ii wlr 1 I 11 f BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF THX SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION or AMERICAI IIDEPENDENCE : THX DECLARATION HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED; AWD A SKETCH OF THE LEADING EVENTS CONNECTED WITH TH1 ADOPTION OF THE ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. AND OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. BY B. J. ILOSSING, MTTHOT. Or "SEVENTEEN HUNDREITTfSb SEVENTT-SIX," " UVX OF 7H1 PRESIDENTS," &C. ILLUSTRATED BY FIFTY PORTRAITS AMn OTHER ENORATIN83 NEW YORK : DERBY & JACKSON, 119 NASSAU STREET. 1858. Entered, according to Act of Congreas, in the year 1848. BY GEO. P. COOLEDQE & BROTHER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and fee the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. 1 n*,_iK are lessons of deep, abiding interest, and of inestimable value, to be learned in studying the lives of the men who perilled their all to secure the blessed inheritance of free institutions which we now enjoy. We do not learn merely the dignity and sacredness of pare patriotism, by following them in their career amid the storms of the Revolution, but all the virtues which adorn humanity are presented in such bold relief, in the private and public actions of that venerated company, that when we rise from a perusal of a narrative of their lives, we feel as if all the noble qualities of our common manhood had been passing before us in review, and challenging our profound reverence. The biography of a great man, is an history of his own times ; and when we have perused the record of the actions of the men of our Revolution, we have imbibed a general knowledge of the great events of that struggle for Freedom. If this proposition is true, then we feel that this volume has a claim to the public regard, for we have endeavored to comprise within as small a compass as a perspicuous view of the subject would allow, the chief events in the lives of the men who stood sponsors at the baptism in blood of our Infant Republic. The memoirs are illustrated by copious notes explana- tory of events alluded to in the course of the biographical narrative, and these, we believe, will be found a highly useful feature of the work. IT PREFACE. We have made free use of materials long since laid before the public by abler pens than our own. We did not expect to add much -that is new to the biographical facts already published ; our aim was to condense those facts into the space of a volume so small, that the price of it would make it accessible to our whole population. It is the mission of true patriotism to scatter the seeds of knowledge broad -cast amid those in the humbler walks of society, because adventitious circumstances deny them access to the full granary of information, where the wealthy are filled ; for these humbler ones are equa. inheritors of the throne of the people's sovereignty, anc are no less powerful than others at the ballot-box whera the nation decides who its rulers shall be. The final adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the organization of the present government of the United States under it, formed the climax the crowning act of the drama of which the Declaration of Independence was the opening scene. We therefore thought it propel to append to the biographies, a brief sketch of the legis- lative events which led to the formation and adoption of the Constitution. The Declaration is pregnant with grave charges against the King of Great Britain charges which his apologists have essayed to deny. We have taken them up in consecutive order as they stand in the document, and adduced proofs from historical facts, of the truth of those charges. These proofs might have been multiplied, but our space would not permit amplification. With these brief remarks, we send our volume forth with the pleasing hope that it may prove useful to the young and humble of our beloved land, unto whom we affectionately dedicate it. B. J. L. NEW YORK, April, 1848. CONTENTS. PAGE. PRE7ACK, 3 CONTENTS, 5 INTRODUCTION, 7 New Hampshire. Josiah Bartlett, 13 William Whipple, 17 Matthew Thornton, 20 Massachusetts. John Hancock 22 John Adams 27 Samuel Adams 33 Robert Treat Paine, 37 Rhode Island. Elbridge Gerry, 40 Stephen Hopkins, 44 WilliamEllery 47 Connecticut. Roger Sherman, 50 Samuel Huntington, 53 William Williams 56 Oliver Wolcott, 59 New York. William Floyd, 63 Philip Livingston, 67 Francis Lewis, 71 Lewis Morris, 74 New Jersey. Richard Stockton 77 John Witherspoon 81 Francis Hopkinson, 85 John Hart, 87 Abraham Clark 90 Pennsylvania. Robert Morris, 93 Benjamin Rush. 99 Benjamin Franklin, 104 John Morton, 112 George Clymer, 114 James Smith, 119 George Taylor, 123 PAGE. James Wilson 126 George Ross, 130 Delaware. Cfflsar Rodney 133 George Read, 137 Thomas McKean, 141 Maryland. Samuel Chase, 146 Thomas Stone, 151 William Paca, 154 Charles Carroll, of Carroll ton, .... 157 Virginia. George Wythe, 162 Richard Henry Lee, 166 Thomas Jeflerson, 174 Benjamin Harrison 184 Thomas Nelson, Jr 188 Francis Lightfoot Lee, 194 Carter Braxton 197 North Carolina. William Hooper, 201 Joseph Hewes, 205 JohnPenn 208 South Carolina. Edwurd Rutledge, 211 Thomas Hey ward, Jr 215 Thomas Lynch, Jr 219 Arthur Middleton 323 Georgia. Button Gwinnett, 227 Lyman Hall, 229 George Walton, 233 Robert R. Livingston, (of New York, not a signer.) 238 THE DECLARATION OF INDE- ' PENDENCE, 244 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION,... 310 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION,... 329 APPENDIX. THE STAMP ACT, 371 NAMES OF DELEGATES TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. 383 INTRODUCTION ependence Hall as it appeared in 1776. ROM no point of view can the Declaration of American Independence, the causes which led to its adoption, and the events which marked its maintenance, be ob- served, without exciting sentiments of profound vene- ration for the men who were the prominent actors in that remarkable scene in the drama of the world's history. Properly to appreciate the true relative position in which those men stood to the then past and future, it is necessary to view the chain of causes and effects, retrospective and prospective, united in them by a brilliant link. For a long series of years the commercial policy of Great Britain, in her dealings with the American Colo- nies, was narrow and selfish, and its effects influenced the whole social compact here. The colonists felt the injus* tice df many laws, but their want of representation in the National Legislature, and their inherent political weak- ness, obliged them to submit. But when the wars Malta 8 INTRODUCTION. the French and Indians called forth their ph/sical ener- gies, and united, in a measure, the disjointed settlements, scattered in isolated communities along the Atlantic sea- board, marked by hardly a semblance of union in feeling and interest, it was then that they perceived the strength and value of unity, and talked with each other respecting their common rights and privileges. The royal governors viewed the interchange of political sentiments between the colonies with great disfavor, foi they saw therein the harbinger of their own departing strength. Their representations to the British Ministry, more than any other single cause, contributed to the en- actment of laws respecting the colonies, that finally gene- rated that rebellious spirit in the hearts of the Anglo- Americans, which would not, and did not, stop short of absolute Political Independence. The enactment of the Stamp Act in 1765, and the kindred measures that soon followed, made it plain to the minds of the colonists that even common justice would be denied them by the Home Government, if its claims inter- fered with the avaricious demands of an exhausted trea- sury. They saw plainly that the King and Parliament were resolved to turn a deaf ear to all petitions and re- monstrances- that were based upon the righteous assump- tion that " TAXATION AND EQUITABLE REPRESENTATION ARE ONE AND INSEPARABLE." As this was a principle too vital in the very constitution of a free people, to be yielded the colonists felt the necessity of a General Council to de liberate upon the solemn questions involved. In this, the great heart of colonial America seemed to beat with oi INTROD; CTION. 9 pulsation ; and almost simultaneously, arid without pre- vious concert, the proposition for a General Congress was put forth in several of the colonies. The time and place for holding a Congress were desig- nated, and on the fifth of September, 1774, delegates from the various colonies assembled in Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia. Their deliberations were orderly but firm. Loyalty to the crown, notwithstanding its oppressions, was a leading theme in their debates. Not a word was whis- pered of dismemberment and independence, but they solemnly consulted with each other upon the best means of maintaining the integrity of the British realm, compati- ble with the preservation of their own inalienable rights. To this end their efforts were directed, and they humbly petitioned the King, remonstrated with Parliament, and appealed to their brethren in Great Britain for justice. But their petitions and remonstrances were in vain. New oppressions were laid upon them, and the blood of Ameri- . can citizens was shed by British soldiery at Lexington and Concord ! Another Congress assembled in May, 1775, organized a temporary general government, made provisions for" an army, and appointed Washington commander-in-chief And yet they talked not of independence. They armed in defence of rights bestowed by the British Constitution, and they were still willing to lay their, down, and avow their loyalty, when those rights should be respected. Even with arms in their hands, and successfully opposing the force of British bayonets, they petitioned and remon- strated. But their petitions were unheeded ; their re- 1* 10 INTRODUCTION. monstrances were insultingly answered ; j,nd their de- mands for justice were met by swarms of armed merce- naries, purchased by the British Government of petty German princes, and sent hither to butcher British sub- jects for asserting the rights of British subjects ! Hope for reconciliation faded away at the opening of 1776, and in June of that year, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, offered a resolution in the General Congress, declaring all allegiance of the colonies to the British crown, at an end. This bold proposition was soon after followed by the appointment of a committee to draft a Declaration of Independence. This committee consisted of Thomas lefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sher- man and Robert R. Livingston. The draft was made by Jefferson, and after a few verbal alterations by Dr. Frank- lin and Mr. Adams, it was 'submitted to Congress* on the twenty-eighth of June. It was laid upon the table until the first of July, when it was taken up in committee of the whole, and after several amendments were made, nine States voted for Independence. The Assemblies of Mary- land and Pennsylvania refused their concurrence ; but conventions of the people having been called, majorities were obtained, and on the fourth of July, votes from all the Colonies were procured in its favor, and the thirteen united Colonies were declared free and independent States The Declaration was signed on that day, only by John Hancock, the President of Congress, and with his narr.e alone, it was first sent forth to the world. It was ordered to be engrossed upon the Journals of Congress, and on the second day of August following, it was signed by all INTRODUCTION. 