to impose taxes or duties to be 
 paid by the inhabitants within this dominion, for any pur 
 pose whatever, is peculiar and essential to the General As 
 sembly, in whom the legislative authority of the Colony is 
 vested. 
 
 " Resolved, That every attempt to impose such taxes or 
 duties by any other authority is an arbitrary exertion of 
 power, and an infringement of the constitutional rights and 
 liberties of the Colony. 
 
 "Resolved, That the late cruel, unjust, and sanguinary 
 acts of Parliament to be executed by military force and 
 ships of war upon our sister Colony of the Massachusetts 
 Bay and town of Boston is a strong evidence of the corrupt 
 influence obtained by the British Ministry in Parliament, 
 
268 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 and a convincing proof of their fixed intention to deprive 
 the Colonies of their constitutional rights and liberties. 
 
 "Resolved, That the cause of the town of Boston is the 
 common cause of all the American Colonies." 
 
 James City County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders of James City County, on 
 the first of July, 1774, at the house of Mr. Isham Allen, in 
 order to consult with their late representatives what meas 
 ures were most necessary to ward off the impending evils 
 which seem to threaten all British America, those matters 
 being calmly and maturely entered into, the following re 
 solves were adopted : 
 
 "Resolved, That we will not import any article whatever 
 from Great Britain. 
 
 '* Resolved, That we will stop all exports to Great Britain 
 after such a day as shall be appointed by the general meet 
 ing on the first of August next. 
 
 "Resolved, That a subscription paper be handed about 
 among the people of James City, to raise money, corn, 
 wheat, or any other commodity which may be most agree 
 able to the subscribers, for the relief of the people of Boston." 
 
 Culpepper County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 Culpepper County, in Virginia, assembled on due notice at 
 the Court-house of the said county on Thursday, the 7th of 
 July, 1774, to consider the most effectual method to preserve 
 the rights and liberties of America, 
 
 " Henry Pendleton, Esq., Moderator, 
 
 "Resolved, That we will, whenever we are called upon 
 for that purpose, maintain and defend his Majesty's right 
 and title to the Crown of Great Britain, and all other his 
 dominions thereunto belonging, to whose royal person and 
 government we profess all due obedience and fidelity. 
 
 " Resolved, That the right to impose taxes or duties to be 
 paid by the inhabitants of this Colony, for any purpose 
 whatsoever, is peculiar and essential to the general Assem 
 bly, in whom the legislative authority is vested. 
 
 "Resolved, That every attempt to impose taxes or duties 
 by any other authority is an arbitrary exertion of power 
 and an infringement of the constitutional and just rights 
 and liberties of the Colony, and that we will at all times, at 
 the risk of our lives and fortunes, oppose any act imposing 
 such taxes or duties, unless we are legally represented ; and 
 that the act of the British Parliament imposing a duty on 
 tea to be paid by the inhabitants of the Colonies upon im 
 portation is evidently designed to fix on the Americans 
 those chains forged for them by a corrupt Ministry. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. \ 269 
 
 \ 
 
 "Resolved, That the late cruel and unjust acts of Parlia 
 ment, to be executed by force upon our sister Colony of the 
 Massachusetts Bay and town of Boston, is a convincing 
 proof of the unjust and corrupt influence obtained by the 
 British Ministry in Parliament, and a fixed determination 
 to deprive the Colonies of their constitutional and just rights 
 and liberties. 
 
 " Resolved, That the town of Boston is now suffering in 
 the common cause of the American Colonies." 
 
 Essex County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 Essex County, Virginia, at the Court-house thereof, on Satur 
 day, the 9th of July, 1774, seriously to consider the present 
 dangers which threaten ruin to American liberty, 
 
 "Mr. John Upshaw, Moderator, 
 
 " The following resolves were proposed and unanimously 
 agreed to : 
 
 " 1st. Resolved, That we will at all times and upon all oc 
 casions bear true and faithful allegiance to his Majesty King 
 George the Third, and that as freemen we always have been 
 and ever shall be willing constitutionally to give and grant 
 liberally our property for the support of his Crown and dig 
 nity and the preservation of on 1 " present state, but that we 
 can never consent to part wit^ it on any other terms. 
 
 "2d. Resolved, That the legislature of this Colony for the 
 purpose of internal taxation is distinct from that of Great 
 Britain, formed upon the principles of the British Constitu 
 tion, and equal in all respects to" the purposes of legislation 
 and taxation within this Colony. 
 
 U 4th. Resolved, That the town of Boston, in our sister- 
 Colony of Massachusetts Bay, is now suffering in the com 
 mon cause of North America for their just opposition to such 
 acts, and it is indispensably necessary that all the Colonies 
 should firmly unite in defence of our common rights. 
 
 " 5th. Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 an agreement to stop all exports to, and imports from, Great 
 Britain and the West Indies, firmly entered into and reli 
 giously complied with, will at all times prove a safe and in 
 fallible means of securing us against the evils of any uncon 
 stitutional and tyrannical acts of Parliament, and may be 
 adopted upon the principles of self-preservation, the great 
 law of nature." 
 
 Fauquier County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders of the county of Fauquier, 
 in Virginia, on the 9th of July, 1774, at the Court-house of 
 the said county, 
 
 " Mr. Wharton Ransdell, Moderator, 
 
270 THE ETRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " The following resolutions were unanimously agreed to: 
 
 "Resolved, That it is an undoubted right of British sub 
 jects, and without which freedom cannot exist, to be taxed 
 only by their own free consent, either personally given or 
 by their representatives legally assembled. 
 
 ''Resolved, That as the British subjects in America are 
 not, and from their situation cannot ever be, represented in 
 the British Parliament, any act of Parliament laying a tax 
 on them is subversive of their natural rights and contrary 
 to the first principles of our free Constitution. 
 
 "Resolved, That the act of Parliament laying a duty on 
 tea, etc., exported from Great Britain to these Colonies, for 
 the avowed purpose of raising a revenue in America, will, if 
 submitted to, fix a precedent whereby the Parliamentary 
 claim of taxing America may be established, arbitrary power 
 introduced, and the liberty of the British Colonies laid at 
 the feet of a despotic and execrable Ministry. 
 
 "Resolved, That any person, who, contrary to the gen 
 eral sense of the country expressed by their late representa 
 tives, shall purchase, vend, or make use of tea, till such time 
 as the actor Parliament laying a duty on that article for the 
 purpose of raising a revenue in America shall be repealed, 
 shall be deemed an enemy to American liberty and the com 
 mon rights of mankind, and ought to be publicly stigmatized 
 as such." 
 
 Nansemond County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a general meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of 
 the county of Nansemond, on the llth day of July, 1774, the 
 following resolutions were proposed and unanimously agreed 
 to: 
 
 "Resolved, That we will at all times, whenever we are 
 called upon for that purpose, maintain and defend at the 
 expense of our lives and fortunes his Majesty's right and 
 title to the Crown of Great Britain and his dominions in 
 America, to whose royal person and government we profess 
 all due obedience and fidelity. 
 
 " Resolved, That the right to impose taxes or duties to be 
 paid by the inhabitants within this Dominion for any such 
 purpose whatsoever, is peculiar and essential to the General 
 Assembly, in whom the legislative authority of the Colony 
 is invested. 
 
 "Resolved, That every attempt to impose such taxes or 
 duties by any other authority is an arbitrary exertion of 
 power and an infringement of the constitutional rights and 
 liberties of the Colony. 
 
 "Resolved, That to impose a tax or duty upon tea by the 
 British Parliament, in which the Commons of the North 
 American Colonies can have no representation, to be paid 
 upon importation by the inhabitants of the said Colonies, is 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 271 
 
 an act of power without right, is subversive of the liberties 
 of the said Colonies, deprives them of their property without 
 their consent, and thereby reduces them to a state of 
 slavery. 
 
 "Eesolved, That the late cruel, unjust, and sanguinary 
 acts of Parliament, to be executed by military force and 
 ships of war upon our sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay 
 and town of Boston, is a strong evidence of the corrupt in 
 fluence obtained by the British Ministry in Parliament, and 
 a convincing proof of their fixed intention to deprive the 
 Colonies of their constitutional rights and liberties. 
 
 "Eesolved, That the cause of the town of Boston is the 
 common cause of all the American Colonies. 
 
 "Eesolved, That a general association between all the 
 American Colonies not to import from Great Britain any 
 commodity whatsoever, ought to be entered into and not 
 dissolved until the just rights of the said Colonies are re 
 stored to them, and the cruel acts of the British Parliament 
 against Massachusetts Bay and town of Boston are re 
 pealed." 
 
 New-Kent County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of the 
 county of New Kent, at the Court-house of said county, on 
 Tuesday, the 12th day of July, 1774: 
 
 " Eesolved, That the inhabitants of the British Colonies in 
 America are entitled to all the rights, liberties, and privi 
 leges of free-born English subjects. 
 
 "Eesolved, That the right to impose taxes or duties, to be 
 paid by the inhabitants of this Dominion, for any purpose 
 whatever, is peculiar and essential to the General Assembly, 
 in whom the legislative authority of the Colony is placed, 
 and that taxation and representation are inseparable. 
 
 "Eesolved, That trial by a jury of the vicinage is the 
 glory of the English law, and the best security for the life, 
 liberty, and property of the subject, and is the undoubted 
 birthright of all his Majesty's free-born American subjects. 
 
 "Eesolved, That the several acts and resolutions of the 
 Parliament of Great Britain made during his present Ma 
 jesty's reign, imposing taxes on the inhabitants of America 
 for the express purpose of raising a revenue, and for alter 
 ing the nature and punishment of offences committed in 
 America, or the method of trial of such offences, are uncon 
 stitutional, arbitrary, and unjust, and destructive of the 
 rights of America ; and that we are not bound to yield 
 obedience to any such acts. 
 
 "Eesolved, That the late cruel, unjust, and sanguinary 
 acts of Parliament, to be executed, by military force and ships 
 of war, upon our sister-Colony of Massachusetts Bay and 
 town of Boston, is a strong evidence of the corrupt influence 
 
272 THE BIHTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 obtained by the British Ministry in Parliament, and a con 
 vincing proof of their fixed intention to deprive the Colonies 
 of their Constitutional rights and liberties. 
 
 "Resolved, That the cause of the town of Boston is the 
 common cause of all American Colonies. 
 
 "Resolved, That we do heartily approve of the resolutions 
 and proceedings of our several late Assemblies for asserting 
 ^and supporting the just rights and liberties of America, from 
 their patriotic resolves in 1765 to this time. 
 
 "Resolved, That the most effectual method of opposing 
 the said several acts of Parliament will be to break off all 
 commercial intercourse with Great Britain until the said 
 acts shall be repealed." 
 
 Chesterfield County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 the county of Chesterfield, at the Court-house of said county, 
 on Thursday, the 14th of July, 1774, to take into considera 
 tion the present very alarming situation of this Colony, 
 
 4 'The Reverend Archibald McRobert being unanimously 
 chosen moderator, 
 
 " 4 Resolved, That the sole right of making laws for the 
 government of this his Majesty's ancient Colony and 
 dominion of Virginia, and for raising and levying taxes on 
 the inhabitants thereof, ought to be and is vested in the 
 General Assembly of the said Colony, and cannot be executed 
 by any other power without danger to our liberties, subject, 
 nevertheless, as of custom has been, to his JMCajesty's ap 
 probation. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That every other of his Majesty's dominions 
 in America ought to be, and of right is, entitled to the same 
 privileges as this Colony. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the act of the British Parliament for de 
 priving the inhabitants of the town of Boston, in our sister- 
 Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, of their lawful trade, as 
 also the bills brought into the House of Commons of Great 
 Britain, one of which bills is entitled ' ' A bill for the im 
 partial administration of justice in the cases of persons 
 questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the 
 law, or for the suppression of riots or tumults in the Province 
 of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England," are unjust, 
 arbitrary, and unconstitutional ; and although levelled par 
 ticularly against one of our first Colonies, yet ought to be 
 resented with the same indignation by this, and every 
 Colony, as if all of them were included in the said act and 
 bills.'" 
 
 Gloucester County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a general and full meeting of the inhabitants of the 
 county of Gloucester, at the Court, house of the said county, 
 after due notice, on Thursday, July 14, 1774, 
 
TEE BIRTH OF TEE REPUBLIC. . 273 
 
 "James Hubbard, Esq., judge of the said county court, 
 being unanimously chosen moderator, 
 
 " They came to the following resolves: 
 
 " 'Resolved, That we will ever maintain and defend his 
 Majesty's right and title to the Crown of Great Britain and 
 his dominions in America, to whose royal person we profess 
 the firmest attachment. 
 
 * ' ' Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that tax 
 ation and representation are inseparable ; and as we are not, 
 and, from the nature of things, cannot be, represented in the 
 British Parliament, every attempt of that body to impose 
 internal taxes on America is arbitrary, unconstitutional, and 
 oppressive. 
 
 "'Resolved, That the act for blocking up the harbor of 
 Boston, and other purposes therein mentioned, is cruel and 
 unjust, and a convincing proof of the fixed intention of Par 
 liament to deprive America of their Constitutional rights 
 and liberties. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the cause of Boston is the common cause 
 of all America, and that we will firmly unite with the other 
 counties in this Colony, and the other Colonies on this con 
 tinent, in every measure that may be thought necessary on 
 this alarming occasion. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That we do most heartily concur with our late 
 representatives in their resolve of the total disuse of tea, 
 and do further resolve against the use of any East India 
 commodity whatsoever, except saltpetre.' " 
 
 Caroline County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a general meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants 
 of the county of Caroline, at the Court-house, on Thursday, 
 the 14th day of July, 1774, assembled for the purpose of de 
 liberating and giving their sentiments upon the present state 
 of affairs in America, and what ought to be done at this most 
 alarming crisis, the following points were agitated and* 
 agreed to as the opinion of this county : 
 
 " ' That for Americans to be exempted from every kind of 
 taxation except by the consent of their own representatives 
 in their several Provincial Assemblies, to be heard in their 
 defence when accused of crimes and tried by their peers, are 
 rights they derive from natural justice, the British Constitu 
 tion (to which they are equally entitled with their fellow- 
 subjects in Great Britain), and from constant usage, so long 
 as the true principles of the Constitution have been suffered 
 to direct the public councils. 
 
 " ' That tea, being the subject of the tax complained of, and 
 the East India Company having acted ungenerously in send 
 ing great quantities of it to America to fix the precedent of 
 taxation, though desired to forbear, we most cordially con 
 cur with the late representatives of this Colony to disuse 
 
274 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tea, and not to purchase any East India commodities from 
 henceforth, until the just rights of America be restored.' " 
 
 Henrico County (Fa.) Instructions to their Delegates. 
 
 4 'At a meeting of the loyal and patriotic people of the 
 county of Henrico, in Virginia, at the Court-house on the 
 15th of July, 1774, the following address to their late worthy 
 representatives was agreed on and signed by a great number 
 of freeholders : 
 " ' To Richard Adams and Samite/ Duval, Esqrs. : 
 
 " ' We, the subscribers, freeholders of the county of Hen 
 rico, assembled for the purpose of deliberating on the present 
 posture of public affairs, return you our thanks for the part 
 you acted in the late Assembly as our Burgesses. 
 
 " * When we reflect on the alarming and critical situation of 
 things respecting the mother-country, our minds are filled 
 with the most anxious concern. 
 
 " ' The acts of the British Parliament made for punishing 
 the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay are repugnant to the 
 first principles of justice, and, if they are suffered to have a 
 full operation, will not only crush our sister-Colony, and in 
 volve the guilty and the innocent in one common ruin, but 
 will stand as a fatal precedent to future times, for adopting 
 the same fatal measures towards this and every other Brit 
 ish Colony. We have therefore passed this determination, 
 and shall conduct ourselves conformably, that the cause of 
 the Colon v of Massachusetts Bay in general, and the town 
 of Boston in particular, is the cause of this and every Colony 
 in North America. 
 
 " ' We hope, gentlemen, that the exceeding importance of 
 the present crisis will plead our excuse for giving you our 
 sentiments touching that conduct which we wish you to 
 observe in the ensuing Congress on the first day of August 
 next, at Williamsburg, to which we depute you to act on 
 our behalf.'" 
 
 Middlesex County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " After the freeholders of the county of Middlesex had pro 
 ceeded in the most decent and orderly manner to the elec 
 tion of representatives for the county on the 15th of July 
 (1774), they were summoned to meet at the Court-house, to 
 take into their consideration the present state of the Col 
 ony, and America in general; and upon mature deliberation, 
 many of the most respectable freeholders and inhabitants of 
 the county being present, they entered into the following 
 resolutions : 
 
 ' ' ' Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that all 
 allegiance is due to the person and character of the King of 
 Great Britain; and that we acknowledge a Constitutional 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 275 
 
 dependence on the Parliament, conceiving it not incompati 
 ble with the condition of Colonists to submit to commercial 
 regulations in consequence of the protection that is given to 
 our trade by the superintendence of the mother-country ; 
 but we apprehend there is a clear distinction between regu 
 lations of trade and taxation, and in no degree admit the 
 latter under the colourable denomination of the former, well 
 knowing that the nature of things is not alterable by the 
 changes of terms. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That representation and taxation are insepar 
 ably connected by the essential principles of the British Con 
 stitution ; and that every attempt of superior power to levy 
 money on the British Americans, otherwise than by the con 
 sent of their representatives delivered in Assembly, is an in 
 fraction of that Constitution, a violation of the rights, of 
 freemen, and a subversion of property. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the act imposing a duty on tea, for the 
 avowed purpose of a revenue, is a tax; and that every oppo 
 sition should be expressed that may move to the repeal of 
 the said act, or that may render its operation inefficacious. 
 
 " * Resolved, That the late act of Parliament suspending 
 the trade and shutting up the port of the town of Boston is 
 an alarming circumstance to the Colonies in general, inas 
 much as it marks out a settled plan in the British Parlia 
 ment to enforce submission to their power of taxation.' " 
 
 ';>'. Dinwiddie County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the county of 
 Dinwiddie, at the Court-house, on Friday, the 15th of July, 
 1774: 
 
 " * It was declared,, as the result of our opinion upon these 
 violent measures, that we do protest against every law or 
 act of the British legislature that shall authorize the impo 
 sition of taxes on the Americans without their consent, 
 which cannot be had in Parliament, as they have no repre 
 sentation, nor ought to have, in that body, from local cir- 
 cumstsnces and other considerations ; and because it is the 
 proper, exclusive, and indefeasible right of every free state, 
 especially under the British form of government, to be 
 taxed only by themselves or their representatives. 
 
 4 ' * And whereas, A convention of the late representatives of 
 this Colony was judged expedient, and was appointed after 
 their dissolution to be held the first day of August next at 
 Williamsburg, there to consult upon the most plausible 
 means of avoiding the dangerous precedents of acts of pow 
 er now intended to be established against us ; to promote 
 on our part this laudable design, we do appoint our late rep 
 resentatives, Robert Boiling and John Banister, Esquires, 
 deputies to act for us on this important occasion, recom 
 mending it to them to concert with the deputies from the 
 
276 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 other counties a firm and prudent plan of opposition to 
 every invasion of our rights, and particularly to those acts 
 of Parliament we have pointed out. Confiding in their vigi- 
 lence and attention, we wish them, in their endeavors, the 
 success that so good a cause merits.' " 
 
 Surry County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 * ' At a meeting of a respectable bodj of the freeholders and 
 other inhabitants of the county of Surry, on due notice, at 
 the Court-house of the said county, the 16th day of July, 
 1774, 
 
 " Allen Cocke, Esqur., moderator, 
 
 " The proceedings and regulations of the late members of 
 the House of Burgesses, since their dissolution, respecting 
 the alarming situation of North America, were seriously de 
 liberated upon, and the following resolves unanimously 
 agreed to : 
 
 " '1st. Resolved, That we acknowledge all due obedience 
 to his present Majesty, and will defend him with our lives 
 and fortunes. 
 
 " ' 2d. Resolved, That as British subjects who know the in 
 valuable blessings of their birthright, we will not submit to 
 the imposition of any taxes or duties to be paid by the in 
 habitants within this dominion by any other power than the 
 General Assembly, duly elected; and that in them, and 
 them only, is the Constitutional right of taxation, vested. 
 
 " * 3d. Resolved, That we will cheerfuly join with our suf 
 fering brethren of America in the firmest bonds of union 
 against exporting or importing any commodities to or from 
 Great Britain till our just and legal rights are restored. 
 
 " ' 4th. Resolved, That the cause of the town of Boston is 
 the common cause of all British America.' " 
 
 York County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " On Monday, the 18th of July (1774), the freeholders and 
 other inhabitants of York county, Virginia, met, according 
 to public notice, at the Court-house, in York, to consider 
 what was to be done in the present distressed and alarming 
 situation of affairs throughout the British Colonies in 
 America. 
 
 " Thomas Nelson, Junr., Esquire, moderator. 
 
 " ' It was then unanimously resolved, That as the constitu 
 tional Assemblies of Virginia have been prevented from ex 
 ercising their right of providing for the security of the lib 
 erties of the people, that right again reverts to the people as 
 the fountain from whence all power and legislation flow; a 
 right coeval with human nature, and which they claim from 
 the eternal and immutable laws of nature's God. 
 
 " ' Resolved also r That Dudley Digges and Thomas Nelson, 
 
THE BIRTH OF Tfffl REPUBLIC. 277 
 
 Jr., Esqrs., do attend the city of Williamsburg on the first 
 day of August next, in a general convention from the other 
 counties in Virginia, there to exert their utmost abilities to 
 put a stop to that growing system of Ministerial despotism 
 which has so long threatened the destruction of America. 
 And that you, our Delegates, may be made acquainted with 
 the sentiments of the people of this county, it is their opin 
 ion that you proceed to choose proper persons to represent 
 the Colony of Virginia in a general Congress of America, to 
 meet at such time and place as may be hereafter agreed on. 
 
 " 'And, further, the people of this county are of opinion 
 that the act of the British Parliament laying a duty on tea 
 for the purpose of raising a revenue to be collected in Amer- 
 ca, without her consent, is an illegal tax. 
 
 " 'That the act which blocks up the port of Boston destroys 
 her trade and subjects her inhabitants to the worst of in 
 conveniences and hardships, is oppressive, and unconstitu 
 tional; that the people of Boston incurred the displeasure 
 of Parliament by a just defence of their liberties and prop 
 erties ; and that the cause for which they suffer is the gen 
 eral cause of every British Colony in America. 
 
 "'That the bill commonly called the Murdering Bill, if 
 passed into an act, is not only unconstitutional, but shocking 
 to human nature ; that its evident design is to privilege the 
 soldiers to commit, with impunity, the most cruel outrages 
 even against the lives of Americans, whilst it cuts off from 
 an accused American every hope of being acquitted. 
 
 " * That the most effectual means of obtaining a speedy re 
 dress of American grievances is to put a stop to imports 
 from Great Britain, with as few exceptions as possible, until 
 the said oppressive acts be repealed and American rights 
 established ; and that what relates to exports be left to the 
 determination of the convention in August.' " 
 
 Fairfax County ("Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a general meeting of the freeholders and other inhab 
 itants of the county of Fairfax, as the Court-house, in the 
 town of Alexandria, on Monday, the IStfc. day of July, 1774, 
 
 '"George Washington, Esq., chairman ; 
 
 " Robert Harrison, Gentleman, clerk, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That tin's Colony and dominion of Virginia 
 cannot be considered as a conquered country, and, if it was, 
 that the present inhabitants are the descendents, not of the 
 conquered, but of the conquerors. 
 
 " k That the same was not settled at the national expense of 
 England, but at the private expense of the adventurers, pur 
 ancestors, by solemn compact with, and under the auspices 
 and protection of, the British Crown, upon which we are in 
 every respect as dependent as the people of Great Britain, 
 and in the same manner subject to all his Majesty's just, Je- 
 
278 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 gal, and constitutional prerogatives : that our ancestors, when 
 they left their native land and settled in America, brought 
 with them, even if the same had not been confirmed by char 
 ters, the civil Constitution and form of government of the 
 country they came from, and were, by the laws of Nature 
 and Nations, entitled to all its privileges, immunities, and 
 advantages which have descended to us, their posterity, and 
 ought of right to be as fully enjoyed as if we had still con 
 tinued within the realm of England. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the most important and valuable part of 
 the British Constitution, upon which its very existence de 
 pends, is the fundamental principle of the people's being gov 
 erned by no laws to which they have not given their consent 
 by representatives freely chosen by themselves, who are 
 affected by the laws they enact equally with their constit 
 uents, to whom they are accountable and whose burthens 
 they share, in which consists the safety and happiness of the 
 community'; for if this part of the Constitution was taken 
 away or materially altered, the government must degenerate 
 either into an absolute despotic monarchy or a tyrannical 
 aristocracy, and the freedom of the people be annihilated. 
 
 " * Resolved, That taxation and representation are, in their 
 nature, inseparable ; that the right of withholding or of 
 giving and granting their own money is the only effectual 
 security to a free people against the encroachments of des 
 potism and tyranny ; and whenever they yield the one, they 
 must quickly fall a prey to the other. 
 
 " 4 Resolved, That there is a premeditated design and system 
 formed and pursued by the British Ministry to introduce an 
 arbitrary government into his Majesty's American domin 
 ions ; to which end they are artfully prejudicing our sover 
 eign and inflaming the minds of our fellow-subjects in Great 
 Britain by propagating the most malevolent falsehoods, par 
 ticularly that there is an intention in the American Colonies 
 to set up for independent states, endeavoring at the same 
 time by various acts of violence and oppression, by sudden 
 and repeated dissolutions of our assemblies, whenever they 
 presume to examine the illegality of Ministerial mandates 
 or deliberate on the violated rights of their constituents, 
 and by breaking in upon the American charters to reduce 
 us to a state of desperation, and dissolve the original com 
 pact by which our ancestors bound themselves and their 
 posterity to remain dependent upon the Crown, which 
 measures, unless effectually counteracted, will end in the ruin 
 of both Great Britain and her Colonies. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That we cordially join with our friends and 
 brethren of this and the other Colonies in such measures as 
 shall be judged most effectual for procuring a redress of our 
 grievances ; and that upon obtaining such redress, if the 
 destruction of the tea at Boston be regarded as an invasion 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 of private property, we shall be willing to contribute towards 
 paying the East India Company the value. But as we con 
 sider the said company as the tools and implements of op 
 pression in the hands of government, and the cause of the 
 present distress, it is the opinion of this meeting that the 
 people of these Colonies should forbear any further dealings 
 with them by refusing to purchase their merchandise until 
 that peace, safety, and good order which they have dis 
 turbed be perfectly restored ; and that all tea now in this 
 Colony, or which shall be imported into it, shipped before the 
 first day of September next,shouid be deposited in some store 
 house to be appointed by the respective committees of each 
 county, until a sufficient sum or money be raised by sub 
 scription to reimburse the owners the value, and then to be 
 publicly burnt and destroyed ; and if the same is not paid 
 for and destroyed as aforesaid, that it remain in the custody 
 of the said committees, at the risk of the owners, until the 
 act of Parliament imposing a duty upon tea, for raising a 
 revenue in America, be repealed, and immediately after 
 wards be delivered unto the several proprietors thereof, their 
 agents or attorneys. 
 
 " * Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting, if Amer 
 ican grievances be not redressed before the first day of Nov 
 ember, 1775, that all exports of produce from the several 
 Colonies to Great Britain should cease : and to carry the 
 said resolution into execution more effectually, that we will 
 not plant or cultivate any tobacco after the crop now grow 
 ing, provided the same measure shall be adopted by the 
 other Colonies on this continent, as well those who have 
 heretofore made tobacco, as those who have not. 
 
 ' ' ' And it is our opinion also, if the Congress of deputies from 
 the several Colonies shall adopt the measure of non-exporta 
 tion to Great Britain, as the people will be thereby disabled 
 from paying their debts, that no judgments should be ren 
 dered by the courts in the said Colonies for any debt after 
 information of the said measures being determined upon. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That George Washington, Esq., and Charles 
 Broadwater, Gentleman, lately elected our representatives 
 to serve in the General Assembly, attend the convention at 
 William sburg on the first day of August next, and present 
 these resolves as the sense of the people of this county upon 
 the measures proper to be taken in the present alarming and 
 dangerous situation in America.' " 
 
 Stafford County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 u At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 the county of Stafford, July, 1774, the following address was 
 agreed to be presented : 
 
280 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " To John Alexander and Charles Carter, EsqrK. : 
 
 "GENTLEMEN : You are chosen to convey the sentiments 
 of the freeholders and inhabitants of this county, to a meet 
 ing of the agents from every county in the Colony, to be 
 held at William sburg on the 1st day of August. Permit us 
 on this occasion to recommend to you a conduct decent, 
 though spirited, animated, yet prudent. 
 
 "Resolved, That an exemption from Parliamentary taxa 
 tion is the clear and undoubted right of the American Col 
 onies ; that this right hath been uniformly claimed and 
 allowed by the King and Parliament of Great Britain from 
 the first settlement of America, and that an attempt to de 
 prive them of this right is both contrary to the laws and 
 Constitution of England, and would reduce the Americans to 
 a slavery the most deplorable and ignominious. 
 
 " Resolved, That to surrender the inestimable and unques 
 tioned right, which the people of America have, to be taxed 
 by their representatives only, would be a total departure from 
 the dignity of human nature, and would argue such a base 
 ness or soul as must render them unworthy of the name of 
 British subjects. 
 
 "Resolved, That every encroachment made by the British 
 Parliament on the rights of any one of his Majesty's Colonies 
 or plantations in America ought to be looked upon as an 
 infringement upon the just rights and inherent privileges of 
 the whole. 
 
 "Resolved, That the only sure and effectual measure to 
 preserve America and disarm the hand of oppression will 
 be to put an entire and immediate stop to all intercourse of 
 trade with Great Britain and the West Indies, and also to 
 the exportation of wheat, flour, provisions, and lumber to any 
 part of Europe." 
 
 Elizabeth City County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 the county of Elizabeth City, and town of Hampton, as 
 sembled at the Court-house, the 25th day of July, 1774, to 
 consider of instructions to our late members, or to those 
 persons who shall be chosen our representatives at the ensu 
 ing election ; 
 
 "Henry King, Esq., chosen moderator; 
 
 " Mr. Robert Bright, clerk, 
 
 "The following resolves were agreed to : 
 
 " * 1st. That the people of this county and town are strongly 
 attached, from principles and education, to his present Ma 
 jesty, King George the Third, and his family ; and they will 
 with their lives and fortunes stand by and defend his sacred 
 person, Crown, and dignity. 
 
 " * Resolved, That the representatives of this Colony have, 
 
THE BIHTII OF THE REPUBLIC. 281 
 
 and ever ought to have, the sole right of taxing the inhabi 
 tants of this Colony ; and that the assuming of such a power 
 by the present or any other Parliament of Great Britain 
 should ever be considered as a strong proof of that despotic 
 tyranny which 89 strongly marks the present administra 
 tion, and which dictated those late cruel and oppressive acts 
 depriving the good people of the Massachusetts Bay of their 
 dearest and most invaluable rights. 
 
 "'Resolved, That if a non-importation and -exportation 
 agreement should be thought necessary, that our members 
 be directed to agree thereto. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that a non 
 importation and -exportation agreement is necessary. 
 
 "Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that any 
 merchant or dealer who advances the price of his goods 
 upon a non-importation agreement ought to be deemed an 
 enemy to his country ; and we do most solemnly promise to 
 consider him as such, and to withhold alUcommercial inter 
 course with him. 
 
 "Resolved, That this meeting highly approve of the glow 
 ing zeal of the sister-Colonies upon this trying occasion, and 
 heartily sympathize with their persecuted brethren and fel 
 low-subjects, the people of Boston. 
 
 "Resolved, That a subscription for the relief of the un 
 happy poor of Boston ought to be encouraged by all char 
 itable and humane people, and that the moderator be di 
 rected to solicit contributions for that purpose." 
 
 Albemarle County (Va.} Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders of the county of Albe 
 marle, assembled in their collective body at the Court-house 
 of the said county on the 26th of July, 1774 : 
 
 " * Resolved, That the inhabitants of the several Colonies of 
 British America are subject to the laws which they adopted 
 at their first settlement, and to such others as have since 
 been made by their respective legislatures, duly constituted 
 and appointed with their own consent. That no other legis 
 lature whatever can rightfully exercise authority over them ; 
 and that these privileges they hold as the- common rights of 
 mankind, confirmed by the political constitutions they have 
 respectively assumed, and also by several charters of com 
 pact from the Crown. 
 
 ' ' Resolved, That these their natural and legal rights have 
 in frequent instances been invaded by the Parliament of 
 Great Britain, and particularly were they so by an act lately 
 passed to take away the trade of the inhabitants of the town 
 of Boston, in the Province of Massachusetts Bay; that all 
 such assumptions of unlawful power are dangerous to the 
 rights of the British empire in general, and should be con 
 sidered as its common cause; and that^we will ever be ready 
 
282 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 to join with our fellow-subjects in every part of the same in 
 executing all those rightful powers which God has given us 
 for the re-establishing and guaranteeing such their Constitu 
 tion and rights when, where, and by whomsoever invaded. 
 " ' It is the opinion of this meeting that the most eligible 
 means of effecting these purposes will be to put an imme 
 diate stop to all imports from Great Britain (cotton, osna- 
 brigs, striped duffil, medicines, gunpowder, lead, books, and 
 printed papers, the necessary tools and implements for the 
 handicraft arts and manufactures excepted for a limited 
 term) and to all exports thereto after the 1st day of October, 
 which shall be in the year of our Lord 1775; and imme 
 diately to discontinue all commercial intercourse with every 
 part of the British empire which, shall not in like manner 
 break off their commerce with Great Britain. It is the 
 opinion of this meeting that we immediately cease to import 
 all commodities from every part of the world which are sub 
 jected by the British Parliament to the payment of duties 
 in America.' " 
 
 AccomacJc County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of a very respectable body of the freehold 
 ers and other inhabitants of the county of Accomack, at the 
 Court-house, July 27, 1774, 
 
 " James Henry, Esq., in the chair, 
 
 "The meeting, taking into their serious consideration the 
 present critical and alarming condition of this country re 
 specting her present disputes with Great Britain, do unani 
 mously resolve as follows : 
 
 " ' 1st. That we do owe and will pay due allegiance to his 
 Majesty King George the Third. 
 
 " I 2d. That all his Majesty's subjects in America are by 
 birthright entitled to all the rights and immunities of Brit 
 ish-born subjects, one of which, and of the greatest import 
 ance, is that no tax, aid, tallage, or other imposition shall 
 be laid upon them but by their own consent by their repre 
 sentatives. 
 
 " ' 3d. That the town of Boston in our sister-Colony is now 
 suffering in the common cause of American liberty. 
 
 " '4th. That the powers claimed by the British Parliament, 
 and now carrying into execution against the town of Boston, 
 are fundamentally wrong, and cannot be admitted without 
 the utter destruction of American liberty, and are intended 
 to operate equally against the rights and liberties of the 
 other Colonies. 
 
 "'5th. That the inhabitants of this county, confiding in 
 the prudence and abilit?^ of their representatives who are to 
 meet their brethren at Williamsburg on the 1st day of August 
 next, will cheerfully submit to any measures which may be 
 concluded upon at the said general meeting, as best to be 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 283 
 
 adopted for restoring harmony between the mother-country 
 and her Colonies. 
 
 " * Ordered, That these resolves be forthwith printed.' 
 
 "JOHN POWELL, Clerk." 
 
 Princess Anne County (Va.) Resolutions. 
 
 11 At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 the county of Princess Anne, on due notice given by one of 
 the late representatives, held at the Court-house of the said 
 county on Wednesday, the 27th day of July, 1774, and they, 
 after choosing, 
 
 "Anthony Lawson, Esq., moderator, came to the follow 
 ing resolutions : 
 
 ' Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that it is 
 an absolute right, inherent in every British American sub 
 ject, to have and enjoy such freedoms and privileges as be 
 long to the free people of England ; and that he cannot be 
 taxed but by his own consent or representative. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 every attempt to impose taxes by any other authority is a 
 tyrannical exertion of power and a violation of the Constitu 
 tional and just rights and liberties of the subject; and that 
 the acts for blocking up the harbor of Boston, for altering 
 the chartered Constitution of the Massachusetts Bay, and 
 for the suppression of riots and tumults are cruel and op 
 pressive invasions of the natural rights of the people of the 
 said Province, as men, and of their Constitutional rights as 
 English subjects. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the town of Boston and the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay are now suffering in the common cause of 
 America, as the said acts would lay a foundation for the 
 utter destruction of the rights and liberties of the subjects 
 of British America. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That our burgesses be hereby instructed to 
 use their utmost endeavors at the ensuing Congress at Wil- 
 liamsburg to procure a general association for stopping all 
 importation from and exportation to Great Britain, except 
 such articles as shall there be agreed upon, as the most 
 effectual means to obtain redress ; the non-importation and 
 non-exportation to take place on such future day as may be 
 agreed on by the general Congress of Deputies from the sev 
 eral Colonies. 
 
 "'Resolved, That our burgesses be instructed to vote 
 against every motion or proposal for clogging the usual im 
 ports from and exports to the West Indies. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That our burgesses be instructed to oppose 
 the importation of slaves and convicts as injurious to this 
 Colony, by preventing the population of it by freemen and 
 useful manufacturers.' " 
 
284 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Buckingham County (Fa.) Resolutions. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of 
 the county of Buckingham, at the Court-house, the 28th of 
 July, 1774, they took under their consideration the truly 
 alarming state of the several British Colonies from sundry 
 acts of Parliament, which, if carried into execution, must 
 reduce the whole to an abject state of slavery ; at which time 
 they came to the following resolutions: 
 
 4 'Resolved, That we will, at the risk of our lives and 
 fortunes, defend his Majesty's right and title to the Crown 
 of Great Britain and his American dominions, against all 
 and every power whatsoever ; and that we do acknowledge 
 and profess all due obedience to him. 
 
 4 'Resolved, That we will not pay any tax that is or may 
 be laid by the Parliament of Great Britain for the purpose 
 of raising a revenue in America ; our own legislature, with 
 the consent of his Majesty, being one legally vested with a 
 power of laying taxes on the inhabitants of this Colony. 
 
 "Resolved, That the act of Parliament for blocking up the 
 harbor of Boston ; also one other act for carrying persons to 
 Great Britain or elsewhere to be tried for offences ; as also 
 the act for depriving our sister-Colony of Massachusetts 
 Bay of their Charter are unjust, arbitrary, and unconstitu 
 tional ; and that we consider an attack on the liberties of 
 one of our sister-Colonies as an attack on the whole of Brit 
 ish America." 
 
 Augusta County (Fa.) Resolutions 
 
 " of February 1775. 
 
 "After due notice given to the freeholders of Augusta 
 county, to meet in Staunton for the purpose of electing 
 Delegates to represent them in Colony convention at the 
 town of Richmond on the 20th day of March (1775), the free 
 holders of said county thought proper to refer the choice of 
 their Delegates to the judgment of the committee, who, thus 
 authorized by the general voice of the people, met at the 
 Court-house on the 22d day of February and unanimously 
 chose Mr. Thomas Lewis and Captain Samuel McDowell to 
 represent them in the ensuing convention. Instructions 
 were then ordered to be drawn up by the Reverend Alexan 
 der Balmain, Mr. Sampson Matthews, Captain Alexander 
 McClenachan, Mr. Michael Bowyer, Mr. William Lewis, and 
 Captain George Matthews, or any of them, and delivered to 
 the delegates then chosen ; which are as follows : 
 To Mr. Thomas Lewis and Captain Samuel McDowell : 
 
 " The committee of Augusta county, pursuant to the trust 
 reposed in them by the freeholders of the same, have chosen 
 you to represent them in a Colony convention proposed to 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 285 
 
 be held in Eichmond on the 20th of March instant. They 
 desire that you may consider the people of Augusta county 
 as impressed with just sentiments of loyalty and allegiance 
 to his Majesty King George, whose title to the imperial 
 Crown of Great Britain rests on no other foundation than 
 the liberty, and whose glory is imseparable fronl the happi 
 ness, of all his subjects. We have also a respect for the par 
 ent-state, which respect is founded on religion, on law, and 
 the genuine principles of the Constitution. On these prin 
 ciples do we earnestly desire to see harmony and a good 
 understanding restored between Great Britain and Amer 
 ica. Many of us and our forefathers left their native land, 
 and explored this once savage wilderness, to enjoy the free 
 exercise of the rights of conscience and of human nature. 
 These rights we are fully resolved, with our lives and fort 
 unes, inviolably to preserve; nor will we surrender such 
 inestimable blessings, the purchase of toil and danger to any 
 Ministry, to any Parliament, or any body of men upon 
 earth by whom we are not represented and in whose deci 
 sions therefore we have no voice." 
 
 Virginia Convention. 
 
 At a very full meeting of Delegates from the different 
 counties in the Colony and dominion of Virginia, begun in 
 Williarasburg the first day of August, in the year of our 
 Lord 1774, and continued by several adjournments to Sat 
 urday the 6th of the same month, the following association 
 was unanimously resolved upon and agreed to : 
 
 u 1st. We do hereby resolve and declare that we will not 
 either directly or indirectly, after the first day of November 
 next, import from Great Britain any goods, wares, or mer 
 chandise whatever, medicines excepted; nor will we, after 
 that date, import any British manufactures either from the 
 West Indies or any other place ; nor any articles whatever 
 which we shall know or have reason to believe was brought 
 into such countries from Great Britain; nor will we pur 
 chase any such articles so imported of any person or per 
 sons whatsoever, except such as are now in the country, or 
 such as may arrive on or before the first day of November 
 in consequence of orders already given, and which cannot 
 now be countermanded in time. 
 
 "2d. We will neither ourselves import, or purchase any 
 slave or slaves imported by any other person, after the first 
 day of November next, either from Africa, the West Indies, 
 or any other place. 
 
 "3d. Considering the article of tea as the detestable in 
 strument which laid the foundation of the present sufferings 
 of our distressed friends in the town of Boston, we view it 
 with horror; and therefore resolve that we will not from 
 this day either import tea of any kind whatever, nor will 
 
286 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 we use or suffer even such of it as is now on hand, to be used 
 in any of our families. 
 
 4i 4th. If the inhabitants of the town of Boston, or any 
 other Colony, should by violence or dire necessity be com 
 pelled to pay the East India Company for destroying any 
 tea which they have lately by their agents unjustly at 
 tempted to force into the Colonies, we will not directly or 
 indirectly import or purchase any British East India com 
 modity whatever till the company, or some other person on 
 their behalf, shall refund and fully restore to the owners 
 such sum or sums of money as may be extorted. 
 
 " 5th. We do resolve that, unless American grievances are 
 redressed before the 10th day of August, 1775, we will not 
 after that day directly or indirectly export tobaccco or any 
 other articles whatever to Great Britain ; nor will we sell 
 any such articles as we think can be exported to Great 
 Britain, with a prospect of gain, to anv person or persons 
 whatsoever, with a design of putting it into his or their 
 power to export the same to Great Britain either on our 
 own, his, or their account. And that this resolution may 
 be the more effectually carried into execution, we do hereby 
 recommend it to the inhabitants of this Colony to refrain 
 from the cultivation of tobacco as much as conveniently 
 may be; and in lieu thereof, that they will, as we resolve 
 to do, apply their attention and industry to the cultivation 
 of all such articles as may form a proper basis for manufac 
 tures of all sorts which we will endeavor to encourage 
 throughout this Colony to the utmost x>f our abilities." 
 
 Hugh Mercer, etc., to Captain Wm. Gray son. 
 
 " FREDERICKSBUKG, VA., April 24, 1775. 
 
 "SrR: From undoubted authority, we received here this 
 day morning the very disagreeable intelligence that, in the 
 night of Thursday last, Captain Collins, commander of one 
 of his Majesty's sloops-of-war, by command of his Excel 
 lency the Governor, assisted a company of marines, carried 
 off all the pbwder from the magazine in the city of Wil- 
 liamsburg, and deposited it on board bis vessel, which lay 
 at Bur well's Ferry, about five miles below the city. 
 
 "The said authority informs us that the corporation of 
 the city of Williamsburg addressed the Governor on that 
 occasion. The people have received no satisfaction; nor 
 are they likely to recover the powder, though it is so neces 
 sary for the security of the country. This being a day of 
 meeting of the Independent Company of this town, they 
 considered it necessary to take the matter into serious con 
 sideration, and are come to a unanimous resolution that a 
 submission to so arbitrary an exertion of government may 
 not only prejudice the common cause by introducing a sus- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 287 
 
 picion of defection of this Colony from the noble pursuit, but 
 will encourage the tools of despotism to commit further acts 
 of violence in this Colony, and more especially subject the 
 arms in the magazine to the same fate as the powder. In 
 these sentiments this Company could but determine that a 
 number of public-spirited gentlemen should embrace this 
 opportunity of showing their zeal in the grand cause by 
 marching to Williamsburg to inquire into this affair, and 
 there to take such steps as may best answer the purpose of 
 recovering the powder and securing the arms now in the 
 magazine. To this end they have determined to hold them 
 selves in readiness to march from this place as light horse 
 on Saturday morning; and in the mean time to submit the 
 matter to the determination of yours and the neighboring 
 counties, to whom expresses are purposely forwarded. We 
 address you in the name of our Company as its officers, and 
 are, sir, your very humble servants. 
 
 "HUGH MERCER, G. WELDON, 
 
 "ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD, JNO. WILLIS. 
 "To CAPTAIN WM. GRAYSON." 
 
 Captains Grayson and Lee to Colonel Washington. 
 
 " DUMFRIES, Ap'l 26, 1775. 
 
 "SiR: We have just received a letter from the officers of 
 the Independent Company, of Spottsylvania, which I have 
 herewith enclosed. We immediately called together this 
 company and had the vote put, whether they would march 
 to Williamsburg for the purposes mentioned in that letter, 
 which was carried unanimously. 
 
 "We have nothing more to add, but that we are well 
 assured you may depend on them either for that or any 
 other service which respects the liberties of America. We 
 expect your answer and determination by Mr. Davess. 
 "We have the honor to be, etc., 
 
 "WILLIAM GRAYSON, 
 " PHIL. ED. FRANS. LEE. 
 "By order of the Company." 
 
 Officers of Albemarle Volunteers to Colonel George Wash 
 ington. 
 
 " CHARLOTTESVILLE, Ap'l 29, 1775. 
 
 "SiR: The county of Albemarle in general, and the Gen 
 tleman Volunteers in particular, are truly alarmed and 
 highly incensed with the unjustifiable proceedings of Lord 
 Dunmore, who, we are informed, has clandestinely taken 
 possession of our ammunition lodged in the magazine. We 
 should have attended at Fredericksburg, in order to have 
 proceeded to Williamsburg to demand a return of the powder, 
 had the alarm reached us before an account of security being 
 given for its delivery. 
 
288 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "However, to assure you and the world of our readiness 
 and willingness to resent any encroachments of arbitrary 
 power, we now declare to you, should it be necessary, that 
 the First Company of Independents for Albemarle will at 
 tend in Williamsburg, properly equipped and prepared to 
 enforce an immediate delivery of powder (if not to be ob 
 tained otherwise) or die in the attempt. 
 
 " With respect, we remain, ready to obey your commands, 
 " CHARLES LEWIS, Captain ; 
 " GEORGE GILMER, Lieutenant; 
 "JOHN MARKS, 2d Lieutenant. 
 
 "P. S. The Company will stand under arms all day on 
 Tuesday, waiting your answer." 
 
 Meeting of Freeholders of King William County, Virginia. 
 
 "At a meeting of the freeholders of the county of King 
 William, at the Court-house, on Monday, the first day of 
 May (1775), Carter Braxton and William Aylett, Esqrs., were 
 unanimously chosen their delegates to represent them in con 
 vention for one year from the date thereof. A subscription 
 being then opened for the relief of our brethren in Massa 
 chusetts Bay, and it being thought highly necessary at this 
 important crisis that supplies should be sent to them, and, 
 money being the only means by which that relief could be 
 afforded with certainty, the sum of one hundred and seventy- 
 five pounds was immediately contributed, and it is expected 
 that a much larger sum will be given when collections are 
 made from the whole county." 
 
 Hanover County (Va.) Committee. 
 
 " At a meeting appointed and held for Hanover county, at 
 the Court-house, on Tuesday, the 9th of May, 1775: Present, 
 John Syme, Samuel Oyerton, William Cranch, Merri wether 
 Skelton, Richard Morris, Benjamin Anderson, John Pendle- 
 ton, John Robinson, Nelson Berkeley, and George Dabney, 
 Junior, agreeable to a resolution, of the committee held at 
 New Castle the 2d instant, setting forth that they, being 
 fully informed of the violent hostilities committed by the 
 King's troops in America, and of the danger arising to the 
 Colonies by the loss of the public powder, and of the conduct 
 of the Governor, which threatens altogether calamities of 
 the greatest magnitude and most fearful consequences to 
 this Colony; and therefore recommending reprisals to be 
 made upon the King's property sufficient to replace the gun 
 powder taken out of the magazine, it appears to this Com 
 mittee, the Volunteers, who marched from New Castle to ob 
 tain satisfaction for the gunpowder by reprisal or otherwise, 
 proceeded on that business as follows, to wit : 
 
 "That an officer with sixteen men was detached to seize 
 the King's receiver-general, with orders to detain him ; and 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 289 
 
 this, it was supposed, might be done without impeding the 
 progress of the main body. The said receiver-general not 
 being apprehended, owing to his absence from home, the 
 said detachment, according to orders, proceeded to join the 
 main body on its march to Williamsburg, and the junction 
 happened on the 3d instant at Doncastle's Ordinary about 
 sunset. A little after sunrise next morning, the command 
 ing officer being assured that proper satisfaction in money 
 should be instantly made, the Volunteers halted, and the 
 proposal, being considered by them, was judged satisfactory 
 as to that point; and the following receipt was given, to wit: 
 
 <(< DONCASTLE'S ORDINARY, ) 
 NEW KENT, May 4, 1775. \ 
 
 " * Received from the Honourable Richard Corbin, Esq., his 
 Majesty's receiver-general 330, as a compensation for the 
 powder lately taken out of the public magazine by the Gov 
 ernor's order; which money I promise to convey to the 
 Virginia Delegates at the general Congress, to be under their 
 direction laid out in gunpowder for the Colony's use, and to 
 be stored as they shall direct, until the next Colony conven 
 tion or General Assembly, unless it shall be necessary in the 
 mean time to use the same in defence of this Colony. It is 
 agreed that in case the next convention shall determine that 
 any part of the said money ought to be returned to his 
 Majesty's receiver-general, that the same shall be done ac 
 cordingly. PATRICK HENRY, Jurir." 1 
 
 ' ' It was then considered that as a general Congress would 
 meet in a few days, and probably a Colony convention 
 would shortly assemble, and that the reprisal now made 
 would amply replace the powder, with the charges of trans 
 portation, the commanding officer wrote the following letter 
 and sent by express : 
 
 " ' May 4, 1775. 
 
 " 'SiR: The affair of the powder is now settled so as to 
 produce satisfaction to me, and, I earnestly wish, to the 
 Colony in general. 
 
 " 'The people here have it in charge from the Hanover 
 Committee to tender their services to you as a public officer 
 for the purpose of escorting the public treasury to any place 
 in this Colony where the money would be judged more safe 
 than in the city of Williamsburg. The reprisal now made 
 by the Hanover Volunteers, though accomplished in a man 
 ner least liable to the imputation of violent extremity, may 
 possibly be the cause of future injury to the treasury. If, 
 therefore, you apprehend the least danger, a sufficient guard 
 is at your service. 
 
 "'I beg the return of the bearer may be instant, because 
 the men wish to know their destination. 
 
 ' With great respect, I am, sir, 
 
 ' Your most humble servant, 
 
 " * PATRICK HENRY, Junior S " 
 "To EGBERT CARTER NICHOLAS, Treasurer." 
 
290 THE BIETH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "To which answer was received from the said Mr. Nich 
 olas, importing that he had no apprehension of the necessity 
 or propriety of the proffered service. For which reasons, 
 and understanding, moreover, for others, that the private 
 citizens of Williamsbugh were in a great measure quieted 
 from their late apprehensions for their persons and property, 
 the Volunteers judged it best to return home, and did so 
 accordingly in order to await the further directions of the 
 General Congress or Colony Convention. 
 
 Augusta County ("Pa.) Committee. 
 
 " At a meeting of the inhabitants of that part of Augusta 
 county that lies on the west side of the Laurel Hill, at 
 Pittsburgh, the 16th day of May, 1775, 
 
 " * Resolved unanimously, That this committee have the 
 highest sense of the spirited behaviour of their brethren in 
 New England, and do most cordially approve of their oppos 
 ing the invaders of American rights and privileges to the 
 utmost extreme, and that each member of this committee, 
 respectively, will animate and encourage their neighborhood 
 to follow the brave example.' " 
 
 General Washington to Joseph Reed. 
 (Extract.) 
 
 " CAMBRIDGE, February 10, 1776. 
 
 "With respect to mvself, I have never entertained an idea 
 of an accomodation since I heard of the measures which 
 were adopted in consequence of the Bunker's Hill fight. 
 The King's speech has confirmed the sentiments I enter 
 tained upon the news of that affair; and if every man was 
 of my mind, the Ministers of Great Britain should know in a 
 few words upon what issue the cause should be put. I 
 would not be deceived by artful declarations nor specious 
 pretences, nor would I be amused by unmeaning proposi 
 tions, but in open, undisguised, and manly terms proclaim 
 our wrong, and our resolution to be redressed. I would tell 
 them that we had borne much; that we had ardently long 
 sought for reconciliation upon honorable terms; that it had 
 been denied us ; that all our attempts after peace had proved 
 abortive, and had been grossly misrepresented; that we had 
 done everything which could be expected from the best of 
 subjects ; that the spirit of freedom rises too high in us to 
 submit to slavery ; and that if nothing else would satisfy a 
 tyrant and his diabolical Ministry, we are determined to 
 shake off all connections with a state so unjust and un 
 natural. 
 
 * ' This I would tell them, not under covert, but in words as 
 clear as the sun in its meridian brightness. " 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 291 
 
 Virginia Convention. 
 
 " Wednesday, May 15, 1776. 
 
 " Present, one hundred and twelve members. . . . 
 
 " 'Wherefore, appealing to the Searcher of hearts for the 
 sincerity of former declarations, expressing our desire to 
 preserve the connection with that nation, and that we are 
 driven from that inclination by their wicked counsels and 
 the eternal laws of self-preservation, 
 
 * ' * Resolved unanimously, That the Delegates appointed 
 to represent this Colony in" General Congress be instructed 
 to propose to that respectable body to declare the United 
 Colonies free and independent states; absolved from all 
 allegiance to or dependence upon the Crown or Parliament 
 of Great Britain ; and that they give the assent of this Col 
 ony to such declaration and to whatever measure may be 
 thought proper and necessary by the Congress for forming 
 foreign alliances, and a confederation of the Colonies at such 
 time and in the manner as to them shall seem best : pro 
 vided that the power of forming government for and regu 
 lations for the internal concerns of the Colony be left to the 
 respective Colonial legislatures. 
 
 '"Resolved unanimously, That a committee be appointed 
 to prepare a declaration of rights, and such a plan of gov 
 ernment as will be most likely to maintain peace and order 
 in this Colony, and secure substantial and equal liberty to 
 the people. EDMUND PENDELTON, President." 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 The people of North Carolina, like those of Massachu 
 setts, had from the earliest times regarded England rather 
 as a cruel step-mother than as a loving parent. The Colony, 
 for the greater part of a century, was under a government of 
 lords proprietors, whose interest in the inhabitants was that 
 of absentee landlords, and whose care for their welfare con 
 sisted in sending out their needy and profligate relations 
 and dependents to govern them. The transfer of the Colony 
 to the Crown, in 1729, by increasing official responsibility, 
 was a great advantage, but it was far from insuring good 
 government and a contented people. 
 
 " The civil and military officers of the Crown in America," 
 says Bancroft, "were nearly all men of British birth, who 
 had obtained their places for the sake of profit, and had no 
 higher object than to augment and assure their gains. 
 For this reason they wished to become independent of Col 
 onial legislatures for their support, and to strengthen the 
 delegated executive power." He speaks of Try on "as the 
 able but selfish Tryon, who, under a smooth exterior, con 
 cealed the heart of a savage." Bernard, the Governor of 
 Massachusetts, and Hutchinson and Oliver, who held more 
 
292 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 than one each of the highest offices in the Colony, includ 
 ing judgeships, "with perseverance equalled only by their 
 duplicity, sought to increase their emoluments to free them 
 selves from ' their dependence on the people for a necessary 
 support,' and consolidate their authority by the presence of a 
 small standing army." 
 
 It has already been explained that the corruption and 
 tyranny practised by the officers of the law had produced 
 the rebellion of the Regulators, which was suppressed in 
 blood in 1771 ; and that the part taken by the gentlemen of 
 the low country in that affair, against their humbler fellow- 
 subjects of the hills, had the effect of alienating thousands of 
 the latter from the cause of the Revolution. And if this un 
 fortunate affair had not occurred at that time, the Colony 
 would have been as nearly unanimous for independence as 
 New England. But in spite of it, North Carolina was ever 
 among the most forward to defend the common cause. 
 Entirely engaged in agriculture, and thus secluded from the 
 world, her people felt the weight of the British taxes but 
 slightly ; and their enthusiasm for the invaded right of the 
 Colonies to tax themselves was inspired by devotion to the 
 principle, and by generous sympathy with their suffering 
 brethren farther North, rather than by the grievance they 
 suffered. 
 
 The act of Parliament of 1766, to take effect in June, 1767, 
 for laying duties on tea, glass, paints, oils, and paper, re 
 awakened the spirit of resistance throughout the Colonies 
 which had been so effective when the Stamp Act was 
 passed. The following account of the action of the Assem 
 bly on this occasion is from Williamson's history : 
 
 " This revenue law was opposed, as the second had been, 
 by resolutions, petitions, and remonstrances. The British 
 Ministry in the mean time used their utmost endeavors to 
 prevent a general association of the Colonies. For this pur 
 pose Governor Tryon, according to his instructions, assured 
 the Assembly (twenty-third October, 1769) that, 'notwith 
 standing cruel reports, his Majesty had no desire to lay 
 further burdens on America, for the purpose of raising a 
 revenue; and that he would propose to Parliament, next 
 session, to take off the duties upon glass, paper, and colors, 
 as laid contrary to the principles of commerce." 
 
 As the right of imposing taxes by Parliament was gen 
 erally denied in the Colonies, the Assembly were little grat 
 ified by a Ministerial declaration which retained the right 
 of taxing, while it temporized by shifting the objects. With 
 this view they were unanimous, eighty members being 
 present, in resolving, 
 
 " That the sole right of imposing taxes on the inhabitants 
 of North Carolina has ever been vested in the House of As 
 sembly. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 293 
 
 u That the inhabitants have the undoubted right of peti 
 tioning for a redress of grievances. 
 
 41 That the trials for treasons committed in the Colony 
 ought to be had here ; and removing suspected persons to 
 be tried beyond the sea is derogatory to the rights of a Brit 
 ish subject." 
 
 The Assembly at the same time prepared a petition of 
 similar import to be forwarded to the King, through their 
 agent in London. 
 
 The Governor, next day, 4th November, 1769, informed the 
 house that, looking over their journals, he found resolutions 
 that "had sapped the foundation of confidence and grati 
 tude ;" wherefore it became his duty to dissolve the Assem 
 bly. He dissolved them accordingly. 
 
 Wilmington (N. C.) Resolutions. 
 
 " At a general meeting of the inhabitants of the district of 
 Wilmington, in the Province of North Carolina, held at the 
 town of Wilmington, July 21, 1774, 
 
 " William Hooper, Esq., chairman, 
 
 '"Resolved, That Colonel James Moore, John Ancrum, 
 Frederick Jones, Samuel Ashe, Eobert Howe, Robert Hogg, 
 Francis Clayton, and Archibald Maclain, Esqrs., be a com 
 mittee to prepare a circular -letter to the several counties of 
 this Province, expressive of the sense of the inhabitants of 
 this district with respect to the several acts of Parliament 
 lately made for the oppression of our sister-Colony of the 
 Massachusetts Bay for having exerted itself in defence of 
 the Constitutional rights of America. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That it will be highly expedient that the sev 
 eral counties of this Province should send deputies to attend 
 a general meeting at Johnston Court-house on the 20th day 
 of August next, then and there to debate upon the present 
 alarming state of British America, and, in concert with the 
 other Colonies, to adopt and prosecute such measures as will 
 most effectually tend to avert the miseries that threaten us. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That we are of opinion, in order to effect an 
 uniform plan for the conduct of all North America, that it 
 will be necessary that a general Congress be held, and that 
 deputies should there be present from the several Colonies, 
 fully informed of the sentiments of those in whose behalf 
 they appear, that such regulations may then be made as will 
 tend most effectually to produce an alteration in the British 
 policy, and to bring about a change honorable and bene 
 ficial to all America. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That we have the most grateful sense of the 
 spirited conduct of Maryland, Virginia, and all the other 
 northern Provinces, and also the Province of South Caro 
 lina, upon this interesting occasion, and will with our purses 
 and persons concur with them in all loyal measures that 
 
294 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 may be conceived by the Colonies in general as most expe 
 dient in order to bring about the end which we earnestly 
 wish for. 
 
 "'Resolved, That it is the opinion of this meeting that 
 Philadelphia will be the most proper place for holding the 
 American Congress, and the 20th day of September the 
 most suitable time ; but in this we submit our own to the 
 general convenience of the other Colonies. 
 
 "'Resolved, That we consider the cause of the town of 
 Boston as the common cause of British America, and the 
 inhabitants thereof as suffering in the defence of the rights 
 of the Colonies in general ; and that therefore we have, in 
 proportion to our abilities, sent a supply of provisions for 
 the indigent inhabitants of that place, thereby to express our 
 sympathy in their sufferings, and as an earnest of our sin 
 cere intentions to contribute by every means in our power 
 to alleviate their distress, and to induce them to maintain, 
 with prudence and firmness, the glorious cause in which 
 they are at present embarked. 7 
 
 " WILMINGTON, July 27. 
 
 " In a former paper we observed a subscription had been 
 opened here in benalf of such people in Boston as are deprived 
 by the stoppage wantonly put to the trade of that place, of 
 the usual means of subsisting themselves and their families ; 
 we now observe with particular pleasure that several widow 
 ladies of this town have contributed very liberally to that 
 benevolent design." 
 
 Halifax County (N. (7.) Committee Resolutions. 
 
 " At a meeting of the committee for the said county on the 
 21st day of December, 1774, present : William Jones, chair 
 man ; Nicholas Long, John Bradford, James Hagan, Benja 
 min McCulloch, Joseph John Williams, William Alston, 
 Egbert Haywood, David Sumner, Samuel Weldon, and 
 Thomas Haynes; 
 
 " It being represented to the committee that Mr. Andrew 
 Miller, merchant in Halifax town, refused to sign the Asso 
 ciation, 
 
 '"Ordered, That Mr. Egbert Haywood and Mr. Thomas 
 Haynes wait on him, and desire his attendance before this 
 committee, 
 
 "Upon which he attended accordingly, refused to sign, 
 and gave the following reasons, to wit : 
 
 " ' For that I am largely indebted, and have effects in my 
 hands belonging, to persons residing in Great Britain ; which 
 debts and effects I cannot remit for by next September, after 
 which. I should be bound by this Association not to export 
 any merchandise or commodity whatever to that country, 
 without certain laws are repealed which I think would be 
 unjust, as it may be out of the power of my creditors or 
 friends to procure the repeal of any law, however willing 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 they may be to exert their interest for that purpose ; and as 
 I think it unjust to withhold from any person (even in a 
 country at war with this) the property which might belong 
 to him in my hands, I must therefore object to signing that 
 part of the Association respecting a non-exportation to Brit 
 ain, and shall continue to do so while I have any property 
 in my hands belonging to people of that country.' 
 
 "Since, therefore, there is nothing peculiar or satisfactory 
 in his reasons, but that, on the contrary, they indicate an 
 intention to export (if he can) after the first day of Septem 
 ber next, 
 
 "Resolved unanimously, to show our disapprobation of 
 his conduct, and to encourage such merchants as have 
 signed the Association, That we will not, from this day, pur 
 chase any goods, wares, or merchandise of any kind what 
 ever from said Andrew Miller, or any person acting for or 
 in partnership with him; and that we will have no com 
 merce or dealing with him, after paying our just debts and 
 fulfilling the contracts already entered into for commodities 
 of this year's produce; and we also recommend it to the 
 people of this county in particular, and to all who wish well 
 to their country, to adopt the same measure.' 
 
 "Signed by order of the same Committee, 
 
 "A. DAVIS, Clerk." 
 
 Governor Martin. 
 
 In 1775, Governor Martin was charged with having given 
 encouragement to the slaves to revolt. June 24th, he ad 
 dressed a letter from Fort Johnston to Lewis H. de Rossett, 
 Esq., a member of the Council, in which he emphatically 
 denies the charge, but adds " that nothing could ever justify 
 the design, falsely imputed to me, of giving encouragement 
 to the negroes, ' but the actual and declared rebellion of the 
 King's subjects, and the failure of all other means to main 
 tain the King's government.' " 
 
 This answer was only a mitigation of the charge, and 
 brought forth the indignant denunciation of the Newbern 
 Committee, which is signed by Richard Cogdell, Esq., a 
 distinguished Whig of that town. Martin, at the time of 
 writing this letter, was a refugee from the real or appre 
 hended vengeance of the people of the Colony. 
 
 " NEWBERN (N. C.), August 5, 1775. 
 
 " By a gentleman just come to town from Cape Fear, we 
 have a certain account that the armed force which lately 
 went down to burn Fort Johnston have effected the same 
 by destroying all the houses and rendering the fortress en 
 tirely useless. Captain Collet, who commanded that fort, 
 it is said, had a number of slaves, which he had instigated 
 to revolt from their masters, actually concealed in the fort, 
 
29G THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 which were again recovered by their several owners. For 
 this treachery they burnt his dwelling-house, with all his 
 furniture and everything valuable he had not time to get 
 on board the man-of-war." 
 
 Northampton Co. (N. C.) Committee. 
 
 At a meeting of the committee of the county aforesaid, 
 the 5th day of August, 1775, the Eev. Mr. Charles Edward 
 Taylor : chairman: 
 
 "This committee, taking into their consideration the clan 
 destine manner of Anthony Warwick's conveying powder 
 from Virginia to Hillsborough, and also examining witnesses 
 and papers relative thereto, do, 
 
 "Resolve, That the said Anthony Warwick has violated 
 the association in a flagrant manner, and showed himself in 
 the highest degree an enemy to the rights and liberties of 
 America ; and the committee do consider him as an object 
 to be held in the utmost detestation by all lovers of Ameri 
 can freedom. 
 
 " Ordered, That the clerk of this committee do transmit a 
 copy of the above resolve to Dixon and Hunter, to be pub 
 lished in their Gazette. 
 
 " EATON HAYNES, Clerk to Committee." 
 
 Anson County (N. C.). 
 
 The Tories of Anson County, 227 in number, addressed a 
 letter of some length to the royal Governor, Martin, in 
 which they express their "disapprobation and abhorrence 
 of the many lawless combinations and unwarrantable prac 
 tices actually carrying on by a gross tribe of infatuated 
 anti-monarchists in the several Colonies of these domin 
 ions," etc. 
 
 The names are not attached to the printed copy in the 
 American Archives. 
 
 The Tories of Guilford county addressed a letter of similar 
 import to Governor Martin, said to have been signed by 116 
 inhabitants of the county. They say, "and we, being a poor 
 and unhappy people, lying under the reflection of the late 
 insurrection, we therefore have taken this opportunity to 
 show forth our loyalty," etc. In other words, they were 
 the Regulators, who had been subdued by the aid of the lead 
 ing Whigs a few years prior to the date of the letter. 
 
 One hundred and ninety-five of the inhabitants of Rowan 
 and Surry counties sent up a similar letter, protesting their 
 loyalty to the Crown, and their abhorrence of the measures 
 of resistance to British tyranny. They were doubtless all 
 of the class of Regulators. 
 
Tim BIRTH Of THE REPUBLIC. 297 
 
 Convention at Newbern. 
 
 " April 6, 1775. 
 
 "Mr. Thomas Macknight, a Delegate of the county of 
 Currituck, having been called upon to sign (with the other 
 members of the convention) the Association approved of by 
 the Continental Congress, thereupon refused, and withdrew 
 himself. 
 
 "Resolved, That it is the opinion of this convention that, 
 from the disingenuous and equivocal behaviour of the said 
 Thomas Macknight, it is manifest his intentions are inimical 
 to the cause of American liberty ; and we do hold him up as 
 a proper object of contempt to this continent, and recom 
 mend that every person break off all connection and have 
 no more future commercial intercourse or dealings with 
 him. 
 
 "Resolved, That the above resolve be published in the 
 gazettes of this and the neighboring Colonies. 
 
 " A true copy from the minutes. 
 
 "Attested by ANDREW KNOX, Clerk." 
 
 The colleagues of Mr. Macknight, from Currituck, and also 
 the representatives from Pasquotank, protested against the 
 injustice which they said was done that gentleman; but 
 their protest was not allowed to go on the journal, and the 
 consequence was that they withdrew from the meeting, 
 although pledging their adherence to the continental agree 
 ment. 
 
 " NEWBERN, April 12, 1775. 
 
 " The Governor and Council order that the name of John 
 Harvey, Esq., be stricken from Commission of the Peace of 
 Perquimans Co. , in consequence of his having presided as 
 moderator of the Convention at Newbern. " 
 
 Circular-letter from the Wilmington Committee to the 
 freeholders of the several counties of the Province of North 
 Carolina : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN : At this conjuncture of British politics, 
 when the liberty and property of North American subjects 
 are at stake ; when the schemes of a designing Minister are 
 so far matured to action that the port of Boston is shut up, 
 that the Charter of Massachusetts Bay is cruelly infringed, 
 and its government converted into one nearly military, to 
 be silent would be insidious. 
 
 " To avoid such an imputation to this part of the Province, 
 we, the subscribers, appointed a Committee of Correspond 
 ence for the town and district of Wilmington, at a most 
 respectable meeting of the freeholders of this district, by 
 their express command, take this earliest opportunity of 
 acquainting you with their resolutions, a copy of which we 
 now enclose you; and request that you would send the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 members already by you elected to represent you in the 
 General Assembly, or such other persons whom you shall 
 approve of, to appear as your deputies at the Court-house of 
 Johnston county, on the 20th day of August next, possessed 
 of the sentiments of those in whose behalf they attend, and 
 with full power to express it as obligatory on the future con 
 duct of the inhabitants of this Province, and then and there 
 to consult and determine what may be necessary to the 
 general welfare of America and of this Province. 
 
 " We at the same time take the liberty to inform you that 
 there has been set on foot a subscription for the relief of the 
 poor artizans and laborers of the town of Boston, precluded 
 \)j one of the before-mentioned measures of the British 
 Minister from following their respective occupations ; and 
 we have reason to congratulate ourselves upon the generous 
 contribution of the inhabitants which has put it in our 
 power to load a vessel with provisions which will sail this 
 week for the port of Salem. 
 
 * ' We rely upon your sending an immediate answer to these 
 our proposals, and, wishing you success in all your efforts 
 for the support of the Constitutional liberties of America, 
 permit us to subscribe ourselves," etc. 
 
 Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Wilmington, N. C., 
 to his friend in Boston, dated August 2, 1774: 
 
 " As to public matters, I shall likewise please you when I 
 inform you that a patriotic spirit possesses every bosom, 
 which all ranks of persons seem emulous to express by ac 
 tions as well as words. Even those few from whom another 
 conduct was expected, have surprised the world by a zeal for 
 the service of their suffering brethren in Boston, and a 
 liberality in contributing to their relief, which till this occa 
 sion gave them an opportunity of displaying, scarce anybody 
 supposed them capable of. A subscription having been set 
 on foot for the support of the Bostonians (suffering nobly 
 in the common cause of America), a very few days, from a 
 few individuals, produced as much as loaded the vessel by 
 which this letter comes ; and by this time, I have no doubt, 
 enough is collected to load another. Nor is this all ; for there 
 is apparent in almost every individual a proper sense of the 
 injury done to the Colonies, in the tendency of those oppres 
 sive acts of Parliament, and a determined spirit of opposition 
 and resentment worthy of a humane bosom in the great 
 cause of liberty. 
 
 "A numerous and respectable meeting of the six counties 
 in the district of Wilmington has been had, and they have, 
 without one dissenting voice, resolved upon pursuing every 
 legal and rightful measure to aid and assist their sister- 
 Colony of the Massachusetts Bay to the utmost of their 
 power ; and have sent expresses to every county in the Prov 
 ince, strictly recommending a subscription in each of them 
 
THE BIRTII OF THE REPUBLIC. 299 
 
 for the same purpose. A general meeting of all the members 
 of the Assembly is to be held in a few days at Johnston 
 Court-house, to elect Delegates to attend the general Con 
 gress at Philadelphia the first Monday in September. " 
 
 Extract of a letter received at Boston from Wilmington, 
 N. C., dated August 3, 1774: 
 
 " No sooner was a subscription put about for the relief of 
 our suffering brethren in Boston than in a few days, I am 
 told, two thousand pounds in currency was raised ; and it is 
 expected something very considerable will be contributed at 
 Newbern and Edenton for the same noble purpose, as sub 
 scriptions are set on foot in every county in the Province. 
 
 44 You will receive this by Mr. Parker Quince, who gener 
 ously made an offer of his vessel to carry a load of provisions 
 to Boston, freight free; and what redounds to the honor of 
 the tars, the master and mariners navigate her without re 
 ceiving one farthing wages. It is supposed Lord North will 
 hang himself with his rope of sand." 
 
 Privy Council at Newbern. 
 
 " At a Privy Council held at Newbern the 12th of August, 
 1774, present: His Excellency the Governor, the honorable 
 James Hasell, Lewis H. de Rossett, John Sampson, William 
 Dry, and Samuel Cornell, Esqrs., his Excellency the Gov 
 ernor addressed the honorable members of this board as fol 
 lows: 
 
 u ' GENTLEMEN OP His MAJESTY'S COUNCIL: "I have heard 
 with the greatest concern, and I have read in public news 
 papers and handbills, of invitations to the people in the 
 several counties and towns of this Province to meet together 
 to express their sentiments on acts lately passed by the 
 Parliament of Great Britain, and to appoint deputies to at 
 tend on their behalf (with powers obligatory of the future 
 conduct of the inhabitants of this Province), at a meeting 
 that I understand is to be held here on the 25th instant. 
 
 11 ' I also find that meetings of the freeholders and inhabi 
 tants have been accordingly already held in some places, at 
 which resolves have been entered into derogatory to the 
 dignity of his Majesty and his Parliament, and tending to 
 excite clamour and discontent among the King's subjects in 
 this Province. 
 
 "'Under these circumstances, gentlemen, I consider it 
 my indispensable duty to his Majesty and this country to 
 advise with you the measures most proper to be taken to 
 discourage or prevent these assemblies or the people, which 
 are so inconsistent with the peace and good order of this 
 government ; whose professed purposes will appear at least 
 highly indecent and have an evident tendency to draw his 
 Majesty's displeasure on this Province, already laboring 
 
300 THE BIRTH OF TUB REPUBLIC. 
 
 under the most grievous and disgraceful circumstances for 
 want of a just and effectual civil polity.' 
 
 "The Council desired to take time maturely to consider 
 the subject of the above address till to-morrow morning. 
 The Governor finding that during the absence of Mr. How 
 ard, the circumstances of things rendered the temporary 
 appointment of a Chief Justice necessary, recommended the 
 Honourable Mr. Hasell for such appointment, who was 
 unanimously approved." 
 
 u At a Privy Council held at Newbern, 13th August, 1774, 
 present : His Excellency the Governor, the honorable James 
 Hasell, Lewis H. de Kossett, John Sampson, William Dry, 
 and Samuel Cornell, Esqrs., 
 
 " The members of the Council having- maturely considered 
 the matters laid before them yesterday by the Governor, 
 unanimously concurred in advice to his Excellency, to issue 
 a proclamation forthwith, to discourage and prevent the 
 meetings and assemblies of the people of this Province men 
 tioned in the Governor's address of yesterday, and that they 
 do not discern that any other measures can be properly taken 
 on the occasion at present." 
 
 "NORTH CAROLINA, ss..- 
 
 "By his Excellency Josidh Martin, Esquire, Captain, 
 General, Governor, and Commander-in-chief in and over the 
 said Province : 
 
 " A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 " Whereas, It appears to me that meetings and assemblies 
 of the inhabitants of this Province have been in some of the 
 counties and towns thereof already held, and are in others 
 appointed to be held, without any legal authority, and that 
 resolves have been entered into and plans concerted (in 
 such meetings as are passed) derogatory to his Majesty and 
 the Parliament of Great Britain ; and that, there is reason to 
 apprehend, the same inflammatory, disloyal, and indecent 
 measures may be adopted in such future assemblies, incon 
 sistent with the peace and good order of this government, 
 and tending to excite clamour and discontent among his 
 Majesty's subjects in this Province: I have thought fit, 
 with the advice and consent of his Majesty's Council, to issue 
 this proclamation, to discourage as much as possible pro 
 ceedings so illegal and unwarrantable in their nature, and 
 in their effect so obviously injurious to the welfare of this 
 country. 
 
 "And to this end I do hereby strictly require and enjoin 
 on their allegiance, all and every his Majesty's subjects, to 
 forbear to attend at any such illegal meetings, and that they 
 do discharge and prevent the same by all and every means 
 in their power, and, more particularly, that they do forbear 
 to attend and prevent, as far as in them Lies, the meeting of 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 301 
 
 certain deputies said to be appointed to be held at Newbern 
 on the 25th instant. And I do more especially charge, re 
 quire, and command all and every his Majesty's justices of 
 the peace, sheriffs, and other officers to be aiding and as 
 sisting herein to the utmost of their power. Given under 
 my hand and the great seal of the said Province, at Newbern, 
 the 13th day of August, 1774, and in the fourteenth of his 
 Majesty's reign. 
 
 " God save the King. Jo. MARTIN." 
 
 "At a Council held at Newbern the 25th August, 1774, 
 Present: His Excellency the Governor, the Honorable 
 James Hasell, John Rutherford, Lewis H. de Rossett, John- 
 Sampson, William Dry, and Samuel Cornell, Esquires, 
 
 "The Governor signified to the board that this was the 
 day appointed for the meeting, of certain persons called 
 deputies, from the several counties and towns of the Prov 
 ince, at this place, and many of them were accordingly come 
 to town; and desired the advice of the Council whether he 
 could take any further measures than those he had taken 
 pursuant to their advice on the 13th instant, when they were 
 unanimously of opinion that no other steps could be properly 
 taken at this conjuncture." 
 
 North Carolina Convention. 
 
 The Journal of the Proceedings of the first Provincial Con 
 vention of North Carolina, held at Newbern on the 24th day 
 of August, A.D. 1774: 
 
 "NORTH CAROLINA, ss.: 
 
 "At a general meeting of deputies of the inhabitants of 
 this Province at Newbern, the 25th day of August, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy- 
 four: 
 
 " Appeared for, 
 
 " Anson Co., Mr. Samuel Spencer, Wm.Thomas; Beaufort 
 Co., Roger Ormond, Thos. Respass, Jr.; Bladen Co., Wm. 
 Salter, Walter Gibson; Bute Co., W m - Person, Green Hill; 
 Brunswick Co., Robert Howe ; Bertie Co., John Campbell; 
 Craven Qo., James Coor, Lemuel Hatch, Joseph Leech, Rich 
 ard Cogdell ; Carteret Co. , William Thompson ; Currituck Co. , 
 Sol. Perkins, Nathan Rayner, Samuel Jarvis ; Chowan Co., 
 Sam'l Johnston, Thos. Oldham, Thos, Benbury, Thos. Jones, 
 Thos. Hunter; Cumberland Co., Farquard Campbell, Thos. 
 Rutherford; Dobbs Co., Richard Caswell, Wm. McKinnie, 
 George Miller, Simon Bright; Duplin Co., Thos. Gray, Thos. 
 Hicks, Jas. Kenan William Dickson; Granville Co., Thos. 
 Person, Memucan Hunt; Hyde Co., Rothias Latham, Sam'l 
 Smith; HJifaxCo., Nicholas Long, Willie Jones; Johnston 
 Co., Needham Bryan, Benj. Williams; Mecklenburgh Co., 
 Benj. Patton; Martin Co., Edmund Smythwick; New Han- 
 
302 THE BIRTU OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 over Co., John Aslie, Win. Hooper; Northampton Co., Allen 
 Jones; Orange Co., Thomas Hart; Onslow Co., Wm. Gray; 
 Perquimans Co., Jno. Harvey, Benj. Harvey, Andrew Knox, 
 Thos. Harvey, Jno. Whedbee, Jr. ; Pasquotank Co. , Joseph 
 Jones, Ed. Everigin, Joseph Reading; Pitt Co., Jno. Simp 
 son, Edward Salter; Rowan Co., Wm. Kennon, Moses Win- 
 slow, Sam'l Young; Try on Co.. David Jenkins, Robt. Alex 
 ander; Tyrrell Co., Joseph Spruill, Jere'm Fraser; Newbern- 
 town, Abner Nash, Isaac Edwards; Edentontown, Joseph 
 Hewes; Wilmingtontown, Francis Clayton; for the town of 
 Bath, Wm. Brown ; for the town of Halifax, Jno. Geddy. 
 
 "The deputies then proceeded to make choice of a mod 
 erator, when Colonel John Harvey was unanimously chosen, 
 and Mr. Andrew Knox appointed clerk. The meeting then 
 adjourned till eight o'clock to-morrow morning. 
 
 " Friday, August 26, 1774. 
 
 " The meeting met according to adjournment: 
 
 "Mr. Hewes, one of the members of the Committee of 
 Correspondence, presented several letters from the Commit 
 tees of Correspondence of the other Colonies in America, 
 and the several answers thereto, which, on motion, were 
 ordered to be read. And after the most mature deliberation 
 had thereon, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That three Delegates be appointed to attend 
 the general Congress to be held at Philadelphia some time 
 in September next.' 
 
 "The meeting adjourned till eight o'clock to-morrow 
 morning. 
 
 " Saturday, August 27, 1774. 
 
 "The meeting met according to adjournment, and came 
 to the following resolutions, to wit: 
 
 " ' We, his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the 
 deputies from the several counties and towns of the Province 
 of North Carolina, impressed with the most sacred respect 
 for the British Constitution, and resolved to maintain the 
 succession of the House of Hanover, as of law established, 
 and avowing our inviolable and unshaken fidelity to our 
 sovereign, and entertaining a sincere regard for our fellow- 
 subjects in Great Britain, viewing with the utmost abhor 
 rence every attempt which may tend to disturb the peace 
 and good order of this Colony, or to shake the fidelity of his 
 Majesty's subjects resident here; but at the same time con 
 ceiving it a duty which we owe to ourselves and posterity, 
 in the present alarming state of British America, when our 
 most essential rights are invaded by powers unwarrantably 
 assumed by the Parliament of Great Britain, to declare our 
 sentiments in the most public manner, lest silence should be 
 construed as acquiescence, and that we patiently submit to 
 the burthen which they have thought fit to impose upon us : 
 
 " * Resolved, That his Majesty George the Third is lawful 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 303 
 
 and rightful King of Great Britain, and the dominions there 
 unto belonging, and of this Province as part thereof, and 
 that we do bear faithful and true allegiance unto him as our 
 lawful sovereign ; that we will to the utmost of our power 
 maintain and defend the succession of the House of Hanover, 
 as by law established, against the open or private attempts 
 of any person or persons whatsoever. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That we claim no more than the rights of 
 Englishmen, without diminution or abridgment; that it is 
 our indispensable duty, and will be our constant endeavor, 
 to maintain those rights to the utmost of our power consist 
 ently with the lovality we owe our sovereign, and a sacred 
 regard for the British Constitution. 
 
 " 'Resolved, It is of the very essence of the British Con 
 stitution that no subject should be taxed but by his own 
 consent, freely given by himself in person, or by his legal 
 representatives ; and that any other than such a taxation is 
 highly derogatory to the rights of a subject and a gross vio 
 lation of the grand Charter of pur liberties. 
 
 " * Eesolved, That as the British subjects resident in North 
 America have not, nor can have, any representation in the 
 Parliament of Great Britain, therefore any act of Parlia 
 ment imposing a tax upon them is illegal and unconstitu 
 tional; and that our Provincial Assemblies, the King, by his 
 Governors, constituting one branch thereof, solely and ex 
 clusively possess that right. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the duties imposed by several acts of 
 the British Parliament upon tea and other articles consumed 
 in America, for the purpose of raising a revenue, are highly 
 illegal and oppressive ; and that the late exportation of tea 
 by the East India Company to different parts of America 
 was intended to give effect to one of the said acts and there 
 by establish a precedent highly dishonourable to America, 
 and to obtain an implied assent to the powers, which Great 
 Britain had unwarrantably assumed, of levying a tax upon 
 us without our consent. 
 