1 | out one of the fifty-six signers whose names aie appended -o it. That one was Matthew Thornton, who, on taking his seat in November, asked and obtained the privilege of signing it. Several who signed it on the second of August, were absent when it was adopted on the fourth of July, but, approving of it, they thus signified their ap- probation. The signing of that instrument was a solemn act, and required great firmness and patriotism in those who com- mitted it. It was treason against the home government, yet perfect allegiance to the law of right. It subjected those who signed it to the danger of an ignominious death, yet it entitled them to the profound reverence of a disen- thralled people. But neither firmness nor patriotism was wanting in that august assembly. Arid their own sound judgment and discretion, their own purity of pur- pose and integrity of conduct, were fortified and strength- ened by the voice of the people in popular assemblies, embodied in written instructions for the guidance of their representatives. Such were the men unto whose keeping, as instruments of Providence, the destinies of America were for the time intrusted ; and it has been well remarked, that men, other than such as these, an ignorant, untaught mass, like those who have formed the physical elements of other revolu- tionary movements, without sufficient intellect to guide and control them could not have conceived, planned, and carried into execution, such a mighty movement, one so fraught with tangible marks of poh'tical wisdom, as the American Revolution. And it is a matter of just pride to 12 INTRODUCTION. the American people, that not one of that noble band who periled life, fortune, and honor, in the cause of freedom, ever fell from his high estate into moral degradation, or dimmed, by word or deed, the brightness of that effulgence which halos the DECLARATION OP AMERICAN INDEPEN- DENCE. Their bodies now have all returned to their kindred dust in the grave, and their souls have gone to receive their reward in the Spirit Land. Congress was assembled in Independence Hall, at Philadelphia, when the Declaration was adopted, and, con- nected with that event, the following touching incident is related. On the moming of the day of its adoption, the venerable bell-man ascended to the steeple, and a little boy was placed at the door of the Hall to give him notice when the vote should be concluded. The old man waited long at his post, saying, " They will never do it, they will never do it." Suddenly a loud shout came up from below, and there stood the blue-eyed boy, clapping his hands, and shouting, " Ring ! Ring ! ! " Grasping the iron tongue of the bell, backward and forward he hurled it a nundred times, proclaiming " Liberty to the land and to the inhabitants thereof." S HE ancestors of JOSIAII BARTLETT were Ifrom Normandy, whence they emi- j grated to England. The name was conspicuous in English History at an early date. Toward the rlose of tho | seventeenth century a branch of the family emigrated to America, ant 1 set- tled in the town of Beverley, in Massachusetts. Josinh was born in Amesbury, in Massachusetts, in November, 1729. His mother's maiden name was Webster, and 13 14 NEW HAMPSHIRE. she was a relative of the family of the great statesman of that name of our time. Young Baitlett lacked the advantage of a collegiate education, but he improved 'an opportunity for acquiring some knowledge of the Greek and Latin, which offered in the family of a relative, the Rev. Doctor Webster. He chose for a livelihood the practice of the medical pro- fession, and commenced the study of the science when he was sixteen years old. His opportunities for acquir- ing knowledge from books were limited, but the active en- ergies of his mind supplied the deficiency, in a measure, and he passed an examination with honor at the close of his studies. He commenced practice at Kingston in New Hampshire, and proving skillful and successful, bis busi- ness soon became lucrative, and he amassed a 'ompe- tency. Mr. Bartlett was a stern, unbending republicai ; o prin- ciple, yet, notwithstanding this, he was highly o -teemed by Wentworth, the royal governor,* and received from him a magistrate's commission, and also the command of a regiment of militia. In 1765 he was elected a member of the provincial legislature of New Hampshire. It was .at the time when the Stamp Actt was before the BritJ&h Parliament, and Mr. Bartlett soon became a prominent leader of a party that opposed the various oppressive measures of the home government. Through Wentworth, magnificent bribes were offered him, but his patriotism was inflexible. * Ai a general rule the royal governors looked with disfavor upon all demo cratic movements, and withdrew and withheld their support from those who manifested decided republicanism in their sentiments. The obvious reason for this was, that the voice of republicanism sounded in their ears like the death knell of their power and place. 1 The Stamp Act required all legal instruments of writing, such as wills, deeds, mortgages, marriage certificates, &c., to be written upon paper stamped with tho royal arms of Britain. An officer called a " Stamp Master" was appointed to sell them, and thus Great Britain indirectly taxed her American colonies without their consent loSIAIl BAKTI.ETT. 15 111 1776 he was appointed a member of the Committee of Safety of his State. The governor was alarmed when this committee was appointed, and to prevent the trans- action of other business of a like nature, he dissolved the Assembly. They re-assembled in spite of the governor, and Dr. Bartlett was at the head of this rebellious move- ment. He was soon after elected a member of the Con- tinental Congress,* and in 1775, Governor Wentworth struck his name from the magistracy list, and deprived him of his military commission. Still he was active in the pro- vincial assembly, and the governor, despairing of reconcili- ation, and becoming some what alarmed for his own safety, left the province. The provincial Congresst assumed the reins of government, and immediately re-appointed Dr. Bartlett colonel of militia. In August, 1775, he was again chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was again re-elected.in 1776. He was one of the committee appointed to devise a plan for the confederation of die States, as proposed a June by Dr. Franklin. He warmly supported the 1776 ' proposition for independence, and when, on the second of August, 1776, the members of Congress signed the Declaration, Dr. Bartlett was the first who affixed his sig- nature, New Hampshire being tae first State called. In 1778, he obtained leave from Congress to visit his family and look after his private affairs, which had be- come much deranged. He did not resume his seat again in that body. In 1779 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of New Hampshire, and the muster master of its troops. He was afterward raised to the bench of the Supreme Court. He took an active, part * First convened at Philadelphia, on the fourth of September, 1774. t Before actual hostilities commenced, nearly all the colonies were acting inde- pendent of the royal governors and their council?, and provincial Congresses were organized, which performed all the duties of independent State legislatures. 1C NEW HAMPSHIRE. in the Convention of his State, in favor of the Constitution of 1787, and when it was adopted, he was elected a mem- ber of the fii'st Senate that convened under it in the city of New York. But he declined the honor, and did not take his seat there. He had been previously chosen Pres- ident of New Hampshire, and held that responsiole of- fice until 1793, when he was elected the first governor of that State, under the Federal Constitution.* He held the office one year, and ihen resigning it, he retired to pri- vate life, and sought that needful repose which the de- clining years of an active existence required. He had served his countiy faithfully in its hour of deepest peril, and the benedictions of a free people followed him to his domestic retreat. But ha was not permitted long to bless his family with his -prose ace, nor was he allowed to witness his country entirely five- from perils of great mag- nitude, that threatened its destruction, while the elements of the new experiment in gove.rmi'Mt were yet unstable, for in 1795 death called him away. He died on the nine- teenth of May of that year, in the a^xty -sixth year of his age. * So jealous were the people of State Rights, tt>a* tHc Federal Constitution waa warmly opposed in many parts of the Union, because -of it* apparent nuLitication of those rights, and that is the reason why several ot tt>e States so long delayed to ratify that instrument The following table exoiohs the dates of the ratifica- tion of the Constitution by the thirteen old States. Delaware, Dec. 7 1787 Pennsylvania, Dec. 12 1787 New Jersey, Dec. 18 1787 Georgia, Jan. 2, 1788 Connecticut, Jan. 9, 1788 Massachusetts, Feb. 6, 1788 Maryland, April 28, 1788 South Ca.-o.it a, Kiy K> 1788 New Harafshii?, J ue t\ 1788 Virginia, June 2tf 1788 NewYirk, Joly itf ..1788 North enroling Nv. S\ , . . .1789 Rhode Island, May ."V 1790 ILLIAM WHIPPLE was born at Kittery, in New Hampsliire (that portion which is now the State of Maine) in the year 1730. His early education was received at a common school in his native town. When quite a lad, he went to sea, in which occupation he was engaged for several years. At the age of twenty nine a he quitted the seafaring life, and, with his brother, Joseph Whipple, entered into mercantile pursues in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He early espoused the cause of the colonies and soon 17 759 18 NEW HAMPSHIRE. became a leader among the opposition to British authority. In 1775 he was elected a member of the Provincial Con- gress of New Hampshire, and was chosen by that body, one of the Committee of Safety.* When, in 1775, the people of that State organized a temporary government, Mr. Whipple was chosen a member of the Council. In January, 1776, he was chosen a delegate to the Continen- tal Congress, and was among those who, on the fourth of July of that year, voted for the Declaration of Indepen- dence. He remained in Congress until 1777, when he retired from that body, having been appointed a Briga- dier General of the New Hampshire Militia. He was very active in calling out and equipping troops for the campaign against Burgoyne. He commanded one brig- ade, and General Stark the other. He was under Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, and was one of the commis- sioners to arrange the terms of capitulation. He was afterward selected one of the officers to march the British prisoners to Cambridge, near Boston. He joined Sullivan in his expedition against the British on Rhode Island in 1778, with a pretty large force of New Hampshire Militia. But the perverse conduct of the French Admiral D'Estaing, in not sustaining the siege of Newportjt caused a failure of the expedition, and General Whipple, with his brigade, returned to New Hampshire. In 1780, he was offered the situation of Commissioner * These ccmmittees were organized in several of the States. Their business was to act as an executive body to regulate the general concerns of the govern- ment during the continuance of the war. These committees were of vast im- portance, and acted efficiently in conjunction with the committees of correspond- ence. In some instances they consisted each of the same men. t The Count D'Estaing agreed to assist Sullivan in reducing the town of New- port, but just as he was entering the harbor, the fleet of Lord Howe, from New- York, appeared, and ho proceeded to attack him. A storm prevented an engage- nent, and both fleets were greatly damaged by the gale. D'Estaing, instead of re- maining to assist Sullivan, sailed for Boston, under the pretence of repairing hif chattered vessels. WILLIAM WHIPPLE. 19 of the Board of Admiralty, but declined it. In 1782, he was appointed by Robert Morris, financial agent in New Hampshire, * but he resigned the trust in the course of a year. During that year, he was appointed one of the commissioners to settle the dispute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, concerning the Wyoming domain, and was appointed president of the Court.t He was also ap- pointed, during that year, a side judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. J Soon after his appointment, in attempting to sum up the arguments of counsel, and submit the case to the jury, he was attacked with a violent palpitation of the heart, which ever after troubled him. In 1785 he was seriously affected while holding court ; and, retiring to his cham- ber, he never left it again while living. He expired on the twenty-eighth day of November, 1785, in the fifty- fifth year of his age. He requested a post mortem exami- nation, which being done, it was found that a portion of his heart had become ossified, or bony. Thus terminated the valuable life of one who rose from the post of a cabin boy, to a rank among the first men of his country. His life and character present one of those bright examples of self-reliance which cannot be too often pressed upon the attention of the young ; and, although surrounding circumstances had much to do in the development of his talents, yet, after all, the great secret of his success was doubtless a hopeful reliance upon a conscious ability to perform any duty required of him. * Robert Morris was then the manager of the finances of the Confederation, nd these agents in the various States were a kind of sub- treasurers. Hence it was an office that required honest and faithful incumbents. t The early western boundary of Connecticut, before the organization of New York, was, like most ^f the other States on the Atlantic, quite indefinite. A Colony from this province had settled in the Wyoming valley, and that region was not in- cluded in New York. It was within the bounds of Pennsylvania, hence the dispute. t At that time the Courts in New Hampshire were constituted of four judges, of whom the first, or Chief Justice, only, was a lawyer, the others being chosen ft oni among civilians, distinguished for sound judgment, and a good education. ATTHEW THORNTON was born in Ire .land, in 1714, and was brought to this country by his father when he as between two and three years of = age. His father, when he emigrated to America, first settled at Wiscasset. 