 "'Resolved, That the inhabitants of the Massachusetts 
 Province have distinguished themselves in a manly support 
 of the rights of America in general; and that the cause in 
 which they now suffer is the cause of every honest American 
 who deserves the blessings which the Constitution holds 
 forth to them ; that the grievances under which the town 
 of Boston labors at present are the effect of a resentment 
 levelled at them for having stood foremost in the opposition 
 to measures which must eventually have involved all British 
 America in a state of abject dependence and servitude. 
 
 "Resolved, The act of Parliament commonly called the 
 Boston Port Act, as it tends to shut up the port of Boston, 
 and thereby effectually destroy its trade and deprive the 
 merchants and manufacturers of a subsistence which they 
 
304 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 have hitherto procured hy an honest industry; as it takes 
 away the wharfs, quays, and other property of many citi 
 zens by rendering it useless to them ; and as the duration of 
 this act depends upon circumstances founded merely in 
 opinion, and in that nature indeterminate, and thereby may 
 make the miseries it carries with it even perpetual, there 
 fore, that it is the most cruel infringement of the rights and 
 privileges of the people of Boston, both as men and members 
 of the British Government. 
 
 "Resolved, That the late act of Parliament for regulating 
 the police of that Province is an infringement of the Charter 
 right granted them by their Majesties King William and 
 Queen Mary, and tends to lessen that sacred confidence 
 which ought to be placed in the acts of kings. 
 
 "Resolved, That trial by juries of the vicinity is the only 
 lawful inquest that can pass upon the life of a British sub 
 ject; and that it is a right handed down to us from the 
 earliest ages, confirmed and sanctified by Magna Charta 
 itself, that no freemen shall be taken and imprisoned or dis 
 possessed of his free tenement and liberties, or outlawed or 
 banished, or in any wise hurt or injured, unless by the legal 
 judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land; and there 
 fore all who suffer otherwise are not victims to public 
 justice, but fall a sacrifice to the powers of tyranny and 
 high-handed oppression. 
 
 " Resolved, That the bill for altering the administration of 
 justice in certain criminal cases within the Province of 
 Massachusetts Bay, as it empowers the Governors thereof 
 to send to Great Britain for trial all persons who, in aid of his 
 Majesty's officers, shall commit any capital offence, is fraught 
 with the highest injustice and partiality, and will tend to 
 produce frequent bloodshed of the inhabitants, as this act 
 furnishes an opportunity to commit the most atrocious 
 crimes, with the greatest probability of impunity. 
 
 "Resolved, That we will not directly or indirectly, after 
 the first day of January, 1775, import from Great Britain 
 any East India goods or any merchandise whatever, medi 
 cines excepted; nor will we after that day import from the 
 West Indies or elsewhere any East India or British goods or 
 manufactures, nor will we purchase any such articles so 
 imported of any person or persons whatsoever, except such 
 as are now in the country or may arrive on or before the 
 first day of January, 1775. 
 
 " Resolved, That unless American grievances are redressed 
 before the first day of October, 1775, we will not after that 
 day directly or indirectly export tobacco, pitch, tar, turpen 
 tine, or any other article whatever to Great Britain ; nor will 
 we sell any such articles as we think can be exported to 
 Great Britain with a prospect of gain to any person or per 
 sons whatsoever, with a design of putting i't in his or their 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 305 
 
 power to export the same to Great Britain, either on our 
 own, his, or their account. 
 
 " Eesolved, That we will not import any slave or slaves, or 
 purchase any slave or slaves imported or brought into this 
 Province by others, from any part of the world after the first 
 day of November next. 
 
 " Eesolved, That we will not use nor suffer East India tea 
 to be used in our families after the tenth day of September 
 next ; and that we will consider all persons in this Province, 
 not complying with this resolve, to be enemies to their 
 country. 
 
 "Resolved, That the venders of merchandise within this 
 Province ought not to take advantage of the resolves relat 
 ing to non-importation in this Province or elsewhere ; but 
 ought to sell their goods and merchandise which they have, 
 or may hereafter import, at the same rates they have been 
 accustomed to sell them within three months last past. 
 
 " Resolved, That the people of this Province will break off 
 all trade, commerce, and dealing, and will not maintain any 
 the least trade, dealing, or commercial intercourse, with any 
 Colony on this continent, or with any city or town, or with 
 any individual in such Colony, city, or town, which shall 
 refuse, decline, or neglect to adopt and carry into execution 
 such general plan as shall be agreed to in the Continental 
 Congress. 
 
 "Resolved, That we approve of the proposal of a general 
 Congress to be held in the city of Philadelphia on the 20th 
 of September next, then and there to deliberate upon the 
 present state of British America, and to take such measures 
 as they may deem prudent to effect the purpose of describ 
 ing with certainty the rights of Americans, repairing the 
 breaches made in those rights, and for guarding them for 
 the future from any such violations done under the same 
 sanction of public authority. 
 
 "Resolved, That William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and 
 Richard Caswell, Esquires, and every of them, be deputies 
 to attend such Congress ; and they are hereby invested with 
 such powers as may make any act done by them or consent 
 given in behalf of this Province, obligatory in honour upon 
 every inhabitant thereof who is not alien to his country's 
 good, and an apostate to the liberties of America. 
 
 "Resolved, That they view the attempts made by the 
 Ministry upon the town of Boston as a prelude to a general 
 attack upon the rights of the other Colonies ; and that upon 
 the success of this depends, in a great measure, the happiness 
 of America in its present race, and in posterity ; and that 
 therefore it becomes our duty to contribute, in proportion to 
 our abilities, to ease the burthen imposed upon that town for 
 their virtuous opposition to the revenue acts, that they 
 may be enabled to persist in a prudent and manly opposition 
 
306 TEE BIRTH OF TEE REPUBLIC. 
 
 to the schemes of Parliament, and render its dangerous 
 designs abortive. 
 
 "Resolved, That liberty is the spirit of the British Con 
 stitution, and that it is the duty, and will be the endeavor, 
 of us as British Americans, to transmit this happy Constitu 
 tion to our posterity in a state, if possible, better than we 
 found it ; and that to suffer it to undergo a change which 
 may impair that invaluable blessing would be to disgrace 
 those ancestors who, at the expense of their blood, purchased 
 those privileges which their degenerate posterity are too 
 weak or too wicked to maintain inviolate. 
 
 "Resolved, That at every future Provincial meeting, when 
 any division "shall happen, the method to be observed shall 
 be to vote by the counties and towns (having a right to send 
 members to Assembly) that shall be represented at every 
 such meeting; and it is recommended to the deputies of the 
 several counties that a committee of five persons be chosen 
 for each county, by such persons as accede to this associa 
 tion, to take effectual care that these resolves be properly 
 observed, and to correspond occasionally with the Provin 
 cial Committee of Correspondence of this Province. 
 
 "Resolved, That each and every county in this Province 
 raise as speedily as possible the sum of twenty pounds 
 Proclamation money, and pay the same into the hands of 
 Richard Caswell, Esq., to be by him equally divided among 
 the deputies appointed to attend the general Congress at 
 Philadelphia, as a recompense for their trouble and expense 
 in attending the said Congress. 
 
 "Resolved, That the moderator of this meeting, and, in 
 case of his death, Samuel Johnston, Esq., be empowered, on 
 any future occasion that may in his opinion require it, to 
 convene the several deputies of this Province, which now 
 or hereafter shall be chosen, at such time and place as he 
 shall think proper; and, in case of the death or absence of 
 any deputy, it is recommended that another be chosen in 
 his stead. 
 
 "Resolved, That the following be instructions for the 
 deputies appointed to meet in general Congress on the part 
 of this Colony, to wit : 
 
 "That they express our sincere attachment to our most 
 gracious sovereign, King George the Third, and pur deter 
 mined resolution to support his lawful authority in the 
 Province ; at the same time, that we cannot depart from a 
 steady adherence to the first law of nature a firm and reso 
 lute defence of our persons and properties against all un 
 constitutional encroachments whatsoever. 
 
 "That they assert our right to all the privileges of British 
 subjects, particularly that of paying no taxes or duties but 
 with our own consent ; and that the legislature of this Prov- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE EEPUBLIC. 307 
 
 ince have the exclusive power of making laws to regulate 
 our internal polity, subject to his Majesty's disallowance. 
 
 " That, should the British Parliament continue to exercise 
 the power of levying taxes and duties on the Colonies, and 
 making laws to bind them in all cases whatsover, such laws 
 must be highly unconstitutional and oppressive to the in 
 habitants of British America, who have not, and from their 
 local circumstances cannot, have a fair and equal represen 
 tation in the British Parliament ; and that these disadvan 
 tages must be greatly enhanced by the misrepresentation of 
 designing men, inimical to the Colonies, the influence of 
 whose reports cannot be guarded against by reason of the 
 distance of America from them, or, as has been unhappily 
 experienced in the case of the town of Boston, when the ears 
 of the administration have been shut against every attempt 
 to vindicate a people who claimed only the right of being 
 heard in their own defence. 
 
 " That, therefore, until we obtain an explicit declaration 
 and acknowledgment of our rights, we agree to stop all im 
 ports from Great Britain after the first day of January, 
 1775 ; and that we will not export any of our commodities 
 to Great Britain after the first day of October, 1775. 
 
 *' That they concur with the deputies or Delegates from 
 the other Colonies in such regulations, addresses, or remon 
 strances as may be deemed most probable to restore a last 
 ing harmony and good understanding with Great Britain a 
 circumstance we most sincerely and ardently desire; and 
 that they agree with the majority of them in all necessary 
 measures for promoting a redress of such grievances as may 
 come under their consideration. 
 
 " 4 Eesolved, That the thanks of this meeting be given to 
 the Honorable John Harvey, Esq., moderator, for his faith 
 ful exercises of that office and the services he has thereby 
 rendered to this Province and the friends of America in gen 
 eral.' JOHN HARVEY, Moderator" 
 
 Association Signed by Ladies of Edenton, N. C. 
 
 "October 25, 1774. 
 
 " As we cannot be indifferent on any occasion to that which 
 appears to affect the peace and happiness of our country; and 
 as it has been thought necessary, for the public good, to en 
 ter into several particular resolves by a meeting of numbers 
 of deputies from the whole Province it is a duty that we 
 owe, not only to our near and dear relations and connec 
 tions, but to ourselves, who are essentially interested in 
 their welfare, to do everything as far as lies in our power, 
 to testify our sincere adherence .to the same : and we do 
 therefore accordingly subscribe this paper as a witness of 
 our fixed intention and solemn determination to do so," 
 
 Signed by fifty-one laclies, 
 
308 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 On the advice of the Council, Governor Martin issued 
 the following proclamation: 
 
 "Whereas, I have received information that, in conse 
 quence of an advertisement, signed John Harvey, modera 
 tor, some time since published and dispersed through this 
 Province, sundry persons have been elected by a small num 
 ber of freeholders in the several counties, to meet in conven 
 tion in the town of Newbern on this day for the choice of 
 deputies to represent this Colony in a Congress intended to be 
 held at the city of Philadelphia, in the month of May next ; 
 and whereas, The meeting of such convention, and the de 
 clared purpose thereof, will be highly offensive to the 
 King and dishonorable to the general Assembly of this Prov 
 ince, which is appointed to sit at this time for the dispatch 
 of public business: I have thereof thought fit, with the 
 advice of his Majesty's Council, to issue this proclamation 
 hereby in the King's name, to forbid the holding of the said 
 convention. And I do exhort all his Majesty's subjects, on 
 their allegiance, and on pain of incurring his Majesty's high 
 displeasure, to withdraw themselves from the same, and to 
 desist from all such illegal, unwarrantable, and dangerous 
 proceedings. 
 
 "Given, etc., the 3d day of April, 1775. 
 
 " God save the King. Jo. MARTIN." 
 
 The convention met nevertheless, and was composed 
 mainly of the members of the Assembly, which was to meet 
 two days later at the same place. The following resolution 
 of the Assembly led to its instant prorogation : 
 
 "Resolved, That the House do highly approve of the pro 
 ceedings of the Continental Congress, lately held at Phila 
 delphia; and that they are determined, as members of the 
 community in general, that they will strictly adhere to the 
 said resolutions, and will use what influence they have to 
 induce the same observance in every individual of this 
 Colony. 
 
 "This House, having received information that William 
 Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and Eichard Caswell, Esquires, 
 were appointed, by the convention held at Newbern, as Del 
 egates to attend the meeting of the Continental Congress 
 soon to be held at Philadelphia, 
 
 " Resolved, That the House approve of the choice made by 
 the said convention. 
 
 "Resolved, That the thanks of the House be given to 
 William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, and Richard Caswell, Es 
 quires, for the faithful and judicious discharge of the im 
 portant trust reposed in them as Delegates for this Colony at 
 the late Continental Congress." 
 
 " At a Council held at the Council Chamber, the 7th of 
 April, 1775, in the evening, present: His Excellency the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPVBLIC. 309 
 
 Governor, the Honorable James Hasell, John Eutherford, 
 Lewis H. de Rossett, Alexander McCulloch, Samuel Strud- 
 wick, Martin Howard, Samuel Cornell, and Thomas Mc- 
 Guire, Esquires; 
 
 "His Excellency laid before the board the Journals of 
 the House of Assembly, in which was contained, amongst 
 other unwarrantable proceedings, the following resolve: 
 
 " * Resolved, That the House do highly approve of the pro 
 ceedings of the Continental Congress, lately held at Philadel 
 phia, and that they are determined, as members of the com 
 munity in general, that they will strictly adhere to the said 
 resolutions, and will use what influence they have to induce 
 the same observance in every individual in this Colony.' 
 
 "Upon consideration hereof, this board gave it as their 
 opinion that the longer existence of such a House of Assem 
 bly is incompatible with the honor of the Crown and the 
 safety of the people, and therefore unanimously advised his 
 Excellency to dissolve them, which was done by the follow 
 ing proclamation : 
 
 "' NORTH CAROLINA. }-ss.: 
 
 " ' By his Excellency Josiah Martin, Esquire, etc. 
 "'A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 '"Whereas, Several resolves appear on the Journals of the 
 House of Assembly, now sitting, tending to alienate the af 
 fections of his Majesty's subjects and subvert the Constitu 
 tion; and whereas, The longer existence of such an Assembly 
 is incompatible with the safety of the people : I have there 
 fore thought fit, by and with the advice and consent of his 
 Majesty's Council, to dissolve the said Assembly; and it is 
 accordingly dissolved. 
 
 " 'Given under my hand, etc., at Newbern, etc., this 8th 
 day of April, 1775, etc. 
 
 " ' God save the King. Jo. MARTIN.'" 
 
 The following proceedings took place in the convention: 
 
 " Wednesday, April 5. 1775. 
 
 " The convention met according to adjournment. 
 
 " Mr. Jonathan Hearring, one of the Delegates for Pasquo- 
 tank county, and Mr. David Stanley, one of the Delegates for 
 Bertie county, appeared and took their seats in convention. 
 The Association entered into by the general Congress at 
 Philadelphia on the 20th day of October, in the year of our 
 Lord 1774, and signed by the members thereof, was pre 
 sented to this convention by Colonel Richard Caswell, and, 
 on motion, was ordered to be read, and was accordingly 
 read. 
 
 "Resolved, That this Convention do highly approve of 
 the said Association, and do for themselves firmly agree to 
 adhere to the said Association, and recommend it to their 
 
310 THE BIRTH Off THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 constituents that they likewise adhere firmly to the same. 
 In full approbation and testimony whereof, the members 
 of this Convention subscribe their names. 
 
 JAMES HARVEY." 
 
 "Friday, April 7, 1775. 
 
 "The Convention met according to adjournment. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the moderator of this Convention, and, 
 in case of his death, Mr. Samuel Johnson, be empowered, on 
 any future occasion that may in his opinion require it, to 
 direct Delegates to be chosen for the respective counties and 
 towns in this Province to meet in convention in the town 
 of Hillsborough, at such time as he shall think proper to 
 appoint ; and in case that the members of the majority of 
 the counties and towns do not appear at the day appointed, 
 that he be empowered to adjourn the Convention de die in 
 diem until a sufficient number shall appear. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the clerk furnish Mr. James Davis with 
 a copy of the proceedings of this Convention, and that Mr. 
 Davis print the same. 
 
 "'Resolved, That this Convention do most heartily ap 
 prove of the conduct and proceedings of the late Continental 
 Congress, and will endeavor to carry into execution the 
 measures by them recommended ; and that the most earnest 
 wishes and desires of this Convention are to see harmony 
 restored between Great Britain and her Colonies on honor 
 able and Constitutional principles, which alone can give the 
 same a lasting foundation; that we will exert our utmost 
 endeavors towards completing this important purpose, and 
 are of opinion that the late commercial regulations are the 
 most eligible means for attaining that desirable end. 
 
 '"And whereas, The freedom, happiness, and prosperity 
 of every state greatly depends on providing within itself ar 
 ticles necessary for subsistence, clothing, and defence of its 
 inhabitants, 
 
 ' - Resolved, That from common prudence and regard for 
 this Colony, we will encourage arts, manufactures, agri 
 culture, and every kind of economy, and use our influence 
 for the same purpose with our constituents and all connected 
 with us ; and we recommend to the committees of the sev 
 eral counties to propose premiums to the inhabitants whose 
 industry may be a proper subject for their bounty, in such 
 manner as to them shall seem meet. 
 
 "'Resolved, That his Majesty's subjects have an un 
 doubted right at any time to meet and petition the Throne 
 for a redress of grievances, and that such right includes a 
 further right of appointing Delegates for such purpose ; and 
 therefore that the Governor's proclamation issued to for 
 bid this meeting, and his proclamation afterwards com 
 manding this meeting to disperse, are illegal and an in- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 311 
 
 fringement of our just rights, and therefore ought to be dis 
 regarded as wanton and arbitrary exertions of power.'" 
 
 Mecklenburg County. 
 
 Mecklenburg county, North Carolina, is entitled to the 
 imperishable honor of haying, in May, 1775, taken a step in 
 advance of all the Colonists, in setting up a government 
 entirely independent of the British Crown and Parliament. 
 The following resolves of the Committee of Safety of that 
 county, while they constitute the charter of a new local 
 government, at the same time enunciate principles which 
 approximate independence more nearly than any similar 
 manifestation that preceded them. It is proper to remark 
 that these resolves are in no way involved in the contro 
 versy which has existed for seventy years, in regard to the 
 genuineness of the Mecklenburg Declaration of May 20, 
 1775 ; for the resolves of May 31st are still extant in several 
 newspapers printed in 1775, north and south, and may be 
 seen thus preserved in the Congress and other public li 
 braries. 
 
 The " Declaration" of May 20th, is also given below, as it 
 was first published in the Ealeigh Register, of April 30, 1819 : 
 
 " (From the State Paper Office, London, Geo. Vol. 218.) 
 " (G. Bancroft's Collection, 1775, page 107.) 
 
 " Gov. Wright to Secretary of State. 
 
 " SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, 20th June, 1775. 
 " (In his own handwriting.) 
 
 "By the enclosed paper your Lordship will see the extra 
 ordinary resolves by the people in Charlotte town, in Meck 
 lenburg county ; and I should not be surprised if the same 
 were done everywhere else. 
 
 4 * I have the honor to be, with perfect esteem, 
 " My Lord, your Lordship's most 
 
 "Obliged and obedient servant, 
 
 "JAS. WRIGHT. 
 
 "To the EARL OF DARTMOUTH." 
 
 Extract from the South Carolina Gazette and County 
 Journal of June, 1775, No. 498, printed at Charlestown, by 
 Charles Crouch on the Bay, corner of Elliott Street. [The 
 first four and the 16th of these resolves were found by Mr. 
 Peter Force in the New York Journal of July 1775, and the 
 whole series were found, as above stated, by Mr. Bancroft, 
 in the State Paper Office, in London] 
 
 " CHARLOTTETOWN, Mecklenburg County, ) 
 May 31, 1775. \ 
 
 "This day the Committee met and passed the following 
 resolves : 
 
 "'Whereas, By an address presented to his Majesty by 
 
313 THE J3IRTI1 OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 both Houses of Parliament in February last, the American 
 Colonies are declared to be in a state of actual rebellion, we 
 conceive that all laws and commissions confirmed by or de 
 rived from the authority of the King and Parliament are 
 annulled and vacated, and the former civil Constitution of 
 these Colonies for the present wholly suspended. To pro 
 vide in some degree for the exigencies of this county in the 
 present alarming period, we deem it proper and necessary 
 to pass the following resolves, viz. : 
 
 *' '1. That all commissions, civil and military, heretofore 
 granted by the Crown to be exercised in these Colonies, are 
 null and void, and the Constitution of each particular 
 county wholly suspended. 
 
 " '2. That the Provincial Congress of each Province, 
 under the direction of the great Continental Congress, is 
 invested with all legislative and executive powers within 
 their respective Provinces, and that no other legislative or 
 executive power does or can exist at this time in any of 
 these Colonies. 
 
 " ' 3. As all former laws are now suspended in this Prov 
 ince, and the Congress has not yet provided others, we 
 judge it necessary, for the better preservation of good order, 
 to form certain rules and regulations for the internal gov 
 ernment of this county until laws shall be provided for 
 us by the Congress. 
 
 " 1 4. That the inhabitants of this county do meet on a 
 certain day appointed by the committee, and, having formed 
 themselves into nine companies (to wit, eight for the county 
 and one for the town), do choose a colonel and other military 
 officers who shall hold and exercise their several powers, by 
 virtue of the choice, and independent of the Crown of Great 
 Britain and former Constitution of this Province. 
 
 " * 5. That for the better preservation of the peace and 
 administration of justice each, of those companies do choose 
 from their own body two discreet freeholders, who shall be 
 empowered, each by himself and singly, to decide and deter 
 mine all matters of controversy, arising within said com 
 pany, under the sum of twenty shillings, and jointly and 
 together all controversies under the sum of forty shillings; 
 yet so as their decisions may admit of appeal to the Conven 
 tion of Select-men of the County, and also that any one of 
 these men shall have power to examine and commit to con 
 finement persons accused of petit larceny.' 
 
 " * 6. That those two select-men thus chosen do jointly 
 and together choose from the body of their particular com 
 pany two persons to act as constables, who may assist them 
 in the execution of their office. 
 
 " '7. That upon the complaint of any persons to either of 
 these select-men, he do issue his warrant directed to the con- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 813 
 
 stable, commanding him to bring the aggressor before him 
 to answer said complaint. 
 
 "'8. That these eighteen select-men thus appointed do 
 meet every third Thursday in January, April, July, and 
 October, at the Court-house in Charlotte, to hear and deter 
 mine all matters of controversy for sums exceeding forty 
 shillings ; also appeals ; and in case of felony, to commit the 
 persons convicted thereof to close confinement until the 
 Provincial Congress shall provide and establish laws and 
 modes of proceeding in all such cases. 
 
 "'9. That these eighteen select-nien thus convened do 
 choose a clerk to record the transactions of said convention 
 and that said clerk, upon the application of any person or 
 persons aggrieved, do issue his warrant, to any of the con 
 stables of the company to which the offender belongs, di 
 recting said constable to summon and warn said offender to 
 appear before said convention at their next sitting, to answer 
 the aforesaid complaint. 
 
 " ' 10. That any person making complaint, upon oath to the 
 clerk or any member of the convention, that he has reason 
 to suspect that any person or persons, indebted to him in a 
 sum above forty shillings, intend clandestinely to withdraw 
 from the county without paying the debt, the clerk or such 
 member shall issue his warrant to the constable, command 
 ing him to take said person or persons into safe custody until 
 the next sitting of the convention. 
 
 " ' 11. That when a debtor for a sum above forty shillings 
 shall abscond and leave the country, the warrant granted as 
 aforesaid shall extend to any goods or chattels of said debtor 
 as may be found ; and such goods or chattels be seized and 
 held in custody by the constable for the space of thirty days ; 
 in which time, if the debtor fail to return and discharge the 
 debt, the constable shall return the warrant to one of the 
 select-men of the company where the goods are found, who 
 shall issue orders to the constable to sell such a part of said 
 goods as shall amount to the sum due. That when the debt 
 exceeds forty shillings, the return shall be made to the con 
 vention, who shall issue orders for sale. 
 
 " ' 12. That all receivers and collectors'of quit rents, public 
 and county taxes, do pay the same into the hands of the 
 chairman of this committee to be by them disbursed as the 
 public exigencies may require ; and that such receivers and 
 collectors proceed no further in their office until they be ap 
 proved of by and have given to this committee good and 
 sufficient security for a faithful return of such moneys when 
 collected. 
 
 '"13. That the committee be accountable to the county for 
 the application of all moneys received from puch public of 
 ficers. 
 
314 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " * 14. That all these officers hold their commissions during 
 the pleasure of their several constituents. 
 
 ** '15. That this committee will sustain all damages to all or 
 any of their officers thus appointed and thus acting on 
 account of their obedience and conformity to these rules. 
 
 " '16. That whatever person shall hereafter receive a com 
 mission from the Crown, or attempt to exercise any such 
 commission heretofore received, shall be deemed an enemy 
 to his country; and upon confirmation being made to the 
 captain of the company in which he resides, the said com 
 pany shall cause him. to'foe apprehended and conveyed before 
 two select-men, who, upon proof of the fact, shall commit 
 said offender to safe custody until the next sitting of the com 
 mittee, who shall deal with him as prudence may direct. 
 
 " ' 17. That any person refusing to yield obedience to the 
 above rules, shall be considered equally criminal, and liable to 
 the same punishment as the offenders above last mentioned. 
 
 " * 18. That these resolves be in full force and virtue until 
 instructions from the Provincial Congress regulating the 
 jurisprudence of the Province shall provide otherwise, or 
 the legislative body of Great Britain resign its unjust and 
 arbitrary pretensions with respect to America. 
 
 *" 19. That the eight militia companies in this county "pro 
 vide themselves with proper arms and accoutrements, and 
 hold themselves in readiness to execute the commands and 
 directions of the general Congress of this Province and this 
 committee. 
 
 "'20. That the committee appoint Col. Thomas Polk and 
 Dr. Joseph Kennedy to purchase 300 pounds of powder, 600 
 pounds of lead, 1000 flints, for the use of the militia of this 
 county, and deposit the same in such place as the committee 
 hereafter may direct.' 
 
 " Signed, by order of the committee, 
 
 "Era. BREVARD, 
 " Clerk of the Committee. 
 
 Extract from the Proclamation of Governor Martin. 
 Dated, August the 8th, 1774. 
 " NORTH CAROLINA, ss.: 
 
 "By his Excellency Josiah Martin, Esq., his Majesty's 
 Captain, General, Governor, and Commander-in-chief in and 
 over the said Province : 
 
 " And whereas, I have also seen a most infamous publica 
 tion in the Cape Fear Mercury, importing to be resolves of a 
 set of people styling themselves a Committee for the County 
 of Mecklenburg, most traitorously declaring the entire disso 
 lution of the laws, government, and Constitution of this 
 county, and setting up a system of rule and regulation re 
 pugnant to the laws and subversive of his Majesty's gov- 
 
THE BIRTH OP THE REPUBLIC. 315 
 
 ernment; and another publication in the Cape Fear Mercury 
 of the fourteenth of last month, addressed, ' To the Commit 
 tees of the Several Towns and Counties of North Carolina, 
 Appointed for the Purpose of Carrying into Execution the Re 
 solves of the Continental Congress,' bearing date at Philadel 
 phia, June 19th, 1775, and signed William Hooper, Joseph 
 Hewes, and Richard Caswell, the preposterous enormity of 
 which cannot be adequately described and abhorred." 
 
 The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. 
 
 The following is the "Mecklenburg Declaration of Inde 
 pendence,' 1 the genuineness of which has given rise to much 
 controversy. It was first published, April 30, 1819, as will 
 be seen from the Raleigh Register of that date : 
 
 u It is not probably known to many of our readers " says 
 the Register, "that the citizens of Mecklenburg county, in 
 this State, made a Declaration of Independence more than a 
 year before Congress made theirs. The following document 
 on the subject has lately come to the hands of the editor 
 from unquestionable authority, and is published that it may 
 go down to posterity : 
 
 " 'NORTH CAROLINA, MECKLENBURG COUNTY, May 20, 1775. 
 
 " ' In the spring of 1775, the leading characters of Mecklen 
 burg county, stimulated by that enthusiastic patriotism 
 which elevates the mind above considerations of individual 
 aggrandizement, and scorning to shelter themselves from 
 the impending storm by submission to lawless power, etc., 
 etc., held several detached meetings, in each of which the 
 individual sentiments were " that the cause of Boston was 
 the cause of all ; that their destinies were indissolubly con 
 nected with those of their eastern fellow-citizens; and that 
 they must either submit to all the impositions which an 
 unprincipled and, to them, an unrepresented Parliament 
 might impose ; or support their brethren who were doomed 
 to sustain the first shock of that power, which, if success 
 ful there, would ultimately overwhelm all in the common 
 calamity." Conformably to these principles, Colonel Adam 
 Alexander, through solicitation, issued an order to each 
 captain's company in the county of Mecklenburg, (then 
 comprising the present county of Cabarrus), directing each 
 militia company to elect two persons and delegate to them 
 ample power to devise ways and means to aid and assist 
 their suffering brethren in Boston, and also generally to 
 adopt measures to extricate themselves from the impending 
 storm, and to secure unimpaired, their inalienable rights, 
 privileges, and liberties from the dominant grasp of British 
 imposition and tyranny. 
 
 " ' In conformity to said order, on the 19th of May, 1775, 
 the said delegation met in Charlotte, vested with unlimited 
 
316 TUE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 powers ; at which time official news by express arrived of 
 the battle of Lexington on that day of the preceding month. 
 
 " 'Every Delegate felt the value and importance of the 
 prize and the awful and solemn crisis which had arrived ; 
 every bosom swelled with indignation at the malice, invet 
 eracy, and insatiable revenge developed in the late attack 
 at Lexington. The universal sentiment was: Let us not 
 flatter ourselves that popular harangues or resolves, that 
 popular vapor, will avert the storm or vanquish our common 
 enemy; let us deliberate; let us calculate the issue, the 
 probable result ; and then let us act with energy as brethren 
 leagued to preserve our property, our lives, and, what is 
 still more endearing, the liberties of America. Abraham 
 Alexander was then elected chairman, and John McKnitt 
 Alexander, clerk. After a free and full discussion of the 
 various objects for which the delegation had been convened, 
 it was unanimously ordained : 
 
 " * 1. Resolved, That whoever directly or indirectly abetted 
 or in any way, form, or manner countenanced the unchar- 
 tered and dangerous invasion of our rights as claimed by 
 Great Britain, is an enemy to this country, to America, and 
 to the inherent and unalienable rights of man. 
 
 " '2. Resolved, That we, the citizens of the Mecklenburg 
 county, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have 
 connected us to the mother-country, and hereby absolve 
 ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, and 
 abjure all political connection contract, or association with 
 that nation who have wantonly trampled on our rights and 
 liberties, and inhumanly shed the innocent blood of Ameri 
 can patriots at Lexington. 
 
 "'3. Resolved, That we do hereby declare ourselves a 
 free and independent people, are and of right ought to be a 
 sovereign and self-governing association, under the control 
 of no power other than that of our God and the general 
 government of the Congress ; to the maintainance of which 
 independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual 
 co-operation, our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred 
 honor. 
 
 " ' 4. Resolved, That as we now acknowledge the exist 
 ence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, 
 within this county, we do hereby ordain and adopt, as a 
 rule of life, all, each and every of our former laws ; wherein, 
 nevertheless, the Crown of Great Britain never can be con 
 sidered as holding rights, privileges, immunities, or author 
 ity therein. 
 
 " * 5. Resolved, That it is also further decreed that all, 
 each, and every military officer in this county is hereby re 
 instated to his former command and authority, he acting 
 comformably to these regulations ; and that every member 
 present of this delegation shall henceforth be a civil officer, 
 
THE BIRTH OP THE REPUBLIC. 317 
 
 viz., a justice of the peace, in the character of a "commit- 
 teeman," to issue process, hear and determine all matters of 
 controversy according to said adopted laws, and to preserve 
 peace and union and harmony in said county ; and to use 
 every exertion to spread the love of country and fire of 
 freedom throughout America, until a more general and 
 organized government be established in this Province." 
 
 Newbern (N. C.) Committee. 
 
 " IN COMMITTEE, ) 
 Aug. 5, 1775. J 
 
 " From the late conduct of Governor Martin at Fort John 
 ston, and intelligence since received by this committee, it 
 appears he intends erecting a king's standard, and com 
 mencing hostilities against the people of this Province. 
 
 "It is therefore resolved, That no person or persons 
 whatsoever have any correspondence with him, either by 
 personal communication or letter, on pain of being deemed 
 enemies to the liberties of America, and dealt with accord 
 ingly. 
 
 ' ' And that no person or persons presume to remove him 
 or themselves from hence to Core Sound, or any other part 
 of the Province, where the Governor resides, without leave 
 of this committee, as he or they will not be suffered to re 
 turn here. 
 
 " By order, B. COGDELL, Chairman." 
 
 Try on County (N. C.) Association. 
 
 " August 14, 1775. 
 
 "The unprecedented, barbarous, and bloody actions com 
 mitted by the British troops on our American brethren, 
 near Boston on the 19th of April and 20th of May last, 
 together with the hostile operations and treacherous designs 
 now carrying on by the tools of Ministerial vengeance and 
 despotism for the subjugating all British America, suggest 
 to us the painful necessity of having recourse to arms for 
 the preservation of those rights and liberties which the 
 principles of the Constitution and the laws of God, nature, 
 and nations have made it our duty to defend. 
 
 "We therefore, the subscribers, freeholders and inhabi 
 tants of Tryon county, do hereby faithfully unite ourselves 
 under the most sacred ties of religion, honor, and love to 
 our country, firmly to resist force by force, in defence of our 
 natural freedom and Constitutional rights against all inva 
 sions; and at the same time do solemnly engage to take up 
 arms and risk our lives and fortunes in maintaining the 
 freedom of our country whenever the wisdom and counsel 
 of the Continental Congress or our Provincial Convention 
 shall declare it necessary ; and this engagement we will con- 
 
318 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 tinue in and hold sacred till a reconciliation shall take place 
 between Great Britain and America on Constitutional prin 
 ciples, which we most ardently desire, and we do firmly 
 agree to hold all such persons inimical to the liberties of 
 America who shall refuse to subscribe to this Association." 
 Signed by forty-eight names. 
 
 Newbern (N. C.) Committee. 
 
 11 COMMITTEE CHAMBER, j 
 NEWBERN, August 14, 1775. f 
 
 " Whereas, All those who have not subscribed the Articles 
 of Association have sufficiently testified to the public that 
 they are enemies to the liberties of America; and as the 
 principles of self-preservation make it absolutely necessary 
 that they should be deprived of their arms : therefore it is 
 
 ' * Ordered, That the captains of the several companies in this 
 county and town require, of all such suspected persons, as 
 well their fire-arms, as swords, cutlasses, etc., etc., and all 
 gunpowder, lead, and other military stores; and that the 
 said several captains be empowered to give receipt for all 
 such guns, etc., etc., and deliver them out to such persons 
 of his or their company not having arms, etc., etc., as may 
 be willing to serve in the American cause. 
 
 "By order, R. COGDELL, Chairman" 
 
 The Congress at Hillsborough. 
 
 The Provincial Congress met again at Hillsborough, on 
 the 21st August, pursuant to a call by Samuel Johnston, 
 as provided for at its first sitting at Newbern in April. On 
 Wednesday, the 23d August, the following proceedings took 
 place. The Association entered into by the General Con 
 gress at Philadelphia, on the 20th day of October, 1774, and 
 signed by the members thereof, was read : 
 
 " Resolved, That this Congress do highly approve of the 
 said Association, and do for themselves firmly agree and 
 promise to adhere thereto, and do recommend it to their 
 constituents that they likewise adhere firmly thereto.' 
 
 The Committee was directed to prepare and bring in a 
 test for the members of the Congress to sign, reported that 
 they had prepared a test, which they begged leave to lay 
 before the Congress for approbation. 
 
 " Ordered, The same be read ; which was accordingly read, 
 approved of, and ordered to be entered on the Journals and 
 signed." 
 
 It is as follows : 
 
 "We, the subscribers, professing our allegiance to the 
 King, and acknowledging the constitutional executive pow 
 er of government, do solemnly profess, testify, and declare 
 that we do absolutely believe that neither the Parliament of 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 319 
 
 Great Britain, nor any member or constituent branch there 
 of, have a right to impose taxes upon these Colonies, or to 
 regulate the internal police thereof; and that all attempts 
 by fraud or force to establish and exercise such claims and 
 powers are violations of the peace and security of the peo 
 ple, and ought to be resisted to the utmost: and that the 
 rple of this Province, singly and collectively, are bound 
 the acts and resolutions of the Continental and Provin 
 cial Congresses; because in both they are freely represented 
 by persons chosen by themselves; and we do solemnly and 
 sincerely promise and engage, under the sanction of virtue, 
 honour, and the sacred love of liberty and our country, to 
 maintain and support all and every the acts, resolutions, 
 and regulations of the said Continental and Provincial Ccn- 
 gresses to the utmost of our power and abilities. In testi 
 mony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this 23d of 
 August, 1775." 
 
 Committees of Wilmington District, North Carolina. 
 
 " At a general meeting of the several committees of the 
 district of Wilmington, held at the Court-house in Wilming 
 ton, Tuesday, the 20th June, 1775, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the following association stand as the 
 association of this committee, and that it be recommended 
 to the inhabitants of this district to sign the same as speed 
 ily as possible : 
 
 " ' "THE ASSOCIATION. 
 
 " * "The actual commencement of hostilities against the 
 continent by the British troops in the bloody scene on the 
 19th of April last near Boston, the increase of arbitrary 
 impositions from a wicked and despotic Ministry, and the 
 dread of instigated insurrections in the Colonies are causes 
 sufficient to drive an oppressed people to the use of arms : 
 We, therefore, the subscribers, of Cumberland county, hold 
 ing ourselves bound by that most sacred of all obligations, 
 the duty of good citizens towards an injured country, and 
 thoroughly convinced that under our distressed circum 
 stances we shall be justified before you in resisting force by 
 force, do unite ourselves under every tie of religion and 
 honour, and associate as a band in her defence against every 
 foe; hereby solemnly engaging that whenever our Conti 
 nental or Provincial Councils shall decree it necessary, we 
 will go forth and be ready to sacrifice our lives and fortunes 
 to secure her freedom and safety. 
 
 " ' "This obligation to continue and be in full force until 
 a reconciliation shall take place between Great Britain and 
 America upon Constitutional principles an event we most 
 ardently desire. And we will hold all those persons inim 
 ical to the liberty of the Colonies who shall refuse to sub- 
 
320 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 scribe to this Association ; and we will in all things follow 
 the advice of our general committee respecting the purposes 
 aforesaid, the preservation of peace and good order, and 
 the safety of individual and private property." ' 
 
 ''NORTH CAROLINA PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, | 
 "Friday, April 12, 1776. \ 
 
 "The select committee to take into consideration the usur 
 pations and violences attempted and committed by the King 
 and Parliament of Great Britain against America, and the 
 further measures to be taken for frustrating the same, and 
 for the better defence of this Province, reported as follows, 
 to wit: 
 
 " ' It appears to your committee that, pursuant to the plan 
 concerted by the British Ministry for subjugating America, 
 the King and Parliament of Great Britain have usurped a 
 power over the persons and, properties of the people unlim 
 ited and uncontrolled, and disregarding their humble peti 
 tions for peace, liberty, and safety, have made divers legis 
 lative acts denouncing war, famine, and every species of 
 calamity against the continent in general ; that British fleets 
 and armies have been and still are employed in destroying 
 our people and committing the most horrid devastations 
 on the country ; that Governors in different Colonies have 
 declared protection to slaves who should imbrue their hands 
 in the blood of their masters ; that the ships belonging to 
 America are declared prizes of war, and many of them have 
 been violently seized and confiscated. In consequence of 
 which, multitudes of the people have been destroyed, or, 
 from easy circumstances, reduced to the most lamentable 
 distress. And whereas. The moderation hitherto manifested 
 by the united Colonies, and their sincere desire to be recon 
 ciled to the mother-country on Constitutional principles, 
 have procured no mitigation of the aforesaid wrongs and 
 usurpations, and that no hopes remain of obtaining redress 
 by those means alone which have been hitherto tried, your 
 committees are of opinion that the House should enter into 
 the f ollowing resolve, to wit : 
 
 1 ' Eesolved, That the Delegates for this Colony in the 
 Continental Congress be empowered to concur with the Del 
 egates of the other Colonies in declaring independency and 
 forming foreign alliances, reserving to this Colony the sole 
 and exclusive right of forming a constitution and laws for 
 this Colony, and of appointing Delegates from time to time 
 (under the direction of a general representation thereof) to 
 meet the Delegates of the other Colonies for such purpose* 
 as shall be hereafter pointed out.' 
 
 "The Congress, taking the samelnto consideration, unan 
 imously concurred therewith, " 
 
THIS BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 321 
 
 CHAPTER. VI. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 IT has been elsewhere shown that South Carolina was 
 among the foremost Colonies to oppose the Stamp Act, and 
 that her treatment of the stamp-distributors was not more 
 ceremonious than the similar officers in more northern Col 
 onies had met with. She was no less prompt in seconding 
 the determined opposition of Massachusetts to the tax on 
 tea and other articles. "As for South Carolina," says Ban 
 croft, "they could not enough praise the glorious ninety- 
 two who would not rescind ; toasting them at banquets, and 
 marching by night through the streets of Charleston in 
 processions to their honor, by the blaze of two and ninety 
 torches." This refers to the vote of the Massachusetts 
 Assembly in June, 1768, in refusing, at the command of the 
 King, to rescind their former resolutions against the right 
 of Parliamentary taxation. 
 
 The Earl of Hillsborough, Secretary for the Colonies, by 
 instruction from the King, wrote letters to the Colonies in 
 November, 1768, inclosing^ the addresses of the two Houses 
 of Parliament to his Majesty, and assuring them that the 
 King would not listen to "the views of wicked men" who 
 questioned the supreme authority ot that body. 
 
 "While Hillsborough was setting his name to these 
 papers," says Bancroft, "Montague, the Governor of South 
 Carolina, invited its Assembly to treat the letters of Massa 
 chusetts and Virginia with the contempt they deserved." A 
 committee composed of Parsons, Gadsden, Pinckney, Lloyd, 
 Lynch, Laurens, Eutledge, Elliott, and Dart reported them 
 to be "founded upon undeniable Constitutional principles;" 
 and the House sitting with its doors locked, unanimously 
 directed its speaker to signify to both Provinces its entire 
 approbation. Provoked at what he had no means to pre 
 vent, the Governor, that same evening, dissolved the Assem 
 bly by beat of drum ; while the general toast at Charleston 
 remained, "The unanimous twenty -six who would not re 
 scind from the Massachusetts circular." 
 
 South Carolina refused compliance with the Billeting Act, 
 directing the Colonial legislatures to make specific contri 
 butions towards the support of the army. Her people also 
 enforced the non-importation agreement by publishing the 
 names of the few enemies to America who kept aloof from 
 the Association. 
 
 In December, 1773, a ship arrived at Charleston with two 
 hundred and fifty -seven chests of tea. " The spirit of oppo- 
 
322 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 sitipn ran very high, but the consignees were persuaded to 
 resign ; so that the collector, after the twentieth day, seized 
 the dutiable article, there being no one to vend it or to pay 
 the duty, and it perished in the cellars where it was stored." 
 Bancroft, vol. 6. 
 
 A General Meeting Called.' 
 
 " CHARLESTOWN, S. C., June 13, 1774. 
 
 " At a meeting of the General Committee this day, it was 
 unanimously agreed, That a general meeting of the inhab 
 itants of this Colony be called on Wednesday the 6th of 
 July next, at eight o'clock in the morning, at the Exchange 
 in Charleston, to consider of the papers, letters, and resolu 
 tions transmitted to the committee from the northern Col 
 onies ; and also of such steps as are necessary to be pursued 
 in union with the inhabitants of all our sister-Colonies on 
 this continent in order to avert the dangers impending over 
 American liberties in general by the late hostile act of Par 
 liament against Boston, and other arbitrary measures of the 
 British Ministry; and that public notice thereof be imme 
 diately given in the gazettes." 
 
 Extract of a Letter to a Gentleman in New York. 
 
 " CHARLESTOWN, S. C., 13th June, 1774. 
 
 "Circular-letters are dispatched by express to all the 
 most leading men throughout this Colony in order to re 
 move some jealousies which have been industriously excited 
 to acquaint them with the present dangerous situation of 
 every American and his posterity, and to engage their 
 union, assistance, and influence in their several districts, to 
 attend eitheir personally or by deputies authorized, to de 
 clare their sentiments at a general meeting of Delegates 
 from every part of the Colony, to be held at Charlestown, 
 the 6th of July next. 
 
 "Even the merchants now seem generally inclined to a 
 non-importation. How much further we shall go wiU de 
 pend upon the expected advices from the other Colonies, and 
 the spirit and vigor with which they act." 
 
 Extract of a Letter Received in New York. 
 
 " CHARLESTOWN, S. C., July 8, 1774. 
 
 ' ' On the 6th instant, according to proper notices dispersed 
 all over the Province, began at Charlestown our general meet 
 ing of Delegates from ail the counties, for agreeing upon 
 general resolutions, and for the appointment of deputies to 
 represent and act for us at the general Congress. This 
 meeting was perhaps one of the most respectable ever held 
 in America, and continued with very little intermission till 
 this afternoon when the business was concluded with the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 323 
 
 enclosed resolutions. Do not be surprised at not seeing any 
 non-importation or -exportation resolves. We had such, but 
 gave them up to succeed in the allowing full powers to our 
 deputies, which was gaining a grand point. They were 
 chosen by ballotj which kept us up till after midnight. 
 
 "At this election the merchants appeared with us for the 
 first time, but miscarried in their choice. The voters' 
 names were all taken down. They have, by voting in the 
 appointment of deputies so fully empowered, acceded to 
 non-importation or -exportation, if the Congress should 
 adopt those measures. The people, nevertheless, were so 
 uneasy for agreements to be entered into, that it was at 
 last declared, on the part of the trade, that they would (of 
 their own motion) countermand their orders, and would not 
 import while the present troubles continue. 
 
 u Captain Hunt has behaved so exceedingly clever upon 
 the present occasion by staying three days for the result of 
 our meeting and for our letters, that he has this day received 
 public thanks in our full meeting. His stay has given me 
 this opportunity of subscribing myself," etc. 
 
 Resolutions of the General Meeting. 
 
 Eesolutions unanimously entered into by the inhabitants 
 of South Carolina at a general meeting held at Charlestown, 
 in said Colony, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, the 
 6th, 7th, and 8th days of July, 1774: 
 
 "Resolved, That his Majesty's subjects in North America 
 owe the same allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain that 
 is due from his subjects born in Great Britain. 
 
 "Resolved, That his Majesty's subjects in America are 
 entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his natural- 
 born subjects within the Kingdom of Great Britain. 
 
 " Resolved, That it is repugnant to the rights of the peo 
 ple that any taxes should be imposed on them unless with 
 their own consent, given personally or by their representa 
 tives. 
 
 " Resolved, That it is a fundamental right which his Maj 
 esty's liege subjects are entitled to ; that no man should 
 suffer in his person or property without a fair trial and 
 judgment given by his peers, or by the laws of the land. 
 
 "Resolved, That all trials of treason, misprision of trea 
 son, or for any felony or crime whatever committed, or done 
 in this his Majesty's Colony, by any person or persons re 
 siding therein, ought of right to be had and conducted in his 
 Majesty's courts held within the said Colony, according to 
 the fixed and known course of proceeding; and that the 
 seizing any person or persons residing in this Colony, sus 
 pected of any crime whatever committed therein, and send 
 ing such person or persons to places beyond the sea to be 
 tried, is oppressive and illegal and highly derogatory to the 
 
324 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 rights of British subjects, as thereby the inestimable priv 
 ileges of being tried by a jury from the vicinage, as well as 
 the benefit of summoning and procuring witnesses on such 
 trial, will be taken away from the party accused. 
 
 "Resolved, That the statute made in the thirty-fifth year 
 of Henry the Eighth, chapter two, entitled ' An Act for the 
 Trial of Treasons Committed out of the King's Dominions,' 
 does not extend and cannot, but by an arbitrary and cruel 
 construction, be construed to extend to treasons, misprisions 
 of treasons, or concealment of treasons committed in any 
 of his Majesty's American Colonies, where there is sufficient 
 provision by the law of the land for the impartial trial of all 
 such persons as are charged with, and for the due punish 
 ment of, those offences. 
 
 "Resolved, That the late act for shutting up the port of 
 Boston, and the two bills relative to Boston which by the 
 last accounts from Great Britain had been brought into Par 
 liament, there read and committed, are of the most alarm 
 ing nature to all his Majesty's subjects in America; are cal 
 culated to deprive many thousand Americans of their rights, 
 properties, and privileges in a most cruel, oppressive, and 
 unconstitutional manner; are the most dangerous prece 
 dents : and, though levelled immediately at the people of 
 Boston, very manifestly and glaringly show if the inhab 
 itants of that town are intimidated into a mean submission 
 to said acts, that the like are designed for all the Colonies ; 
 when not even the shadow of liberty to his person or secur 
 ity of his property will be left to any of his subjects residing 
 on the American continent. 
 
 "Resolved therefore, That not only the dictates of hu 
 manity, but the soundest principles of true policy and self- 
 preservation, make it absolutely necessary for the inhabi 
 tants of all the Colonies in America to assist and support the 
 people of Boston by all lawful wa^s in their power, and 
 especially to leave no justifiable means untried to procure a 
 repeal or those acts immediately relating to them ; also all 
 others affecting the Constitutional rights and liberties of 
 America in general, as the best means to effect this desirable 
 end. 
 
 "Resolved, That Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Chris 
 topher Gadsden, Thomas Lynch, and Edward Rutledge, 
 Esquires, be and they are hereby nominated and appointed 
 deputies, on the part and behalf of this Colony, to meet the 
 deputies of the several Colonies of North America in gen 
 eral Congress, the first Monday of September next, at Phila 
 delphia, or at any other place or time that may be generally 
 agreed upon : there to consider the act lately passed and 
 bills depending in Parliament with regard to the port of 
 Boston and Province of Massachusetts Bay, which act and 
 bills in the precedent and consequences affect the whole 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 325 
 
 continent ; also the grievances under which America labors 
 by reason of the several acts of Parliament that impose 
 taxes or duties for raising a revenue and lay unnecessary re 
 straints and burthens on trade, and of the statutes, Parlia 
 mentary acts, and royal instructions which make any in 
 vidious distinctions between his Majesty's subjects in Great 
 Britain and America; with full power and authority, in be 
 half of us and our constituents, to concert, agree to, and ef 
 fectually prosecute such legal measures (by which we for 
 ourselves and them, most solemnly engage to abide) as in the 
 opinion of the said deputies and of the deputies so to be as 
 sembled shall be most likely to obtain a repeal of the said 
 acts and a redress of those grievances. 
 
 "Resolved, That we will agree to pay the expenses of 
 those gentlemen who may be fixed upon to be sent upon this 
 business. 
 
 " Eesolved, That, while the oppressive acts relative to Bos 
 ton are enforced, we will cheerfully, from time to time, con 
 tribute towards the relief of such poor persons there whose 
 unfortunate circumstances occasioned by the operation of 
 those acts may be thought to stand in need of most assist 
 ance. 
 
 "Resolved, That we will by all means in our power en 
 deavor to preserve harmony and union amongst all the Col 
 onies. 
 
 "Eesolved, That a committee of ninety-nine persons be 
 now appointed to act as a general committee to correspond 
 with the committees of the other Colonies, and do all mat 
 ters and things necessary to carry these resolutions into 
 execution ; and that any twenty-one of them together may 
 proceed to business their power to continue till the next 
 general meeting ; and in case of the death, departure from 
 the Province, or refusal to act, of any or either of them, the 
 parish or district from which such person dying, removing, or 
 refusing to act was chosen, shall fill, up the vacancy." 
 
 Extract of a letter received in Boston, dated Charlestown, 
 S. C., July 11, 1774 : 
 
 "In consequence of the advertisements lately published 
 by the general committee, and other proper means used to 
 obtain the sense of the whole Colony on the present alarming 
 state of American affairs, on "Wednesday last, the 6th in 
 stant, the largest body of the most respectable inhabitants 
 that has ever been seen together upon any public occasion 
 here, or perhaps anywhere in America (for gentlemen of the 
 greatest property and character, animated with an ardent 
 zeal to relieve their suffering brethren, and to preserve their 
 own freedom and the birthrights of their posterity, not 
 withstanding the extreme inconvenience of the season, from 
 even the remotest parts of the country attended), met at the 
 Exchange in this town in order to consider of the papers, 
 
326 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 letters, and resolutions that had been transmitted to the 
 said committee from the northern Colonies ; and also of the 
 steps necessary to be pursued in the union with the inhabi 
 tants of our sister -Colonies on this continent, to avert the 
 dangers impending over American liberties in general, by 
 the late hostile act of Parliament against Boston, and other 
 arbitrary measures of the British Ministry." 
 
 Another Account 
 from Drayton, the historian: 
 
 4 'The 6th day of July now arrived, and Charlestown was 
 filled with people from the country. One hundred and four 
 deputies represented all parts of the Colony, except Green 
 ville county, St. John's Colleton county, and Christ Church 
 parish. These districts sent no deputies. And in behalf of 
 Charlestown, the general committee joined the deputies from 
 the country. The meeting was held under the Exchange, on 
 the 6th of July, 1774; and a crowded meeting it was. At 
 nine o'clock in the morning Colonel George Gabriel Powell 
 took the chair, and it was carried, the votes should be given 
 by each person present, and not by parishes. It was also 
 further determined that whoever came there might give his 
 vote. The business of the day then opened with reading the 
 communications from the northern. Colonies. They then 
 proceeded to consider certain resolutions touching American 
 rights and grievances. These were agreed to." 
 
 The South Carolina Assembly. 
 
 11 The Commons House of Assembly met agreeably to the 
 Lieutenant-governor's prorogation, on Tuesday, the 2d day 
 of August, 1774, at eight o'clock in the morning ; and Messrs. 
 Heyward and Cattell were ordered to 'wait on the Lieu 
 tenant-governor, and acquaint his Honour that the House had 
 met.' The said gentlemen being returned, Mr. Heyward 
 reported to the House that Mr. Cattell and himself had 
 waited on the Lieutenant-governor with the message they 
 had in charge, and that his Honour was pleased to say he 
 would be in the Council-chamber immediately, when he 
 would send a message to this House. 
 
 "Colonel Powell, chairman of the late general meeting 1 , ac 
 quainted the House ' that, during the recess of this House, 
 namely, on the 6th, 7th, and 8th days of July last, at a gen 
 eral meeting of the inhabitants of this Colony, they having 
 under consideration the acts of Parliament lately passed with 
 regard to the port of Boston and Colony of Massachusetts 
 Bay, as well as other American grievances/ had nominated 
 and appointed the Honourable Henry Middleton, John Rut- 
 ledge, Thomas Lynch, Christopher^Gadsden, and Edward 
 Eutledge, Esquires, deputies, on the part and behalf of this 
 
THE mUTII OP THE REPUBLIC. 327 
 
 Colony, to meet the deputies of the other Colonies of North 
 America, in general Congress, the first Monday in Septem 
 ber next, at Philadelphia, or at any other time or place that 
 may be generally agreed on : then to consider the acts lately 
 passed and bills depending in Parliament with regard to the 
 port of Boston and Colony of Massachusetts Bay, which 
 acts and bills in the precedent and consequences affect the 
 whole continent of America ; also the grievances under 
 which America labors by reason of the several acts of Par 
 liament that impose taxes or duties for raising a revenue 
 and lay unnecessary restraints and burthens on trade, and of 
 the statutes, Parliamentary acts, and royal instructions 
 which make an invidious distinction between his Majesty's 
 subjects in Great Britain and America; with full power and 
 authority to concert, agree to, and effectually prosecute such 
 legal measures as in the opinion of the said deputies, and of 
 the deputies so to be assembled, shall be most likely to ob 
 tain a repeal of the said acts and a redress of those griev 
 ances/ And thereupon moved that this House do resolve to 
 recognize, ratify, and confirm the said appointment of depu 
 ties for the purposes aforesaid ; and that this House do also 
 resolve to provide a sum not exceeding one thousand five 
 hundred pounds sterling to defray the expenses which said 
 deputies will be at on the said service. 
 
 "'Resolved, nemine contradicente, That this House do 
 recognize, ratify, and confirm the appointment of the said 
 deputies for the purposes mentioned in the said motion. 
 
 "'Resolved, nemine contradicente, That this House will 
 make provision to pay any person or persons who will ad 
 vance to the said Henry Middleton, John Rutledge, Thomas 
 Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, and Edward Rutledge, Es 
 quires, the sum of one thousand five hundred pounds ster 
 ling (for the purposes aforesaid), together with full in 
 terest from the day the said one thousand five hundred 
 pounds sterling shall be advanced until it be repaid to the 
 person or persons advancing the same.' " 
 
 Non-consumption of Tea. 
 
 " CHARLESTOWN, S. C., October 14, 1774. 
 
 " On Wednesday last the General Committee of this Col 
 ony chose a Committee of Inquiry to see that no India teas 
 from any place whatever be imported or landed here, and 
 ordered the following advertisement to be published in the 
 Gazette : 
 
 " ' CHARLESTOWN S. C., October 12, 1774. 
 
 " ' The General Committee most earnestly recommend and 
 request of those inhabitants of this Colony who have not yet 
 signed an agreement for non-consumption of India teas after 
 the first day of November next, that they *-ilJ subscribe the 
 
328 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 said agreement as soon as possible ; for which purpose copies 
 thereof will be lodged in the hands of the gentlemen who 
 were chosen to represent the several parishes on the said 
 committee. ' " 
 
 Extracts from the charge of the Honorable William 
 Henry Drayton, Esq., one of the Judges of the General 
 Sessions of the Peace, Oyer and Terminer, Assize and Gen 
 eral Gaol Delivery for the districts of Camden and Cheraw, 
 in South Carolina, on his circuit, the fifth and fifteenth days 
 of November, 1774, delivered to the several Grand Juries, 
 and by them ordered to be published : 
 
 "By as much as you prefer freedom to slavery, by so 
 much ought you to prefer a generous death to servitude, 
 and to hazard everything to endeavor to maintain that rank 
 which is so gloriously pre-eminent above all other nations. 
 You ought to endeavor to preserve it, not only for its ines 
 timable value, but from a reverence to our ancestors, from 
 whom we received it, and from a love of our children, to 
 whom we are bound by every consideration to deliver down 
 this legacy, the most valuable that ever was or can be de 
 livered to posterity. 
 
 " It is unnecessary for me to draw any other character of 
 those liberties than that great line by which they are dis 
 tinguished ; and happy is it for the subject, that those liber 
 ties can be marked in so easy and so distinguished a manner. 
 And this is the distinguishing character: English people 
 cannot be taxed ; nay, they cannot be bound by any law 
 unless by their consent, expressed by themselves or by their 
 representatives of their own election. This Colony was 
 settled by English subjects ; by a people from England her 
 self ; a people who brought over with them, who planted in 
 this Colony, and who transmitted to posterity, the invaluable 
 rights of Englishmen rights which no time, no contract, no 
 climate can diminish. 
 
 "Some worthy judges style themselves the King's ser 
 vants, a style which sounds harshly in my ears, inasmuch 
 as the being a servant implies obedience to the orders of the 
 master, and such judges might possibly think that in the 
 present situation of American affairs this charge is incon 
 sistent with my duty to the King. But for my part, in my 
 judicial character, I know no master but the law ; I am a 
 servant, not to the King, but to the Constitution ; and in my 
 estimation, I shall but discharge my duty as a good subject 
 to the King and a trusty officer under the Constitution, 
 when I boldly declare the law to the people and instruct 
 them in their civil rights. Indeed, you gentleman of the 
 Grand Jury cannot properly comprehend your duty, and 
 your great obligation to perform it, unless you know those 
 civil rights from which these duties spring; and, by knowing 
 the value of those rights, thence learn your obligations to 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE nEPUBLIC. 329 
 
 perform these duties. A learned judge says: 'Every new 
 tribunal erected for the decision of facts, without the inter 
 vention of a jury, is a step towards aristocracy the most 
 oppressive of absolute governments.' And it is therefore a 
 duty which every man owes to his country, his friends, his 
 posterity, and himself, to maintain to the utmost of his 
 power this valuable Constitution in all its rights ; to restore 
 it to its ancient dignity, if at all impaired; to amend it 
 wherever it is defective ; and, above all, to guard with the 
 most jealous circumspection against the introduction of new 
 and arbitrary methods of trial, which, under a variety of 
 plausible pretences, may in time imperceptibly undermine 
 this best preservative of English liberty. 
 
 "Mr. Justice Blackstone terms the English trial by jury 
 the glory of the English law ; let me tell you, it is that kind of 
 glory in full meridian lustre, in comparison of which the 
 English mode appears only with diminished splendour." 
 
 Presentments of the Grand Jury for the District of Camden. 
 
 " 3. We present, as a grievance of the most dangerous and 
 alarming nature, the power exercised by the Parliament to 
 tax and to make laws to bind the American Colonies in all 
 cases whatsoever. We conceive such a power is destructive 
 of our birthrights as freemen, descended from English an 
 cestors, seeing such freemen cannot be Constitutionally taxed 
 or bound by any law without their consent, expressed by 
 themselves or implied by their representatives of their own 
 election; a consent which the good people of this Colony 
 never have signified, to be taxed or bound by laws of the 
 British Parliament, in which they never have had any Con 
 stitutional representation. 
 
 " And whereas, We rather choose to die freemen than to 
 live slaves, bound by laws in the formation of which we 
 have no participation, so now, that the body of this district 
 are legally assembled, as one step towards the defence of our 
 Constitutional rights, which are dearer to us than our lives 
 and fortunes, we think it our indispensable duty to the peo 
 ple of the district, to ourselves, the Grand Jurors for the 
 body of the people, and to our posterity, thus clearly to ex 
 press the sense of this large and populous district touching 
 our Constitutional rights and the very imminent danger to 
 which they are exposed from the usurped power of the Brit 
 ish Parliament, taxing, and, by law binding, the Americans 
 in all cases whatsoever ; being resolved to maintain our Con 
 stitutional rights at the hazard of our lives and fortunes, we 
 do most earnestly recommend that this presentment in par 
 ticular be laid before our Constitutional representatives in 
 General Assembly, who, we doubt not, will do all in their 
 power to support us in our just rights. 
 
 u And, lastly, in testimony of the satisfaction we feel, and 
 
330 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the high estimation in which we hold the charge given by 
 his Honour the judge at the opening of the court, and the 
 
 Erinciples of loyalty and liberty in which the same is mani- 
 sstly founded, and also that a lasting evidence may remain 
 of that true and Constitutional language, which it is the duty 
 of every judge to adopt in the exercise of an office instituted 
 solely for the preservation of the laws, we make it our re 
 quest that his Honour will be pleased to direct the said 
 charge to be printed and made public, fully persuaded that 
 every man will read it with applause who wishes a lasting 
 security to the British Constitutional establishment of our 
 civil and religious liberty. We also recommend the publi 
 cation of these our presentments. 
 
 "MATTHEW SINGLETON, 
 
 "Foreman; 
 
 " Joshua English, Jasper Sutton, Isham Moore, 
 
 Sylvester Dunn, John Payn, John Cantey, 
 
 John Witherspoon, Henry Cassells, John Gamble, 
 Samuel Bradley, Robert Carter, James Conyers, 
 
 Henry Hunter, David Wilson, David Neilson, 
 
 Aaron Frierson, Thomas Coffity, Moses Gordon, 
 John Perkins, Sr., Samuel Cantey, Edward Dukey." 
 
 The South Carolina Provincial Congress. 
 
 "On Wednesday, the llth day of January, 1775, the 
 deputies from every parish and district in the Province of 
 South Carolina met at the Exchange in Charleston, agree 
 ably to the Resolutions of Election; 
 
 " And after some debate it was, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That this Congress do approve the Declara 
 tion of American Rights as framed by the Continental Con 
 gress. 
 
 * ' Ordered, That the Association formed by the late Con 
 tinental Congress be taken into immediate consideration. 
 
 " The Association was then read, and after long debate it 
 was, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That this Congress do approve the American 
 Association. 
 
 "'Ordered, That the resolutions of the late Continental 
 Congress on the 10th of September last, and the first, second, 
 fourth, and sixth resolutions of the said Congress on the 14th 
 of October last, be taken into immediate consideration. 
 
 " * Resolved, That this Congress do approve the above res 
 olutions of the Continental Congress. 
 
 " ' Ordered, That the President do return the most cordial 
 and grateful thanks of this Congress to each of the late 
 Delegates from this Colony to the late Continental Congress 
 for their able and faithful discharge in the said Congress 
 of the high trust reposed in them by their country.' 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 331 
 
 "And the same was done accordingly. 
 
 " ' Eesolved, That the unfeigned thanks of every American 
 are justly due to the worthy and patriotic members of the 
 late Continental Congress, held at Philadelphia, for their 
 wise and spirited exertions in behalf of American liberty ; 
 and the representatives of this Colony, now met in Provincial 
 Congress, do hereby, in behalf of themselves and in the 
 names of their constituents, unanimously express their sense 
 of the great services rendered them by those important pro 
 ceedings.'" 
 
 Extract from Drayton, the Historian. 
 
 " Our Delegates from Congress being present, the pro 
 ceedings of that body at Philadelphia were taken into con 
 sideration, and many questions were proposed to them 
 relative to various parts of the proceedings, to which answers 
 and explanations were given by them. One of the most 
 important of these was, why, at a time when a number of 
 gentlemen were sent to Congress from all parts of America, 
 for the express purpose of considering and stating the Ame 
 rican grievances, and for devising the proper means for 
 redressing them, why did they limit their researches to the 
 year 1763, and not trace back, as could easily have been 
 done, the many aggressions which had been committed by 
 Great Britain upon her infant Colonies, in the jealousies, 
 monopolies, and prohibitions with which she was so prodigal 
 towards them, for the express purpose of depressing their 
 population, confining their trade, and crippling their at 
 tempts at even the most domestic and necessary manufac 
 tures ? To this it was answered that our Delegates were 
 willing to have stated all the grievances, as were the greater 
 part of the other Delegates ; but the people of Virginia would 
 not retrospect further back than 1763, being limited in their 
 powers." 
 
 " CHAKLESTOWN, Jan'y 17, 1775. 
 
 " Eesolved, That it be recommended by this Congress, to 
 all the inhabitants of this Colony, that they be diligently 
 attentive in learning the use of arms, and that their officers 
 be requested to train and exercise them at least once a fort 
 night. 
 
 "Eesolved, That it be recommended to the inhabitants of 
 this Colony to set apart Friday, the 17th February next, as a 
 day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer before Almighty God, 
 devoutly to petition him to inspire the King with true wis 
 dom to defend the people of North America in their just title 
 to freedom, and to avert from them the impending calamities 
 of civil war. 
 
 "Eesolved, That the several ministers of the gospel 
 throughout the Colony be requested to prepare and deliver 
 suitable discourses upon this solemn occasion. 
 
332 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 "Resolved, That every member of the present Congress 
 who may be in town do meet at the Commons House of As 
 sembly, and proceed from thence in a body to attend divine 
 service at St. Philip's Church ; and that the president do re 
 quest of the Reverend Mr. Robert Smith that he will prepare 
 and preach on that day a sermon suitable to the importance 
 of the occasion." 
 
 Association 
 
 unanimously agreed to in the Provincial Congress of South 
 Carolina. 
 
 "June 3d, 1775. 
 
 "The actual commencement of hostilities against this 
 continent by the British troops in the bloody scene on the 
 19th of April last near Boston, the increase of arbitrary im 
 positions from a wicked and despotic Ministry, and the dread 
 of instigated insurrections in the Colonies are causes suffi 
 cient to drive an oppressed people to the usr> of arms. 
 
 "We, therefore, the subscribers, inhabitants of South 
 Carolina, holding ourselves bound by that most sacred of all 
 obligations the duty of good citizens towards an injured 
 country, and thoroughly convinced that under our present 
 distressed circumstances we shah 1 be justified before God and 
 man in resisting force by force, do unite ourselves under 
 every tie of religion and honor, and associate as a band in 
 her defence against every foe ; hereby solemnly engaging 
 that, whenever our Continental or Provincial Councils shall 
 decree it necessary, we will go forth and be ready to sacri 
 fice our li ves and fortunes to secure her freedom and safety. 
 
 " This obligation to continue in full force until a recon 
 ciliation shall take place between Great Britain and America 
 upon Constitutional principles an. event which we most 
 ardently desire. 
 
 " And we will hold all those persons ipimical to the liberty 
 of the Colonies who shall refuse to subscribe to this Associa 
 tion. 
 
 "Subscribed by every member present on the 4th day of 
 June, 1775. Certified by 
 
 "HENRY LAURENS, President." 
 
 " CHARLESTOWN, S. C., June 8, 1775. 
 
 " The Association signed by the Provincial Congress and 
 recommended by them as a proper instrument to be sub 
 scribed to at this juncture by persons of all persuasions, was 
 in a few days, with the greatest avidity and cheerfulness, 
 signed also by almost every man in this town ; in short, such 
 is here the spirit for liberty and freedom, that, of the very 
 few who objected, there were only two who were hardy 
 enough to ridicule or treat it with contempt, viz., Loughliii 
 Martin and John Dealy, on which account they drew on 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 333 
 
 themselves the resentment of the populace. Yesterday they 
 were carted through the principal streets of this town in 
 complete suits of tar and feathers. The very indecent and 
 daring behaviour of the two culprits in several instances oc 
 casioned their being made spectacles of. After having been 
 exhibited for about a half-hour, and having made many 
 acknowledgments of their crime, they were conducted 
 home, cleaned, and quietly put on board of Captain Lasley's 
 ship, lying wind-bound, for Bristol. We hear that, upon the 
 intercession of Martin's friends, and his repeated promises of 
 future good behaviour, he is allowed to come on shore and 
 follow his business as usual. " 
 
 " CHARLESTOWN, S. C., June 9, 1775. 
 
 " We are informed that the Association lately subscribed 
 by the Provincial Congress, and recommended by them as 
 proper to be signed by all the inhabitants meets with the 
 greatest success. In the course of four days it has been 
 signed by almost every man in Charlestown ; none having re 
 fused, that we hear of, except a few gentlemen under pe 
 culiar circumstances. 
 
 "We also learn that the Provincial Congress have deter 
 mined to raise two regiments of foot and one of horse 
 immediately ; and also to put the Militia upon a respectable 
 footing, to which the people most cheerfully accord ; and we 
 have the satisfaction of knowing that the Colony will very 
 speedily be put in a good posture of defence. 
 
 1 ' The Provincial Congress have resolved to lay up proper 
 quantities of rice and flour in granaries in divers parts of 
 the Colony, and have appointed commissioners for pur 
 chasing these articles, and carrying these resolutions forth 
 with into execution. They have also prohibited the further 
 exportation of rice and corn for three months." 
 
 Address of the Provincial Congress to the Governor. 
 
 " To his Excellency the Right Honourable Lord William Campbell, Governor 
 and Commander-in-chief in and over the Province aforesaid : 
 
 "The humble Address and Declaration of the Provincial 
 Congress : 
 
 ' ' We, his Majesty's loyal subjects, the representatives of 
 the people of this Colony, in Congress assembled, beg leave 
 to disclose to your Excellency the true causes of our proceed 
 ings ; not only that upon your arrival among us you may 
 receive no unfavorable impression of our conduct, but that 
 we may stand justified to the world. 
 
 " When the ordinary modes of application for redress of 
 grievances, and the usual means of defence against arbitrary 
 impositions, have failed, mankind generally have had re 
 course to those tHkt are extraordinary. Hence the origin of 
 
334 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the Continental Congress, and hence the present representa 
 tion of the people of this Colony. 
 
 "It is unnecessary to enumerate the grievances of 
 America; they have been so often represented that your 
 Excellency cannot be a stranger to them. Let it therefore 
 suffice to say that the hands of his Majesty's Ministers 
 which have long lain heavy, now press us with intolerable 
 weight. 
 
 " We declare that no love of innovation, no desire of alter 
 ing the Constitution of government, no lust of independence, 
 has had the least influence upon our councils. 
 
 "But, alarmed and roused by a long succession of arbi 
 trary proceedings by wicked administrations, impressed 
 with the greatest apprehensions of instigated insurrections, 
 and deeply affected by the commencement of hostilities, by 
 the British troops, against this continent, solely for the 
 preservation and defence of our lives, liberties, and proper 
 ties, we have been compelled to associate and take up arms. 
 
 "We sincerely deplore those slanderous informations and 
 wicked counsels by which his Majesty has been led into 
 measures which, if persisted in, must inevitably involve 
 America in all the calamities of civil war and rend the 
 British empire. 
 
 "We only desire the secure enjoyment of our invaluable 
 rights, and we wish for nothing more ardently than a speedy 
 reconciliation with our mother-country upon Constitutional 
 principles. 
 
 "Conscious of the justice of our cause and the integrity 
 of our views, we readily profess pur loyal attachment to our 
 Sovereign, his Crown and dignity ; and trusting the event 
 to Providence, we prefer death to slavery." 
 
 " ! PROVINCIAL CONGRESS, ) 
 CHARLESTOWN, S. C., June 22, 1775. \ 
 
 "Resolved, That all absentees holding estates in this 
 Colony, except the sick, those above sixty, and those under 
 twenty-one years of age, ought forthwith to return to this 
 Colony. 
 
 " Resolved. That no persons holding estates in this Colony 
 oujrht to withdraw from its service without giving good and 
 sufficient reasons for so doing, to this Congress, or, during 
 its recess, to the General Committee. 
 
 "Ordered, That the two foregoing resolutions be printed 
 and made public. PETER TIMOTHY, Secretary." 
 
 (Extract.) 
 
 "The humble address of the Commons House of Assembly 
 of the said Colony of South Carolina to his Excellency the 
 Governor, dated July 12, 1775 : 
 
 " 'In times when the spirit of the Constitution has full 
 operation and, animating all the members of the state, gives 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 335 
 
 security to civil liberty, then we claim to be * * the only legal 
 representatives of the people in this Province, the only Con 
 stitutional guardians of its welfare ;" but, in the present un 
 happy situation of affairs, though our constituents might 
 have thought us competent, yet, as our own meeting de 
 pended upon the pleasure of the Crown, they would not 
 trust to so precarious a contingency, but wisely appointed 
 another representative body, for necessary, for special, and 
 important purposes. 
 
 ' ' ' We want words to give an idea of our feelings at your 
 Excellency's expression, "If there are any grievances that 
 we apprehend the neople of this Province labour under" as 
 if you doubted their existence : the world resounds with a 
 catalogue of them. 
 
 " * Your Excellency surely cannot be unacquainted with 
 them. 
 
 A. Constitution or Form of Government Agreed to and Re 
 solved upon by the Representatives of South Carolina. 
 
 "Whereas, The British Parliament, claiming of late years 
 a right to bind the North American Colonies by law in all 
 cases whatsoever, have enacted statutes for raising a revenue 
 in those Colonies, and disposing of such revenue as they 
 thought proper, without the consent and against the will of 
 the Colonists, etc. . . . 
 
 "And whereas, The judges of the courts of law here have 
 refused to exercise their respective functions, so that it is 
 become indispensably necessary that, during the present 
 situation of American affairs, and until the accommodation 
 of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and 
 America can be obtained (an event which, though traduced 
 and treated as rebels, we still earnestly desire), some mode 
 should be established by common consent and for the good 
 of the people the origin and end of all government for reg 
 ulating the internal polity of this Colony ; the Congress being 
 vested with powers competent for the purpose, and having 
 fully deliberated touching the premises, do therefore, 
 
 "Resolve, 1. That this Congress, being a full and free 
 representation of the people of this Colony, shall henceforth 
 be deemed and called the General Assembly of South Caro 
 lina ; and as such, shall continue until the 21st day of October 
 next, and no longer. 
 
 "2. That the General Assembly shall, out of their own 
 body, elect by ballot a Legislative Council, to consist of 
 thirteen members, seven of whom shall be a quorum, and 
 to continue for the same time as the General Assembly. 
 
 "3. That the General Assembly and the said Legislative 
 Council shall jointly choose by ballot, from among them 
 selves or from the people at large, a President and Com 
 mander-in-chief and a Vice-president of the Colony. 
 
336 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 U 4. That a member of the General Assembly being chosen 
 and acting as President and Commander-in-chief, or Vice- 
 president, or one of the Legislative Council, shall vacate his 
 seat in the General Assembly, and another person shall be 
 elected in his room ; and if one of the Legislative Council is 
 chosen President and Commander-in-chief, or Vice presi 
 dent, he shall lose his seat, and another shall be elected in 
 his stead. 
 
 *' 5. That there be a Privy Council, whereof the Vice-presi 
 dent of the Colony shall of course be a member and presi 
 dent of the Privy Council; and that six other members be 
 chosen by ballot three by the General Assembly, and three 
 by the Legislative Council : provided always, that no officer 
 of the Army or Navy, in the service of the Continent or of 
 this Colony, shall be eligible ; and a member of the General 
 Assembly or of the Legislative Council being chosen of the 
 Privy Council, shall not thereby lose his seat in the General 
 Assembly or Legislative Council unless he be elected Vice- 
 president of the Colony; in which case he shall, and another 
 person shall be chosen in his stead. 
 
 "The Privy Council, of which four to be a quorum, to 
 advise the President and Commander-in-chief when re 
 quired ; but he shall not be bound to consult them unless in 
 cases after- mentionei. 
 
 "6. That the qualifications of the President and Com 
 mander-in-chief and Vice-president of the Colony, and 
 members of the Legislative and Privy Councils, shall be the 
 same as of members of the General Assembly ; and on being 
 elected, they shall take an oath of qualification in the Gen 
 eral Assembly. 
 
 " 7. That the legislative authority be vested in the Presi 
 dent and Commander-in-chief, the General Assembly, and 
 Legislative Council, etc." 
 
 General Order of General Washington. 
 
 ' ' HEADQUARTERS , ) 
 NEW YORK, August 9, 1776. J 
 
 " The general exhorts every man, both officer and soldier, 
 to be prepared for action ; to have his arms in the best order ; 
 not to wander from his encampment or quarters ; to remem 
 ber what their country expects of them ; what a few brave 
 men have lately done, in South Carolina, against a powerful 
 fleet and army; to acquit themselves like men ; and with 
 the blessing of heaven on so just a cause, we cannot doubt 
 of success." 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 337 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 GEORGIA was the youngest and feeblest of the Colonies. 
 It was settled in 1732. When the Revolution began, there 
 fore, it was barely forty years old, and forty years in the 
 life of a Colony in that age are not to be measured by a 
 similar period of time nowadays. By the aid of steam and 
 railways and telegraphs, the populous Atlantic and Middle 
 States and the vast tide of European immigration will now 
 accomplish more in the way of colonizing a western terri 
 tory in a single year than could have been done during the 
 first half of the eighteenth century. Georgia, therefore, 
 was not in a condition to do much for the common cause in 
 the beginning of the struggle ; but her gallant sons did what 
 they could. 
 
 The circular-letter of the Massachusetts Assembly dated 
 February 11, 1768, in regard to the taxes on tea and other 
 articles, reached Georgia after the adjournment of the As 
 sembly. It was replied to by the speaker, Alexander 
 Wylly, Esq., " as a private person," in which he stated that 
 Dr. Franklin had been appointed agent of the Colony, with 
 instructions to urge the repeal of the act. The Legislature 
 met in November, and the Governor, referring to this cor 
 respondence, which had been made public, informed the 
 Assembly that if any countenance was given to the scheme 
 of Massachusetts, it would be his duty "immediately to put 
 an end to your sitting." Accordingly the presentation of 
 the Massachusetts letter was withheld until the necessary 
 legislation was diposed of, when Mr. Wylly laid that letter 
 before the Assembly, with a similar one from Peyton Ran 
 dolph, speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Both 
 were ordered to be entered on the Journals; which was 
 done. 
 
 "Resolved, That, from the inherent right of the subject to 
 petition the Throne for redress of grievances, a right allowed 
 and confirmed by act of William and Mary, the said letters 
 do not appear to the House of a factious or dangerous ten 
 dency, but, on the contrary, in the opinion of this House, 
 only tend to a justifiable union of subjects aggrieved, in law 
 ful and laudable endeavors to obtain redress by an applica 
 tion founded upon and expressive of duty and loyalty to 
 the best of kings, a becoming respect for the Parliament of 
 Great Britain, and an equitable and natural affection for 
 our mother-country, and arises from the tender and com- 
 mandable attention of those Colonies to the natural rights 
 and liberties of the British subjects in America, and to 
 
338 THE BIRTH OF* THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 which they are undeniably entitled upon the happy prin 
 ciples of our Constitution. 
 
 "Resolved, That copies of this resolution be, by the 
 speaker of the House, transmitted to the speaker of the 
 House of Representatives of the Province of Massachusetts 
 Bay, and to the speaker of the House of Burgesses in Vir 
 ginia, and that they be acquainted by him that this House 
 approves of the measures by them pursued to obtain redress 
 of our common grievances; also of the method by them 
 taken of communicating these measures to the other Prov 
 inces of the continent. 
 
 "Ordered, That the several proceedings and resolutions 
 respecting the said letters be published in the Gazette of this 
 Province, and that the clerk do furnish the printer with a 
 copy of the same." 
 
 In the same spirit an address to the King was adopted. 
 
 The consequence of these proceedings was, the immediate 
 dissolution of the Assembly, as had been threatened by the 
 Governor. The address was sent to Dr. Franklin to be 
 presented to the King; which was done through the Earl of 
 Hillsborough. But its reception through that channel was 
 refused, on the ground that it should have come through the 
 Governor. 
 
 On the 16th of September, 1769, a meeting of the mer 
 chants and traders of Savannah was held at the house of 
 Mr. Alexander Creighton, at which they resolved, "That 
 any person or persons whatsoever importing any of the arti 
 cles subject to Parliamentary duties, after having it in their 
 power to prevent it, ought not only to be treated with con 
 tempt, but also as enemies of their country." Three days 
 after, a large meeting was convened with the Honorable Jona 
 than Bryan, one of the Governor's Council, in the chair, at 
 which the same subject was renewedly canvassed, and re 
 solves of non-importation, mostly similar to the other Colo 
 nies, unanimously passed. One of the resolves, based on the 
 sentiments of the Bostonians in 1765, was to abolish mourn 
 ing at funerals, as the black stuffs used for such purposes 
 were of British manufacture. 
 
 From this time there was a constant struggle between the 
 Governor and the Assembly. Bryan was thrown out of the 
 Council by order of the King. The unanimous election of 
 Dr. Noble Wimberly Jones to the speakership of the Com 
 mons was negatived by the Governor. The Assembly re 
 sented the insult as a breach of privilege, and as tending to 
 subvert the rights and liberties of the people. 
 
 " SAVANAH, GA., July 14, 1774. 
 
 "The critical situation to which the British Colonies in 
 America are likely to be reduced from the alarming and 
 arbitrary impositions of the late acts of the British Parlia- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 339 
 
 ment respecting the town of Boston, as well as the acts that 
 at present extend to the raising of a perpetual revenue 
 without the consent of the people or their representatives, 
 is considered as an object extremely important at this criti 
 cal juncture, and particularly calculated to deprive the 
 American subjects of their Constitutional rights and liber 
 ties as a part of the British empire. It is therefore re 
 quested that all persons within the limits of this Province 
 do attend at the Liberty Pole at Fondee's Tavern, in Savan 
 nah, on Wednesday, the 27th instant, in order that the said 
 matters may be taken under consideration, and other Con 
 stitutional measures pursued as may then appear to be 
 most eligible. 
 
 " NOBLE W. JONES, JOHN HOUSTON, 
 
 ARCHIBALD BULLOCH, GEORGE WALTON." 
 
 Resolutions Adopted at a General Meeting of the People. 
 
 Resolutions entered into at Savannah, in Georgia, on 
 Wednesday, the 10th day of August, 1774, at a general meet 
 ing of the inhabitants of the Province, assembled to consider 
 the state of the Colonies in America : 
 
 "Resolved, nemine contradicente, That his Majesty's sub 
 jects in America owe the same allegiance, and are entitled 
 to the same rights, privileges, and immunities, with their 
 fellow-subjects in Great Britain. 
 
 " ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, That as protection and 
 allegiance are reciprocal, and under the British Constitution 
 correlative, terms, his Majesty's liege subjects in America 
 have a clear and indisputable right, as well from the general 
 laws of mankind as from the ancient and established customs 
 of the land, so often recognized, to petition the Throne upon 
 every emergency. 
 
 " 'Resolved, nemine contradicente, That an act of Parlia 
 ment lately passed for blocking the port and harbor of Bos 
 ton is contrary to our idea of the British Constitution. First 
 for that in effect deprives good and lawful men of the use of 
 their property, without judgment of their peers; and, second 
 ly, for that it is in nature of an ex post facto law, and indis 
 criminately blends, as objects of punishment, the innocent 
 with the guilty: neither do we conceive the same justified 
 upon the principles of necessity ; for that numerous instances 
 evince that the laws and executive power of Boston have 
 made sufficient provisions for the punishment of all offenders 
 against persons, or property. 
 
 u ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the act for abolish 
 ing the Charter of Massachusetts Bay tends to the subversion 
 of American rights ; for, besides those general liberties the 
 original settlers brought over with them as their birthright, 
 particular immunities were granted by such Charter as an 
 inducement and means of settling the Province ; and we ap- 
 
340 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 prehend the said Charter cannot be dissolved but by a volun 
 tary surrender of the people representatively declared. 
 