'in Maine, and in the course of a tew years moved to Worcester, in Massachusetts, where he gave his son an academical education, with a view to fit him for one of the learned professions. Matthew chose the medical profession, and at the close of his preparatory studies, he commenced his business career in London- derry, New Hampshire. He became eminent as a phy- sician, and hi the course of a few years acquired a hand- some fortune. In 1745 he was appointed surgeon of the New Hamp- shire troops, and accompanied them in the expedition against Louisburg.* After his return he was appointed by the royal governor (Wentworth) a Colonel of Militia, and also a Justice of the Peace. He early espoused the cause of the colonists, and soon, like many others, be- came obnoxious to the governor. His popularity among the people was a cause of jealousy and alarm on the part of the chief magistrate. When the provincial government of New Hampshire was organized, on the abdication of Governor Wentworth, Looitborg was a fortress upon die Uland of Cape Breton. Nora Scotia, then in possession of the French, and was cowidercd one of the ctroomt fcrtifca 20 XEW HAMPSHIRE. 21 Dr. Thornton was elected president.* When the pro- vincial Congress was organized he was chosen Speaker of die House." In September of the same year, m Jtm _ he was appointed a delegate to the Continental 177t Congress for one year, and waa permitted to sign his name to the Declaration of Independence, when he took his seat in November.! In January, 1776, (prior to his election to the Continental Congress) he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of his State, having pre- viously been elected a member of the Court of Common Pleas. In December of that year, he was again elected to the general Congress for one year from the twenty- third of January, 1777. At the expiration of the term be withdrew from Congress, and only engaged in public affairs as far as his >ffice as judge required his services. He resigned his judgeship in 17v2. In 1789, Dr. Thornton purchased a farm in Exeter, where he resided until the time of his death, which took place while on a visit to his (laughters in Newbnryport, Massachusetts, on the twenty-fourth of June, 1803. He was then in the eighty- ninth year of his age. Dr. Thornton was greatly beloved by all who knew him, and to the close of his long life he was a consistent and zealous Christian. He always enjoyed remarkably good health,J and, by the practice of those hygeian virtues, temperance and cheerfulness, he attained a patriarchal age. * This provisional government waa intrusted t6 men tittle experienced po- litical matters, and only elected for six month*, jet they were men of nerre and prudence, and under the advice and direction of die Continental Congreat, the; occeeded wett. f Dr. Thornton waa not the only one to whom this indulgence wa* ri nihii There were aereral members absent when the Trte waa taken on die adopti-wi o> that instrument on the fourth of July, bat who. approving of the measure, nihtui qnendy signed their * thereto. At the age of eighty-one be had a severe attack of the hooping coogh. which ever afterward caused a weakness of the longs, and a tendency to pulmonary NE of the most distinguished person- O 1 ages of the War of Independence, was John Hancock, who was born near the village of Q,uincy, in Mas- sachusetts, in the year 1737. His father and grandfather were both ministers of the gospel. His father is represented as a pious, industrious, and faithful pastor ; a friend of the poor, and a patron of learning. He died 22 JOHN IIINCOCK. 23 while John was quite an infant, and left him tr> the care ol a patemal uncle, who cherished him with great affection. This relative was a merchant in Boston, who had amassed a large fortune, and after having given John a collegiate education at Harvard College (where at the age of seven- teen years he graduated)" he took him into his counting-room as clerk. His abilities proved such, that, in 1760, he sent him on a business mission to England, where he was present at the funeral rites of George TL, and the coronation ceremonies of George III. Soon after his return to America, his uncle died, and left him, at the age of twenty-six, in possession of a princely fortune one of the largest in the Province of Massa- chusetts. He soon relinquished his commercial pursuits, and be- came an active politician, always taking sides with those whose sentiments were liberal and democratic. He was soon noticed and appreciated by his townsmen in Boston, and was chosen by them one of its selectmen, an office of much consideration in those days. In 1766, he was chosen a representative for Boston in the General Pro- vincial Assembly, where he had for his colleagues some of the most active patriots of the day, such as Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Thomas Gushing. Years before Mr. Hancock entered upon public life, the tyrannous measures of the British cabinet had ex- cited the fears of the American colonies, and aroused a sentiment of resistance that long burned in the people's hearts before it burst forth into a flame of rebellion. These feelings were familiar to the bosom of young Hancock, for he imbibed the principles of liberty with the breath of his infancy, and when circumstances called for a manifestation thereof, they exhibited the sturdy vigor of maturity. When Parliament adopted those obnoxious mcasuies 24 MASSACHUSETTS. toward America, which immediately succeeded the odious Stamp Act, Mr. Hancock was a member of the Provin- cial Assembly, and, in union with those patriots before named, and others, he determined not to submit to them. He was one of the first who proposed and adopted non- importation measures, a system which gradually spread to the other colonies, and produced a powerful effect upon the home government. Open resistance at length became common, and the name of Hancock figures conspicuously in the commotions that agitated Boston for more than eight years. * He became a popular leader and drew upon himself the direst wrath of offended royalty, t At the time of the Boston Massacre, and during the commotion known as the Tea Riot, Mr. Hancock was bold and active ; and in March, 1774, on the occasion of the anniversary of the " Massacre," he boldly delivered an oration, in which he spoke in most indignant terms of the acts and measures of the British Government. In 1767, Mr. Hancock was elected a member of the Executive Council, but the choice was so displeasing to the governor, that he rejected him. He was again and again elected, and as often rejected, and this served to in- crease his popularity among the people. At last th& * One of the earliest acts of open resistance, was on the occasion of the seizure of the Sloop Liberty, belonging to Mr. Hancock, by the Custom House officers, under the plea that she was loaded with goods contrary to the revenue laws. The people were greatly exasperated ; they beat the officers with clubs, and obliged them to fly to Castle William, at the entrance of Boston harbor, for safety. They also burned the Collector's boat, and committed other acts of vio- lence. These transactions gave the royal governor an excuse he wished for to in- troduce British troops into the city. This measure excited the indignation of the people to the highest pitch, and almost daily quarrels took place in the streets be- tween the citizens and the soldiers, which finally resulted in the death of three Americans, hi March, 1770, by shots from the soldiers' muskets an evett known as The Boston Massacre. t In the terms of general pardon offered in 1775, John Hancock and Samuel Adams were excluded, as arch rebels. The night preceding the battle of hexing ton, Hancock and Adama lodged together, in that village. An armed party wai sent by Governor Gage to arrest them, and they narrowly escaped, for as the sol diers entered one door, they went out through another. JOHN HANCOCK. 2.1 governor, for reasons not easily divined, sanctioned hia appointment, and received him into the Council. * In 1774, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts unanimously elected Hancock their president. The same year he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Con gress ; and was re-elected to the same station in 1775. When, during the summer of that year, Peyton Randolph left the presidential chair of that body, John Hancock was elected to the station, a gift the most exalted, pos- sessed by the American people. In that office he labored arduously, and filled that chair on the ever memorable Fourth of July, 1776. As President, he first signed the Declaration of Independence, and with his name alone, it first went forth to the world. His bold signature, the very index of his character , has always excited the admi- ration of the beholder. Mr. Hancock resigned the office of President of Con- gress in 1777, owing to the precarious state of his liealtht and the calls of his private affairs, which had been neces- sarily much neglected, and he hoped to pass the remain- der of his life in the retirement of the domestic circle. J But that pleasure he was not suffered long to enjoy by his fellow citizens. He was elected a member of the C on- vention of Massachusetts to form a Constitution for the government of that commonwealth. Therein he was as- eiduous as usual, and upon him was first conferred the honor, under the instrument of their adoption, of being Governor of the Province, or State. He was the first who * Governor Bernard had tried in vain to win him from the cause of the patriots % In 1767, before hi* election to the council, he had complimented him wiih a Lieu- tenant's commission, but Hancock, seeing clearly the nefarious design which it but half concealed, tore up the commission in the presence of the people. t The ravages of the gout, which was a disease hereditary in his family, made serious inroads upon his general health while engaged in the arduous services of public station. J, He was married in 1773, to Miss Quincy, a relative of the Adams' by whom he had only one son. He died in youth, and consequent!* w*o* -ft no beir to perpetuate his namo. 2 26 MASSACHUSETTS. had this dignity conferred by the voluntary suffrageo of the people. He held the office five consecutive years, by annual election. For two years he declined the honor, out again accepted it, and held the office until his death, in 1793. He was governor during that period of confusion which followed the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and its final ratification by the several States, and his wisdom and firmness proved greatly salutary in restraining those law- less acts which a spirit of disaffection toward the general government had engendered in New England, and par- ticularly in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.