 " 'Resolved, nemine contradicente, That we apprehend the 
 Parliament of Great Britain hath not, nor ever had, any right 
 to tax his Majesty's American subjects; for it is evident be 
 yond contradiction, the Constitution admits of no taxation 
 without representation, that they are coeval and insepara 
 ble ; and every demand for the support of government should 
 be by requisition made to the several Houses of Represen 
 tatives. 
 
 u 'Resolved, nemine contradicente, That it is contrary to 
 natural justice and the established law of the land, to trans 
 port any person to Great Britain or elsewhere to be tried 
 under indictment for a crime committed in any of the Col 
 onies, as the party prosecuted would thereby be deprived of 
 the privileges of trial by his peers from the vicinage, the 
 injured perhaps prevented from legal reparation, and both 
 lose the full benefit of their witnesses. 
 
 " ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, That we will concur with 
 our sister-Colonies in every Constitutional measure to obtain 
 redress of American grievances, and will, by every lawful 
 means in our power, maintain these inestimable blessings 
 for which we are indebted to God and the Constitution of 
 our country a Constitution founded upon reason and jus 
 tice and the indelible rights of mankind. 
 
 u ' Resolved, nemine contradicente, That the committee ap 
 pointed by the meeting of the inhabitants of this Province, 
 on Wednesday, the 27th of July last, together with the depu 
 ties who have appeared here on this day, from the different 
 parishes, be a general committee to act ; and that any eleven 
 or more of them shall have full power to correspond with 
 the committee of the several Provinces upon the continent ; 
 and that copies of these resolutions, as well as all other pro 
 ceedings, be transmitted, without delay, to the Committees 
 of Correspondence in the respective Provinces.' 
 
 "A committee was appointed to receive subscriptions for 
 the suffering poor of Boston, consisting of William Ewen, 
 William Young, Joseph Clay, John Houston, Noble Wimb- 
 erly Jones, Edward Tel fair, John Smith, Samuel Farley, and 
 Andrew Elton Wells, Esqrs." 
 
 Darien (Go,.) Resolutions. 
 
 "!N THE DARIEN COMMITTEE, ) 
 Thursday, January 12, 1775. j 
 
 "When the most valuable privileges of a people are in 
 vaded, not only by open violence, but by every kind of fraud, 
 sophistry, and cunning, it behooves very individual to be on 
 his guard, and every member of society, like beacons in a 
 country surrounded by enemies, to give the alarm, not only 
 when their liberties in general are attacked, but separately, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 341 
 
 lest a precedent in one may affect the whole ; and to enable 
 the collective wisdom of such people to judge of its conse 
 quences, and how far their respective grievances concern all, 
 or should he opposed, to preserve their necessary union. 
 
 " Every laudable attempt of this kind by the good people 
 of this Colony, in a Constitutional manner, hath been hitherto 
 frustrated by the influence and authority of men in office, 
 and their numerous dependents, and in every other natural 
 and just way, by the various arts they have put in practice. 
 We, therefore, the representatives of the extensive district 
 of Darien, in the Colony of Georgia, being now assembled in 
 Congress by the authority and free choice of the inhabitants 
 of the said district, now freed from their fetters, do resolve 
 
 " 1st. That the unparalleled moderation, the decent but 
 firm and manly conduct, of the loyal and brave people of Bos 
 ton and Massachusetts Bay, to preserve their liberty, deserves 
 not only the applause and thanks of America, but also the 
 imitation of all mankind. But to avoid needless repetition, 
 we acquiesce and join in all the resolutions passed by the 
 grand American Congress in Philadelphia last October." 
 
 " 5th. To show the world that we are not influenced by 
 any contracted or interested motives, but a general philan 
 thropy for all mankind, of whatever climate, language, or 
 complexion, we hereby declare our disapprobation and ab 
 horrence of the unnatural practice of slavery in America 
 (however the uncultivated state of our country, or other sne- 
 cious arguments may plead for it) a practice founded in in 
 justice and cruelty, and highly dangerous to our liberties 
 (as well as lives), debasing part of our fellow-creatures below 
 men, and corrupting the virtue and morals of the rest ; and 
 is laying the basis of that liberty we contend for (and which 
 we pray the Almighty to continue to the latest posterity) 
 upon a very wrong foundation. We therefore resolve at all 
 times to use our utmost endeavors for the manumission of 
 our slaves in this Colony, upon the most safe and equitable 
 footing for the masters and themselves." 
 
 " ASSOCIATION. 
 
 " Being persuaded that the salvation of the rights and lib 
 erties of America depend, under God, on the firm union of 
 the inhabitants in its vigorous prosecution of the measures 
 necessary for its safety, and convinced of the necessity of 
 preventing the anarchy and confusion which attend the dis 
 solution of the powers of governments, we, the freemen, 
 freeholders, and inhabitants of the Province of Georgia,being 
 greatly alarmed at the avowed design of the Ministry to 
 raise a revenue in America, and shocked by the bloody scene 
 now acting in the Massachusetts Bay, do in the most solemn 
 manner resolve never to become slaves, and do associate, 
 under all the ties of religion, honor, and love of country, to 
 
342 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever may 
 be recommended by the Continental Congress or resolved 
 upon by our Provincial Convention that shall be appointed 
 for the purpose of preserving our Constitution, and opposing 
 the execution of the several arbitrary and oppressive acts of 
 the British Parliament, until a reconciliation between Great 
 Britain and America on Constitutional principles, which we 
 most ardently desire, can be obtained; and that we will in all 
 things follow the advice of our General Committee to be ap 
 pointed, respecting the purposes aforesaid the preservation 
 of peace and good order and the safety of individuals and 
 private property. 
 
 [Signed] 
 
 "Lach'n Mclntosh, Geo. Threadcraft, 
 
 John Fulton, Chas. McDonald, 
 
 Samuel Fulton, John Mclntosh, 
 
 Isaac Cuthbert, Ray'd Demere, 
 
 Isaac Hall, Jiles Moore, 
 
 Jones Newsom, Samuel McCleland, 
 
 A. Daniel Cuthbert, Peter Sallens, Jr., 
 
 John Hall, James Clark, 
 
 John McCullugh, Sr., Jno. Witherspoon, Jr., 
 
 John McCullugh, Jr., Jno. Witherspoon, 
 
 William McCullugh, Eeu. Shuttleworth, 
 
 Paul Judton, John McCleland, 
 
 John Roland, Richard Cooper, 
 
 Pr. Shuttleworth, Seth McCullugh, 
 
 Joseph Stobe, Thomas King." 
 
 To. Bierry, 
 
 " GEORGIA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, ) 
 '* January, 1775. \ 
 
 "The House, taking under consideration that the Parlia 
 ment of Great Britain claim a power of right to bind the 
 people of America by Statute in all cases whatsoever, and 
 who have in some Acts expressly imposed taxes on the 
 Americans, under various pretences, but in fact for the pur 
 pose of raising a revenue, hath established a Board of Com 
 missioners with unconstitutional powers, and extended the 
 iurisdiction of the Courts of Admiralty, not only for col 
 lecting the duties imposed by the said acts, but for the trial 
 of causes merely arising within the body of the county. 
 
 ' ' And whereas, Standing armies have been and now are 
 kept in America in times of profound peace; and being 
 resolved in Parliament that by force of a statute made in 
 the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Henry the Eighth, 
 Colonists may be transported to England and tried there, 
 upon accusations of treasons, and misprisions or conceal 
 ments of treason committed in the Colonies; and by a late 
 Statute such trials have been directed in cases therein men 
 tioned. And whereas, also, Assemblies have been frequently 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 343 
 
 dissolved, contrary to the rights of the people, when they 
 attempted to deliberate on grievances ; therefore this House 
 doth, as Englishmen, their ancestors, in like cases have 
 usually done for assisting and vindicating their rights and 
 liberties, declare, 
 
 " 1st. That the inhabitants of the English Colonies of 
 North America, by the immutable laws of nature, the prin 
 ciples of the English Constitution, and the several charters 
 or compacts, have the following rights : 
 
 " 2d. Thati they are entitled to life, liberty, and property, 
 and they have never ceded to any Sovereign power whatever 
 a right to dispose of either without their consent. 
 
 " 3d. That our ancestors who first settled these Colonies 
 were, at the time of their emigration from the mother- 
 country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities 
 of free and natural born subjects within the realm of Eng 
 land. 
 
 " 4th. That by such emigration they by no means for 
 feited, surrendered or lost any of these rights, but that they 
 were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise 
 and enjoyment of all such of them as their local and other 
 circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy. 
 
 " 5th. That the foundation of English liberty and of all 
 free government is a right in the people to participate in the 
 Legislative Council, and, as the English Colonists are not 
 represented, and from their local and other circumstances 
 cannot properly be represented in the British Parliament, 
 they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation 
 in their several Provincial Legislatures, where the right of 
 representation can alone be preserved in all cases of taxation 
 and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their 
 Sovereigns in such manner as has been heretofore used and 
 accustomed ; but from the necessity of the case, and a regard 
 to the mutual interests of both countries, we cheerfully con 
 sent to the operation of such acts of the British Parliament 
 as are bonafide restrained to the regulation of our external 
 commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial ad 
 vantages of the whole Empire to the mother- country, and 
 the commercial benefits of its respective members, excluding 
 every idea of taxation, internal or external, for raising a 
 revenue on the subjects in America, without their consent. 
 
 " 6th. That the respective Colonies are entitled to the 
 Common Law of England, and more especially to the great 
 and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the 
 vicinage, according to the course of that law. 
 
 4 7th. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the 
 English Statutes as existed at the time of their Colonization, 
 and which they have by experience respectively found to be 
 applicable to their several local and other circumstances. 
 
 " 8th. That his Majesty's Colonies are likewise entitled to 
 
344 THE BIKTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to 
 them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of 
 Provincial laws. 
 
 ' k 9th. That they; have a right peaceably to assemble and 
 consider of their grievances, and petition the King ; and that 
 all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commit 
 ments for the same are illegal. 
 
 "10th. That the keeping a standing army in these Colo 
 nies in times of peace, without consent of the legislature of 
 that Colony in which such army is kept, is against law. 
 
 " llth. And it is indispensably necessary to good govern 
 ment, and rendered essential by the English Constitution, 
 that the constituent branches of the legislature be independ 
 ent of each other. 
 
 "Resolved, That the exercise of legislative power in any 
 Colony, by a Council appointed during pleasure by the 
 Crown, may prove dangerous and destructive to the freedom 
 of American legislation. 
 
 "All and each of which the Commons of Georgia, in 
 General Assembly met, do claim, demand, and insist on 
 their indubitable rights and liberties, which cannot be legally 
 taken from them, altered or abridged by any person whatso 
 ever, without their consent. 
 
 " And whereas, There are many infringements and vio 
 lations of the foregoing rights, which, from an ardent desire 
 that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and in 
 terest may be restored, we pass over for the present, and 
 proceed to state such acts and measures as have been adopted 
 since the close of the last war, which demonstrate a system 
 formed to enslave America. 
 
 "'Resolved, That the following acts of Parliament are 
 infringements and violations of the rights of the Colonists, 
 and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary in order 
 to restore harmony between Great Britain and the American 
 Colonies, viz.: The several acts of 4 George the Third, 
 chapter 15 and chapter 34 ; 5 George the Third, chapter 25 ; 
 6 George the Third, chapter 52 ; 7 George the Third, chapter 
 41 and chapter 46; 8 George the Third, chapter 22; which 
 impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America ; 
 extend the powers of the Admiralty Courts beyond their 
 ancient limits; deprive the American subjects of trial by 
 jury; authorize the judge's certificate to indemnify the 
 prosecutor from damages that he might be otherwise en 
 titled to ; requiring oppressive security from a claimant of 
 ships and goods seized before he shall be allowed to defend 
 his property, and are subversive of American rights. Also 
 12 George the Third, chapter 24, entitled ' An Act for the 
 better securing his Majesty's dock yards, magazines, ships, 
 ammunition and stores,' which declares a new offence in 
 America, and deprives the American subjects of a consti- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 345 
 
 tutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the 
 trial of any person charged with committing any offence 
 described in the said act out of the realm, to be indicted 
 and tried for the same in any shire or county within the 
 realm. 
 
 " Also the three acts, passed in the last session of Parlia 
 ment, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor of 
 Boston ; for altering the Charter and government of Massa 
 chusetts Bay; and that which is entitled 'An Act for the 
 Better Administration of Justice," etc. 
 
 " Also the act, passed in the same session, for establishing 
 the Roman Catholic religion in the Province of Quebec, 
 abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erect 
 ing a tyranny there, to the great danger, from so total a dis 
 similarity of religion, law, and government, to the neighbor 
 ing British Colonies, by the assistance of whose blood and 
 treasure the said country was conquered from France. 
 
 " Also the act, passed in the same session, for the better 
 providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his 
 Majesty's service in North America. Also that the keeping 
 a standing army in several of these Colonies in time of peace, 
 without the consent of the legislature of that Colony in which 
 such army is kept, is against law. 
 
 "Resolved, That this House do present their most grate 
 ful acknowledgments to those truly noble, honorable, and 
 patriotic advocates of civil and religious liberty who have so 
 generously and powerfully, though unsuccessfully, espoused 
 and defended the cause of America both in and out of Par 
 liament. 
 
 " Resolved, That the thanks of this House be given to the 
 members of the late Continental Congress for their wise and 
 and able exertions in the cause of American liberty. 
 
 "Resolved, That ... be deputies to represent this Prov 
 ince in the intended American Continental Congress, pro 
 posed to be held at the city of Philadelphia on the 10th of 
 May next, or any other place or time as may hereafter be 
 agreed on by the said Congress. 
 
 "Ordered, That Mr. Speaker do transmit a copy of the 
 above resolves to the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, 
 President of the said Congress." 
 
 Association 
 
 entered into by forty -five of the deputies assembled in Pro 
 vincial Congress at Savannah, in Georgia, on the 18th of 
 January, 1775, and by them subscribed on the 23d, when they 
 chose Noble Wimberly Jones, Archibald Bullock, and John 
 Houston, Esquires, Delegates to represent that Colony in the 
 Continental Congress to be held in May next : 
 
 "Whereas, A non-importation, non-consumption, and non- 
 exportation agreement, faithfully adhered to, will probably 
 
346 THE BIRTH OF 1 THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 prove the most speedy, effectual, and peaceable measure to 
 obtain redress of American grievances ; we do, therefore, for 
 ourselves and our constituents, firmly agree and associate, 
 under the sacred ties of virtue, honor, and love of country, 
 as follows : 
 
 ' ' 1st. That we will not receive into this Province any goods, 
 wares, or merchandise that shall be shipped from Great 
 Britain or Ireland after the 15th day of March next ; or from 
 any other place such goods, wares, or merchandises as shall 
 be shipped from those kingdoms after that time, except such 
 as come under the rules and directions of the ninth article 
 herein mentioned, and except such goods, wares, or mer 
 chandises as are absolutely necessary for carrying on the 
 Indian trade, subject nevertheless to the control of the Con 
 tinental Congress, intended to be held at Philadephia on the 
 10th day of May next. Nor will we from this day import or 
 purchase any tea from any part of the world, nor import any 
 molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, or pimento from the Brit 
 ish plantations, or from Dominica, nor wines from Madeira, 
 or the West Indies, nor foreign indigo. 
 
 " 2d. That we will neither import nor purchase any slaves 
 imported from Africa or elsewhere, after the 15th day of 
 March next. 
 
 "3d. That we will not export any merchandise or com 
 modity whatever to Great Britain or Ireland, or to the West 
 Indies, after the 1st day of December next, except rice to 
 Europe. 
 
 "4th. Such as are merchants and use the British and 
 Irish trade will give orders as soon as possible to their fac 
 tors, agents, and correspondents in Great Britain and Ire 
 land not to ship any goods to them on. any pretence what 
 ever, as they cannot be received in Georgia; and if any 
 merchants residing in Great Britain or Ireland shall directly 
 or indirectly ship any goods, wares, or merchandise for this 
 Province in order to break such non-importation agreement 
 or in any manner contravene the same, on such unworthy 
 conduct being well attested, it ought to be made public ; and 
 on the same being so done, we will not from thenceforth 
 have any commercial connection with said merchant. 
 
 "5th. That such as are owners of vessels will give posi 
 tive orders to their captains or masters not to receive on 
 board their vessels any goods prohibited by the said non 
 importation agreement on pain of immediate dismission 
 from their service." 
 
 Meeting of the Inhabitants of Savannah, Ga. 
 
 "At a meeting of sundry gentlemen at Savannah on 
 Monday, June 26, 1775, it was unanimously, 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the present acts of Parliament tending 
 to raise a revenue in America are grievances. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 347 
 
 " 'Resolved, therefore, That we will do all that we legally 
 may to obtain redress of those grievances. 
 
 *' 'Resolved, That Friday, the 30th instant, June, at 9 
 o'clock A. M., at the house of Mrs. Cuyler, be a day ap 
 pointed for a meeting, in order to consult the most expe 
 dient method to obtain redress. ' " 
 
 "PROVINCIAL CONGRESS OP GEORGIA, [ 
 Thursday, July 6, 1775. f 
 
 "The order of the day being read, the same was taken 
 into consideration, and after some deliberation it was unani 
 mously, 
 
 " *1. Resolved, That this Province will adopt and carry 
 into execution all and singular the measures and recom 
 mendations of the late Continental Congress. 
 
 u ' 2. Resolved in particular, That we, in behalf of ourselves 
 and our constituents, do adopt and approve of the American 
 Declaration or Bill of Rights published by the late Continen 
 tal Congress, and also of their several resolves made in con 
 sequence of some infractions thereof. 
 
 " ' 3. That from and after this day we will not receive into 
 this Province any goods, wares, or merchandise shipped from 
 Great Britain or Ireland ; or from any other place any such 
 goods, wares, or merchandise as shall have been exported to 
 Great Britain or Ireland; nor shall we import any East 
 India tea from any part of the world, nor any molasses, 
 syrups, paneles, coffee, or pimento from the British planta 
 tions or from Dominica, nor wines from Madeira or the 
 Western Islands, nor foreign indigo. 
 
 " ' 4. That we will neither import nor purchase any slaves 
 imported from Africa, or elsewhere, after this day. 
 
 " ' 5. As a n on -consumption agreement strictly adhered to 
 will be an effectual security for the observation of the non 
 importation, we as above solemnly agree and associate that 
 from this day we will not purchase or use any tea imported 
 on account of the East India Company, or any on which a 
 duty hath or shall be paid ; and we will not purchase or use 
 any East India tea whatever, nor will we, nor shall any per 
 son for or under us, purchase any of these goods, wares, or 
 merchandise we have agreed not to import, which we shall 
 know or have cause to suspect were imported after this day. 
 
 " ' 6. The earnest desire we have, not to injure our fellow- 
 subjects in Great Britain and Ireland and the West Indies, 
 induces us to suspend a non-exportation until the tenth day 
 of September, 1775, at which time, if the acts and parts of 
 acts of the British Parliament hereinafter mentioned are not 
 repealed, we will not directly or indirectly export any mer 
 chandise or commodity whatever to Great Britain or Ire 
 land or the West Indies, except rice to Europe. 
 
 7. Such as are merchants, and use the British and Irish 
 
 U I 
 
348 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 trade, will give orders as soon as possible to their factors, 
 agents, and correspondents in Great Britain and Ireland not 
 to ship any goods to them on any pretence whatever, as they 
 cannot he received in this Province ; and if any merchant 
 residing in Great Britain or Ireland shall directly or indi 
 rectly ship any goods, wares, or merchandise for America in 
 order to break the said non-importation agreement or in 
 any manner contravene the same, on such unworthy con 
 duct being well attested, it ought to be made public ; and on 
 the same being so done, we will not from thenceforth have 
 any commercial connections with such merchant. 
 
 " ' 8. That such as are owners of vessels will give positive 
 orders to their captains or masters not to receive on board 
 their vessels any goods prohibited by the said non-importa 
 tion agreement, on pain of immediate dismission from their 
 service.' 
 
 " Monday, July 10, 1775. 
 
 " The following resolves were unanimously entered into: 
 
 " * Whereas, By the unrelenting fury of a despotic Minis 
 try, with a view to enforce the most oppressive acts of a venal 
 and corrupt Parliament, an army of mercenaries, under an 
 unfeeling commander, has actually begun a civil war in 
 America ; and whereas the apparent iniquity and cruelty of 
 these destructive measures have however had this good 
 effect, to unite men of all ranks in the common cause; and 
 whereas, to consult on means of safety and the method of 
 obtaining redress, the good people of this Province of Geor 
 gia have thought proper to appoint a Provincial Congress, 
 the delegates met at said Congress, now assembled from 
 every part of the Province, besides adopting the resolutions 
 of the late Continental Congress, find it prudent to enter 
 into such other resolutions as may best express their own 
 sense, and the sense of their constituents, on the present un 
 happy situation of things ; and therefore thought fit and nec 
 essary to resolve as follows, viz. : 
 
 " 'Resolved, That we were born free, and are entitled to 
 all the natural rights of mankind. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That by birth or incorporation we are all 
 Britons; and whatever Britons may claim as their birth 
 rights, is also ours. 
 
 ' ' ' Resolved , That in the British empire, to which we belong, 
 the Constitution is superior to every man or set of men 
 whatever ; and that it is a crime of the deepest dye, in any 
 instance, to impair or take it away, or deprive the meanest 
 subject of its benefits. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That in that part of the American continent 
 which we inhabit was originally granted by the Crown and 
 the Charter from Charles the Second, and expressly makes 
 its Constitutional dependence on the Crown only. 
 
 " * Resolved, That those who would now subject all Amer- 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 349 
 
 ica, or this Province, to dependency on the Crown and Par 
 liament, are guilty of a very dangerous innovation, which 
 in time will appear as injurious to the Crown as it is incon 
 sistent with the liberty of the American subject. 
 
 '"Resolved, That by the law of nature and the British 
 Constitution, no man can legally be deprived of his property 
 without his consent, given by himself or his representatives. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the acts of the British Parliament for 
 raising a perpetual revenue on the Americans by laying a 
 tax on them without their consent and contrary to their 
 protestations, are diametrically opposite to every idea of 
 property, to the spirit of the Constitution, and at one stroke 
 deprives this vast continent of all liberty and property, and 
 as such must be detested by every well-wisher to Great 
 Britain and America. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the subsequent laws made with a view 
 to enforce these acts, viz, the Boston Port Bill, the altera 
 tion of their Charter, the act to carry beyond sea for trial, 
 and (what refines upon any species of cruelty) the Fishery 
 Bill, are of such a complexion that we can say nothing 
 about them for want of words to express our abhorrence 
 and detestation. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That the loyalty, patience, and prudence of 
 the inhabitants of New England, under their unparalelled 
 pressures, having been construed into a timidity and dread 
 of regular troops, a civil war in support of acts extremely 
 oppressive in themselves hath actually been begun, and 
 that there is too much reason to believe that plans have 
 been in agitation big with everything horrible to other 
 Provinces plans as rash, barbarous, and destructive as the 
 cause which they were intended to serve. 
 
 "' Resolved, That in these times of extreme danger, our 
 Assembly not being permitted to sit, we must either have 
 been a people without all thought or counsel, or have assem 
 bled as we now are in Provincial Congress, to consult upon 
 measures which, under God, may prove the means of a per 
 petual union with the mother-country and tend to the 
 honor, freedom, and safety of both. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That the Province bears all true allegiance to 
 our own rightful sovereign, King George the Third, and 
 always will and ought to bear it, agreeable to the Constitu 
 tion of Great Britain, bv virtue of which only the King is 
 now our sovereign, and which equally bind, Majesty and 
 subjects. 
 
 " ' Resolved, That we are truly sensible how much our hap 
 piness and safety depend on a Constitutional connection 
 with Great Britain ; and that nothing but the being deprived 
 of the privileges and natural rights of Britons could ever 
 make the thought of a separation otherwise than intol 
 erable, 
 
350 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " 'Resolved, That in case his Majesty or his successors 
 shall at any time hereafter make any requisition to the good 
 people of this Province by his representative, it will be just 
 and right that such sums should be granted as the nature of 
 the service may require and the ability and situation of 
 this Province will admit of. 
 
 u * Eesolved, That this Province join with all the Provinces 
 in America, now met by Delegates in Continental Congress, 
 and that John Houston and Archibald Bullock, Esquires, 
 the Rev. Dr. Zubly, Lyman Hall, and Noble Wimberly 
 Jones, Esquires, be the Delegates from this Province, and 
 that any three constitute a quorum for that purpose. 
 
 " * Resolved, That a committee be appointed whose duty it 
 shall be to see that the resolutions of the Continental and 
 Provincial Congresses be duly observed ; and that every per 
 son who shall act in opposition thereto shall have his name 
 transmitted to the Continental Congress and his misdeeds 
 published in every American paper. " 
 
 Temporary Constitution of Georgia. 
 " Colony of Georgia : 
 
 " Whereas, The unwise and iniquitous system of adminis 
 tration qbstinatelv persisted in by the British Parliament 
 and Ministry, against the good people of America, hath at 
 length driven the latter to take up arms, as their last re 
 source, for the preservation of their rights and liberties 
 which God and the Constitution gave them ; 
 
 "And whereas, An armed force, with hostile intentions 
 against the people of this Province, having lately arrived at 
 Cockspur, his Excellence Sir James Wright, Baronet, the 
 King's Governor of Georgia, in aid of the views of Adminis 
 tration, and with a design to add to those inconveniences 
 which necessarily flow from a state of confusion, suddenly 
 and unexpectedly withdrew himself from his government, 
 carrying off the great seal of the Province with him ; 
 
 "And whereas in consequence of this and other events, 
 doubts have arisen with the several magistrates how far they 
 are authorized to act under their former appointments, and 
 the greatest part of them have absolutely refused to do so, 
 whereby all judicial powers are become totally suspended, 
 to the great danger of persons and property : 
 
 " 1st. That there shall be a President and Commander-in- 
 Chief appointed by ballot in this Congress for six months, 
 or during the time above specified. 
 
 "2d. That there shall in like manner, and for the like 
 time, be also a Council of Safety, consisting of ^thirteen per 
 sons (besides the five Delegates to the general Congress), 
 appointed to act in the nature of a Privy Council to the said 
 president or commander in-chief . 
 
 "3d. That the President shall be invested with all the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 351 
 
 executive powers of Government, not inconsistent with what 
 is hereafter mentioned, but shall be bound to consult and 
 follow the advice of the said Council in all cases whatso 
 ever; and any seven of the said Council shall be a quorum 
 for the purpose of advising. 
 
 U 4th. That all the laws, whether common or statute, and 
 the acts of Assembly which have formerly been acknowl 
 edged to be of force in this Province, and which do not in 
 terfere with the proceedings of the Continental or our Pro 
 vincial Congresses, and also all and singular the resolves 
 and recommendations of the said Continental and Provin 
 cial Congresses, shall be of full force, validity, and effect, 
 until otherwise ordered. 
 
 ' ' 5th. That there shall be a chief -justice, and two assistant 
 judges, an attorney-general, a provost-marshal, and clerk 
 of the Court of Sessions appointed by ballot to serve during 
 the pleasure of the Congress. The Court of Sessions or Oyer 
 and Terminer shall be opened and held on the second Tues 
 day in June and December, and the former rules and meth 
 od of proceeding, as nearly as may be, shall be observed in 
 summoning of juries, and all other cases whatever. 
 
 " 6th. That the president or commander-in-chief, with the 
 advice of the Council as before mentioned, shall appoint 
 magistrates to act during pleasure in the several parishes 
 throughout this Province ; and such magistrates shall con 
 form themselves as nearly as may be to the old-established 
 form and methods of proceeding. 
 
 u 7th. That all legislative powers shall be reserved to the 
 Congress; and no person who holds any place of profit, 
 civil or military, shall be eligible as a member, either of the 
 Congress or Council of Safety." 
 
 Georgia Council of Safety. 
 
 "At a meeting of the Council of Safety, 30th April, 1776, 
 Present: John Wereat, Ben jamin Andrews, George Walton, 
 John Girardeau, Samuel Salters, Jonathan Bryan, Daniel 
 Roberts, 
 
 "Resolved, That the following address be presented to 
 his Excellency the president ; and that Messrs. Wereat and 
 Roberts do wait on his Excellency to know when he will be 
 pleased to receive the same : 
 
 " ( To his Excellency Archibald Bullock, Esquire, President and Commander-in- 
 chief of tfie Province of Georgia : 
 
 " ' The address of the Council of Safety for the said 
 Province : 
 
 " ' May it please your Excellency: The long session of 
 the late Congress, together with the season of the year, called 
 particularly for a speedy recess ; and the House having ad 
 journed while you were out of town, it becomes more par* 
 
352 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 ticularly necessary for us to address your Excellency. All 
 therefore, with unfeigned confidence and regard, beg leave to 
 congratulate, not only your Excellency on your appoint 
 ment to, but your country on your acceptance of, the su 
 preme command in this Province. 
 
 " 'It would be needless and tedious to recount the vari 
 ous, and yet multiplying oppressions, which have driven the 
 people of this Province to erect that government which they 
 have called upon you to see executed ; suffice it then to de 
 clare that it was only an alternative of anarchy and misery, 
 and by consequence, the effect of dire necessity. 
 
 " 'Your Excellency will know that it was the endeavor 
 of the Congress to stop every avenue of vice and oppression 
 lest the infant virtue of a still more infant Province might 
 in time rankle into corruption ; and we doubt not that by 
 your Excellency's exertions all the resolutions made or 
 adopted by Congress will be enforced with firmness without 
 any regard to any individual or any set of men ; for no gov 
 ernment can be said to be established while any part of the 
 community refuses submission to its authority. In the dis 
 charge of this arduous and important task your Excellency 
 may rely on our constant and best endeavors to assist and 
 support you. ' 
 
 " Messrs. John Wereat and Daniel Roberts waited on the 
 president, who informed them that he would be ready to 
 receive their address on to-morrow morning at nine o'clock.' 
 
 " May 1, 1776. 
 
 u The board waited on his Excellency the president with 
 their address, to which he was pleased to give the following 
 answer : 
 
 " ' To the Honourable tJie Members of the Council of Safety of the Province of 
 Georgia: 
 
 11 'HONOURABLE GENTLEMEN: I am much obliged to you 
 for your kind expressions of congratulation on my appoint 
 ment to the supreme command of this Colony. 
 
 " 'When I reflect from whence the appointment is de 
 rived, that of the free and uncorrupt suffrages of my fel 
 low-citizens, it cannot fail to stimulate me to the most 
 vigorous exertions in the discharge of the important duties 
 to which I am called by our Provincial Congress. While I 
 have the advice and assistance of gentlemen of known in 
 tegrity and abilities, I doubt not but I shall be enabled to 
 enforce and carry into execution every resolve and law of 
 Congress. Arid as far as lies with me, my country may de 
 pend I will with a becoming firmness and the greatest im 
 partiality, always endeavour to cause justice in mercy to 
 te executed. 
 
 " 'ARCHIBALD BULLOCK.' " 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 353 
 
 " WlLLIAMSBURG, VA., ) 
 
 June 15, 1776. j 
 
 "This day arrived in town from Georgia, on his way to 
 the general Congress, George Walton, Esq., one of the Dele 
 gates from that Province; also Lieutenants Walton and 
 Pannell on the recruiting service. By these gentlemen we 
 learn that the Constitution of Georgia have authorized their 
 Delegates in Congress to concur in any scheme which may 
 be proposed for the benefit of the United Colonies, even to a 
 total separation from Great Britain, and that in the mean 
 while a form of government had been established in the 
 Province." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE Continental Congress was a popular convention, not 
 differently constituted from the party conventions of the 
 present day. It is true that the Delegates from some of the 
 Colonies were authorized or elected by the General As 
 semblies ; but others were chosen by popular meetings or 
 conventions. Even those who were sent up by the Assem 
 blies could be clothed with no legal authority, for the reason 
 that there was no authority given in the Colonial Charters 
 for organizing a federal legislature. 
 
 It is also true that it was no part of the policy of the Colo 
 nies to confer legislative authority upon the Federal Congress ; 
 and such authority was never given until the Constitution 
 was adopted. The Congress could declare war, raise armies, 
 appoint commanders, and even declare independence. It 
 could declare what revenues were necessary to support and 
 equip the armies, and how much should be contributed by 
 each Colony ; but it could not levy and collect taxes in any 
 form. It could not pass a tariff act of duties on imported 
 goods; nor impose direct taxes; nor establish a system of 
 excise laws, or taxes upon consumption. And in the want 
 of this power of taxation, it wanted everything essential to 
 a government. Nothing but the patriotic devotion of the 
 people to the common cause of liberty gave any strength to 
 this voluntary system; and nothing else gave any force to 
 the ordinances and resolutions of the Congress. No authori 
 ty to enact laws was ever asserted or claimed by the Con 
 gress. 
 
 In November, 1777, after the revolted Colonies had become 
 States, an effort was made to give legality to the Congress, 
 by the adoption of Articles of Confederation. But the new 
 States were still too tenacious of their individual sovereign 
 ty to part with the power of taxation. The result was that 
 the "Congress of the Confederation" remained as weak as 
 the " Continental Congress" had been. The Articles, indeed 
 
354 THE BIRTH OF THE HEPUBLIC. 
 
 were not adopted or ratified by all the States, and put in 
 force until March, 17S1, only eight months before the last 
 battle for independence was fought, at Yorktown. It would 
 be difficult to point to a single clause or section of the 
 Articles which conferred any additional power upon the 
 Congress which had not been exercised from 1775 forward. 
 The Articles of Confederation are as follows : 
 
 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAL UNION BETWEEN 
 THE STATES. 
 
 The following have been critically compared with the 
 original Articles of Confederation in the Department of 
 State, and found to conform minutely to them in text, let 
 ter, and punctuation. It may therefore be relied upon as a 
 true copy :* 
 
 "TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL 
 COME, WE THE UNDERSIGNED DELEGATES OF THE 
 STATES AFFIXED TO OUR NAMES, SEND GREETING. 
 Whereas the Delegates of the United States of America in 
 Congress assembled did on the 15th day of November in the 
 year of our Lord 1777, and in the Second Year of the Inde 
 pendence of America agree to certain articles of Confedera 
 tion and perpetual Union between the States of New Hamp 
 shire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence 
 Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl 
 vania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, South- 
 Corolina, and Georgia, in the words following, viz. 
 
 "ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPET 
 UAL UNION BETWEEN THE STATES OF NEW-HAMP 
 SHIRE, MASSACHUSETTS-BAY, RHODE-ISLAND AND 
 PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS, CONNECTICUT, NEW- 
 YORK, NEW JERSEY, PENNSYLVANIA, DELAWARE, 
 MARYLAND, VIRGINIA, NORTH-CAROLINA, SOUTH- 
 CAROLINA, AND GEORGIA. 
 
 "ARTICLE I. The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 
 ' The United States of America.' 
 
 "ARTICLE II. Each State retains its sovereignty, free 
 dom and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and 
 right, which is not by this Confederation expressly delegated 
 to the United States, in Congress assembled. 
 
 "ARTICLE III. The said States hereby severally enter 
 into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their 
 common defence, the security of their Liberties, and their 
 mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist 
 each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made 
 upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereign 
 ty, trade, or any other pretence whatever. 
 . " ARTICLE IV. The better to secure and perpetuate 
 mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the 
 different States in this union, the free inhabitants of each of 
 
 *Hickey's Constitution. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 355 
 
 these states, paupers, vagabonds, and fugutives from Justice 
 excepted, snail be entitled to all privileges and immunities 
 of free citizens in the several States ; and the people of each 
 state shall have free ingress and regress to and from any 
 other State, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of 
 trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, impositions 
 and restrictions as the inhabitants thereof respectively, 
 provided that such restrictions shall not extend so far as to 
 prevent the removal of property imported into any State, 
 to any other state of which the Owner is an inhabitant; 
 provided also that no imposition, duties or restriction shall 
 be laid by any state, on the property of the United States or 
 either of them. 
 
 " If any person guilty of, or charged with treason, felony, 
 or other high misdemeanor in any State, shall flee from 
 Justice, and be found in any of the United States, he shall 
 upon demand of the Governor or executive power, of the 
 State from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to 
 the State having jurisdiction of his offence. 
 
 " Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these 
 States to the records, acts and judicial proceedings of the 
 courts and magistrates of every other state. 
 
 "ARTICLE V. For the more convenient management 
 of the general interest of the United States, delegates shall 
 be annually appointed in such manner as the legislature of 
 each State shall direct, to meet in Congress on the first 
 Monday -in November, in every year, with a power reserved 
 to each State, to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any 
 time within the year, and to send others in their stead, for 
 the remainder of the Year. 
 
 "No State shall be represented in Congress by less than 
 two, nor by more than seven members ; and no person shall 
 be capable of being a delegate for more than three years in 
 any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a dele 
 gate, be capable of holding any office under the United 
 States, for which he, or another for his benefit receives any 
 salary, fees or emolument of any kind. 
 
 "Each State shall maintain its own delegates in any 
 meeting of the States, and while they act as members of the 
 committee of the States. 
 
 ' ' In determining questions in the United States, in Con 
 gress assembled, each State shall have one vote. 
 
 ' ' Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be 
 impeached or questioned in any court, or place out of Con 
 gress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in 
 their persons from arrests and imprisonments, during the 
 time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, 
 except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. 
 
 "ARTICLE VI. No' State without the consent of the 
 United States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy 
 
356 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any confer 
 ence, agreement, alliance or treaty with any King, prince or 
 State ; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or 
 trust under the United States, or any of them, accept of any 
 present, emolument, office or title of any kind whatever 
 from any king, prince or foreign State ; nor shall the United 
 States in congress assembled, or any of them, grant any 
 title of nobility. 
 
 " No two or more States shall enter into any treaty, Con 
 federation or alliance whatever between them, without the 
 consent of the United States in congress assembled, specify 
 ing accurately the purposes for which the same is to be 
 entered into, and how long it shall continue. 
 
 " No State shall lay any imposts or duties, which may in 
 terfere with any stipulations in treaties, entered into by the 
 United States in Congress assembled, with any king, prince 
 or state, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by 
 Congress, to the courts of France and Spain. 
 
 "No vessel of war shall be kept up in time of peace by 
 any State, except such number only, as shall be deemed 
 necessary by the United States in Congress assembled, for 
 the defence of such State, or its trade ; nor shall any body of 
 forces be kept up by any State, in time of peace, except such 
 number only, as in the judgment of the United States, in 
 Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison 
 the torts necessary ror the defence of such State ; but every 
 State shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined 
 militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide 
 and have constantly ready for use, in public stores, a due 
 number of field pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of 
 arms, ammunition and camp equipage. 
 
 " No State shall engage in any war without the consent of 
 the United States in Congress assembled, unless such State 
 be actually invaded by enemies, or shall have received cer 
 tain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of 
 Indians to invade such State, and the danger is so imminent 
 as not to admit of a delay, till the United States in Congress 
 assembled can be consulted : nor shall any State grant com 
 missions to any shins or vessels of war, nor letters of marque 
 or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the 
 United States in Congress assembled, and then only against 
 the kingdom or State and the subjects thereof, against which 
 war has been so declared, and under such regulations as 
 shall be established by the United States in Congress as 
 sembled, unless such State be infested by pirates, m which 
 case vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and 
 keut so long as the danger shall continue, or until the 
 United States in Congress assembled shall determine other 
 wise. 
 
 11 ARTICLE VII. When land-forces are raised by any State 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 367 
 
 for the common defence, all officers of or under the rank of 
 Colonel, shall be appointed by the legislature of each State 
 respectively by whom such forces shall be raised, or in such 
 manner as such State shall direct, and all vacancies shall be 
 filled up by the State which first made the appointment. 
 
 "ARTICLE VIII. All charges of war, and all other ex 
 penses that shall be incurred for the common defence or 
 general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Con 
 gress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, 
 which shall be supplied by the several States, in proportion 
 to the value of all land within each State, granted to or sur 
 veyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and 
 improvements thereon shall be estimated according to such 
 mode as the United States in Congress assembled, shall from 
 time to time, direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that 
 proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and 
 direction of the legislatures of the several States within 
 the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress as 
 sembled. 
 
 " ARTICLE IX. The United States in Congress assembled, 
 shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of deter 
 mining on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in 
 the 6th article of sending and receiving ambassadors- 
 entering into treaties and alliances, provided that no treaty 
 of commerce shall be made, whereby the legislative power 
 of the respective States shall be restrained from imposing 
 such imposts and duties on foreigners, as their own people 
 are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or im 
 portation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever 
 of establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures 
 on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes 
 taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United 
 States shall be divided or appropriated of granting letters 
 of marque and reprisal in times of peace appointing courts 
 for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high 
 seas and establishing courts for receiving and determining 
 finally appeals in all cases of captures provided that no 
 member of Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the 
 said courts. 
 
 "The United States in Congress assembled shall also be 
 the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now 
 subsisting or that hereafter may arise between two or more 
 States concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause 
 whatever ; which authority shall always be exercised in the 
 manner following. Whenever the legislative or executive 
 authority or lawful agent of any State in controversy with 
 another shall present a petition to Congress, stating the 
 matter in (question and praying for a hearing, notice thereof 
 shall be given by order of Congress to the legislative or ex 
 ecutive authority of the other State in controversy, and a 
 
THE BIRTH OP THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their law 
 ful agents* who shall then be directed to appoint by joint 
 consent, commissioners or judges to constitute a court for 
 hearing and determining the matter in question : but if they 
 cannot agree. Congress shall name three persons out of each 
 of the United States, and from the list of such persons each 
 party shall alternately strike out one, tho petitioners begin 
 ning, until the number shall be reduced to thirteen; and 
 from that number not less than seven, nor more than nine 
 names as Congress shall direct, shall in the presence of Con 
 gress be drawn out by lot, and the persons whose names- 
 shall be so drawn or any five of them, shall be commissioners 
 or judges, to hear and finally determine the controversy, so 
 always as a major part of the judges who shall hear the 
 cause shall agree in the determination : and if either party- 
 shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without show 
 ing reasons, which Congress shall judge sufficient, or being 
 present shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed to 
 nominate three persons out of each State, and the secretary 
 of Congress shall strike in behalf of such parCy absent or re 
 fusing; and the judgment and sentence of the court to be 
 appointed, in the manner before prescribed, shall be final 
 and conclusive ; and if any of the parties shall refuse to sub 
 mit to the authority of such court, or to appear or defend 
 their claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to 
 pronounce sentence, or judgment, which shall in like man 
 ner be final and decisive, the judgment or sentence and other 
 proceedings being in either case transmitted to Congress, 
 and lodged among the acts of Congress for the security of 
 the parties concerned : provided that every commissioner be 
 fore he sits in judgment, shall take an oath to be admin 
 istered by one of the judges of the Supreme or Superior 
 Court of the State, where the cause shall be tried, ' well and 
 truly to hear and determine the matter in question, accord 
 ing to the best of his judgment, without favour, affection or 
 hope of reward :' provided also that no State shall be deprived 
 of territory for the benefit of the United States. 
 