* Of coui-se his character and motives were aspersed by the interested, but when the agitation ceased, and the clouds passed away, his virtues and exalted character, shone with a purer lustre than before. He was elected a member of the Convention of Massa- chusetts to act on the adoption of the Federal Constitu- tion, and was chosen president of that body ; but sickness prevented his attendance until the last week of the ses- sion. He voted for the adoption of the constitution, and by his influence, a majority voted with him. Mr. Hancock continued a popular leader until the time of his death, and no one could successfully contend with him for office. He was not a man of extraordinary talent, but was possessed of that tact and peculiar genius fitted for the era in which he lived. He was beloved by all his cotemporaries, and posterity venerates his name, as a benefactor of his countiy. He died on the eighth of October, 1793, in the fifty -fifth year of his age. * The theory prevailed to a great extent in New Englani, that all having con- tributed to defend the national property, they all had an equal right to poeses- rion, thus regarding the matter in the light of personal and individual interest, rather than in that of general welfare. Popular excitements occurred. In Ex- eter, in New Hampshire, a mob made prisoners of the members of the General Assembly. In Massachusetts, an insurrectionary movement, led by Daniel Shay, (known as Shay's insurrection) was so extensive, that four thousand militia -.vere called ->'t to suppress it O LOFTIER genius nor purer patriot wore the Senatoiial robe during the struggle for Independence, than John Adams. He was bora at Braintree (now Quincy), in Massa- chusetts, on the thirtieth of October, 1735, and ,was a direct lineal de- scendant, in the fourth generation, from Henry Adams, who fled from the persecutions in England during the reign of the first Charles.* His maternal ancestor was * Archbishop Laud, the spiritual adviser of Charles I. (influenced no doubt by the Roman Catholic Queen, Henrietta Maria) took especial pains to enforce tha strictest observance of the Liturgy of the established Church of England in tha 27 . .V ' 28 MASSACHUSETTS. John Alden, a passenger in the May- Flower, and thus the subject of our memoir inherited from both parental an- cestors, the title of a Son of Liberty, which was subse- quently given to him and others.* His primary educa- tion was derived in a school at Braintree, and there he passed through a preparatory course of instruction for Harvard University, whence he graduated at the age of a 1755. twenty vears. Having chosen the law as a profession, he entered upon the study of it with an eminent barrister in Wor- cester, by the name of Putnam. There he had the ad- vantage of sound legal instruction, and through Mr. Put- nam he became acquainted with many distinguished pub- lic men, among whom was Mr. Gridley, the Attorney- General. Their 'first interview awakened sentiments of mutual regard, and young Adams was allowed the free use of Mr. Gridley's extensive library, a privilege of great value in those days. It was a rich treasure thrown open to him, and its value was soon apparent in the expansion of his general knowledge. He was admitted to the bar in 1758, and commenced practice in Braintree. At an early period, young Adams' mind was turned to the contemplation of the general politics of his country, and the atmosphere of liberal principles in which he had been born and nurtured, gave a patriotic bias to his judg- ment and feelings. He watched narrowly the m ;vements of the British government toward the American colonies, and was ever out-spoken in his condemnation of its op- pressive acts. He was admitted as a barrister in 1761, and as his pro- fessional business increased, and his acquaintance among Church of Scotland, and also Li the Puritan Churches. Those individuals and conjugations who would not conform to these requirements were severely dealt with, and these persecutions drove a great many to the western world, whero they might worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. * This name was given to the American patriots bj Colonel Barrc, on the door the British House of Commons. JOHN ADAMS. 29 distinguished politicians extended, he became more pub. licly active, until in 1765, when the Stamp Act had raised a perfect hurricane in America, he wrote and published his " Essay on the Canon and Feudal Law." This pro- duction at once placed him high in the popular esteem ; and tl.e same year he was associated with James Otis and others, to demand, in the presence of the royal governor, that the courts should dispense with the use of stamped paper in the administration of justice. In 1766 Mr. Adams married Abigail Smith, the ami- able daughter of a pious clergyman of Braintree, and soon afterward he removed to Boston. There he was actively associated with Hancock, Otis, and others, in the various measures in favor of the liberties of the people, and was very energetic in endeavors to have the military removed from the town. Governor Bernard endeavored to bribe him to silence, at least, by offers of lucrative offices, but they were all rejected with disdain. When, after the Boston Massacre, Captain Preston and his men were arraigned for murder, Mr. Adams was ap- plied to, to act as counsel in their defence. Popular fa- vor on one side, and the demands of justice and humanity on the other, were the horns of the dilemma between which Mr. Adams was placed by the application. But he was not long in choosing. He accepted the invitation he defended the prisoners successfully Captain Pres- ton was acquitted, and, notwithstanding the tremendous excitement that existed against the soldiers, the patriotism of Mr. Adams was too fat above suspicion to make this defence of the enemy a cause for withdrawing from him the confidence which the people reposed in nim. His friends applauded him lor the act, and the people were satisfied, as was evident by their choosing him, that same year," a representative in the provincial Assem- rrro. bly. 30 MASSACHUSETTS. Mr. Adams became very obnoxious to t>oth Governors Bernard and Hutchinson. He was elected to a seat in the Executive council, but the latter erased his name. He was again elected when .Governor Gage assumed au- thority, and he too erased his name. These things in- creased his popularity. Soon after the accession of Gage the AssemVy at Salem* adopted a proposition for a gen- eral Congress, and elected five delegates thereto in spite of the efforts of the governor to prevent it. John Adams was one of those delegates, and took his seat in the first Continental Congress, convened in Philadelphia on the fifth of September, 1774. He was again elected a dele- gate in 1775, and through his influence, George Wash- ington of Virginia was elected Commander-in-Chief of all the forces of the United Colonies.! On the sixth of May, 1776, Mr. Adams introduced a motion in Congress " that the colonies should form gov- ernments independent of tJie Grown" This motion was equivalent to a declaration of independence, and when, a month afterward, Richard Henry Lee introduced a mo- tion more explicity to declare the colonies free and in- dependent, Mr. Adams was one of its warmest advocates. He was appointed one of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence,! and he placed his signa- ture to that document on the second of August, 1776. After the battle of Long Island he was appointed by * The " Boston Port Bill," so called, which was adopted by Parliament, closed the port of Boston, removed the Custom House therefrom, its law Courts, &c n and the meeting of the Provincial Assembly 'was called at Salem. This oppres- sive act was intended to have a two-fold effect to punish the Bostonians for the tea riot; and awe them into submission to the royal will. But it effected neither. tMr. Adams did not nominate Washington, as has been frequently stated. He gave notice that ho should "propose a member of CongreM from Virginia," which was understood to be Washington, but, for reasons that do not appear, upon the journals, he was nominated by Thomas Johnson, of Maryland. \ The committee consisted of Dr. Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adam* Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. JOHN ADAMS. 31 Congress, witli Dr. Franklin and Edward Rutledge, to meet. Lord Howe in conference upon Staten Island, con- cerning the pacification of the colonies. According to his prediction, the mission failed. Notwithstanding his great labors in Congress,* he was appointed a member of the council of Massachusetts, while on a visit home, in 1776, the duties of which he faithfully fulfilled. In 1777 Mr. Adams was appointed a special commis- sioner to the Court of France, whither Dr. Franklin had previously gone. Finding the subject of his mission fully attended to by Franklin, Adams returned home in 1779,. He was immediately called to the duty of forming a Con- stitution for his native State. While in the discharge of his duty in convention, Congress appointed him a minis- ter to Great Britain, to. negotiate a treaty of peace and commerce with that government. He left Boston in the French frigate, La Sensible, in October, 1777, and after a long passage, landed at Ferrol, in Spain, whence he jour- neyed by land to Paris. 6 He found England a Feb indisposed for peace, if American Independence 1780> was to be die sine qua non, and was about to return home, when he received from Congress the appointment of com- missioner to Holland, to negotiate a treaty of amity and commerce with the States General. The confidence of Congress in him was unlimited, and he was intrusted at one time, with the execution of no less than six missions, each of a diffei'ent character.* In 1781 he was associ- ated with Franklin, Jay, and Laurens, as a commissioner to conclude treaties of peace with the European powers. * During the remainder of the year 177G, and until December, 1777 (when ha waa sent on a foreign mission) he was a member of ninety different committees, and chairman of twenty-five I t These commissions empowered him, 1st : to negotiate a peace with Great Britain ; 2d, to make a treaty of commerce with Great Britain ; 3d. the same with the States General ; 4th, the same with the Prince of Orange ; 5th, to pledge the faith of the United States to the Armed Neutrality ; 6th, to negotiate a loan of ten millions of dollars. 32 MASSACHUSETTS. In 1782 he assisted in negotiating a commercial treaty with Great Britain, and was the first of the American Commissioners who signed the definitive treaty of peace 6 Sept. 3, w ^h l ^ at power.* In 1784, Mr. Adams returned 1783 - to Paris, and in January, 1785, he was ap- vointed Minister for the United States at the Court of Great Britain. That post he honorably occupied until 1788, when he resigned the office and returned home. While Mr. Adams was absent, the Fedeial Constitution was adopted, and it received his hearty approval. He was placed upon the ticket with Washington for Vice President, at the first election under the new Constitu- tion, and was elected to that office. He was re-elected to the same office in 1792, and in 1796, he was chosen to succeed Washington in the Presidential Chair. In 1801 he retired from public life. In 1816 he was placed on the democratic ticket as presidential elector. In 1818 he lost his wife, with whom he had lived fifty-two yeai's in uninterrupted conjugal fe- licity. In 1824 he was chosen a member of the conven- tion of Massachusetts to revise the Constitution, and was chosen president of that body, which honor he declined on account of his groat age. In 1825 he had the felicity of seeing his son elevated to the presidency of the United States. In the spring of 1826 his physical powers rap- idly declined, and on the fourth of July of that year,* he expired, in the ninety-second year of his age. On the very same day, and at nearly the same hour, his fellow- committee-man in drawing up the Declaration of Inde pendence, Thomas Jefferson, also died. It was the fif tieth anniversary of that glorious act, and the coincidence made a deep impression upop the public mind. * On the morning of the fourth it ws evident he could not last many hur On being asked for a toast for the day the Inet words he ever uttered - vor^ of glorious import fell from his lip* Independence for ever I" s. HIS distinguished patriot of the Revo- jlution, was bora in Boston, Massachu- j setts, on the twenty-second of Sep- ;tember, 1722. He was of pilgrim ancestors, and had been taught the principles of Freedom, from his in- fancy. His father was a man of con- siderable wealth, and was for a long series of years a member of the Massachusetts Assembly, under the Colo- nial Government. He resolved to give Samuel a liberal education. After a preparatory course of study, he en- tered him at Harvard College, Cambridge, where, in 2* l 33 34 MASSACHUSETTS. 1740, at the age of eighteen years, he took his degree of A. B. He was uncommonly sedate, and very assiduous in the pursuit of knowledge, while a pupil. His father destined him for the profession of the law, but this design was relinquished, and he was placed as an apprentice with Thomas Gushing, a distinguished mei'chant of Boston, and afterward an active patriot. His mind, however, seemed fixed on political subjects,* and the mercantile profession presented few charms for him. His father furnished him with ample capital to com- mence business as a merchant, but his distaste for the profession, and the diversion of his mind from its de- vnands, by politics, soon caused him serious embarrass- ments, and he became almost i bankrupt. When Samuel was twenty-five years old, his father died, and the cares of the family and estate devolved on him, as the oldest son. Yet his mind was constantly active in watching the movements of the British govern- ment, and he spent a great deal of his time in talking and writing in favor of the resistance of the Colonies to the oppi'essions of the crown and its ministers. He took a firm and decided stand against the Stamp Act and its antecedent kindred schemes to tax the Colonies. As early as 1763, he boldly expressed his sentiments relative to the rights and privileges of the Colonists ; and in some instructions which he drew up for the guidance of the Boston members of the General Assembly, in that year, he denied the light of Parliament to tax the Colonies without their consent denied the supi'emacy of Parlia- ment, and suggested a union of all the Colonies, as necessary foil their protection against British aggressions. It id asseited that this was the first public expression of * In connection with genial companions, ho wrote a eeries of political essays for a newspaper called the " Independent Advertiser." They incurred the nick- name, by way of derision, cf the ' Whipping Club." SAMUEL ADAMS. 35 euch sentiments in America, and that they weie the spark that kindled the flame upon the altar of Freedom here. In 1765, Mr. Adams was chosen a representative for Boston, in the General Assembly, and became early dis- tinguished in that body, for his intelligence and activity. He became a Jeader of the opposition to the royal gov- ernor, and treated with disdain the efforts made to silence him,* although the offers proffered would have placed him in affluent circumstances. He was chosen Clerk of the House of Representatives ; and he originated the " Mas sachusetts Circular," which proposed a Colonial Congress to be held in New York, and which was held there in 1766. During the excitement of the Boston Massacre, he was among the most active ; and chiefly through his influence, and the boldness with which he demanded the removal of the troops from Boston, was that object effected. Mr. Adams, and Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia almost simultaneously proposed the system of Committeet of Correspondence," which proved such a . , ..,.., . a 1772 mighty engine in bringing about a union of sen- timent among the several Colonies previous to the burst- ing out of the Revolution. This, and other bold move- ments on his part, caused him to be selected as an object of ministerial vengeance, and when Governor Gage issued his proclamation, offering pardon to all who would return to their allegiance, Samuel Adams and John Hancock were alone excepted. This greatly increased their popu- * When the governor was asked why Mr. Adams had not been silenced by of- fice, he replied, that " such is the obstinacy and inflexible disposition of the man, that he can never be conciliated by any office or gift whatever." And when, in 1774, Governor Gage, by authority of ministers, sent Colonel Fenton to offer Ad ams a magnificent consideration if he would cease his hostility to government, or menace him with all the evils of attainder, that inflexible patriot gave this re- markable answer to Fenton : " I trost I have long since made my peace with tho King of kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the right- eous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage, it is the advice of Samuel Ad- ama to him, no longer to insult the feelings af an exasperated people." 36 MASSACHUSETTS. larity, and fiied the people with indignation. Adams wr,s among those who secretly matured the plan of proposing a general Congress, arid appointing delegates thereto, in spite of the opposition of Governor Gage.* Mr. Adams was one of the five delegates appointed, and he took his seat in that body on the fifth of September, 1774. He continued an active member of Congress until 1781, i and was among those who joyfully affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. Mr. Adams retired from Congress in 1781, but not from public life. He was a member of the Convention to form a Constitution for Massachusetts, and was on the committee who drafted it. He was successively a mem- ber of the Senate of that Commonwealth, its President, Lieutenant-governor, and finally Governor. To the latter office he was annually elected, until the imfirmities of age obliged him to retire from active life. He expired on the third day of October, 1803, in the eighty -second year of his age. * The governor hearing of the movement in the General Assembly, then sit ting nt Salem, sent his Secretary to dissolve them, but he found the door locked, and the key was safely lodged in Samuel Adams' pocket. t The journals of Congress during that time show his name upon almost ev- ery important committee of that body. And prcbably no man did more toward bringing about the American Revolution, and inetiiecttng the independence of the Colonies, than Samuel Adams. He was the first to assert boldly those politico! truths upon which rested the whole superstructure of our confederacy he was the first to act in support of those truths and when, in the General Council of States, independence was proposed, and the timid faltered, and the over-prudent hesitated, the voice of Samuel Adams was ever loudest in denunciations of a tem- porizing policy, and also in the utterance of strong encouragement to the faint- hearted. " I should advise," said he, on one occasion, " persisting in our struggl*, for liberty, though it were revealed from Heaven that nine hundred and ninety- nine were to perish, and only one of a thousand were to survive and retain his liberty ! One such freeman must possess more virtue, and enjoy more happiness, than a thousand slaves ; and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what ho hath so nobly preserved." HIS distinguished patriot was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1731. His father was a clergyman, and his mother was the daughter of the Reverend Mr. Treat, of Barnstable county. His ma- ternal grandfather was Governor Treat, :>f Connecticut, Thus connected with the honored and pious, the early moral education of Mr. Paine was salu- tary in the extreme, and he enjoyed the advantage of instruction in letters, from Mr. Lovell, who was also the tutor of John Adams and John Hancock. 37 38 MASSACHUSETTS. Young Paine entered Harvard College at the age of fourteen years, and graduated with the usual honors. For a time after leaving college he taught school. He then made a voyage to Europe, and on his return he prepared himself for the ministry, in which calling he was engaged as chaplain in a military expedition to the north in 1755. Not long afterward he relinquished theology, studied law with Mr. Pratt, (aftei-ward Chief Justice of New York,) and was admitted to practice at the bar. He commenced law practice in Boston, but after a short residence there he removed to Taunton, where he be- came a powerful opponent and rival of the celebrated Timothy Ruggles.* He early espoused the popular cause, but so prudently did he conduct himself, that he retained the full confidence of the Governor. In 1768, after Governor Bernard had dissolved the Assembly,t and a provincial Convention was called, Mr. Paine attended as a delegate from Taunton. In 1770, when the trial of Captain Preston and his men occurred, the District At- torney being sick, Mr. Paine was chosen his substitute, and he conducted the case with great ability. He was chairman of the Committee of Vigilance in Taunton, in 1773. The same, and the following year (1774) he was elected a member of the Provincial Assembly, and was one of the commissioners appointed to conduct the pro- ceedings in the case of the impeachment of Chief Justice Oliver,} Mr. Paine was an advocate for a Continental Congress. He was a member of the Assembly, when, in spite of * Timothy Ruggles was President of the Colonial, or " Stamp Act Congress," in 1765. He ws opposed to some of its measures, and when the Revolution broke out, he took sides with the King and Parliament t The governor dissolved the Assembly, because with closed doors they adopted a circular to be sent to all the other colonies, inviting them to send delegates to a General Colonial Congress, to be held in Nevv York. I Justice Oliver was impeached on the ground that he received his salary di- rectly from the crown, and not from the people of the province, and thus was made independent of them. ROBEJIT TREAT PAINE. 39 Governor Gage, it elected delegates to the General Con- ^rress, of whom Mr. Paine was one. He was elected a aemberofthe Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, in he autumn of 1774, where he was very active. He was leputed by the General Congress, with two others, to risit the army of General Schuyler at the north for the jurpose of observation. It was a delicate commission, >ut one which Mr. Paine and his colleagues performed ftdth entire satisfaction. The same year, John Adams was appointed Chief Justice of the province of Massa- ;husetts, and Mr. Paine was chosen a side judge. He declined the honor, and in December was again elected to the General Congress, where he was very active, and on the fourth of July, the following year, (1776,) he voted for the Declaration of Independence, and was one of its signers. In 1777, he was chosen Attorney-General of Massachusetts, by a unanimous vote of the council and representatives, which office he held until 1790, when he was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Couit. He was a member of the Convention that framed the Constitution of his native State, which was adopted in 1780. Fot fourteen years, he discharged his duties as judge, and ic 1804, he left the bench, on account of the approaching infirmities of age. He died in 1814, at the age of eighty- four years. His long and active life was devoted to the public service, and his labors were duly appreciated by a grateftil people. LBRIDGE GERRY was born in Mar- blehend, Massachusetts, oji the sev- enteeth of July, 1744. His father was a merchant in c-xtensive busi- ness, and he resolved to give his son ' an excellent education. When his preparatory studies were concluded, he entered Harvard College, and graduated with the title of A. B., in 1762. He soon after entered into commer- cial pui-suits, amassed a handsome fortune, and by his in- telligence ad good character, won for himself the 40 ELBRIDGE OERUY. 41 wf his fellow-citizens. He watched with much solicitude the rapid strides which the oppressions of Great Britain were making in this country, and having expressed his sentiments fearlessly, his townsmen elected him a mem- ber of the General Court of the province, in 1773. Theie he soon became a bold and energetic leader, ingenious in devising plans of operation, and judicious and zealous in their execution. He was connected with John Adams and others in carrying through resolutions that had been offered in the General Court, having reference to the re- moval of Governor Hutchinson from office.