 "All controversies concerning the private right of soil 
 claimed under different grants of two or more States, whose 
 jurisdictions as they may respect such lands, and the States 
 which passed such grants are adjusted, the said grants or 
 either of them being at the same time claimed to have 
 originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, 
 shall on the petition of either party to the Congress of the 
 United States, be finally determined as near as may be in 
 the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding dis 
 putes respecting the territorial jurisdiction between different 
 States. 
 
 " The United States in Congress assembled shall also have 
 the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 359 
 
 alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by 
 that of the respective States fixing the standard of weights 
 and measures throughout the United States regulating the 
 trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not mem 
 bers of any of the States, provided that the legislative right 
 of any state within its own limits be not infringed or vio 
 latedestablishing or regulating post-offices from one State 
 to another, throughout all the United States, and exacting 
 such postage on the papers passing thro' the same as 
 may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office- 
 appointing all officers of the land forces, in the service of 
 the United States, excepting regimental officers appointing 
 all the officers of the naval forces, and commissioning all 
 officers whatever in the service of the United States mak 
 ing rules for the government and regulation of the said land 
 and naval forces, and directing their operations. 
 
 "The United States in Congress assembled shall have 
 authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of 
 Congress, to be denominated * A Committee of the States,' 
 and to consist of one delegate from each State ; and to ap 
 point such other committees and civil officers as may be 
 necessary for managing the general affairs of the United 
 States under their direction to appoint one of their number 
 to preside, provided that no person be allowed to serve in 
 the office of President more than one year in any term of 
 three years ; to ascertain the necessary sums of Money to be 
 raised for the service of the United States, and to appropri 
 ate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses 
 to borrow money, or emit bills on the credit of the United 
 States, transmitting every half year to the respective States 
 an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted 
 to build and equip a navy to agree upon the number of 
 land forces, and to make requisitions from each State for 
 its quota, in proportion to the number of white inhabitants 
 in such State ; which requisition shall be binding, and there 
 upon the legislature of each State shall appoint the regimen 
 tal officers, raise the men and cloath, arm and equip them 
 in a soldier like manner, at the expense of the United States ; 
 and the officers and men so cloathed, armed and equipped 
 shall march to the place appointed, and within the time 
 agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled : But 
 if the United States in Congress assembled shall, on con 
 sideration of circumstances judge proper that any State 
 should not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than 
 its quota, and that any other State should raise a greater num 
 ber of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shall 
 be raised, officered, cloathed, armed, and equipped in the 
 same manner as the quota of such State, unless the legisla 
 ture of such State shall judge that such extra number can 
 not be safely spared out of the same, in which case the/ 
 
360 THE BIRTH OF TEE REPUBLIC. 
 
 shall raise, officer, cloath, arm, and equip as many of such 
 extra number as they judge can be safely spared. And the 
 officers and men so cloathed, armed and equipped, shall 
 march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed 
 on by the United States in Congress assembled. 
 
 "The United States in Congress assembled shall never 
 engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in 
 time of peace, nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor 
 coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain 
 the sums and expenses necessary for the defence and wel 
 fare of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor 
 borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor ap 
 propriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of 
 war, to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea 
 forces to be raised, nor appoint a Commander-in-Chicf of the 
 Army or Navy, unless nine States assent to the same : nor 
 shall a question on any other point, except for adjourning 
 from day to day be determined, unless by the votes of a 
 majority of the United States in Congress assembled. 
 
 " The Congress of the United States shall have power to ad 
 journ to any time within the year, and to any place within 
 the United States, so that no period of adjournment be for 
 a longer duration than the space of six months, and shall 
 publish the Journal of their proceedings monthly, except 
 such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances or military 
 operations, as in their judgment require secrecy; and the 
 yeas and nays of the delegates of each State on any question 
 shall be entered on the Journal, when it is desired by any 
 delegate ; and the delegates of a State, or any of them, at 
 his or their request shall be furnished with a transcript of 
 the said Journal, except such parts as are above excepted, 
 to lay before the legislature of the several States. 
 
 " ARTICLE X. The Committee of the States, or any nine 
 of them, shall be authorized to execute, in the recess of Con 
 gress, such of the powers of Congress as the United States 
 in Congress assembled, by the consent of nine States, shall 
 from time to time think expedient to vest them with ; pro 
 vided that no power be delegated to the said committee, for 
 the exercise of which, by the Articles of Confederation, the 
 voice of nine States in the Congress of the United States as 
 sembled is requisite. 
 
 "ARTICLE XI. Canada acceding to this Confederation, 
 and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be 
 admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this 
 union: but no other Colony shall be admitted into the same, 
 unless such admission be agreed to by nine States. 
 
 "AETICLE XII. All bills of credit emitted, monies bor 
 rowed and debts contracted by, or under the authority of 
 Congress, before the assembling of the United States, in 
 pursuance of the present Confederation, shall be deemed 
 
THE BIRTH Off Tim REPUBLIC. 
 
 361 
 
 and considered as a charge against the United States, for 
 payment and satisfaction whereof the said United States, 
 and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged. 
 
 "ARTICLE XIII. Every State shall abide by the deter 
 minations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all 
 questions which by this Confederation is submitted to them. 
 And the articles of this Confederation shall be inviolably 
 observed by every State, and the union shall be perpetual ; 
 nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in 
 any of them ; unless such alteration be agreed to in a Con 
 gress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by 
 the legislatures of every State. 
 
 "And Whereas it hath pleased the Great Governor of the 
 World to incline the hearts of the legislatures we respec 
 tively represent in Congress, to approve of, and to authorize 
 us to ratify the said Articles of Confederation and perpetual 
 union. Know Ye that we the undersigned delegates, by 
 virtue of the power and authority to us given for that pur 
 pose, do by these presents, in the name and in behalf of our 
 respective constituents, fully and entirely ratify and confirm 
 each and every of the said Articles of Confederation and 
 perpetual union, and all and singular the matters and things 
 therein contained : And we do further solemnly plight and 
 engage the faith of our respective constituents, that they 
 shall abide by the determinations of the United States in 
 Congress assembled, on all questions, which by the said 
 Confederation are submitted to them. And that the articles 
 thereof shall be inviolably observed by the States we respec 
 tively represent, and that the union shall be perpetual. In 
 witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in Con 
 gress. Done at Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania 
 the 9th day of July, in the year of our Lord, 1778, and in 
 the 3d year of the Independence of America. 
 
 'On the part and 
 John Wentworth, jun 
 August 8, 1778 
 
 Josiah Bartlett, 
 
 John Hancock, 
 Samuel Adams, 
 Elbridge Gerry, 
 
 William Ellery, 
 Henry Marchant, 
 
 Roger Sherman, 
 Samuel Huntington, 
 Oliver Wolcott, 
 
 Jas. Duane, 
 Fras. Lewis, 
 
 Francis Dana, 
 James Lovell, 
 Samuel Holten 
 
 John Collins 
 
 Titus Hosmer, 
 Andrew Adam 
 
 "William Duer, 
 Gouvr. Morris 
 
 behalf of the state 
 of New Hamp 
 shire. 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of Massachusetts- 
 Bay. 
 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 
 -{ of Rhode Island 
 and Providence 
 
 ( Plantations. 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of Connecticut. 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of New-York. 
 
362 
 
 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Jno. Witherspoon, 
 
 Robt. Morris, 
 Daniel Roberdeau, 
 Jon'a. Bayard Smith 
 Tho. M'Kean, 
 
 Feb. 12, 1779, 
 John Dickinson, 
 
 May 5, 1779, 
 
 John Hanson, 
 March 1st, 1781, 
 
 Richard Henry Lee, 
 John Banister, 
 Thomas Adams, 
 
 Kathl. Scudder 
 
 William Clingan, 
 Joseph Reed, 
 22d July, 1778 
 
 Nicholas Van Dyke 
 
 fOn the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 
 < of New- Jersey, 
 
 I November 26th, 
 
 L1778. 
 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of Delaware. 
 
 John Penn, 
 July 1st, 1778, 
 
 Henry Laurens, 
 
 Daniel Carroll, 
 March 1st, 1781, 
 
 Jno. Harvie, 
 
 Francis Lightfoot Lee 
 
 Corns Harnett, 
 Jno. Williams 
 
 Jno. Matthews, 
 
 Jno. Walton, 
 24th July, 1778, 
 
 Edward Telfair, 
 Edw'd Lang worthy, 
 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of Maryland. 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of Virginia. 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of North Caroli 
 na. 
 
 fOn the part and 
 I behalf of the state 
 1 of South Caroli- 
 [na. 
 
 On the part and 
 behalf of the state 
 of Georgia. " 
 
 The reader of American history will recall the many and 
 often fruitless appeals of the Congress, and of Washington 
 as the head of the army, upon the States, for compliance with 
 the requisitions which were made upon them. Great losses 
 of opportunity were incurred, and failures were caused, by 
 the tardiness or neglect of the States to pay their quotas of 
 money; and in many cases nothing but the immediate 
 danger of invasion by the enemy could spur the laggard 
 Assemblies, and induce them to impose and collect the 
 necessary taxes. 
 
 The historical fact that independence was achieved by the 
 force of patriotic fervor, unsupported by authority in the 
 Federal government, is eminently honorable to the Amer 
 ican people. But it soon became manifest, when the strug 
 gle was over, that the voluntary principle in the Federal 
 head was not equal to the task of paying the national debt, 
 providing pensions for the soldiers, nor even of holding the 
 States under a common government, which was acknowl 
 edged to be essential to the maintenance of independence. 
 All attempts to confer the taxing power upon the Congress 
 during the war had failed ; but now it had become a ques 
 tion of life or death to the Union, and the wise and able men 
 North and South united in common efforts to form a more 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 363 
 
 perfect union. Slowly the people came to see and acquiesce - 
 in the necessity. 
 
 Even before the articles went into effect, March 1, 1781, 
 their inadequacy to the wants of the Union was perceived ; 
 and in February of that year, a member of the Congress 
 from New Jersey moved that the States be called on to con 
 fer upon that body the power to raise revenue by duties on 
 imports. This recommendation was adopted, and the States 
 one by one acquiesced in it except Rhode Island. The Leg 
 islature of that State refused to confer the power for the 
 reasons, 
 
 First, "That the proposed duty would be unequal in its 
 operation, bearing hardest upon the most commercial States, 
 and so would press peculiarly hard upon that State, which 
 draws its chief support from commerce." 
 
 Second, "That the recommendation proposes to introduce 
 into that and the other States officers unknown and unac 
 countable to them, and so is against the Constitution of the 
 State." 
 
 Third objection, "That by granting to Congress a power 
 to collect moneys from the commerce of these States indefi 
 nitely as to time and quantity, and for the expenditure of 
 which they would not be accountable to the States, they 
 would become independent of their constituents and sot he 
 proposed impost is repugnant to the liberty of the United 
 States." 
 
 These objections of Ehode Island to the recommendation 
 of Congress were forwarded to that body by the speaker 
 of the Assembly; whereupon Messrs. Alexander Hamilton 
 of New York, James Madison of Virginia, and Thomas Fitz- 
 simmons of Pennsylvania were appointed a committee to 
 take them into consideration. Their report is one of the 
 most able and lucid documents of the Revolutionary period. 
 It was approved by the Congress. 
 
 Similar resolutions or recommendations to the States were 
 adopted by Congress, urging that Congress be invested with 
 authority to raise revenue for the purpose of restoring and 
 maintaining the lost credit of the Union. The resolutions 
 were forwarded to the States, accompanied by an address 
 prepared by Messrs. Madison, Ellsworth, and Hamilton. 
 The reply to the Rhode Island Assembly was from the pen 
 of Mr. Hamilton. This address to the States was written by 
 Mr. Madison. It concludes with the following memorable 
 passage : 
 
 " Let it be remembered, finally, that it has ever been the 
 pride and boast of America that the rights for which she 
 contended were the rights of human nature. By the bless 
 ings of the Author of these rights, on the means exerted for 
 their defence, they have prevailed against all opposition, 
 and form the basis of thirteen independent States. No in- 
 
364 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 stance has therefore occurred, nor can any instance be ex 
 pected hereafter to occur, in which the unadulterated forms 
 of republican government can pretend to so fair an opportu 
 nity of justifying themselves by their fruits. In this view 
 the citizens of the United States are responsible for the 
 greatest trust ever confided to a political society. If jus 
 tice, good faith, honor, gratitude, and all the other qualities 
 which ennoble the character of a nation and fulfil the ends 
 of government be the fruits of our establishments, the cause 
 of liberty will acquire a dignity and lustre which it has 
 never yet enjoyed, and an example will be set which cannot 
 but have the most favorable influence on the rights of man 
 kind. If, on the other side, our government should be unfor 
 tunately blotted with the reverse of these cardinal and es 
 sential virtues, the great cause which we have 1 engaged to 
 vindicate will be dishonored and. betrayed, the last and 
 fairest experiment in favor of the rights of human nature 
 will be turned against them, and their patrons and friends 
 exposed to be insulted and silenced by the votaries of tyr 
 anny and usurpation." 
 
 Apart from the impossibility of raising the necessary rev 
 enue to support the general government and pay the inter 
 est of the public debt, there was the great embarrassment 
 of commerce resulting from the conflicting regulations of 
 the thirteen States. Great Britain, although constrained 
 by the pressure of circumstances, to concede independence, 
 took pleasure in crippling the trade of the republic. 
 
 It became eminently expedient, therefore, for the States 
 to concede to Congress the power to regulate commerce ; and 
 on the 30th April, 1784, the subject was teken up, on the 
 report of a committee consisting of Messrs. Gerry of Mas 
 sachusetts, Eeed of Pennsylvania, Williamson of North 
 Carolina, Chase of Maryland, and Jefferson of Virginia, 
 to whom had been referred sundry letters and papers rela 
 tive to commercial matters. Among the complaints, as 
 stated in the report as approved by the Congress, was the 
 statement that " Already has Great Britain adopted regu 
 lations destructive of our commerce with the West India 
 Islands. ... It would be the duty of Congress, as it is their 
 wish, to meet the attempts of Great Britain with similar 
 restrictions on her commerce ; but their powers on this head 
 are not explicit, and the propositions made by the legisla 
 tures of the several States render it necessary to take the 
 general sense of the Union on this subject. Unless the 
 United States, in Congress assembled, shall be vested with 
 powers competent to the protection of conimerce, they can 
 never command reciprocal advantages in trade; and with 
 out these, our foreign commerce must decline and event 
 ually be annihilated." 
 
 The Congress therefore resolved, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 365 
 
 "That it be and hereby is recommended to the Legisla 
 tures of the several States, in Congress assembled, to invest 
 Congress for the term of fifteen years with power to prohibit 
 any goods, wares, or merchandise from being imported into 
 or exported from any of the States in vessels belonging to 
 or navigated by the subjects of any power with whom these 
 States shall not have formed treaties of commerce. 
 
 "Resolved, That it be and it hereby is recommended to 
 the Legislatures of the several States to vest the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, for the term of fifteen years, 
 with the power of prohibiting the subjects of any foreign 
 state, kingdom, or empire, unless authorized by treaty, 
 from importing into the United States any goods, wares, or 
 merchandise which are not the produce or manufacture of 
 the dominions of the sovereign whose subjects they are. 
 
 "Provided, That to all acts of the United States, in Con 
 gress assembled, in pursuance of the above powers, the as 
 sent of nine States shall be necessary. " 
 
 These propositions of the Congress to the States, like those 
 asking for power to impose duties on imports, were never 
 assented to. 
 
 July 13, 1785, The Congress took into consideration a 
 proposition of Mr. Monroe, of Virginia, to vest in that body 
 the power to regulate trade ; but past experience suggested 
 the propriety of leaving it to the State Legislatures to initiate 
 proceedings of the kind. 
 
 February 15, 1786, the subject was again up before the 
 Congress, and a committee to whom it was referred con 
 sisting of Mr. King of Massachusetts, Mr. Pinckney, of 
 South Carolina, Mr. Kean of Pennsylvania, Mr. Monroe of 
 Virginia, and Mr. Pettit of Pennsylvania made a report 
 setting forth the inefficiency of the confederation ; in which 
 it is said that, 
 
 "In the course of this inquiry, it most clearly appeared 
 that the requisitions of Congress for eight years past have 
 been so irregular in their operation, and so evidently unpro 
 ductive, that a reliance on them in future as a sourse from 
 whence moneys are to be drawn to discharge the engage 
 ments of the Confederacy, definite as they are in time and 
 amount, would be not less dishonourable to the understand 
 ings of those who entertain such confidence that it would 
 be dangerous to the welfare and peace of the Union. The 
 committee are therefore seriously impressed with the indis 
 pensable obligation that Congress are under, of representing 
 to the immediate and impartial consideration of the several 
 States the utter impossibility of maintaining and preserving 
 the faith of the Federal Government by temporary requisi 
 tions on the States, and the consequent necessity of an early 
 and complete accession of all the States to the revenue sys 
 tem of the 18th of April, 1783." 
 
366 THE BIETU OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 It was resolved, by Congress, in conformity with this re 
 port, that the system of general revenue recommended on 
 the 18th of April, 1783, he again presented to the considera 
 tion of the State Legislatures. 
 
 It was not surprising that the States refused to clothe the 
 Congress of the Confederation with the power of taxation, 
 and with other attributes of government, in view of the 
 radical defects in its organization. It was a fundamental 
 principle with the Confederation that each State was the 
 ecpal in power and authority with any other, without the 
 slightest regard to wealth or population. Each State, upon 
 every measure, was entitled to but one vote, however many 
 Delegates they might send to the Congress. They must send 
 at least two, and might send seven; but whether two or 
 seven, they could cast but one vote. This arrangement 
 placed Delaware and Rhode Island on an equality of power 
 with Virginia and Massachusetts, or with Pennsylvania, 
 North Carolina, and New York. The principle was wrong-; 
 and it is well that the power of taxation was not conferred 
 on that condition. It is true that nearly all the States agreed 
 to confer the powers asked for, but upon various conditions, 
 which rendered their consent of no avail. 
 
 At length a movement was made in the Virginia Legisla 
 ture which led to the call of a convention with larger pow 
 ers in the remodelling of the Federal system of government. 
 On the 21st of January, 1786, the House of Delegates of that 
 State came to the following resolution: 
 
 "Resolved, That Edmund Randolph, James Madison, 
 Junior, Walter Jones, Saint George Tucker, Merriwether 
 Smith, David Ross, William Ronald, and George Mason, 
 Esquires, be appointed commissioners who, or any five of 
 whom, shall meet such commissioners as may be appointed 
 by the other States in the Union, at a time and place to be 
 agreed on, to take into consideration the trade of the United 
 States ; to examine the relative situations and trade of the 
 States ; to consider how far a uniform system in their com 
 mercial regulations may be necessary to their CQmmon in 
 terest and their permanent harmony ; and to report to the 
 several States such an act relative to this great object as, 
 when unanimously ratified by them, will enable the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, effectually to provide for the 
 same; that the said commissioners shall immediately trans 
 mit to the several States copies of the preceding resolution, 
 with a circular letter requesting their concurrence therein 
 and proposing a time and place for the meeting aforesaid." 
 
 The Legislatures of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, 
 and Delaware promptly responded to this proposition, and 
 sent their delegates to meet those of Virginia at Annapolis, 
 in Maryland, September llth, of the same year, 1786. 
 
 They were in session only three days. Commissioners 
 
TEE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 367 
 
 were also appointed from the States of New Hampshire, 
 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and North Carolina ; but they 
 failed to reach Annapolis in time. Those who met consist 
 ing of Alexander Hamilton and Egbert Benson, from New 
 York; Abram Clarke, William C. Houston, and James 
 Schureman, from New Jersey; Tench Coxe, from Pennsyl 
 vania ; George Read, John Dickinson, and Richard Bassett, 
 from Delaware; and Edmund Randolph, James Madison, Jr., 
 and St. George Tucker, from Virginia agreed upon a report. 
 In this important document they refrained, as they say, 
 from carrying out the original purpose of the meeting by- 
 proposing specific measures. They do so because of the fail 
 ure of the other States to send delegates ; but they venture 
 to recommend another meeting of commissioners from all 
 the States, with enlarged powers. The New Jersey Legisla 
 ture had authorized her commissioners "to consider how 
 far an uniform system in their commercial regulations, and 
 other important matters, might be necessary to the common 
 interest and permanent harmony of the several States." 
 This suggestion from New Jersey is made use of, by the au 
 thors of the address, to hint more pointedly at the importance 
 of another convention, with enlarged powers, looking to a 
 remodelling of the Articles of Confederation. They say: 
 
 * ' In this persuasion your commissioners submit an opinion, 
 that the idea of extending the powers of their deputies to 
 other objects than those of commerce, which has been 
 adopted by the State of New Jersey, was an improvement 
 on the original plan, and will deserve to be incorporated into 
 that of a future convention. They are the more naturally 
 led to this conclusion, as, in the course of their reflections on 
 the subject, they have been induced to think that the power 
 of regulating trade is of such comprehensive extent, and will 
 enter so far into the general system of Federal government, 
 that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts 
 concerning its precise nature and limits, may require a cor 
 respondent adjustment of other parts of the Federal system." 
 
 The commissioners suggest that the defects of the existing 
 system of Federal government might be found to be greater 
 and more numerous than was implied in the resolutions of 
 the State Legislatures. They therefore propose u that a con 
 vention of deputies from the different States, for the special 
 and sole purpose of entering into this investigation, and 
 digesting a plan for supplying such defects as may be discov 
 ered to exist," etc. And they propose that the commission 
 ers to be thus appointed by the States shall meet in Phila 
 delphia on the second Monday in May next. 
 
 This address was sent to the Governors of the several 
 States, and to the Congress. The latter body, February 21, 
 1787, took the address into consideration, and came to the 
 following conclusion : 
 
368 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 " Resolved, That, in the opinion of Congress, it is expedient 
 that, on the second Monday in May next, a convention of 
 delegates, who shall have been appointed by the several 
 States, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express pur 
 pose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and reporting 
 to Congress and the several Legislatures such alterations 
 and provisions therein as shall, when agreed to in Congress 
 and confirmed by the States, render the Federal Constitution 
 adequate to the exigencies of government and the preserva 
 tion of the Union." 
 
 A majority of the States had acquiesced in the proposition, 
 and agreed to send delegates to the proposed convention, be 
 fore the plan was approved by Congress. 
 
 The General Assembly of Virginia adopted it, October 16, 
 1786, and decided to send seven commissioners. These were 
 chosen by ballot of the two Houses, December 4th of the 
 same year. They were George Washington, Patrick Henry, 
 Edmund Randolph, John Blair, James Madison, George 
 Mason, and George Wythe, Esquires. Mr. Henry declined 
 the appointment, and James McClurg, Esq., was appointed 
 in his place by the Governor and Council. 
 
 The Council and Assembly of New Jersey, November 23, 
 1786, appointed Messrs. David Brearley, William Churchill 
 Houston, William Paterson, and John Neilson, Esqs., as 
 commissioners to the convention. On the 8th of May fol 
 lowing, the Governor, William Livingston, and Abram Clark 
 were added to the delegation, and Mr. Neilson's name is 
 omitted. On the 5th of June, Jonathan Dayton, Esq., was 
 appointed from the same State. 
 
 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsyl 
 vania, December 30, 1786, appointed seven deputies to the 
 convention, as follows: Thomas Mifflin, Robert Morris, 
 George Clymer, Jared Ingersoll, Thomas Fitzsimmons, 
 James Wilson, and Gouverneur Morris, Esqs. Dr. Ben 
 jamin Franklin was president of the Commonwealth ; and 
 by a supplemental act of March 28, 1787, his name was 
 added to the list of deputies. 
 
 The General Assembly of North Carolina, January 6, 1787, 
 passed an act for the appointment of five delegates to the 
 convention, and elected Richard Caswell, the Governor, with 
 Alexander Martin, William Richardson Davie, Richard 
 Dobbs Spaight, and Willie Jones, Esqs. Governor Cas 
 well declined the appointment, and, by authority given by 
 the act, he appointed William Blount, Esq.. to fill the va 
 cancy. On the third day of April, Governor Caswell ap 
 pointed Hugh Williamson, Esq., in place of Willie Jones, 
 declined. 
 
 The General Assembly of Delaware, February 3, 1787, ap 
 pointed George Read, Gunm'ng Bedford, John Dickinson, 
 Richard Bassett, and Jacob Broom, Esqs., as deputies to the 
 Convention. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC'. 369 
 
 The General Assembly of the State of Georgia, February 
 10, 1787, appointed William Few, Abraham Baldwin, Wil 
 liam Pierce, George Walton, William Houston, and Na 
 thaniel Pendleton, Esqs., as commissioners to the Conven 
 tion. 
 
 The General Assembly of the State of New York, Feb 
 ruary 28, 1787, resolved to send three delegates to the Con 
 vention ; and on March 6th, Messrs. Eobert Yates, John Lan 
 sing, Jr., and Alexander Hamilton, Esqs., were chosen for 
 the purpose. 
 
 The Legislature of South Carolina, March 8, 1787, ap 
 pointed John Eutledge, Charles Pinckney, Charles Cotes- 
 worth Pinckney, and Pierce Butler, Esqs., as delegates to 
 the Convention. 
 
 The General Court of Massachusetts, March 10, 1787, 
 appointed Francis Dana, Elbridge Gerry, Nathaniel Gorham, 
 Eufus King, and Caleb Strong, Esqs., as delegates to the 
 Convention. 
 
 The State of Connecticut, by an act of the General Assem 
 bly of the second Thursday of May, 1787, appointed William 
 Samuel Johnson, Roger Sherman, and Oliver Ellsworth, 
 Esqs. , as delegates to the Convention. 
 
 The Legislature of Maryland, May 26, 1787, appointed 
 James McHenry, Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer, Daniel Car 
 roll, John Francis Mercer, and Luther Martin, Esqs., as dele 
 gates to the Convention. 
 
 The Legislature of New Hampshire, June 27, 1787, ap 
 pointed John Langdon, John Pickering, Nicholas Gilman, 
 and Benjamin West to be delegates to the Convention. 
 
 In Convention. 
 
 The delegates thus appointed by the several States met in 
 Convention in Philadelphia, Monday, May 14, 1787. Thegr 
 chose George Washington, one of the delegates from Vir 
 ginia, as President of the body, and William Jackson, Sec 
 retary. 
 
 The Convention sat from day to dajr until the 17th of 
 September, when, haying completed their labors, they sub 
 mitted the Constitution as the result thereof to the Con 
 gress, with the recommendation that it should, be submitted 
 to a Convention of each State, to be called by the several 
 Legislatures, for ratification ; and, 
 
 u That it is the opinion of this Convention, that, as soon as 
 the Conventions of nine States shall have ratified this Con 
 stitution, the United States, in Congress assembled, should fix 
 a day on which electors should be appointed by the States 
 which shall have ratified the same, and a day on which the 
 electors should assemble to vote for President, and the time 
 and place for commencing proceedings under the Constitu 
 tion; that after such publication, the electors should be ap- 
 
^70 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 pointed, and the Senators and Representatives elected; that 
 the electors should meet on the day fixed for the election of 
 President, and should transmit their votes certified, signed, 
 scaled, and directed, as the Constitution requires, to the 
 Secretary of the United States, in Congress assembled ; that 
 the Senators and Representatives should convene at the time 
 and place assigned; that the Senators should appoint a 
 President of the Senate, for the sole purpose of receiving, 
 opening, and counting the votes for President ; and that, after 
 he shall be chosen, the Congress, together with the Presi 
 dent, should without delay proceed to execute this Consti 
 tution." 
 
 The Convention, by its president, General Washington, 
 addressed a letter to the president of Congress, in the fol 
 lowing words: 
 
 " In CONVENTION, ) 
 September 17, 1787. J 
 
 "Sm: We have now the honor to submit to the United 
 States, in Congress assembled, that Constitution which has 
 appeared to us most advisable. 
 
 "The friends of our country have long seen and desired 
 that the power of making war, peace, and treaties, that of 
 levying money and regulating commerce, and the corre 
 spondent executive and judicial authorities should be fully 
 and effectually vested in the general government of the 
 Union; but the impropriety of delegating such extensive 
 trust to one body of men is evident: hence results the 
 necessity of a different organization. 
 
 " It is obviously impracticable, in the Federal Government 
 of these States, to secure all rights of independent sov- 
 reignity to each, and yet provide for the interest and safety 
 of all. Individuals entering into society must give up a 
 share of liberty to preserve the rest. The magnitude of the 
 sacrifice must depend as well on situation and circumstances 
 as on the object to be obtained. It is at all times difficult to 
 draw with precision the line between those rights which must 
 be surrendered and those which mav^ be reserved ; and on the 
 present occasion this difficulty was increased by a difference 
 among the several States as to their situation, extent, habits, 
 and particular interests. 
 
 " In all our deliberations on this subject we kept steadily 
 in our view that which appears to us the greatest interest of 
 every true American the consolidation of our Union in 
 which is involved our prosperity, felicity, safety, perhaps 
 our national existence. This important consideration, seri 
 ously and deeply impressed on our minds, led each State in 
 the Convention to be less rigid on points of inferior magni 
 tude than might have been otherwise expected; and thus 
 the Constitution which we now present is the result of a 
 spirit of amity, and of that mutual deference and concession 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 371 
 
 which the peculiarity of our political situation rendered in 
 dispensable. 
 
 ' ' That it will meet the full and entire approbation of every 
 State is not perhaps to be expected ; but each will doubtless 
 consider that, had her interest been alone consulted, the con 
 sequences might have been particularly disagreeable or in 
 jurious to others. That it is liable to as few exceptions as 
 could reasonably have been expected, we hope and believe. 
 That it may promote the lasting welfare of that country so 
 dear to us all, and secure her freedom and happiness, is our 
 most ardent wish. 
 
 "With great respect, we have the honor to be, sir, your 
 Excellency's most obedient, humble servants. 
 " By unanimous order of the Convention. 
 
 " GEORGE WASHINGTON, President. 
 11 His Excellency, the President of Congress." 
 
 "On the 28th of September, 1787, the Congress unanimously 
 resolved (all the States being present but Rhode Island) to 
 transmit the Constitution, with the resolutions and letter of 
 the Convention, to the Legislatures of the several States. 
 Whereupon, conventions of the States were chosen and con 
 vened ; and, after great deliberation and debate, the Consti 
 tution was ratified by them, in the following order : 
 By Delaware on the 7th December, 1787. 
 " Pennsylvania " 12th " 1787. 
 " New Jersey " 18th " 1787. 
 
 " Georgia 2d January, 1788. 
 
 " Connecticut " 9th " 1788. 
 
 Massachusetts 
 Maryland 
 South Carolina 
 New Hampshire 
 Virginia 
 New York 
 
 6th February, 1788. 
 
 28th April, 1788. 
 
 23d May, 1788. 
 
 21st June, 1788. 
 
 26th " 1788. 
 
 26th July, 1788. 
 
 " North Carolina " 21st November, 1789. 
 " Ehode Island " 29th May, 1790. 
 
 " The Congress, in compliance with the recommendation of 
 the Convention, proceeded, on September 13, 1788, to direct 
 the organization of the Government, under the Constitution. 
 The order of that body, to this end, was as follows: 
 
 "Resolved, That the first Wednesday in January next be 
 the day for appointing electors in several States, which 
 before said day shall have ratified the said Constitution; 
 that the first Wednesday in February next be the day for 
 the electors to assemble in their respective States, and vote 
 for a President; and that the first Wednesday in March 
 next be the time, and the present seat of Congress (New 
 York) the place, for commencing the proceedings under the 
 said Constitution," 
 
372 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Electors were chosen in the several States which had rati 
 fied the Constitution; that is to say, in all except North 
 Carolina and Ehode Island. Members of the House of Rep 
 resentatives, and Senators, were also chosen. The electors 
 met on the first Wednesday in February, and cast their votes 
 for a President and Vice-president. The first Congress was 
 to have met on the first Wednesday in March, which was the 
 4th day of the month, but no quorum appeared in either 
 House. The few members present in New York, continued 
 to assemble and adjourn from day to day, until, on the 1st 
 of April, the necessary number met in the House of Repre 
 sentatives, which body proceeded to elect a speaker, when 
 the choice fell upon Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Esq., of Penn 
 sylvania. 
 
 A quorum in the Senate appeared on the 6th of April, when 
 the body proceeded to elect a President pro tempore, in 
 order that the votes for President and Vice-president might 
 be opened and counted. John Langdon, Esq. , of New Hamp 
 shire, was chosen. The two Houses assembled in joint ses 
 sion, when the electoral votes were opened and counted on 
 the same day. George Washington received every vote (69), 
 and was therefore declared to be elected President. John 
 Adams of Massachusetts received 34 votes, or a plurality, 
 and was therefore declared to be duly elected Vice-president, 
 under the Constitution as originally framed. The second 
 article, which regulated the choice of President and Vice- 
 president, provided that the person having the highest 
 number of votes, "if such number be a majority of the 
 whole number of electors appointed," shall be President; 
 but no such requirement was made in regard to the Vice- 
 president : and it was sufficient that, " after the choice of the 
 President, the person having the greatest number of votes 
 of the electors shall be Vice-president." 
 
 The 12th Amendment, which was adopted in consequence 
 of the failure to elect in 1800, by the electors, provides that 
 separate votes by the electors shall be cast for the President 
 and for Vice-president; and in each case, a majority vote of 
 all the electors is necessary to a choice. Otherwise the House 
 of Representatives is to elect. 
 
 Mr. Adams assumed his duties as President of the Senate 
 on April 21, 1789. President Washington was inaugurated 
 in New York City, April 30, 1789, in the gallery, in front of 
 the Senate-chamber. The oath of office was administered 
 by the Chancellor of the State of New York, who proclaimed, 
 "Long live George Washington, President of the United 
 States ! " The President then returned to the Senate -chamber 
 and delivered his inaugural speech in the presence of the two 
 Houses and many citizens. 
 
THE BIRTH Of 1 THE REPUBLIC. 373 
 
 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 
 
 "We the People of the United States, in order to form a 
 more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tran 
 quillity, provide for the common defence, promote the gen 
 eral Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves 
 and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this CONSTITUTION 
 for the United States of America. 
 
 ARTICLE. I. 
 
 "SECTION. 1. All legislative Powers herein granted shall 
 be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall 
 consist of a Senate and House of Representatives. 
 
 "SECTION. 2. (1) The Houses of Representatives shall be 
 composed of Members chosen every second Year by the 
 People of the several States, and the Electors in each State 
 shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the 
 most numerous Branch of the State Legislature. 
 
 " (2) No Person shall be a Representative who shall not 
 have attrined to the Age of twenty five Years, and been 
 seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall 
 not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which 
 he shall be chosen. 
 
 " (3) Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned 
 among the several States which may be included within 
 this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which 
 shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free 
 Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of 
 Years, and excluding Indians not taxed., three fifths of all 
 other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made 
 within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of 
 the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten 
 Years, in such Manner as they shah 1 by Law direct. The 
 Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every 
 thirty Thousand , but each State shall have at Least one Re 
 presentative ; and until such enumeration shall be made, the 
 State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, 
 Massachusetts eight, Rhode-Island and Providence Planta 
 tions one, Connecticut five, New -York six, New Jersey four, 
 Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia 
 ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia 
 three. 
 
 4 ' (4) When vacancies happen in the Representation from, 
 any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs 
 of Election to fill such Vacancies. 
 
 "(5) The House of Representatives shall chuse their 
 Speaker and other Officers ; and shall leave the sole Power 
 of Impeachment. 
 
 "SECTION. 3. (1) The Senate of the United States shall be 
 composed of two Senators from each State, chosen by the 
 
874 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 Legislature thereof, for six Years; and each Senator shall 
 have one Vote. 
 
 u (2) Immediately after they shall be assembled in Conse 
 quence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally 
 as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of 
 the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second 
 Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth 
 Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth 
 Year, so that one-third may be chosen every second Year ; 
 and if Vacancies happen by Resignation, or otherwise, dur 
 ing the Recess of the Legislature of any State, the Executive 
 thereof may make temporary Appointments until the next 
 Meeting of the Legislature, which shall then fill such Vacan 
 cies. 
 
 "(3) No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have at 
 tained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a 
 Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when 
 elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be 
 chosen. 
 
 "(4) The Vice-president of the United States shall be Pres 
 ident of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be 
 equally divided. 
 
 "(5) The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a 
 President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice-president, 
 or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the 
 United States. 
 
 "(6) The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all 
 Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall 
 be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the 
 United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside : And 
 no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of 
 two thirds of the Members present. 
 
 "(7) Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend 
 further than to removal from Office, and Disqualification to 
 hold and enjoy any Office of honour, Trust or Profit under 
 the United States : but the Party convicted shall neverthe 
 less be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and 
 Punishment, according to,Law. 
 
 "SECTION. 4. (1) The Times, Places and Manner of holding 
 Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be pre 
 scribed in each State by the Legislature thereof ; but the 
 Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Reg 
 ulations, except as to the places of ch using Senators. 
 
 "(2) The Congress shall assemble at least once in every 
 Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in De 
 cember, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day. 
 
 "SECTION. 5. (1) Each House shall be the Judge of the 
 Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, 
 and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Busi 
 ness ; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 37ft 
 
 and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent 
 Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each 
 House may provide. 
 
 "(2) Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceed 
 ings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, 
 with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member. 
 
 "(3) Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, 
 and from time to time publish the same excepting such 
 Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy, and the 
 Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any 
 question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be 
 entered on the Journal. 
 
 "(4) Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall 
 without the Consent of the other, adjourn for more than 
 three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the 
 two Houses shall be sitting. 
 
 * k SECTION. 6. (1) The Senators and Representatives shall 
 receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained 
 by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. 
 They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach 
 of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their attend 
 ance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going 
 to and returning from the same ; and for any Speech or 
 Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any 
 other Place. 
 
 "(2) No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time 
 for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office 
 under the Authority of the United States, which shall have 
 been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been 
 increased during such time ; and no Person holding any 
 Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either 
 House during his Continuance in Office. 
 
 "SECTION. 7. (1) All Bills for raising Revenue shall origi 
 nate in the House of Representatives ; but the Senate may 
 propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills. 
 
 "(2) Every Bill which shall have passed the House of 
 Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a 
 Law, be presented to the President of the United States ; If 
 he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with 
 his Objections to that House in which it shall have origi 
 nated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal, 
 and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration 
 two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall 
 be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, 
 by which it shall likewise be reconsidered, and if approved 
 by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in 
 all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined 
 by yeas and Nays, and the Names of the Persons voting for 
 and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each 
 House respectively. If any Bill shall not be returned by the 
 
376 THE BTRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 President within ten Days (Sundays excepted) after it shall 
 have been presented to him, the Same shall be a law, in like 
 Manner as if he had signed it, unless the Congress by their 
 Adjournment prevent its Return, in which Case it shall not 
 be a Law. 
 
 "(3) Every Order, Resolution, or Vote to which the concur 
 rence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be 
 necessary (except on a question of Adjournment) shall be 
 presented to the President of the United States ; and before 
 the Same shall take Effect, shall be approved by him, or being 
 disapproved by him, shall be repassed by two thirds of the 
 Senate and House of Representatives, according to the Rules 
 and Limitations prescribed in the Case of a Bill. 
 
 " SECTION. 8. The Congress shall have Power 
 
 "(1) To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, 
 to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and 
 general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Im 
 posts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United 
 States; 
 
 1 '(2) To borrow Money on the credit of the United States; 
 
 "(3) To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and 
 among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes ; 
 
 "(4) To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and 
 uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout 
 the United States ; 
 
 "(5) To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of 
 foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures ; 
 
 "(6) To provide for the Punishment of Counterfeiting the 
 Securities and Current Coin of the United States ; 
 
 "(7) To establish Post Offices and post Roads; 
 
 "(8) To promote the progress of Science and Useful Arts, 
 by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the 
 exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries; 
 
 "(9) To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court ; 
 
 "(10) To define and punish Piracies and Felonies commit 
 ted on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Na 
 tions ; 
 
 "(11) To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Re 
 prisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and 
 Water; 
 
 4 ' (12) To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation 
 of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two 
 Years ; 
 
 "(13) To provide and maintain a Navy; 
 
 "(14) To make Rules for the Government and Regulation 
 of the land and naval Forces ; 
 
 "(15) To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute 
 the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel In 
 vasions; ' 
 
 "(16) To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining 
 
THE milTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 377 
 
 the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may he 
 employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to 
 the States respectively the Appointment of the Officers and 
 the Authority of training the Militia according to the Dis 
 cipline prescribed by Congress ; 
 
 "(17) To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases what 
 soever over such District (not exceeding ten miles square) as 
 may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of 
 Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United 
 States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places pur 
 chased by the consent of the Legislature of the State in which 
 the Same shall be, for the erection of Forts, Magazines, Arse 
 nals, Dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings^ and 
 
 "(18) To make all Laws which shall be necessary and 
 proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, 
 and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the gov 
 ernment of the United States, or in any Department or 
 Officer thereof." 
 
 ' ' SECTION. 9. (1) The Migration or Importation of such Per 
 sons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to 
 admit, shall not he prohibited by the Congress prior to the 
 Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or 
 Duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding 
 ten dollars for each Person. 
 
 "(2) The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not 
 be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion 
 the public Safety may require it. 
 
 "(3) No bill of attainder or ex post facto Law shall be 
 passed. 
 
 "(4) No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless 
 in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before 
 directed to be taken. 
 
 "(5) No Tax or Duty shall be paid on Articles exported 
 from any State. 
 
 "(6) No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of 
 Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those 
 of another : nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, 
 be obliged to enter, clear, or pay Duties in another. 
 
 " (7) No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in 
 Consequence of Appropriations made by Law ; and a regular 
 Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of 
 all public Money shall be published from time to time. 
 
 "(8) No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United 
 States : And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust 
 under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, ac 
 cept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind 
 whatever, from any King, Prince, or Foreign State. 
 