* Mr. Gerry was active in ah 1 the leading political move- ments in Massachusetts until the War broke out. He was a member of the first Provincial Congress of that province, and was one of the most efficient opposers of Governor Gage. He was a member of the Provincial Congress at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. The night preceding that event, he and General Warren slept together in the same bed. They bade each other an af- fectionate farewell in the morning, and separated, Mr. Gerry to go to the Congress, sitting at Watertown, and Dr. Warren to be slain upon the battle-field. In January, 1776, Mr. Gerry was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. There his commercial knowl- edge proved very useful, and he was put upon many com- * Governor Hutchinson, who had already become very obnoxious to the people, became insupportable after the discovery of some letters of his to the English Ministers, recommending: the enforcement of rigid measures against the Ameri- cans, and the curtailment of the privileges of the colonies. These letters were put into the hands of Dr. Franklin, then Colonial Agent in England, and by him they were immediately transmitted to the General Court of Massachusetts. They produced great excitement, and a petition was adopted and forwarded to the Ministers, asking for the removal of Hutchinson. It was on the occasion of Dr. Franklin's presenting this petition to the English Privy Council, thas he was so violently assailed by Wedderburn, the Solicitor General. Franklin made no rev ply, but on going to his lodgings, he took off his suit of clothes, and declared that he would never put it on again until he had signed '' America's Independence, nnd England's degradation." When, nearly ten years afterward, he signed the treaty of peace between the two governments, he again put on that suit of clothe* 42 MASSACHUSETTS. mittees where such knowledge was needed. He had oeen previously elected a Judge of the Court of Admi- ralty, but preferring a more active life, he declined the appointment. He was a warm supporter of the resolu- ti m of Mr. Lee, declaring the United States free and in- dependent, and he signed his name to the Declaration on Jhe second of August, following its adoption. In 1777, Mr. Gerry was appointed one of a committee to visit Washington at his headquarters at Valley Forge. The report of that committee had a great effect upon Congress, and caused more efficient measures to be taken for the relief and support of the army. In 1780 he re- tired from Congress to look after his private affairs, but was re-elected in 1783. In all the financial operations of that body, Mr. Gerry was indefatigably engaged. In 1785 he again retired from Congress, and fixed his resi- dence in Cambridge. Mr. Gerry was a member of the Convention of Massa- chusetts which adopted the present Constitution of the United States. He was so opposed to many of its lead- ing features that he never subscribed his name to it, but when it became the fundamental law of the land, he did ah 1 in his power to cany out its provisions. He was twice elected a member of the House of Representatives of the United States under it, and after faithful services he again retired to private life. Mr. Adams, when President, knew and appreciated the abilities of Mr. Gerry, and he called him forth from his domestic quiet, by nominating him one of three envoys to the Court of France. The ioiiit mission wa.* closed his mercantile business, BO as not to have any embarrassments. In 1779, when the people had lost all confidence In the final redemption of the continental paper money, and it could not procure supplies for the army, Mr. Williams generously exchanged two thousand dollars in specie for it, and of course lost nearly the whole amount. The Count De Rochambeau, with a French army, arrived at Newport during the summer of 1780, as allies to the Americans, but they did not enter into the service until the next year, and remained encamped in New England. Louzon one of Rocham- beau's cavalry officers, encamped during the winter with his legion at Lebanon, and Mr. Williams, in order to allow the officers comfortable quarters, relinquished hit own house to them, and moved his family to another. Such was the self- denial of the Father s of our Reoublic, and such the noble examines tbev nresent HE name of Wolcott, appeared among the early settlers of Connecticut, and from that day to this, it lias been dis- tinguished for living scions, honored for their talents in legislation or literature.* 'The subject of this biief sketch was born in Windsor, Connecticut, on the twenty-sixth of No- * The English ancestor, Henry Wolcott, first settled in Dorchester, Massachu- setts, after his arrival in 1630. In 1636, he, with a few associates, moved to Windsor, in Connecticut, and formed a settlement there. He was among the first who organized the government of Connecticut, and obtained a charter from King Charles II. 59 60 CONNECTICUT. vember, 1726.* He entered Yale College at the age of seventeen years, and graduated with the usual honors in 1747. He received a Captain's commission in the Army the same year, and raising a company immediately, he marched to the northern frontier to confront the French and Indians. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle,t terminated hostilities, and he returned home. He arose regularly from Captain to Major-General. Young Wolcott now turned his attention to the study of medicine, under his distinguished uncle, Dr. Alexander Wolcott ; but when he had just completed his studies, he was appointed sheriff of the newly -organized county of Litchfield. In 1774, he was elected a member of the council of his native State ; and he was annually re-elected until 1786, notwithstanding he was, during that time, a dele- gate to the Continental Congress, Chief Justice of Litch- field county, and also a Judge of Probate of that dis- trict. Mr. Wolcott was appointed by the first General Con- gress, one of the Commissioners of Indian Affairs for the northern department; and he performed excellent service to the American cause by his influence in bringing about an amicable settlement of the controversy between Connecticut and Pennsylvania, concerning the Wyoming settlement : a controversy at one time threatening serious effects upon the confederacy. Toward the close of 1775, Mr. Wolcott was elected a delegate to the second General Congress, and took his seat in January, 1776. He took a prominent part in the debates respecting the independence of the Colonies, and voted for, and signed that glorious Declaration of Ameri- * His father was a distinguished man, having been Major General, Judge, Lieu- tenant Governor, and finally Governor of the State of Connecticut. t This was a treaty of Peace between Great Britain, France, Spain, Holland, Hungary, and G tnoa. It was concluded In 1 74* OLIVER WOLCOTT. 61 can disenthralment. Soon after this act was consum- mated, he returned home, and was immediately appointed by Governor Trumbull and the Council of Safety, to the command of a detachment of Connecticut militia (con sisting of fourteen regiments) destined for the defence oi New York. After the battle ol Long Island, he returned to Connecticut, and in November of that year, he re- sumed his seat in Congress, and was in that body when they fled to Baltimore at the approach of the British to- ward Philadelphia, at the close of 1776. During the latter part of the summer of 1776, he was ac- tively engaged in the recruiting service, and after sending General Putnam (then on the Hudson river), several thous- ands of volunteers, he took command of a body of recruits, and joined General Gates at Saratoga. He aided in the capture of Burgoyne and his army in October, 1777, and soon afterward, he again took his seat in Congress, then assembled at York, in Pennsylvania,* where he continued until July, 1778. In the summer of 1779, he took com- mand of a division of Connecticut militia, and undertook, with success, the defence of the southwestern sea coast of that State, then invaded by a British army.t From that time, until 1783, he was alternately engaged in civil and military duties in his native State, and occasionally held a seat in Congress. In 1784 and 1785, he was an * During the Revolution, Congress held its sessions in Philadelphia, but was obliged on several occasions to retreat to a more secure position. At the close of 1776 it adjourned to Baltimore, when it was expected Cornwallis would attack Philadelphia, after his successful pursuit of Washington across New Jersey. Again, when Howe marched upon Philadelphia, in September, 1777, Congress ad- journed to Lancaster, and three days afterward to York, where its sessions were held during the winter the American army were encamped at Valley Forge. t The British force was led by Governor Tryon, of New York. It was a plun- dering and desolating expedition. Fairfleld and Norwalk were laid in ashes, and the most cruel atrocities were inflicted upon the inhabitants, without regard to sex or condition. Houses were rifled, the persons of the females abused, and many of them fled half naked tc the woods and swamps in the vicinity of their deso *"-d homes. 62 CONNECTICUT. active Indian Agent, and was one of the Commissioners who prescribed terms of peace to the Six Nations of In- dians who inhabited Western New York.* In 1786, General Wolcott was elected Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut, and was re-elected every year, until 1796, when he was chosen Governor of the State. He was re-elected to that office in 1797, and held the station at the time of his death, which event occurred on the first day of December, of that year, in the seventy- second year of his age. As a patriot and statesman, a Christian and a man, Governor Wolcott presented a bright example ; for inflexibility , virtue, piety and integrity, were his prominent characteristics. * The five Indian Tribes, the Mohateks, the Oncidas, the Onondcgas. the Cayii- gas, and the Seiiecas, had formed a confederation long before they were discov- ered by the whites. It is not known when this confederation was first formed, but when the New England settlers penetrated westward, they found this pow- erful confederacy strongly united, and at war with nearly all of the surrounding tribes. The Onondagas seemed to be the chief nation of the confederacy, for with them the great council fire was specially deposited, and it was kept always burning. Their undisputed domain included nearly the whole of the present area of the State of New York. They subdued the Hurons and Algonquins in 1657; and in 1665 they almost annihilated the Eries. In 1G72 they destroyed the An- dasics, and in 1701 they penetrated as far South as the Cape Fear River, spread- Ing terror and desolation in their path. They warred with the Cfterokees, and al- most exterminated the Catawbas ; and when, in 1744, they ceded some of their tands to Virginia, they reserved the privilege of a war-path through the ceded do- main. In 1714 they were joined by the Tuscaroras of North Carolina, and since that time the confederacy has been known as the Six Nations. They uniformly took sides with the British, and entered into a compact with them against the French, in 1754. In the war of the Revolution, " The whole confederacy," saya De Witt Clinton, " except a little more than half the Oneidas, took up arms against ue. They hung like the scythe of Death upon the rear of our settlements, and their deeds are inscribed, with the scalping knife, and the- tomahawk, in charac- ters of blood, on the fields of Wyoming, and Cherry Valley, and en tbo banks ol Iha Mohawk." ALES, in Great Britain, was the father- land of WILLIAM FLOYD. His grand- father came hither from that country in the year 1680, and settled at Se- tauket, on Long Island. He was dis- tinguished for his wealth, and possessed great influence among his brother agriculturists. The subject of this memoir was born on the seventeenth day of December, 1734. His wealthy father gave him 64 NEW YORK. every opportunity for Acquiring useful knowledge. He had scarcely clos3estric- THOMAS JEtVERtiON. 181 intercourse and non-importation systems ; the guu-boat experiment;* the suppression of Burr's expedition down the Mississippi river ;t and the sending of an exploring company to the region of the Rocky mountains, and westward to the Pacific ocean.| Mr. Jefferson also in- troduced the practice of communicating with Congress by message, instead of by a personal address ; a prac- tice followed by all the Presidents since his time. The foreign relations of the United States during the whole time of his administration were in a very perplexing condition, yet he managed with so much firmness, that he kept other powers at bay, and highly exalted our Repub- lic among the family of nations. At the close of his second Presidential term, Mr. Jef- ferson retired to private life, and amid the quiet scenes of Monticello, he spent the remaining seventeen years of his being, in philosophical and agricultural pursuits. Through his instrumentality, a university was founded in 1818, at Charlottesville, near Monticello, of which he was rector until his death, and a liberal patron as far as his means would allow. Toward the close of his life, his pecuniary affairs be- came embarrassed, and he was obliged to sell his library, which Congress purchased for thirty thousand dollars. A short time previous to his death, he received permis- tive measures were intended so to aftect the commerce of Great Britain, as to bring that government to a fair treaty of amity and commerce. * Mr. Jefferson recommended the construction of a large number of gun-boats for the protection of American harbors. But they were unpopular with navy officers, and being liable to destruction by storms, the scheme, after a brief experi- ment, was abandoned. t Aaron Burr organized a military expedition, ostensibly to act against the re. public of Mexico ; but the belief being generally entertained that it was really in- tended to dissever the Union, and form a separate government in the valley of the Missisrippi, he was arrested, in 1807, on a charge of high treason. He was tried and acquitted. | This expedition was under the direction of Captains Lewis and Clarke, and they made a toilsome overland journey from the Mississippi to the mouth of the Columbia River. l82 VIRGINIA. sion from the Legislature of Virginia, to dispose of hii estate by lottery, to prevent its being sacrificed to pay his debts. He did not live to see it consummated. In the spring of 1826, his bodily infirmities greatly in- creased, and in June he was confined wholly to his bed. About the first of July he seemed free from disease, and his friends had hopes of his recovery ; but it was his own conviction that he should die, and he gave directions accordingly. On the third, he inquired the day of the month. On being told, he expressed an ardent desire to live until the next day, to breathe the air of the fiftieth anniversary of his country's independence. His wish was granted : and on the morning of the fourth, after having expressed his gratitude to his friends and servants for their care, he said with a distinct voice, " I resign myself to my God, and my child to my country."* These were his last words, and about noon on that glorious day he expired. It was a most remarkable coincidence that two of the committee (Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson) who drew up the Declaration of Independence ; who signed it ; who successively held the office of Chief Magistrate, should have died at nearly the. same hour on the fiftieth anniversary of that solemn act. He was a little over eighty-three years of age at the time of his death. Mr. Jefferson's manner was simple but dignified, arid his conversational powers were of the rarest value. He was exceedingly kind and benevo- lent, an indulgent master to his servants, liberal and * Mrs. Randolph, whom he tenderly loved. Just before he died, he handed her a morocco case, with a request that she would not open it until after his decease. It contained a poetical tribute to her virtues, and an epitaph for his tomb, if any should be placed upon it. He wished hia monument to be a small granite obelisk with this inscription : " Here was buried THOMAS JEFFEBSON, Author of the Declaration of Independence, Of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom, And Father of the University of Virginia." THOMAS JEFFERSON. 183 friendly to his neighbors. He possessed remarkable equanimity of temper, and it is said he was never seen in a passion.* His friendship was lasting and ardent ; and he was confiding and never distrustful. In religion he was a freethinker ; in morals, pure and unspotted ; in politics, patriotic, honest, ardent and be- nevolent. Respecting his political character, there was (and still is) a great diversity of opinion, and we are not yet far enough removed from the theatre of his acts to judge of them dispassionately and justly. His life was devoted to his country; the result of his acts whatever it may be, is a legacy to mankind. t During his presidency, Humboldt, the celebrated traveller, once visiting him, discovered in a newspaper upon his table, a vile and slanderous attack upon his character. " Why do you not hang the man!" asked Humboldt. " Put the paper in your pocket," said Jefferson, with a smile, " and on your return to your coun- try, if any one doubts the freedom of our press, show it to him, and tell him where y ju found it." ' Monticello, Mr. JaSferaon'8 Residence." r\) ENJAMIN HARRISON was born in Berkley, in Virginia, but the exact time of his birth is not certainly known. His ancestors were among the earlier settlers of that colony, having emigrated thither from England, in the year 1640. His paternal ancestor mar- ried in the family of the king's survey or- general, and this gave him an opportunity to select the most fertile regions of the State for settlement and improvement. Thus he laid the foundation of that large estate which is still in the hands of the family. 184 BENJAMIN HARRISON. 185 The subject of this sketch was placed by his father in the college of William and Mary, with a view of giving him a thoixmgh classical education. He was there at the time of his father's decease, which was sudden and aw- ful ;* and having had a dispute with one of the professors, he left the institution before the close of his term, and never returned to get his degree. Being the eldest of six sons, the management of the estate of his father de- volved on him at his decease, and, although then a minor, he performed his duties with great fidelity and skill. Young Harrison, at a very early age, became a mem- ber of the Virginia House of Burgesses," where his talents and pound judgment won for him the confidence and esteem of all parties. He was soon elected Speaker, and became one of the most influential men in that Assembly, where he occupied a seat during the greater part of his life. His great wealth, distinguished family connections, and personal worth, attracted the at; tention of the royal governor, who, desirous of retaining him on the side of the government, when the political agi- tations caused by the Stamp Act took place, offered him a seat in the executive council. But he had narrowly watched the gradual development of events, and he was convinced that a systematic scheme for enslaving the colo- nies was being matured by the home government. He therefore rejected the offer of the governor, boldly avowed his attachment to the republican cause, and joined with the patriotic burgesses of Virginia in their opposition to the oppressive acts of the British govemment.t Mr. Harrison was one of the first seven delegates from * This venerable man, and two of his four daughters, were instantly struck dead by lightning, during a violent thmider storm, in their mansion house at Berkley. t Even before the Stamp Act was proposed, some of the measures of the Brit- ish Parliament, affecting the interests of the American colonies, produced alarm, and the Virginia House of Assembly appointed a committee to draw up an addresj or petition to the king. Mr. Harrison was one of that committee. 186 VIRGINIA. Virginia to the Continental Congress of 1774, and he had the gratification of seeing Peyton Randolph, a very near relative, and his colleague from Virginia, elected presi- dent of that august body. Immediately after the return of the delegates to Vii-ginia, a convention met in Rich- mond, and all the acts of the General Congress were sanc- tioned by them. They re-elected Mr. Harrison, with others, a delegate to the Congress of 1775, which met on the tenth of May of that year. During the autumn, he was appointed by Congress one of a committee to visit the army under Washington, at Cambridge near Boston, and co-operate with the Commander-in-Chief in devising plans for future operations. Toward the close of 1775, he was appointed chairman of a committee to carry on foreign correspondence,* and in that capacity he labored with fidelity until the spring of 1777, when the necessity of such a committee no longer existed ; a special agent or commissioner having been sent to Europe, and a new committee on foreign affairs organized, with different du- ties ; and a secretary, who received a stipulated salary. Mr. Harrison was constantly employed in active ser- vice, and was always among the first in advocating deci- sive and energetic measures. He was warmly in favor of independence, and when that great question was under discussion in committee of the whole, he was in the chair. He voted for the Declaration of Independence, on the fourth of July, 1776, and signed it on the second of Au- gust following. In 1777, his private affairs, and also public matters in his own State, demanded his presence there, and he resigned his seat in Congress and returned home. * Congress deemed it essential to have a good understanding with the rival powers of Great Britain, and in order to have some communication with them (which could not be done by open diplomacy) this committee was established for the purpose, as expressed by the resolution constituting it, "to hold coi respondence with the friends of America in Great Britain, Ireland, a&i otket parts of the roorld." BENJAMIN HARRISON. 187 He was immediately elected a member of the House of Burgesses, and as soon as he took his seat, he was elevated to the Speaker's chair. That office he held until 1782, without inteiTuption. Having been appointed lieutenant of his native county, (which appointment constituted him commander of all the militia, with the title of colonel, and also presiding judge in all the civil courts of the county,) he was very active and efficient at the time the traitor Arnold invaded Vir- ginia, and afterward when Cornwallis made incursions into it. In 1782, Mr. Harrison was elected governor of the State, and he managed public affairs at that trying time, with great ability and firmness. He was governor two successive terms, and then retired to private life. But he was almost immediately elected a member of the House of Burgesses, and again resumed the Speaker's chair, by election. In the year 1790, he was nominated for governor, but he declined on account of the then incumbent having filled the chair only two years ; and he successfully promoted his re-election. Mr. Harrison was again elected governor in 1791, and the day after his election he invited a party of fiiends to dine with him. He had been suffering a good deal from gout in the stomach, but had nearly recovered. That night he experienced a relapse, and the next day death ended his sufferings. This event occurred in April, 1791. Mr. Harrison was married in early life, to a niece of Mrs. Washington, Miss Elizabeth Bassett, who lived but one year after her husband's decease. They had a nu- merous offspring, but only seven lived to mature age. One of these was the lamented and venerated William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States. HOMAS NELSON was bom at Yorktown, in Virginia, on the twenty-sixth of De- cember, 1738. His father, William Nel- son was a native of England, and emi- grated to America about the beginning of the last century. By prudence and industry he accumulated a large fortune, and held rank among the first families of Virginia. Thomas was the oldest son of his parents, and his father, in conformity to the fashion of the times among the opulent of that province, sent him to England at the age of fourteen years to be educated. He was placed in a 188 THOMAS NELSON, JR. f 189 distinguished private school not far from London, and af- ter completing a preparatory course of studies there, he went to Cambridge and was entered a member of Trinity College. He there enjoyed the private instructions of the celebrated Dr. Proteus, afterward the Bishop of Lon- don. He remained there, a close and diligent student intil 1761, when he returned to America. Mr. Nelson watched with much interest the movements of the British Parliament, during and after the time of the administration of Mr. Grenville,* and his sympathies were keenly alive in favor of the Americans and their cause. His first appearance in public life, was in 1774, when he was elected a member of the House of Burges- ses of Virginia, and there he took sides with the patriots. It was during that session, that the resolutions reproba- ting the " Boston Port Bill" caused Lord Dunmore, the royal governor of Virginia, to dissolve the Assembly. Eighty-nine of the members, among whom was Mr. Nelson, met the next day at a neighboring tavern, and formed an association far more efficient in throwing up the strong bulwarks of freedom, than was the regular As- sembly. Mr Nelson was a member of the first general convention of Virginia, which met at Williamsburgh in August, 1774, and elected delegates to the first Continen- tal Congress. In the spring of 1775, he was elected a member of another general convention, and there he dis- played such boldness of spirit, that he was looked upon as an efficient leader in the patriotic movements of the day. Much to the alarm of his friends, he proposed in that convention, the bold and almost treasonable measure of organizing the militia of the State for the defence of * George Grenville, the Prime Minister of England in 1765, was the author of th Stamp Act He is represented as an honest, but short-sighted politician, and the Stamp Act was doubtless more an error of his head than of his heart He saw an empty treasury, with large demands upon it waiting to be satisfied, and ho thought to replenish it by taxing the American colonies. 