 "SECTION. 10. (1) No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alli 
 ance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Re 
 prisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing 
 
878 TUB tilltTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 s 
 
 but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts ; pass 
 any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing 
 the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. 
 
 "(2) No State shall, without the consent of the Congress, 
 lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports, except 
 what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection 
 Laws : and the net Produce of all Duties and Imposts, laid 
 by any State on Imports or Exports, shall be for the Use of 
 the Treasury of the United States ; and all such Laws shall 
 be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress. 
 
 "(3) No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay 
 any Duty of Tonnage, keep Troops, or Ships of War in time of 
 Peace, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another 
 State, or with a foreign Power, or engage in War, unless 
 actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not 
 admit of Delay. 
 
 " SECTION 1. (1) The executive Power shall be vested in a 
 President of the United States of America. He shall hold 
 his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with 
 the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected, as 
 follows 
 
 '*(2) Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legis 
 lature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the 
 whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which 
 the State may be entitled in the Congress : but no Senator 
 or Representative, or Person holding an office of Trust or 
 Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector. 
 
 [* The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by- 
 Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabi 
 tant of the same State with themselves. And they shall make a List 
 of all the Persons voted for, and of the Number of Votes for each; 
 which List they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the 
 Seat of the Government of the United States, directed to the Presi 
 dent of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall, in the Pres 
 ence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the 
 Certificates, and the Votes shall then be counted. The Person 
 having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President, if such 
 Number be a Majority of the whole Number of Electors appointed ; 
 and if there be more than one who have such Majority and have an 
 equal Number of Votes, then the House of Representatives shall 
 immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President; and if no 
 Person have a Majority, then from the five highest on the List the 
 said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chus- 
 iug the President, the Votes shall be taken by States, the Representa 
 tion from each State having one Vote; A Quorum for this Purpose 
 shall consist of a Member or Members from twothirds of the States, 
 and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In 
 
 * This clause within brackets has been superseded and annulled by the 
 13th amendment, on page 385. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 879 
 
 every Case, after the Choice of the President, the Person having the 
 greatest Number of Votes of the Electors shall be the Vice President. 
 But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes, the 
 Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vice President.] 
 
 "(3) The Congress may determine the Time of causing the 
 Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes ; 
 which Day shall be the same throughout the United States. 
 
 "(4) No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen 
 of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this 
 Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; 
 neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall 
 not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been 
 fourteen Years a Eesident within the United States. 
 
 "(5) In Case of the Removal of the President from Office, or 
 of his Death, Resignation, or Inability to discharge the 
 Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve 
 on the Vice President, and the Congress may by Law pro 
 vide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation, or Ina 
 bility, both of the President and Vice President, declaring 
 what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer 
 shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a 
 President shall be elected. 
 
 "(6) The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his 
 Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be encreased 
 nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have 
 been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any 
 other Emolument from the United States, or any of them. 
 
 4 '(7) Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he 
 shall take the following Oath or Affirmation: 
 
 " 'I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully 
 execute the Office of President of the United States, and will 
 to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the 
 Constitution of the United States.' 
 
 ' ' SECTION. 2. (1) The President shall be Commander in 
 Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of 
 the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual 
 Service of the United States ; he may require the Opinion, in 
 writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive De 
 partments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their 
 respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Re 
 prieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, 
 except in Cases of Impeachment. 
 
 "(2) He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and 
 Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds 
 of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and 
 by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall 
 appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, 
 Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the 
 United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise 
 provided for, and which shall be established by Law ; but 
 
S80 THE mnTii OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such 
 inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President 
 alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments. 
 
 " (3) The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies 
 that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by grant 
 ing Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next 
 Session. 
 
 * k SECTION. 3. He shall from time to time give to the Con 
 gress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend 
 to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge nec 
 essary and expedient ; he may, on extraordinary Occasions, 
 convene both Houses, or either of them, and in Case of Dis 
 agreement between them, with Respect to the Time of 
 Adjournment, he may adjourn them to such Time as he 
 shall think proper; he shall receive Ambassadors and other 
 public Ministers ; he shall take Care that the Laws be faith 
 fully executed, and shall Commission all the officers of the 
 United States. 
 
 "SECTION. 4. The President, Vice-President and all civil 
 Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office 
 on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, 
 or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. 
 
 "ARTICLE m. 
 
 "SECTION. 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall 
 be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts 
 as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. 
 The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall 
 hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated 
 Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which 
 shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office. 
 
 "SECTION. 2. (1) The judicial Power shall extend to all 
 Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, 
 the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which 
 shall be made, under their Authority ; to all Cases affecting 
 Ambassadors, other public Ministers, and Consuls; to all 
 Cases of admiralty and maritime Jurisdiction ; to Contro 
 versies to which the United States shall be a Party; to 
 Controversies between two or more States ; between a State 
 and Citizens of another State ; between Citizens of different 
 States, between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands 
 under Grants of different States, and between a State, or the 
 Citizens thereof, and foreign States, Citizens or Subjects. 
 
 "(2) In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Min 
 isters and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, 
 the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all 
 the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall 
 have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with 
 such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress 
 shall make. 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. . 381 
 
 "(3) The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeach 
 ment, shall be by jury ; and such trials shall be held in the 
 State where the said Crimes shall have been committed ; but 
 when not committed within any State, the Trial shall be at 
 such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have 
 directed. 
 
 " SECTION. 3. (1) Treason against the United States, shall 
 consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to 
 their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person 
 shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of 
 two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in 
 open Court. 
 
 "(2) The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punish 
 ment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work 
 Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of 
 the Person attainted. 
 
 " SECTION. 1. Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each 
 State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings 
 of every other State. And the Congress may by general 
 Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records 
 and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof. 
 
 "SECTION. 2. (1) The Citizens of each State shall be en 
 titled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the 
 several States. 
 
 "(2) A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, 
 or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in 
 another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority 
 of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be re 
 moved to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime. 
 
 "(3) No Person held to Service or Labour in one State, 
 under the Laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in 
 Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein, be dis 
 charged from such Service or Labour, but shall be delivered 
 up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour 
 may be due. 
 
 "SECTION. 3. (1) New States may be admitted by the 
 Congress into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed 
 or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor 
 any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, 
 or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures 
 of the States concerned as well as of the Congress. 
 
 "(2) The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and 
 make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Ter 
 ritory or other Property belonging to the United States; 
 and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to 
 Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any partic 
 ular State. 
 
 . 4. ^he United States shall guarantee to every 
 
382 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and 
 shall protect each of them against Invasion ; and on Applica 
 tion of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Leg 
 islature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. 
 
 "ARTICLE, v. 
 
 11 The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall 
 deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Con 
 stitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two 
 thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for pro 
 posing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to 
 all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when 
 ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several 
 States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the 
 one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by 
 the Congress ; Provided that no Amendment which may be 
 made prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and 
 eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses 
 in the Ninth Section of the first Article ; and that no State, 
 without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage 
 in the Senate. 
 
 "(1) All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, 
 before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid 
 against the Uuited States under this Constitution, as under 
 the Confederation. 
 
 "(2) This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States 
 which shall be made in Pursuance thereof ; and all Treaties 
 made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the 
 United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land ; and 
 the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any 
 Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Con 
 trary notwithstanding. 
 
 4 '(3) The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, 
 and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all 
 executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States 
 and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirma 
 tion, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test 
 shall be ever required as a Qualification to any Office or 
 public Trust under the United States. 
 
 ''ARTICLE, vn. 
 
 "The Ratification of the Conventions of nine States, 
 shall be sufficient for the Establishment of this Constitution 
 between the States so ratifying the Same. 
 
 "DONE in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the 
 States present the Seventeenth Day of September in 
 the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and 
 Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 383 
 
 States of America the Twelfth. IN WITNESS whereof 
 We have hereunto subscribed our Names, 
 
 "GEO WASHINGTON 
 " Presidt and deputy from Virginia 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE. 
 
 John Langdon, Nicholas Gilman. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 Nathaniel Gorham, Ruf us King. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Win. Saml. Johnson, Eoger Sherman. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton. 
 
 NEW JERSEY. 
 
 David Brearley, 
 Jona. Dayton. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Thomas Mifflin, 
 Geo: Clymer, 
 Jared Ingersoll, 
 
 Wil: Livingston, 
 Wm. Paterson, 
 
 B. Franklin, 
 Robt. Morris, 
 Tho: Fitzsimons, 
 James Wilson, 
 
 Gouv: Morris. 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 Gunning Bedford, Jun'r, 
 Richard Bassett. 
 
 Geo: Read, 
 John Dickinson, 
 Jaco: Broom, 
 
 James M'Henry, 
 Danl. Carroll, 
 
 John Blair, 
 
 Wm. Blount, 
 Hu. Williamson, 
 
 J. Rutledge, 
 Charles Pinckney, 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 William Few, Abr. Baldwin. 
 
 Attest: WILLIAM JACKSON, Secretary." 
 
 The Constitution was adopted on the 17th September, 
 1787, by the convention appointed in pursuance of the reso- 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 Dan: of St. Thos. Jenifer. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 James Madison, Jr. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Riclvd Dobbs Spaight. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 
 Pierce Butler. 
 
384 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 lution of the Congress of the Confederation, of the 21st 
 February, 1787, and was ratified by the conventions of the 
 several States, in the order stated on a preceding page. 
 
 Several of the state conventions made it a condition of rati 
 fication, that certain amendments should be added, in the 
 nature of a Bill of Rights. These conditional ratifications 
 could not be regarded as valid, and they were only in part 
 complied with. 
 
 ARTICLES IN ADDITION TO, AND AMENDMENT OF, THE CON 
 STITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 
 
 Proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the 
 several States, pursuant to the fifth article of the original 
 Constitution. 
 
 " (ARTICLE I.) 
 
 " Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment 
 of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ; or abridg 
 ing the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the 
 people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Govern 
 ment for a redress of grievances. 
 
 ''(ARTICLE II.) 
 
 " A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security 
 of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, 
 shall not be infringed. 
 
 " (ARTICLE in.) 
 
 "No Soldier shall, in time of peace, be quartered in any 
 house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, 
 but in a manner to be prescribed by law. 
 
 " (ARTICLE iv.) 
 
 "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, 
 houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches 
 and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall 
 issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirm 
 ation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, 
 and the persons or things to be seized. 
 
 "(ARTICLE v.) 
 
 " No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or other 
 wise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment 
 of Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval 
 force, or in the Milita, when in actual service in time of 
 "War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject tor 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPULLIG. 385 
 
 the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb ; 
 nor shall be compelled in any Criminal Case to be a witness 
 against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, 
 without due process of law ; nor shall private property be 
 taken for public use, without just compensation. 
 
 " (ARTICLE VI.) 
 
 ' ' In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the 
 right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of 
 the State and district wherein the crime shall have been 
 committed, which district shall have been previously as 
 certained by law, and to be informed of the nature and 
 cause of the accusation ; to be confronted with the witnesses 
 against him; to have Compulsory process for obtaining 
 Witnesses in his favour, and to have the Assistance of 
 Counsel for his defence. 
 
 " (ARTICLE VII.) 
 
 " In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy 
 shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall 
 be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise 
 re-examined in any Court of the United States, than accord 
 ing to the rules of the common law. 
 
 " (ARTICLE vm.) 
 
 "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines 
 imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. 
 
 " (ARTICLE IX.) 
 
 " The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, 
 shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained 
 by the people. 
 
 "(ARTICLE x.) 
 
 "The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
 Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved 
 to the States respectively, or to the people. 
 
 "(ARTICLE XI.) 
 
 "The Judicial power of the United States shall not be 
 construed to extend to any suit in law or equity, commenced 
 or prosecuted against one of the United States by Citizens of 
 another State, or by Citizens or Subjects of any Foreign 
 State. 
 
 "(ARTICLE XII.) 
 
 1 ' The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and 
 vote by ballot for President and Vice President, one of 
 whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state 
 with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person 
 
386 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person 
 voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct 
 lists of all pers9ns voted for as President, and of all persons 
 voted for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes for 
 each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit 
 sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, 
 directed to the President of the Senate; The President of 
 the Senate shall, in presence of the Senate and House of 
 Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall 
 then be counted; The person having the greatest number 
 of votes for President, shall be the President, if such num 
 ber be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed ; 
 and if no person have such majority, then from the persons 
 having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list 
 of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives 
 shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in 
 choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, 
 the representation from each state having one vote ; a quo 
 rum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members 
 from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states 
 shall be necessary to a choice. And if ,the House of Repre 
 sentatives shall not choose a President whenever the right 
 of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of 
 March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as 
 President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional 
 disability of the President. The person having the greatest 
 number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-Presi 
 dent, if such number be a majority of the whole number of 
 Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then 
 from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall 
 choose the Vice-President ; a quorum for the purpose shall 
 consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a 
 majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. 
 But no person constitutionally ineligible to i:he office of 
 President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the 
 United States. 
 
 The Inaugural Speech of Washington 
 
 is as follows : 
 
 "FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND OF THE HOUSE OF 
 REPRESENTATIVES: Among the vicissitudes incident to life, 
 no event could have filled me with greater anxiety than that 
 of which the notification was transmitted by your order, 
 and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the 
 one hand, I was summoned by my country whose voice I 
 can never hear but with veneration and love from a retreat 
 which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my 
 flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum 
 of my declining years ; a retreat which was rendered every 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 387 
 
 day more necessary, as well as more dear, to me, by the ad 
 dition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions 
 in my health, to the gradual waste committed on it by time. 
 On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust 
 to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient 
 to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens 
 a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but 
 overwhelm with despondence one who, inheriting inferior 
 endowments from nature, and unpractised in the duties of 
 civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his 
 own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare 
 aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my 
 duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by 
 which it mi^ht be affected. All I dare hope is that, if, in 
 executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a 
 grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affec 
 tionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the con 
 fidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little 
 consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the 
 weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be pal 
 liated by the motives which misled me, and its consequences 
 be judged by my country with some share of the partiality 
 in which they originated. 
 
 " Such being the impressions under which I have, in obe 
 dience to the public summons, repaired to the present 
 station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first 
 official act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being 
 who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of 
 nations, and whose providential aids can supply every 
 human defect, that his benediction may consecrate, to the 
 liberties and happiness of the people of United States, a gov 
 ernment instituted by themselves for these essential pur 
 poses, and may enable every instrument employed in its 
 administration to execute with success the functions allotted 
 to his charge. In tendering this homage to the great Author 
 of every public and private good, I assure myself that it 
 expresses your sentiments not less than my own ; nor those 
 of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people 
 can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand 
 which conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of 
 the United States. Every step by which they have ad 
 vanced to the character of an independent nation seems to 
 have been distinguished by some token of providential 
 agency ; and in the important revolution just accomplished 
 in the system of their united government, the tranquil de 
 liberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct com 
 munities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be- 
 compared with the means by which most governments have 
 been established without some return of pious gratitude 
 along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings 
 
388 THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 
 
 which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising 
 out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly 
 on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I 
 trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence 
 of which the proceedings of a new and free government can 
 more auspiciously commence. 
 
 ' ' By the article establishing the executive department, it 
 is made the duty of the President ' to recommend to your 
 consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and 
 expedient,' The circumstances under which I now meet 
 you will acquit me from entering into that subject further 
 than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which 
 you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, 
 designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. 
 It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far 
 more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to sub 
 stitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, 
 the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the 
 patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and 
 adopt them. In these honorable qualifications, I behold the 
 surest pledges that, as on one side, no local prejudices or at 
 tachments, no separate views, nor party animosities, will mis 
 direct the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch 
 over this great assemblage of communities and interests ; so, 
 on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be 
 laid in the pure and immutable principles or private moral 
 ity, and the pre-eminence of free government be exemplified 
 by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citi 
 zens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on 
 this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love 
 for my country can inspire : since there is no truth more 
 thoroughly established, than that there exists in the econ 
 omy and course of nature an indissoluble union between 
 virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, be 
 tween the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous 
 policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felic 
 ity ; since we ought to be no less pursuaded that the pro 
 pitious smiles of heaven can never be expected on a nation 
 that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which 
 heaven itself has ordained ; and since the preservation of the 
 gacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican 
 model of government are justly considered as deeply, per 
 haps as finally, staked, on the experiment entrusted to the 
 hands of the American people. 
 
 "Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it 
 will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exer 
 cise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of 
 the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present junc 
 ture, by the nature of objections which have been urged 
 against the system or by the degree of inquietude which 
 
THE BIRTH OF THE REPUBLIC. 389 
 
 has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular 
 recommendations on this subject, in which I could be 
 guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I 
 shall again give way to my entire confidence in your dis 
 cernment and pursuit of the public good ; for, I assure my 
 self, that, whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which 
 might endanger the benefits of an united and effective gov 
 ernment, or which ought to await the future lessons of ex 
 perience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of free 
 men, and a regard for the public harmony, will sufficiently 
 influence your deliberations on the question how far the 
 former can be more impregnably fortified, or the latter be 
 safely and advantageously promoted. 
 
 " To the preceding observations I have one to add, which 
 will be most properly addressed to the House of Representa 
 tives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as 
 possible. When I was first honored with a call into the ser 
 vice of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle 
 for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty 
 required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensa 
 tion. Erom this resolution I have in no instance departed ; 
 and being still under the impressions which produced it, I 
 must decline, as inapplicable to myself, any share in the 
 personal emoluments which may be indispensably included 
 in a permanent provision for the executive depart 
 ment, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary esti 
 mates for the station in which I am placed may, during" my 
 continuance in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as 
 the public good may be thought to require. 
 
 "Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they 
 have been awakened by the occasion which brings us to 
 gether, I shall take my present leave; but not without 
 resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race 
 in humble supplication, that, since he has been pleased to 
 favor the American people with opportunities for deliberat 
 ing in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding, 
 with unparalleled unanimity, on a form of government for 
 the security of their Union and the advancement of their 
 happiness, so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous 
 in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the 
 wise measures on which the success of this government 
 must depend." 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 CONNECTICUT. 
 
 Act of Parliament burnt, 
 145. 
 
 Adam, Andrew, 361. 
 
 Arnold, Benedict, 157. 
 
 Babcock, Mr. Adam, 157. 
 
 Beebe, Dr., 151. 
 
 Benedict, Mr. Zadock, 156. 
 
 Bishop, Mr. Samuel, 157. 
 
 Comstock, Mr. Andrew,156. 
 
 Connecticut, 25, 144, 354, 
 861, 369, 3S3. 
 
 Connecticut Assembly, 149. 
 
 Connecticut Resolutions 
 146. 
 
 Connecticut instructs her 
 Delegates to vote for In 
 dependence, 158. 
 
 Danbury Town Meeting 
 Proceedings, 154. 
 
 Deane, Silas, Esq., 84, 157. 
 
 Delegate Meeting at Hart 
 ford, 151. 
 
 Durkee, Mr., 26, 27, 28. 
 
 Dyer, Eliphalet, Esq.. 84. 
 
 Ellsworth, Esq., Oliver, 
 363, 369. 
 
 Fairfield Committee Pro 
 ceedings, 156. 
 
 Fitch, Gov. of Conn., 25, 
 
 26, 30. 
 
 Gazette, The, 145. 
 
 Glastenbury Public Meet 
 ing, 144, 149. 
 
 Hait, Capt. David, 154. 
 Hollister, historian, 25, 28, 
 
 144, 156, 158. 
 
 Hollister, statement by, 158. 
 Hollister, Capt. Elisha, 145. 
 Hosmer, Titus, 361. 
 Humphreys, General, 28. 
 Huntiugton, Sam'l, 95, 361. 
 Hutton, Mr. Samuel, 154. 
 Ingersoll, Jared, Esq., 
 
 Stamp- distributor, 25, 26, 
 
 27, 28, 30, 46. 
 Jarvis, S., 154. 
 Johnson, William Samuel, 
 
 Esq., 8, 369, 383. 
 Lebanon, 25. 
 Lloyd, Mr. John, 154. 
 Lyman, David, Esq., J. P., 
 
 30. 
 
 McLean, Mr. John, 156. 
 Munford, Mr. Thomas, 157. 
 New Haven, 26. 
 New London, 25. 
 
 Non - importation agree 
 ment, 144. 
 
 Norwich, 25. 
 
 Norwich Resolutions, 149. 
 
 Parsons, Samuel Holden, 
 Esq., 157. 
 
 People, 27. 
 
 Porter, Mr. Joshua, 157. 
 
 Putnam, Col. Israel, 30. 
 
 Root, Jesse, 157. 
 
 Sherman, Roger, Esq., 84, 
 95, 361, 369, 3S3. 
 
 Silliman, Mr. Ebenezer, 156. 
 
 Stamford Town Meeting 
 Resolutions, 153. 
 
 Stamp Act in Connecticut, 
 25. 
 
 Stevens, Capt. Thomas, 154. 
 
 Starr, Capt. Daniel, 156. 
 
 Taylor, Mr. Major, 156. 
 
 Trumbull, Col. Jonathan, 
 25, 158. 
 
 Weed, Capt. Chas., 154. 
 
 Wells, Mr. Chas., 157. 
 
 Wethersfield, 26. 
 
 Windham, 25. 
 
 Windham Town proceed 
 ings, 150. 
 
 Williams, Ezekiel, 157, 
 
 Williams, William, Esq., 
 157. 
 
 Wolcott, Oliver, 95, 361. 
 
 Wyllis, Capt. Samuel, 153, 
 
 Young, Capt. Samuel, 154. 
 
 DELAWARE. 
 
 Bassett, Richard, 236, 367, 
 368, 383. 
 
 Bedford, Gunning, Jr., 368, 
 383. 
 
 Booth, Mr. James, 243. 
 
 Broom, Jacob, 368, 383. 
 
 Clark, Jno., Esq., 236, 240, 
 242. 
 
 Clewes, Mr., 242. 
 
 Collins, Mr. Thos, 234, 236. 
 
 Continental Association ap 
 proved, 240. 
 
 Crapper, Zadock, 236. 
 
 Cropper, Mr. Levin. 234. 
 
 Delaware, 46, 234, 354, 362, 
 367, 368, 383. 
 
 Delaware Convention, 234, 
 237. 
 
 Delaware Convention Re 
 solves, 234, 239. 
 
 Delaware Assembly Reso 
 lutions, 241, 243. 
 
 Dickinson, John, Esq., 362, 
 367, 368, 383. 
 
 Evans, John, Esq., 234, 366. 
 
 Haslet, John, 236. 
 
 Kent Co. Resolutions, 235. 
 
 Killen, Mr. Wm., 234, 236. 
 
 Latimer, Mr. James, New 
 Castle, 234. 
 
 Lockwood, Richard, Esq., 
 236. 
 
 Manlove, Mr. Boaz, 284. 
 
 McKean, Thomas, Esq., 84, 
 95, 234, 240, 243, 362. 
 
 McKinley, Mr. John, New 
 Castle, 234, 240. 
 
 New Castle Co. Committee, 
 240. 
 
 Porter, Mr. Alex., New Cas 
 tle, 234. 
 
 Read, George, Esq., 84, 95, 
 234, 240, 241, 242, 367, 368, 
 383. 
 
 Ridgeley, Chas., Esq., 236, 
 
 Robinson, Mr. Thomas, 234. 
 
 Rodney, Caesar, Esq., 84, 
 95, 234, 236, 239, 240, 241. 
 
 Rodney, Thomas, 236. 
 
 Stamp Act, 46. 
 
 Stout, Jacob, 236. 
 
 Sussex Co. Resolutions, 
 236. 
 
 Sykes, James, 236. 
 
 Thompson, Mr. David, Sus 
 sex Co., 234, 240. 
 
 Townsend, Mr. Stephen, 
 Sussex Co., 234. 
 
 Van Dyke, Nicholas, 362. 
 
 Wells, James, 236. 
 
 Wiltbank, Mr. John, Sussex 
 Co., 234. 
 
 GEORGIA. 
 
 Address to the People, 338. 
 
 Angus, Mr., Stamp-distrib 
 utor, 66. 
 
 Baldwin, Abraham, 369, 
 383. 
 
 Bierry, Thomas, 342. 
 
 Bryan, Jonathan, Esq.. 338. 
 
 Bullock, Archibald, Esq., 
 339, 345, 352. 
 
 Clark, James, 342. 
 
 Clay, Joseph, 340. 
 
 Cockspur, 67. 
 
390 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Cooper, Richard, 342. 
 Creighton, Alexander, 338. 
 Cuthbert, Isaac, 342. 
 Cuthbert, Daniel A.. 342. 
 Cuyler, Mrs.. 347. 
 Darien Resolutions, 340. 
 Darien Association, 341. 
 Demere, Raymond, 342. 
 E\ven, William, 340. 
 Farley, Samuel, 340. 
 Few, Wm, Esq., 369. 383. 
 Fort George, Cockspur 
 
 Island, 67. 
 Fulton, John, 342. 
 Fulton, Samuel, 342. 
 Georgia, 66, 337, 354, 362, 
 
 339, 383. 
 
 Gazette, Savannah, 3>8. 
 
 Georgia Assembly Address 
 to the King, 338. 
 
 Georgia Association, 345. 
 
 Georgia Assembly, Resolu 
 tions by, 337, 342, 345. 
 
 Georgia Assembly, Associ 
 ation of Non-importation 
 by, 345. 
 
 Georgia Council of Safety, 
 Resolutions by, 351 . 
 
 Georgia Council of Safety, 
 Address of, 351. 
 
 Georgia Temporary Con 
 stitution. 350. 
 
 General Meeting, Georgia 
 Resolutions, 339. 
 
 Gwinnett, Button, 96. 
 
 Hall, Isaac. 342. 
 
 Hall, John, 342. 
 
 Hall, Lyman, Esq., 96. 
 
 Houston, John, Esq., 339, 
 
 340, 345. 
 
 Jones, Noble Wimberly, 
 Esq., 338, 339. 340, 345. 
 
 Judton, Paul, 342. 
 
 King, Thomas, 342. 
 
 Langworthy, Edward, 362. 
 
 Liberty Boys, 66. 
 
 McCleland, Samuel, 342. 
 
 McCleland, John, 342. 
 
 McCullugh, Beth. 342. 
 
 McCullugh, William, 342. 
 
 McCullugh, John, Sr., 342. 
 
 McOiUugh, John, Jr., 342. 
 
 McDonald, Charles, 342. 
 
 Mclntosh, John, 342. 
 
 Mclntosh, L., 342. 
 
 Merchants and Traders 
 Meeting, Resolutions by, 
 333. 
 
 Milledge, Capt., 66. 
 
 Moore, Jiles, 3-12. 
 
 Newsom, Jones, 342. 
 
 Pannell, Lieut., 353. 
 
 Pendleton, Nathaniel, Esq., 
 309. 
 
 Pierce, William, Esq., 369. 
 
 Powell, Capt , 66. 
 
 Provincial Congress Reso 
 lutions, 347, 348. 
 
 Roberts, Daniel, Esq., 352. 
 
 Roland, John, Esq., 342. 
 
 Sallens, Peter, Esq., 342. 
 
 Savannah, Ga., Meeting 
 
 and Resolves. 346. 
 Shuttleworth, Pr., 342. 
 Shuttleworth, Reu., 342. 
 Stamp Act, 66. 
 Stephen's History of Ga., 
 
 66. 
 
 Stobe, Joseph, Esq., 342. 
 Telfair. Edward, 340, 362. 
 Threadcraft, Gaorge, 342. 
 Tybee Island, 66. 
 Walton, George, Esq., 96, 
 
 339, 353, 369. 
 Walton, Lieut.. 353. 
 Walton, John, 362. 
 Wells, Andrew Elton,;340. 
 Wereat, John, 853. 
 Witherspoon, John, 342. 
 Witherspoon, John, Jr., 
 
 342. 
 Wright, Sir James, Royal 
 
 Governor, 66, 311. 
 Wylly, Mr., Speaker House 
 
 of Commons, 66, 337. 
 Young, William, Esq., 340. 
 
 MARYLAND. 
 
 Alexander, Robt., Esq., 
 256, 257. 
 
 Annapolis, 119, 247, 252. 
 
 Anne Arundell Co. Reso 
 lutions, 249. 
 
 Baltimore Co. Resolutions, 
 52, 248. 
 
 Baltimore, Lord, 52. 
 
 Carroll, Charles, of Carroll- 
 ton, 95, 247. 
 
 Carroll, Daniel, Esq., 362, 
 369, 383. 
 
 Caroline Co. Resolutions, 
 251. 
 
 Charles Co. Resolutions, 
 251. 
 
 Chase, Samuel, Esq., 84, 
 95, 247, 256, 364. 
 
 Chestertown Resolutions, 
 244. 
 
 Dick, Mr., merchant, An 
 napolis, 244. 
 
 Dickinson, Charles, 251. 
 
 Duckett. Mr. John, 252. 
 
 Frederick Co. Resolutions, 
 250. 
 
 Gazette, Md., 49, 50. 
 
 Geddes, (brigantine), 246. 
 
 General Assembly, 50. 
 
 General Assembly Resolu 
 tions by, 50. 
 
 Goldsborough, Robert, 
 Esq., 256. 
 
 Green, Mr. Jonas, Editor 
 of Gazette, 4!>. 
 
 Griffith, Mr. Henry, Fred 
 erick Co., 250. 
 
 Hall, Aquilla, Esq., Har- 
 ford Co., 250. 
 
 Hall, John, Esq., Annapo 
 lis, 247, 253. 
 
 Hammond, Matthias, Esq., 
 Annapolis, 247. 
 
 Hanson, John, Esq., 362. 
 
 Harford Co. Resolutions, 
 
 250. 
 Hood, Zachariah, Esq., 49, 
 
 H d, Z h. Esq., 50. 
 
 Instructions to Delegates 
 
 in Congress, 256. 
 Jenifer, Daniel of St. Tho 
 mas, Esq., 369, 383. 
 Johnson, Herman, 87. 
 Johnson, Thomas, Jr.,Esq., 
 
 76, 84, 247, 256. 
 Kent Co. Resolutions, 249. 
 McCubbin, Mr., merchant, 
 
 Annapolis, 244. 
 McHenry, James, Esq., 
 
 369, 383. 
 McMahon, historian, 46, 
 
 243, 244. 
 McMahon, statement by, 
 
 in regard to Stamp Act, 
 
 46. 
 
 Martin, Luther, Esq.. 369. 
 Maryland, 46, 243, 354, 362, 
 
 366, 369, 383. 
 
 Maryland Convention Res 
 olutions, 252, 258. 
 Mercer. John Francis, Esq., 
 
 369. 
 Paca, William, Esq., 84,95, 
 
 247, 256. 
 
 Queen Anne Co. Resolu 
 tions, 248. 
 Ridgeley, Capt, Charles, 
 
 Baltimore Co., 248. 
 Rogers, John, Esq., 256. 
 Stamp Act, 46. 
 Stewart, Mr., merchant, 
 
 Annapolis, 244. 
 Stewart, Mr.W., merchant, 
 
 Annapolis, 244. 
 Stone, Thos. Esq., 95, 256. 
 Talbot Co. Meeting, 246. 
 Tilghman, Matthew, Esq., 
 
 84, 252, 266. 
 Wallace, Mr., merchant, 
 
 Annapolis, 244. 
 Worthington, Mr. Brice 
 
 Beale, Anne Aruudell 
 
 Co., 249. 
 Wright, W., Esq., 846. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS. 
 Act for sending beyond 
 
 sea for trial, 112, 117. 
 Adams, John, Esq., 76, 84, 
 
 91, 95, 110, 243, 372. 
 Adams, Samuel, Esq,, 84, 
 
 95,110,129,361. 
 Address to the People by 
 
 the Provincial Congress, 
 
 128. 
 Assembly protests against 
 
 the Acts of Parliament, 
 
 103. 
 
 Barry, historian, 16. 
 Bernard, Gov., 291. 
 Boston Tea Party, 104. 
 Boston Port Bill, 106, 352, 
 Bowdoiu, James, Esq., 110. 
 Brovn, Wm., Judge, 120. 
 
INDEX. 393 
 
 Cambridge, Mass., 290. Ruggles. Mr., 10. Monmouth Co. Resolu- 
 Charterof Mass., abolition Salem, Mass., 124. tions, 225, 
 
 of, 112, 113. Stamp Act in Mass., 16, 17. Morris Co. Resolutions, 222. 
 
 Clark, Mr., consignee of Story, Mr., deputy regis- Mulford, historian, 218. 
 
 tea, Boston, 104. ter, 18. Neilson, John, Esq., 368. 
 
 Committee of Safety, 129. Strong, Caleb, Esq., 369. Newark, Committee Reso- 
 Cumberland Co., 122. Suffolk Co , 74, 121. lutions, 229, 231. 
 
 dishing, Thomas, Esq., Suffolk Co. Resolutions. New Jersey, 10, 218, 354, 
 
 84, 110, 208. 74. 362, 366, 367, 368, 383. 
 
 Dana, Frauds, Esq., 361, Temporary government New Jersey Assembly Res- 
 
 369. established, 130. olutions, 230, 367. 
 
 Extracts from the Port Vose, Mr., 121. New Jersey Committee to 
 
 Bill, 107. Warren, Dr. Joseph, 128. Boston Committee, 227. 
 
 Falmouth, Casco Bay, 122. Watertown, Mass., 130. Ogden, David, Esq., 10, 39. 
 
 Faneuil Hall, 18, 100. Woodward, Richard, 121. Ogden, Robert, Esq., 
 
 Faneuil Hall, Convention York Co., 124. Speaker of Assembly, 10, 
 
 Freeman, Sam'l' Esq., 131. NEW JERSEY. Patterson, William, Esq., 
 
 Gerry, Elbridge, Esq., 95, Bergen Co. Resolutions, 368, 383. 
 
 129, 361, 364, 369. 221. Potter, Capt. Reuben, 231. 
 
 Gorham, Nathaniel, Esq., Bloomfield, Moses, Esq., Schureman, James, Esq., 
 
 369, 383. 232. 367. 
 
 Hall, captain of tea ves- Burlington Committee, 231. Scudder, Nathaniel, 362. 
 
 sel at Boston, 105. Brearley, David, Esq., 368, Smith, William P., 227. 
 
 Hallowell, Mr., 18. 383. Smith, Richard, 84, 230. 
 
 Hancock, John, Esq., 95, Camp,Caleb.,Esq., 230, 231. Smyth, Frederick, Chief 
 
 99, 124, 129, 208, 361. Clark, Abram, Esq., 96, 233, Justice, 38. 
 
 Hancock, Ebenezer, Esq., 367,368. Somerset Co. Committee 
 
 119. Committees of the several Resolutions, 233. 
 
 Holton, Samuel, Esq., 361. Counties' Resolutions, Stamp Act, 37. 
 
 Hutchinsou, Thomas, Esq., 226. Stockton, Richard, Esq., 
 
 103. 104. Coxe, William, Stamp-dis- 96, 233. 
 
 Hutchinson, Elisha, Esq., tributor, 40. Sussex Co. Resolutions, 225. 
 
 103, 104. Crane, Stephen, Esq., 84, Upper Freehold Resolu- 
 
 Hutchinson, Foster, Esq., 230. tions, 232. 
 
 Judge, 103, 105, 120. Dayton, Jonathan, Esq., Witherspoon, Dr. John, 96, 
 
 Hutchinson, Mr,,Chief Jus- 368, 383. 233, 362. 
 
 tiee, 16, 17, 18, 103, 291. De Hart, John, Esq., 84, Woodbridge Committee 
 King, Rufus, Esq., 365, 369, 220. Resolutions 231 232. 
 
 383. Delegates to Continental 
 
 Lexington, 130, 316. Congress, 229. NEW HAMPSHTRF 
 
 Lincoln, Benj. Esq., 124. Essex Co. Grand Jury Ad- J^W HAJttK>. 
 
 Lovell, James, Esq., 361. dress to the Chief Jus- Address of Convention to 
 Malcolm, John, 109. tice, 227, 228. the inhabitants, 141. 
 
 Massachusetts, 7, 10, 16, 96, Essex Co. Resolutions, 220. Bartlett, Josiah, Esq., 95, 
 
 354,361,367,369,383. Fallman, Peter, Esq., 231. 141,361, 
 
 Massachusetts Provincial Field, Richard S., Esq., 37. Belknap, historian, 19, 134. 
 
 Congress,126, 127, 128, 130. Fisher, Hendrick, Esq., 233. Belknap's history, extract 
 Massachusetts House of Franklin, Gov., 40. from, 19. 
 
 Representatives, Resolu- Frelinghuysen, Mr. Freder- Castle William and Mary, 
 
 tions by, 110. ick, 233. Portsmouth, 137, 138. 
 
 Massachusetts House of Hart, John, 96, 233. Claget, Justice, 21. 
 
 Representatives author- Historical Society, 37. Cochran, captain of Castle 
 
 izes Declaration of Inde- Hopkinson, Francis, Esq., William and Mary, 137, 
 
 pendence, 131. 96,233. 138. 
 
 Massachusetts declared to Houston, William Church- Committee of Portsmouth, 
 
 be in rebellion, 129. ill, Esq , 367, 368. 135. 
 
 Middlesex Co., 121. Hunterdon Co. Resolu- Cutts, Samuel, Esq., 137, 
 
 New Plymouth, 130. tions, 223. 139, 141. 
 
 Oliver, Peter, Esq., Chief Johnson, Robert, Esq., 232. Emery, Mr. Noah, 144. 
 
 Justice, 119, 291. Kearney, Philip, Esq., 39. Epsom Resolves, 139. 
 
 Oliver, Andrew, Esq., Kinsey, Mr., Delegate to Extract from Gazette, 20. 
 
 Stamp-distributor, 16, 17, Congress, 84, 230. Fenton, Col., 139. 
 
 18. Lawrence, John, Esq., Up- Folsom, Nathaniel, Esq., 84, 
 
 Otis, James, Esq., 8, 9, 16. per Freehold Co., 232. 140. 
 
 Paine, Robert Treat, Esq., Livingston, Gov. William, Gilman, Nicholas, Esq., 
 
 84,95,110. 76,84,87,230,368,383. 369,383. 
 
 Revere, Paul, Esq.. 137, 139. Lower Freehold Resolu- Independence authorized, 
 Rotch, owner of vessel that tions, 220. 143. 
 
 brought tea to Boston, Middlesex Co. Resolutions, Langdon, Capt, John, 137, 
 
 105. 224. 140, 369, 372, 383. 
 
394 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Letter from Committee of 
 
 Portsmouth, 135. 
 Letter from Gov. Went- 
 
 worth to Gen. Gage, 137. 
 Lewis, Peter, Esq., Gover 
 nor's Counsellor, 132. 
 Messerve, Mr., appointed 
 
 Stamp-distributor, 19, 20. 
 New Hampshire, 19, 181, 
 
 354, 361, 367, 369, 383. 
 Pickering, John, Esq., 141, 
 
 369. 
 
 Portsmouth, 134. 
 Provincial Convention, 140. 
 Stamp Act, 19. 
 Sullivan, John, Esq., 84, 
 
 137, 140. 
 Tappan, Mr. Christopher, 
 
 141. 
 Thompson, Mr. Ebenezer, 
 
 141. 
 Trecothick, Barlow, Esq., 
 
 Thornton, Matthew. 95. 
 Wentworth, John, Esq., 20, 
 
 132, 133, 138, 139, 140, 361. 
 Wentworth, Benning, Esq., 
 
 Gov., 131, 137. 
 Weare, Mesheck, Esq., 140. 
 West, Benjamin, Esq., 369. 
 Whiting, Mr., 137. 
 Whipple.Wm., Esq., 95, 141. 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 Alsop, John, Esq., 73, 84, 
 
 177, 178. 
 Association of New York, 
 
 193. 
 Bache, Theophilas, Esq., 
 
 177. 
 
 Bayard, William, 177 
 Beekman, Gerard W., 177. 
 Belknap, Mr. Joseph, 192. 
 Benson, Egbert, 367. 
 Benson, Robert, Esq., 191. 
 Blake, Mr. Jonathan, 178. 
 Yloomer, Mr. Robert, 183. 
 Boerum, Simon, Esq., 75, 
 
 Booth, Benjamin, 177. 
 
 Bowery, the New York, 
 Public Meeting in, 195. 
 
 Brown, George, 177. 
 
 Brown, John, Esq., 196. 
 
 Brookhaven Committee ap 
 points Committee of Ob 
 servation, 194. 
 
 Brookhaven Committee re 
 solves, 195. 
 
 Broom, John, 177. 
 
 Brosher, Abraham, 177, 196. 
 
 Buli, Joseph, 177. 
 
 Carpenter, Mr. Zeno, 183. 
 
 Clinton, Mr. Chas., 186, 187. 
 
 Golden, Cadwallader, Lt.- 
 Gov., 31. 32, 33, 35, 174, 
 176, 187, 188. 
 
 Committee of Correspond 
 ence, 176, 177. 
 
 Committee, General of 
 N.Y., 190. 
 
 Committee, General, Ad 
 dress to Gov., 190. 
 
 Corporation of New York 
 City, 190. 
 
 Contine, Mr. Matthew, 186. 
 
 Corporation of New York, 
 Address to Gov. Tryon, 
 191. 
 
 Cross, Mr. Robert, 192. 
 
 Cumberland Co. Commit 
 tee Resolutions, 194. 
 
 Curtenius, Peter T., 177. 
 
 Dennison, Mr. George, 192. 
 
 Delaney, John, 177. 
 
 Desbrosses, Elias, Esq., 177. 
 
 Destruction of stamps, 37. 
 
 Duane. James, Esq., 84, 
 178, 361. 
 
 Duer, James, Esq., 177, 
 361. 
 
 Duryee, Abraham, 177. 
 
 Duyckinck, Gerandus, 177. 
 
 East Hampton Resolutions, 
 181. 
 
 Elmendorph, Capt. John, 
 186. 
 
 Floyd, Wm., Esq., 84, 95. 
 
 Fort George, 33. 
 
 Foy, capt. of Fort George, 
 33. 
 
 Francis, Mr. Samuel, 177. 
 
 Goelet, Peter, 177. 
 
 Hallett, Mr. Joseph, 177, 
 196. 
 
 Hamilton, Alexander, Esq., 
 
 Hanover Committee Re 
 solves, 186. 
 
 Haring, John, 183. 
 
 Haring, Peter T., 183. 
 
 Hardenbergh, Col. Johan 
 nes, 185, 186. 
 
 Hardenbergh, Mr. Johan 
 nes G., 186. 
 
 Hasbrouck, Mr. Jacob, Jr., 
 186. 
 
 Haviland, Ebenezer, 183, 
 184. 
 
 Herring, John, Esq., 75. 
 
 Hicks, Whitehead, Esq., 
 Mayor of N. Y., 191. 
 
 Hoffman, Nicholas, 177. 
 
 Horsmanden, Chief Justice 
 N. Y., 31. 
 
 Horton, Mr. James, 183. 
 
 Huntington Resolutions, 
 182. 
 
 Jackson, Mr. William, 186. 
 
 Jamaica Town Meeting 
 Resolutions, 185. 
 
 Jauncey, James, 177. 
 
 Jay, John, Esq., 76, 84, 85, 
 87, 177, 178, 179. 
 
 Johnston, David, 177. 
 
 Jones, Mr. Gardiner, 183. 
 
 Kemp, Mr., Attorney -gen 
 eral, 32. 
 
 Kings Co., 75. 
 
 Laight, Edward, 177. 
 
 Lansing, John, Jr., Esq., 
 3G9. 
 
 Latta, Mr. James, 186. 
 
 Lent, Col. Abram, 183. 
 
 Letter from N. Y. Com 
 mittee to Boston Com 
 mittee, 179, 180. 
 
 Lewis. Mr. Francis, 95, 178, 
 196, 361. 
 
 Lispenard, Mr. Leonard, 
 
 177, 196. 
 
 Livingston, Mr. P. V. B., 
 
 3'2, 177, 196. 
 Livingston,Robert R.,Esq., 
 
 8, 9, 32. 
 Livingston, Philip, Esq., 
 
 32, 84, 76, 85, 95, 177. 
 Livingston, William, Esq., 
 
 82 
 
 Lott, Mr. Abram P., 177, 196. 
 Low, Isaac, Esq., 84, 177, 
 
 178, 181, 194. 
 
 Ludlow, Gabriel H., 177. 
 Mabie, Mr. Yost, 183. 
 Mandeville, Mr. Francis, 
 
 192. 
 
 McAdam, William, 177. 
 
 McDougall, Mr. Alexander, 
 177, 1915. 
 
 McEwers, Mr., Stamp-dis 
 tributor, 32. 
 
 McEvers, Charles, 177. 
 
 Marston, Thomas, 177. 
 
 Meeting, Windsor Resolu 
 tions. 192. 
 
 Miller, Mr. Eleazer, 181. 
 
 Moore, Sir Henry, Gov., 
 
 33, 35, 36, 37, 175. 
 Moore, John, 177. 
 Morris, Gouverneur, 361. 
 Morris, Lewis, 95. 
 Newkirk, Mr. Jacob, 186. 
 New York, 30, 174, 354, 361, 
 
 366, 367, 369, 383. 
 
 N. Y. Assembly appoints 
 Committee of Corre 
 spondence, 195. 
 
 Nicholl, Charles. 177. 
 
 O'Cullaghan, N. Y. histori 
 cal collector, 174, 192. 
 
 Orange Town Resolutions, 
 182. 
 
 Out water, Mr. Thomas, 183. 
 
 Palatine Resolutions, 184. 
 
 Parks, Mr. Arthur, 186. 
 
 Pearsall, Thomas, 177. 
 
 Randall, Thomas, Capt., 
 177, 196. 
 
 Remson, Henry, 177. 
 
 Rye Resolutions, 183. 
 
 Sears, Isaac, Esq., 174, 177, 
 196. 
 
 Seizure of ordnance by 
 the people, 191. 
 
 Shaw, Charles, Esq., 177. 
 
 Sharpe, Richard, 177. 
 
 Sherbrook, Miles. 177. 
 
 Shutts, Nuoc, 192. 
 
 Smith, Mr. William, 181. 
 
 Smith. Mr. Hendrick, 186. 
 
 Sons of Liberty, 16. 
 
 South Haven Resolutions, 
 181. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 395 
 
 Speech of Isaac Low, 178. 
 
 Stamp Act, 174. 
 
 Thomas, Mr. John, Jr., 183. 
 
 Thomas, Mr. Samuel. 
 
 Thompson, Samuel, 195. 
 
 Thurman, John, 177. 
 
 Trimble, Alexander, 186. 
 
 Tryon, Gov., 175. 176, 190, 
 192. 
 
 Tryon to Dartmouth, 175. 
 
 Tryon retreats to British 
 man-of-war, 191, 
 
 Ulster Co. Meeting, 185. 
 
 Ulster Co. Meeting Resolu 
 tions, 185. 
 
 Van Horn, David, 177. 
 
 Van Schaach, Mr. Peter, 
 177, 178. 
 
 Van Zandt, Mr. Jacobus, 
 177, 196. 
 
 Wallace, Alexander, 177. 
 
 Walton, Abraham, 177. 
 
 Walton, William, 177. 
 
 Westchester Co. Resolu 
 tions, 184. 
 
 White, Mr. Hezekiah, 192. 
 
 Wicker, Mr. Thomas. 
 
 Wisner, Henry, Esq., 73, 
 
 Wood, Israel, Esq., 182. 
 Woodhull, John, 195. 
 Wyncoop, Mr. Adrian, 186. 
 Yates, Richard, 177. 
 Yates, Robert, Esq., 369. 
 Young, Hamilton, 177. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Alamance Creek, 62. 
 
 Alston,William, Esq., Hali 
 fax, 294. 
 
 Alexander, Abraham, 
 Mecklenberg, 316. 
 
 Alexander, Adam, Esq., 
 Mecklenberg, 315. 
 
 Alexander, Robert, Esq., 
 Mecklenberg, 302. 
 
 Alexander, John McKnitt, 
 Esq., Mecklenberg, 316. 
 
 Ancrum, John, Esq., 293. 
 
 Anson Co., 296, 301. 
 
 Ashe, Samuel, Esq., 293. 
 
 Ash, John, Esq., 57, 58. 
 
 Association of Ladies, 307. 
 
 Bath, N. C., 302. 
 
 Benbury, Thomas, 301. 
 
 Beaufort Co., 301. 
 
 Bertie Co., 301, 309. 
 
 BladenCo. 301. 
 
 Blount, Wm., Esq., 368, 383. 
 
 Bradford, John, 294. 
 
 Brevard, Eph Esq., 314. 
 
 Brearley, David, Esq. 
 
 Brigtt, Simon, Esq., 301. 
 
 Brown, William, Esq., 302. 
 
 Brunswick Co., 57, 301. 
 
 Bryan, Needham, Esq., 301. 
 
 Campbell, John, Esq., 301. 
 
 Campbell, Farquard, Esq., 
 
 ' 301. 
 
 Cape Fear, 57, 295. 
 
 Carteret Co., 301. 
 
 Caswell, Richard, 73, P4, 
 301, 305, 306, 308, 309, 315. 
 
 Charlotte, N. C., Mecklen 
 berg Co., 311, 315. 
 
 Chowan Co., 301. 
 
 Clayton, Francis, Esq., 293, 
 302. 
 
 Cogdell, Richard, Esq., 295, 
 
 301, 317, 318. 
 Collett, Capt., 295. 
 Congress at llilsborough 
 
 Resolutions, 318. 
 
 Convention at Newbern, 
 297. 
 
 Coor, James, Esq., 301. 
 
 Craven Co., 301, 
 
 Cumberland Co., 301. 
 
 Davis, A., 295. 
 
 Davie, William Richardson, 
 Esq., 368. 
 
 Davis, James, 310. 
 
 Declaration of Mecklen 
 berg (May 20, 1775), 311, 
 315. 
 
 De Rossett, Lewis H., Esq., 
 295, 300, 301, 309. 
 
 Dickson, William, 296, 301. 
 
 Diligence, British sloop 
 with stamps, 57. 
 
 Dobbs Co., 301. 
 
 Duplin Co., 301. 
 
 Dry, Wm., Esq., 300, 301. 
 
 Edenton, 57, 302, 307. 
 
 Edwards, Isaac, Esq., 302. 
 
 Everigin, .Edward, Esq., 
 302. 
 
 Few, Capt., 62. 
 
 Fort Johnston, 295. 
 
 Fraser, Jeremiah, Tyrrell 
 Co., 302. 
 
 Geddy, John, Esq., Hali 
 fax, 302. 
 
 Gibson, Walter, Esq., Bla- 
 den Co., 301. 
 
 Granville Co., 60, 301. 
 
 Gray, Thomas, Esq., Du 
 plin Co., 301. 
 
 Gray, Mr. William, Onslow 
 Co., 302. 
 
 Guilford Co., 296. 
 
 Hagan, James, Esq., Hali 
 fax Co., 294. 
 
 Halifax Co. Committee 
 Resolutions, 294, 301. 
 
 Halifax Town, 302. 
 
 Harvey, John, Esq., Per- 
 quimans Co., 302. 
 
 Harnett, Corns, 362. 
 
 Harvey James, 310. 
 
 Harvey, John, Esq., 297, 
 
 302, 307. 
 
 Hart, Thomas, Esq., Or 
 ange Co., 302. 
 
 Harvey, Benjamin, Esq., 
 Perquimans Co., 302. 
 
 Harvey, Thomas, Esq., 
 Perquimans Co., 302. 
 
 Hasell, James, Esq., New 
 bern, 300, 301, 309. 
 
 Hatch, Lemuel, 301. 
 
 Haywood, Egbert, Esq., 
 
 Halifax Co., 294. 
 Haynes, Thomas, Esq., 
 
 Halifax, 294. 
 
 Haynes, Eaton, Esq., 296. 
 Hearring, Jonathan, Esq., 
 
 Pasquotank Co., 309. 
 Hewes, Joseph, Esq , 73, 
 
 84, 96, 302, 305, 308, 315. 
 Hicks, Thomas, Esq., Du 
 
 plin Co., 301. 
 Hillsborough, 61. 
 Hill, Green, Esq., Bute Co., 
 
 301. 
 Hogg, Robert, Esq., Wil 
 
 mington, 293. 
 Hooper, William, Esq. , 73, 
 
 84, 96, 293, 301, 305, 308, 
 
 315. 
 Houston, James, 
 
 inted 
 
 ----, ---, 
 Howe, Robert, Esq., Wil 
 
 mington, 293, 301. 
 Husbands, Herman, Esq., 
 
 60. 
 Hunter, Thomas, Esq., 
 
 Chowan Co., 301. 
 Hunt, Memucan, Esq., 
 
 Granville Co., 301. 
 Hunter, Mr., 296. 
 Hyde Co., 301 
 Jarvis, Samuel, Esq., Cur- 
 
 rituck Co., 301 
 Jenkins, David, Esq., Try- 
 
 on Co., 302. 
 Johnston, Samuel, Esq., 
 
 Chowan Co., 301, 318. 
 Johnson, Samuel, Esq., 306. 
 Johnston Co., 301. 
 Jones, Frederick, Esq., 
 
 Wilmington, 293. 
 Jones, William, Esq., Hali 
 
 fax, 294. 
 Jones, Thomas, Esq,, 
 
 Chowan Co., 301. 
 Jones, Allen, Esq., North- 
 
 hampton, 302. 
 Jones, Joseph, Esq., Pas 
 
 quotank Co., 302. 
 Jones, Willie, Esq., 301, 368. 
 Journals of Assembly, 309. 
 Kenan, James, Esq., Du 
 
 plin, 301. 
 Kennon, William, Esq., 
 
 Rowan Co., 302. 
 Knox, Andrew, Esq., Per 
 
 quimans Co., 297, 302. 
 Latham, Rothias, Esq., 
 
 Hyde Co., 301. 
 Leech, Joseph, Esq., Cra 
 
 ven Co., 301. 
 Long, Nicholas, Esq., Hali 
 
 fax Co., 294, 301. 
 Maclain, Archibald, Esq., 
 
 Wilmington, 293. 
 Macknight, Thomas, Esq., 
 
 Currituck Co., 297. 
 McCulloch, Benjamin, Esq., 
 
 Halifax, 294. 
 
396 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 McKinney, William, Esq., 
 Dobbs Co., 301. 
 
 McCulloch, Alexander, 
 Esq., 309. 
 
 McGuire, Thomas, Esq. 
 
 Martin, historian, 7, 55, 57, 
 59. 
 
 Martin, Josiah, Esq., Gov., 
 295, 300, 301, 308, 309, 314. 
 
 Martin, Alex., Escr, 368. 
 
 Mecklenberg Co. Resolves 
 (of May 31, 1775), 301,311, 
 314, 315. 
 
 Mercury, Cape Fear, 314, 
 315. 
 
 Meeting of the Inhabitants, 
 57. 
 
 Miller, Mr. Andrew, mer 
 chant, Halifax, 294, 295. 
 
 Miller, George, Esq., Dobbs 
 Co., 301. 
 
 Moore, Col. James, Wil 
 mington, 293. 
 
 Nash, Abner, Esq., 302. 
 
 Newbern, 57, 295, 297, 302. 
 
 New Hanover Co., 57, 301. 
 
 Newbern Committee, 317, 
 318. 
 
 Newbern Committee Reso 
 lutions, 317. 
 
 North Carolina. 56, 291, 354, 
 362, 367. 368, 383. 
 
 North Carolina Conven 
 tion, 301. 
 
 N. C. Provincial Congress, 
 Resolutions of, for Inde 
 pendence, 320. 
 
 Northampton Co. Commit 
 tee, 296, 302. 
 
 Oldham, Thomas, Esq., 
 Chowan Co., 301. 
 
 Onslow County, 302. 
 
 Ormond, Roger, Esq., 
 Beaufort Co., 301. 
 
 Pasquotank Co., 302, 309. 
 
 Patton, Benjamin, Esq., 
 Mecklenberg Co., 301. 
 
 Penn, John, 96, 362. 
 
 Person, General Thomas, 
 60, 301. 
 
 Person, William, Esq., 
 Bute Co., 801. 
 
 Perkins, Solomon, Esq., 
 Currituck Co., 301. 
 
 Perquimans Co., 297, 302. 
 
 Pitt Co., 302. 
 
 Polk, Col. Thomas. 
 
 Proclamation, a, 300, 308, 
 309, 314. 
 
 Privy Council, 299, 300. 
 
 Quince, Parker, 299. 
 
 Raleigh Register, 311, 315. 
 
 Randolph Co., 60. 
 
 Rayner, Nathan, Esq., 
 Currituck Co., 301. 
 
 Reading, Joseph, Esq., 
 Pasquotank Co., 302. 
 
 Regulation War, 58. 
 
 Respass,Thomas, Jr., Esq., 
 Beaufort Co., 301. 
 
 Rowan Co., 302. 
 
 Rutherford, John, Esq., 
 
 301, 309. 
 Rutherford, Thomas, Esq., 
 
 Cumberland Co., 301. 
 Salter, William, Esq., 
 
 Bladen Co , 301. 
 Salter, Edward, Esq., Pitt 
 
 Co., 302. 
 Sampson, John, Esq., 
 
 Newbern, 300, 301. 
 Simpson, John, Esq., Pitt 
 
 Co., 302. 
 Smith, Samuel. Esq., Hyde 
 
 Co., 801. 
 Smythwick, Edmund, 
 
 Esq., Martin Co., 301. 
 Spaight, Richard Dobbs, 
 
 Esq., 368, 383. 
 Spencer, Mr. Samuel, 301. 
 Spruill, Joseph, Esq., Tyr 
 rell Co., 302. 
 Stamp Act, 56. 
 Stanley, Mr. David, Bertie 
 
 Co., 309. 
 Strudwick, Samuel, Esq., 
 
 309. 
 
 Sumner, David, 294. 
 Taylor, Rev. Charles Ed 
 ward, 296. 
 Thomas, William, Esq., 
 
 Anson Co., 301. 
 Thomas, William, Esq., 
 
 Carteret Co. 
 
 Thompson, William, 301. 
 Try on, Gov., 57, CO, 61, 291. 
 Try on Co. Association, 302, 
 
 317. 
 
 Tyrrell Co., 302. 
 Waddell Col., 57. 
 Warwick, Mr. Anthony, 
 
 296. 
 Weldon, Samuel, Esq., 
 
 Halifax, 294. 
 
 Whedbee, John, Jr., Per 
 quimans Co., 302. 
 Williams, John, 362. 
 Wilmington, 298, 299, 302. 
 Williamson, Dr. Hugh, 59, 
 
 292, 364, 368, 383. 
 Wilmington Resolutions, 
 
 293. 
 Williams, Joseph John, 
 
 Esq., Halifax, 294. 
 Williams, Benjamin. Esq., 
 
 Johnston Co., 301. 
 Winslow, Moses, Esq., 
 
 Rowan Co., 302. 
 Wilmington District Asso 
 ciation, 57, 319. 
 Wilmington Committee, 
 
 Letter from, 297. 
 Young, Samuel, Esq., 
 
 Rowan Co., 802. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA. 
 
 Address to John Hancock 
 and Thomas Gushing, 
 207. 
 
 Allen, William, Esq., 44. 
 
 Allen, Mr., Cumberland 
 Co., 197. 
 
 Assembly Resolutions, 41, 
 204, 212, 213. 
 
 Assembly authorizes Inde 
 pendence, 216, 217. 
 
 Assembly Protest, 199. 
 
 Biddle, Edward, Esq., 84, 
 205. 
 
 Bradford, William, Esq., 
 
 Bucks Co. Resolutions, 
 
 206, 209. 
 
 Carlisle, letter from, 209. 
 Chapman, Mr. John, 206. 
 Cheney, Mr. Richard, 206. 
 Chester Co., 201. 
 Chester Co. Committee, 
 
 206, 210. 
 Chester Co. Resolutions, 
 
 201. 210. 
 
 Clingan, William, 362. 
 Clymer, George, 96, 368, 
 
 383. 
 
 Convention approves pro 
 ceedings of Continental 
 
 Congress, 205. 
 Cox, John, Esq., 44. 
 Coxe, Tench, Esq., 367. 
 Dickinson, John, Esq., 10, 
 
 44, 80, 84, 87, 201, 205. 
 Donaldson. Joseph, 208. 
 Dowdle, Michael, 208. 
 Dovel, William, Esq., 44. 
 Duche, Rev. Mr., 73. 
 Eichelberger,George, 208. 
 Fitzsimmons,Thomas,Esq., 
 
 363, 368, 383. 
 Franklin, Dr. Benjamin, 43, 
 
 46, 87, 91, 96, 213, 214, 337, 
 
 Frazer, Mr., Chester Co., 
 
 206. 
 
 Friend, Capt.,44. 
 Fuvin, George, 208. 
 Galloway, Joseph, Esq. , 
 
 84, 197. 
 
 Gordon, historian, 197. 
 Greenow, Mr.. Chester Co., 
 
 206. 
 
 Grier, David, 208. 
 Hart, Joseph, Esq., Buck's 
 
 Co., 206, 210. 
 Hartley, Thomas, 208. 
 Hartley, David, 214. 
 Hay, John, 208. 
 Hockley, Mr., Chester Co., 
 
 206. 
 
 Hughes, John, stamp mas 
 ter, 42, 43, 45. 46. 
 Humphreys, Chas, 84. 205. 
 Ingersoll, Jared, 368, 383. 
 Johnston, Mr. Francis, 
 
 Chester Co., 206, 211. 
 Kean, Mr., 365. 
 Kidd, Mr. John, Bucks 
 
 Co., 210. 
 Kirkbride, Mr. Joseph, 
 
 Bucks Co., 210. 
 Lancaster Co. Resolutions, 
 
 200. 
 Leedom, Mr. Richard, 
 
 Bucks Co. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 397 
 
 Lloyd, Mr., 206. 
 
 McCall, Archibald, 44. 
 
 Meeting of Mechanics, Res 
 olutions of, 200. 
 
 Miffilin, Thomas, Esq.. 84, 
 205, 368, 383. 
 
 Morris, Robert, Esq., 44, 
 96, 362, 368, 383. 
 
 Morton, John, Esq., 84, 96, 
 205. 
 
 Moore, Mr., Chester Co., 
 206. 
 
 Morris, Gouverneur, Esq., 
 368, 383. 
 
 Muhlenberg, Frederick A., 
 Esq., Speaker, 372. 
 
 Northampton Co. Resolu 
 tions, 202. 
 
 Pennsylvania, 10, 41, 196, 
 354, 362, 366, 367, 368, 383. 
 
 Peun, Willicam, Esq., 234. 
 
 Pennsylvania Convention, 
 202, 205. 
 
 Pennsylvania Convention 
 Resolutions, 203. 
 
 Pettit, Mr., 365. 
 
 Petition to the King, 197. 
 
 Philadelphia Resolutions, 
 201. 
 
 Presbyterians, 43. 
 
 Reed, Joseph, 362, 364. 
 
 Reel, Peter, 208. 
 
 Richards, William, 44. 
 
 Roberdeau, Daniel, 362. 
 
 Ross, Geo. Esq., 73, 84, 96. 
 
 Rush, Benjamin, 96. 
 
 Schmyser, Michael, 208. 
 
 Smith, Jonathan. Bayard, 
 362. 
 
 Smith, James, 96, 208. 
 
 Spang] er, Balzard, 208. 
 
 Stamp Act, 41. 
 
 Swope, Michael, 208. 
 
 Taylor, Mr. George, Ches 
 ter Co., 96. 202, 206. 
 
 Thompson, Mr. Charles, 44, 
 45. 
 
 Tilghman, James, Esq., 44, 
 45. 
 
 Wallace, Mr. James, Bucks 
 Co., 210. 
 
 Wayne, Anthony, Esq.,210. 
 
 Westmoreland Co. Meeting 
 of Inhabitants, 211. 
 
 Westmorland Co. Meeting, 
 Resolutions by, 211. 
 
 Wilson, James, 96, 368, 383. 
 
 Willing, T. Esq., 201. 
 
 Wyncoop, William, 210. 
 
 Yorktown Committee, 206. 
 
 York Co. Committee let 
 ter to Gov., 208. 
 
 RHODE ISLAND. 
 Angell, James, Esq., 165. 
 
 Assembly, General, Reso 
 lutions, 21, 163, 165, 169, 
 171, 363. 
 
 Bo wen, Ephraim, 24. 
 
 Bradford, William, Esq., 
 
 169. 
 
 Briggs, Aaron, Esq., 162. 
 British Sloop Cygnet, 22. 
 Brown, Moses, Esq., 23. 
 Brown, John, Esq., 162. 
 Charter of R. I., 23. 
 Collins, John, 361. 
 Daughters of Liberty, 24. 
 Ellery, William, 95, 361. 
 Fort George, 22. 
 Gaspee Point. 162. 
 Gazette, Providence, 21. 
 Gorton, Othniel, Esq., 23. 
 Green, Benjamin, Esq., 23. 
 Greene, Nathaniel, Gen., 
 
 169, 174. 
 
 Hazzard, George, 23. 
 Hall, William, Esq., 23. 
 Hopkins, Stephen, Esq., 
 
 Chief Justice, 84, 95, 161, 
 
 163. 
 
 Howard, Martin, Jr., 21. 
 Jenckes. Daniel, Esq., 23. 
 Johnston, Augustus, Esq., 
 
 21. 
 
 Katy, armed vessel, 172. 
 Leslir, captain of Cygnet. 
 
 22. 
 Letter from New York, 
 
 167. 
 
 Letter to Speaker of As 
 sembly, 169. 
 Marchant, Henry, 361. 
 Mawney, Dr. John, 162. 
 Moffat,'Dr., 21. 
 Newport, 23. 
 Newport Committee to 
 
 Philadelphia Committee, 
 
 168. 
 Nitingale, Samuel, Esq., 
 
 164. 
 Providence Town Meeting, 
 
 166. 
 Providence Town Meeting 
 
 Resolutions, 163, 164. 
 Randall, Joseph, 23. 
 Rhode Island, 160, 354, 361, 
 
 363, 367. 
 
 Sabin, Mr. James, 162. 
 Sons of Liberty, 24. 
 Stamp Act, 21. 
 Wanton, Gideon, Gov., 22, 
 
 161, 163, 172. 
 Wanton, Joseph, Gov., 22, 
 
 161, 163, 172. 
 
 Ward, Samuel, Gov., 22, 24. 
 Ward, Henry, Esq., 23, 166, 
 
 170, 172. 
 
 Ward, Samuel, Esq., 22. 
 Washington, armed vessel, 
 
 172. 
 Whipple, Capt. Abraham, 
 
 162, 172. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA. 
 
 Ashley River, 64. Non-consumption of tea, 
 
 Association, 332, 334. 327. 
 
 Boone, Gov., 62. Parsons, Mr., 321. 
 
 Bradley, Mr. Samuel, 330. Payn, John, Esq., 330. 
 
 Bull, Lieut. Gov., 62. 
 Butler, Pierce, Esq., 369, 
 
 383. 
 
 Campbell. Lord Wm., 333. 
 Cannon, Daniel, Esq., 64 
 Cantey, Samuel, 330. 
 Cantey, John, 330. 
 Carter, Robert, 330. 
 Cassells, Henry, 330. 
 Cattell, Mr., 326. 
 Charleston, 62. 
 Cheraw, 328. 
 
 Christ Church Parish, 326. 
 Coffity, Thomas, 330. 
 Constitution agreed upon, 
 
 335. 
 
 Conyers, James, 330. 
 Dart, Mr., 321. 
 Davis, Mr. James. 
 Dealey, John, 332. 
 Drayton, Mr. historian, 63, 
 
 326,331. 
 Drayton, William Henry, 
 
 judge, 328, 352. 
 Dukey. Edward, 330. 
 Dunn, Sylvester, Esq., 330. 
 Elliott, Mr., 321. 
 English, Joshua, 330. 
 Extracts of letters, 322, 325. 
 Frier son, Aaron, Esq., 330. 
 Gadsden,Christopher, Esq., 
 
 8, 9, 63, 85, 321, 324, 326, 
 
 327. 
 
 Gamble, John, 330. 
 Gazette, 311, 327. 
 General Meeting, Charles 
 ton, Resolutions, 322, 323. 
 General Order of General 
 
 Washington, 336. 
 Gordon, Moses, 330. 
 Grand Jury Presentment, 
 
 329. 
 Hey ward, Thomas, Jr., 96, 
 
 362. 
 
 Heywood, Mr., 326. 
 Hunter, Henry, Esq., 330. 
 Hutson, Richard, 362. 
 James' Island, 64. 
 Johnson, Fort, Charleston, 
 
 63,64. 
 
 Lamboll's Bridge, 64. 
 Lasley, Capt., 333. 
 Laurens, Henry, Esq., 321, 
 
 332, 362. 
 Lloyd, Mr., 321. 
 Lloyd, commandant Fort 
 
 Johnson, 64. 
 Lynch, Thomas, Esq., 9, 63, 
 
 85, 96, 321, 324, 326, 327. 
 Martin, Loughlin, 332, 333. 
 Matthews, John, 362. 
 Middleton, Arthur, 96. 
 Middleton. Henry, Esq., 85, 
 
 324, 326, 327. 
 Montague, Gov., 321. 
 
398 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pinckney, Charles Cotes- 
 worth. Esq., 321, 365. 369, 
 383. 
 
 Pinckney,Charles,Esq., 365, 
 309, 383. 
 
 Powell, Col. George G., 326. 
 
 Provincial Congress, 330, 
 334. 
 
 Provincial Congress, Ad 
 dress to Gov., 333, 334. 
 
 Provincial Congress Reso 
 lutions, 331, 334. 
 
 Rutledge, John, Esq., 9, 63, 
 76, 85, 87, 324, 326, 327, 
 
 Rutiedge, Edward, Esq., 
 9, 76, 85, 96, 321, 324, 326, 
 
 Singleton, Matthew, 330. 
 South Carolina, 62, 321, 354, 
 
 362, 369, 383. 
 S. C. Assembly Resolves, 
 
 326. 
 
 Smith, Rev. Robert, 332. 
 St. Philip's Church, 332. 
 St. John's, Colleton Co.,326. 
 Stamp Act, 63, 65. 
 Styles' Plantation, 64. 
 Sutton, Jasper, Esq., 330. 
 Timothy, Peter, Esq., 334. 
 Weyman, Edward, Esq. , 64. 
 Williamson, Wm., Esq., 64. 
 Wilson, David, 330. 
 Witherspoon, John, Esq., 
 
 330. 
 
 VIRGINIA. 
 
 Accomack Co. Resolutions, 
 282. 
 
 Adams, Thomas., 362. 
 
 Adams, Richard, Esq., 274. 
 
 Albemarle Co. Resolu 
 tions, 281. 
 
 Alexander, John, Esq., 280. 
 
 Allen, Mr. Isham, 268. 
 
 Anderson, Benjamin Esq., 
 Hanover Co., 288. 
 
 Assembly, General, Reso 
 lutions, 368. 
 
 Augusta Co. Resolutions, 
 284, 290. 
 
 Aylett, William, Esq., 288. 
 
 Balmain, Rev. Alex., 284. 
 
 Banister, John, 362. 
 
 Berkeley, Nelson, 288. 
 
 Blair, John. 368, 383. 
 
 Bland, Richard, Esq., 84, 
 261. 
 
 Botetourt, Gov., 259, 260. 
 
 Bowyer, Mr. Michael, 284. 
 
 Bradford, John, Esq. 
 
 Braxton, Carter, Esq., 96, 
 288. 
 
 Bright, Mr. Robert, 280. 
 
 Broad water, Charles, 279. 
 
 Buckingham Co. Resolu 
 tions, 284. 
 
 Burgesses, House of, 258, 
 261. 
 
 Burgesses. House of, Reso 
 lutions of, 258. 
 
 Buike, historian, 10, 55, 
 261. 
 
 Carrington, Paul, 55. 
 
 Cary, Archibald, Esq.. 261. 
 
 Carr, Dabney, Esq., 261. 
 
 Carter, Charles, Esq., 280. 
 
 Caroline Co. Resolutions, 
 273. 
 
 Chesterfield Co. Resolu 
 tions, 272. 
 
 Charlottsville. 287. 
 
 Cocke, Allen, Esq., Surry 
 Co., 276. 
 
 Cranch, William, Esq., 288. 
 
 Culpepper Co. Resolutions, 
 268. 
 
 Dabney, George Jr., 288. 
 
 Davis, A., Esq., Halifax. 
 
 Delegates, House of, Reso 
 lutions by, proposing 
 General Convention, 366. 
 
 Diggs, Dudley, Esq., 261, 
 276. 
 
 Dinwiddie Co. Resolutions, 
 275. 
 
 Doncastle's Ordinary, 289. 
 
 Dumfries, 287. 
 
 Dunmore Co. Resolutions, 
 264. 
 
 Dunmore, Lord. 
 
 Duvall, Samuel, Esq., 274. 
 
 Essex Co. Resolutions, 269. 
 
 Elizabeth City Co. Resolu 
 tions, 280. 
 
 Fairfax Co. Resolutions, 
 277. 
 
 Faquier Co. Resolutions, 
 269, 286. 
 
 Fredericksburg, 269. 
 
 Giberne, Rev. Isaac W., 
 266. 
 
 Gilmer, Lieut. George, 288. 
 
 Gloucester Co. Resolu 
 tions, 272. 
 
 Grayson, Capt. William, 
 286, 287. 
 
 Greenwood, John, Esq., 
 Norfolk, 263. 
 
 Hanover Co. Committee, 
 288. 
 
 Harrison, Robert, Esq., 
 Halifax Co., 277. 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin, Esq., 
 84, 91, 92, 96, 261. 
 
 Harvey, John, 362. 
 
 Harvey ,William, Esq.,Nor- 
 folk, 263. 
 
 Henrico Co., Instructions 
 to Delegates, 274. 
 
 Henrys James, Esq., Acco 
 mack, 282. 
 
 Henry. Patrick. 15. 23, 53, 
 54. 55, 76, 84, 261, 289, 368. 
 
 Henry's Resolutions in H. 
 of Burgesses. 54. 
 
 Henry's Speech on Stamp 
 Act. 55. 
 
 Hubbard, James, Esq., 
 Gloucester Co.. 273. 
 
 Hutchings, Joseph, Esq., 
 Norfolk, 263. 
 
 luglis, Samuel, Esq., Nor 
 folk, 263. 
 
 James City Co. Resolu 
 tions, 268. 
 
 Jamiseon, Neil, Esq., Nor 
 folk, 263. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, Esq., 
 53, 55, 87, 91, 96, 261, 364. 
 
 Jones. Walter, 366. 
 
 King William Co., 288. 
 
 King, Henry, Esq., Eliza 
 beth City, 280. 
 
 Lawson, Anthony, Esq., 
 283. 
 
 Lee. Francis Lightfoot, 96, 
 362. 
 
 Lee, Philip R. F., Esq., 287. 
 
 Lee, Richard Henry, Esq., 
 72, 76, 84, 85, 91, 96, 261, 
 362. 
 
 Lewis, Mr. Thomas, Au 
 gusta Co., 284. 
 
 Lewis. Mr. William, Au 
 gusta Co., 284. 
 
 Lewis, Capt. Charles, 288. 
 
 Love, Alexander, Esq., 
 Norfolk, 263. 
 
 Loyall, Paul, Esq.. Norfolk, 
 263. . 
 
 McClenachan, Capt. Alex 
 ander, Augusta Co., 284. 
 
 McClurg, James, Esq.. 284. 
 
 McDowell, Capt. Samuel, 
 Augusta Co., 284. 
 
 McRobert, Rev. Archibald, 
 272. 
 
 Madison, James, Jr., Esq., 
 363, 366, 367, 368. 383. ' 
 
 Marks, Jno., 2d Lieut., 288. 
 
 Mason, George, Esq., 366, 
 368. 
 
 Matthews, Mr. Sampson, 
 Augusta Co.. 284. 
 
 Matthews, Capt. George, 
 Augusta Co., 284. 
 
 Mercer, George, Esq., 55, 
 56. 
 
 Mercer, Hugh, Esq.. Fred 
 ericksburg. 286, 287. 
 
 Middlesex Co. Resolutions, 
 274. 
 
 Monroe, James. 365. 
 
 Morris, Richard, Esq., 
 Hanover, 288. 
 
 Nansemond Co. Resolu 
 tions, 270. 
 
 Nelson, Thomas, Jr., York 
 Co.. 96, 276. 
 
 New Kent Co., 271, 289. 
 
 New Kent Co. Resolutions, 
 271. 
 
 Newton. Thomas, Esq., 
 Norfolk. 263. 
 
 Nicholas, Robert Carter, 
 261, 289. 
 
 Norfolk, Letter of Citizens 
 to People of Charleston, 
 262. 
 
 Overton, Samuel, Esq., 
 Hanover, 288. 
 
 Pendleton, Hemy, 268. 
 
INDEX. 399 
 
 Pendleton, Edmund, Esq., Address of the two Houses Mansfield, Lord, 3,4 
 
 84, 201, 291. of Parliament to the Montague, Admiral, 161. 
 
 Pendleton, John, Esq., King, 68. New Castle, Duke of, 13. 
 
 Hanover, 288. Address of House of Com- North, Lord, 299. 
 
 Powell, John, Esq., Acco- mons to the King, 70. Parliament, British, 258 
 
 mack, 283. Barre, Col., Member of Par- Pitt, William, Esq., Speech 
 
 Prince William Co. Reso- liament, 24, 59. of, 19. 
 
 lutions, 26.3. Bedford, Duke of, 68. Pitt, William, Earl of Chat- 
 
 Prince George Co. Reso- Beaver, British schooner, ham, 12, 16. 
 
 lutions, 267. 161, 163. Pownall, John, Esq., Sec- 
 
 Princess Anne Go. Reso- Blackstone, Sir William, retary to Board of Trade 
 
 lutions, 283. 329. 72. 
 
 Ratisdell, Wharton, Esq., Boston Port Bill, 106. Reid, Capt. William, Brit- 
 
 269. Buckinghamshire, Earl of, ish ship Liberty, 161. 
 
 Randolph, Peyton, Esq., 96. Revenue Act, 219. 
 
 84, 2G1, 337. Burke, Edmund. Revenue Act, Repeal of, 
 
 Randolph, Edmund, Esq., Bute, Earl of, 17. 219. 
 
 066, 367, 368. ' Campbell, Lord William. Revolutionary Provincial 
 
 Reed, Joseph, Esq., 290. Charles I., 55. Governments, 120. 
 
 Richmond Resolutions,266. Child, Sir Josiah, 3. Rose, British ship, 167, 172. 
 
 Robinson, John, Esq., 288. Chambers, captain of ship Speaker elected, 372. 
 
 Ronald, William, 366. London, 176. State Paper Office, Lon- 
 
 Ross, David, 366. Commons, House of, 3. don, 311. 
 
 Skelton, Merri wether, Esq., Commons, House of, Reso- Stamp Act, 7, 9, 13, 15, 16. 
 
 Hanover Co., 288. lutions, 3, 71. Swan, British ship, 172. 
 
 Skinner, Alexander, Esq., Conway, General, 13, 32, 36. Townsend, Charles, 59. 
 
 Norfolk, 263. 40, 41. Wallace, captain of the 
 
 Smith, Merriwether, 366. Cromwell, Oliver. British ship Rose, 167, 
 
 Spotswood, Alexander, 287. Davenant, 3. 172. 
 
 Spotsylvania Co. Resolu- Dartmouth, Earl of, 35, 71, 
 
 tions, 266. 72, 175, 190, 191, 311. MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Stafford Co. Resolutions, Duddingston, lieutenant of Address to the people of 
 
 279. British schooner Beaver, Great Britain, 85, 90. 
 
 Stamp Act, 53. 161, 162. Amendments to the Con- 
 
 Surry Co. Resolutions. 276. Fanshaw, captain of Brit- stitution, 384. 
 
 Syme, John, Esq., Han- ish ship Speedwell, 66. Allen, Col. Ethan, 157. 
 
 over Co., 288. Gaspee, British schooner, Articles of Confederation, 
 
 Tithes paid in tobacco, 53. 161, 163. 354. 
 
 Tucker, St. George, Esq., Germain. Lord George, 70. Archives, American, 146. 
 
 366, 367. ' Graf ton, the Duke of, 3. Bancroft, Historian, 7, 10, 
 
 Upshaw, John, Esq., 269. Graves, Vice- Admiral. 311, 321, 322. 
 
 Virginia, 53, 354, 362, 367, Grenville, Lord, 12, 13, 17. Beginning of the end, 72. 
 
 368, 383. Halifax, Earl of, 15, 16, 31. Colonial Documents, 39. 
 
 Virginia Convention, 285, Hannah, British sloop, 162. Colonies, movements of,96. 
 
 291. Hazzard's Register, 41. Committee to consider In- 
 
 Washington, George, Esq., Hillsborough, Earl of, 174, dependence Resolutions, 
 
 84, 277, 279, 287, 290, 368. 197, 321, 338. 91. 
 
 371, 372, 383, 386. House of Lords, Report of, Committees of Correspond- 
 
 Weldon, Mr. G., 287. on the Colonies, 96. ence, 261 
 
 Westmoreland Co. Resolu- King George HI., 10, 306. Congress of 1774, 72. 
 
 tions, 265. King George III., Speech Congress of 1775, 87. 
 
 Willis, Mr. John, 287. of, 101. Constitution of the United 
 
 Wirt, William, Esq., 53. King WHHam and Queen States reported. 369. 
 
 Woodstock, 264. Mary, 394-337. Constitution ratified by the 
 
 Wythe, George, Esq., 96, Liberty, British armed States. 371. 
 
 368. sloop, 161. Constitution, text of. 373. 
 
 York Co. Resolutions. 276. Lindsey, Capt. Benjamin, Congress, Continental, 7, 
 
 British sloop Hannah, 242. 
 
 rjTMTAT mjTTAm 162 ' ' Continental Congress rec- 
 
 GREAT BRITAIN. Linzee, captain of the ommends Colonies to 
 
 Beaver, 163. form governments, 242. 
 
 Act of Parliament, 35th Lords, House of, 67, 70. Convention to frame the 
 
 Henry VIII., A.D. 1543, Lords, House of, Resolu- Constitution, 369. 
 
 69, 342. tions, 67. Congress of Confederation, 
 
 Act abolishing the charter Lords of Trade, 30, 32. 364. 
 
 of Massachusetts, 113. Lords of Trade, Address to Congress of Confederation, 
 Act sending criminals the King, 31. Resolutions by, 365. 
 
 beyond sea for trial, 112, Lords of the Treasury, 13. Declaration of Rights, 11, 
 
 117. Lockwood, Captain, 176. 76. 
 
 Ascough, captain of British Lockyer, captain of East Declaration of Independ- 
 
 ship Swan. India Company ship, 176. ence, 92. 
 
400 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Declaration of causes for 
 
 taking up arms, 87, 88. 
 Dumas, M., France, 214. 
 Dummer, Mr., 8. 
 Election of President and 
 
 Vice President, 372. 
 Fletcher, tyranny of. 29. 
 Gage, Gen., 9, 33, 40, 137, 
 
 138, 139, 232. 
 General Convention at 
 
 Annapolis, Resolutions 
 
 by, 367. 
 Goodloe, Daniel R., title- 
 
 Hickey'R Constitution, 354. 
 
 Inaugural Speech of Wash 
 ington, 386. 
 
 Independence. Resolutions 
 of Richard Henry Lee, 
 91. 
 
 Independence Resolutions, 
 consideration of, 91. 
 
 Introduction, 3. 
 
 Jackson, William, 383. 
 
 King William III., 3. 
 
 Liberty Tree, 17. 
 
 McCali, Archibald, Esq., 44. 
 
 Non-consumption Associa 
 tion, 80. 
 
 Non-exportation Associa 
 tion, 80. 
 
 Non-importation Associa 
 tion, 80. 
 
 Paine's, Thomas, Common 
 Sense, 215. 
 
 Petition to the King, 90. 
 
 President pro tempore of 
 the Senate elected, 372. 
 
 Priestly, Dr. Joseph, 213 
 
 " Prior Documents,' 1 41. 
 
 Proceedings of Continental 
 Congress, 72. 
 
 Republic. Birth of the, 7. 
 
 Resolutions of Continental 
 Congress, 72, 74, 75, 
 76. 
 
 Revolution, English, 3. 
 
 Reply of Congress to King's 
 Proclamation, 90. 
 
 Reply of Lords to King's 
 Speech, 101. 
 
 Richards, Wm. P., 44. 
 
 Rules of Proceedings. Con 
 tinental Congress, 72. 
 
 Signers of the Declaration 
 of Independence. 
 
 Signers of the Articles of 
 Confederation. 
 
 Slave Trade Discontinued, 
 82. 
 
 Slaves not to be imported, 
 82. 
 
 Smith, Richard, Esq.. Con 
 tinental Congress. 
 
 Speech of Congress to Six 
 Nations, 90. 
 
 Standing army. 
 
 Superior court. 
 
 Talbot, Mr., 3. 
 
 Thompson, Chas., 241, 242. 
 
 Tories, 296. 
 
 Vox Populi, 21. 
 
 Warner, Seth, 157. 
 
 Chapter I., 7. 
 
 Chapter II., 67. 
 
 Chapter III., 72. 
 
 Chapter IV., 96. 
 
 Chapter V., 120. 
 
 Chapter VI., 321. 
 
 Chapter VII., 337. 
 
 Chapter VIII., 353, 
 
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