190 VIRGINIA. the chartered rights of the people. Patrick Henry, Rich- ard Henry Lee, and others, warmly seconded the pro- position, and it was adopted by the convention.* This act told Governor Dunmore and his royal master, in lan- guage that could not be mistaken, that Virginia was de- termined to exercise with freedom all the privileges guarantied to her by the British Constitution .t In August 1774, the Virginia convention elected Mr. Nelson a delegate to the General Congress, and he took his seat in September. There he was very active, and gave such entire satisfaction to his constituents that he was unanimously re-elected for 1776. Although he sel- dom took part in the debates, he was assiduous and effi- cient in committee duty. He was a zealous supporter of the proposition for independence, and voted for and signed the declaration thereof. In the spring of 1777, Mr. Nelson was seized with an alarming illness, which confined its attack chiefly to his head, and nearly deprived him, for a time, of his powers of memory. His friends urged him to withdraw from Congress for the purpose of recruiting his health, but he was loath to desert his post. He was, however, compelled to leave Philadelphia, and he returned to Virginia to re- cruit, with the hope and expectation of speedily resuming his seat in Congress. But his convalescence was slow, and when the convention met, he resigned his seat and retired to private life. But he was not suffered long to * Mr. Nelson was appointed to the command of one regiment, Patrick Henry of another, and Richard Henry Lee of another, each holding the rank of colonel. t It was not long before the wisdom of those military movements became ap- parent, for the royal governor of Virginia, as well as those of some of the other colonies, attempted to secure the powder and other munitions of war in the public magazines, under a secret order from the British ministry. This movement clearly divulged the premeditated design of disarming the people, and reducing them to slavery. The interesting movements in Virginia which immediately pre- ceded the abdication of the royal governor, and his escape on board a British ship- of- war, cannot be detailed within our brief space, aai we must refer the reader U the published history of the times. THOMAS NELSON, JR. 191 remain there, for the appearance of a British fleet off the coast of Virginia, and the contemplated attack of the enemy upon the almost defenceless seaboard, called him into the field at the head of the militia of the State.* The alarm soon subsided, for the fleet of Lord Howe, in- stead of landing a force upon Virginia, sailed up the Chesapeake bay for the purpose of making an attack, by land, upon Philadelphia. About this time, the financial embarrassments of Con- gress caused that body to make an appeal to the young men of the Union, of wealth and character, to aid in re cruiting the army, and otherwise assisting their country. Mr. Nelson entered heartily into the measure, and by the free use of his influence and purse, he raised a volunteer corps, who placed him at their head, and proceeded to join Washington at Philadelphia.t Their services were not called into requisition, and they returned home, bear- ing the honor of a vote of thanks from Congress. The physical activity which this expedition produced, had an excellent effect upon General Nelson's health, and in 1779, he consented to be again elected a delegate to* the Continental Congress. He took his seat in Febz-uary, but a second attack of his old complaint obliged him to leave it in April, and return home. In May, the predatory operations of the enemy upon the coast, in burning Portsmouth, and threatening Norfolk and other places, caused General Nelson again to resume the services of the field. He collected a large force and * Mr. Nelson's popularity at that time in Virginia was almost unbounded. Tk3 governor and council appointed him Brigadier General and Commander-in-Chief of the military forces of the State. t The sudden call of the militia from their homes left many families in embar- rassed circumstances, for a great part of the agricultural operations were sus- pended. General Nelson used the extent of his means in ameliorating the con- dition of their families, by having his own numerous servants till their land. Ha also distributed his money liberally among them, and thus more than a hundred families were kept from absolute want 192 VIRGINIA. proceeded to Yorktown, but the fleet of the enemy soon afterward returned to New- York. In 1781, Virginia became the chief theatre of warlike operations. The traitor Arnold, and General Phillips, with a small flotilla ravaged the coasts and ascended the rivers on predatoiy excursions ; and Cornwallis, fiom southern fields of strife, marched victoriously over the lower counties of the State. About this time, the term of Mr. Jefferson's official duties as Governor of the State expired, and General Nelson was elected his successor. This, however, did not drive him from the field, but as ooth governor and commander-in-chief of the militia of the State,* he placed himself at the head of a con- siderable force, and formed a junction with La Fayette, who had been sent there to check the northward progress of Cornwallis. By great personal exertions and. a liberal use of his own funds,t he succeeded in keeping his force together until the capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown. He headed a body of militia in the siege of that place, and although he owned a fine mansion in the town, he did not hesitate to bombard it.J In this as in * The active Colonel Tarleton, of the British army, made every effort to effect the capture of the legislature of Virginia. He succeeded in getting some into his custody, and so irregular became their meetings, in consequence of being fre- quently obliged to disperse and flee for personal safety, that they passed an act which placed the government of the State in the hands of the governor and his council. The council, too, being scattered. General Nelson had the whole re- sponsibility laid upon his shoulders, and in the exercise of his individual powers he was compelled, by the exigencies of the times, to do some things that were not strictly legal ; but the legislature subsequently legalized all his acts. t Mr. Nelson made many and great pecuniary sacrifices for his country. When, in 1780, the French fleet was hourly expected, Congress felt it highly necessary that provision should be made for them. But its credit was prostrate, and its calls upon the States were tardily responded to. Virginia proposed to raise two millions of dollars, and Mr. Nelson at once opened a subscription list But many wealthy men told Mr. Nelson that they would not contribute a penny on the secu- rity of the Commonwealth, but they would lend Aim all he wanted. He at once added his personal security. J During the siege he observed that while the Americans poured their shot and ehells thick and fast into every part of the town, they seemed carefully to avoid THOMAS NELSON, JR. 193 everything else, his patriotism was conspicuous, and General Washington in his official account of the siege, made honorable mention of the great services of Gover- nor Nelson and his militia. Within a month after the battle of Yorktown, Governor Nelson, finding his health declining, resigned his office and retired to private life. It was at this period, while endeavoring to recruit his health by quiet and repose, that he was charged with mal-practice, while governor, as alluded to in a preceding note. A full investigation took place, and the legislature, as before mentioned, legalized his acts, and they also acquitted him of all the charges preferred. He never again appeared in public life, but spent the remainder of his days alternately at his man- sion in Yorktown, and his estate at Offly. His health gradually declined until 1789, when, on the fourth day of January, his useful life closed. He was in the fifty- third year of his age. firing in the direction of his house. Governor Nelson inquired why his house waa spared, and was informed that it was out of personal regard for him. He at once begged them not to make any difference on that account, and at once a well di- rected fire was opened upon it At that moment a number of British officers oc- cupied it, and were at dinner enjoying a feast, and making merry with wine. The shots of the Americans entered the house, and killing two of the officers, effec- tually ended the conviviality of the party. RANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, a younger bro- thei' of Richard Henry Lee, was born in Westmoreland county, Virginia, on the fourteenth day of October, 1734 He was too young when his father died i^ to be sent abroad to be educated, but was favoi ed with every advantage in the way of learn ing which the colony afforded. He was placed at ap early age under the care of the Reverend Doctoj / O Craig, a Scotch clergyman of eminent piety and learn- ing. His excellent tutor not only educated his head but 194 FRANCIS LIGH'.FOOT LEE. 195 nis heart, and laid the foundation of character, upon which the noble superstructure, which his useful life ex hibited, was reared. On the return of Richard Henry Lee from England, whither he had been to acquire a thorough education, Francis, who was then just stepping from youth into man- hood, was deeply impressed with his various acquirements and polished manners, and adopted him as a model for imitation. He leaned upon his brother's judgment in all matters, and the sentiments which moved the one im- pelled the other to action. And when his brother with his sweet voice and persuasive manner, endeavored, by popular harangues, to arouse his friends and neighbors to a sense of the impending danger, which act after act of British oppression shadowed forth, Francis caught his spirit ; and when he was old enough to engage in the strife of politics, he was a full-fledged patriot, and with a " pure heart and clean hands" he espoused the cause of freedom. In 1765, Mr. Lee was elected a member of the Vir- ginia House of Burgesses, for Loudon county, while his brother was member of the same House, for Westmoreland county. By annual election, he continued a member of the Virginia Assembly for Loudon, until 1772, when he mar- ried the daughter of Colonel John Taylor, of Richmond, and moved to that city. He was at once elected a mem- ber for Richmond, and continued to represent that county until 1775, when the Virginia Convention elected him a delegate to the Continental Congress. During his whole term of service in the General Assembly of his State, he always acted in concert with the patriotic burgesses. Mr. Lee was. not a fluent speaker, and seldom engaged in debate ; but his sound judgment, unwavering principles, and persevering industry, made him a useful member of any legislative assembly. He sympathized with his bro- 196 VIRGINIA. ther in his yearnings for independence, and it was with great joy, that he voted for and signed the instrument which declared his country free. Mr. Lee continued in Congress, until 1779, and was the member, lor Virginia, of the committee which framed the Articles of Confederation. Early in the spring of 1779, he retired from Congress and returned home, with the intention of withdrawing wholly from public life, to enjoy those sweets of domestic quiet which he so ardently loved. But his fellow citizens were unwilling to dispense with his valuable services, and elected him a member of the Virginia Senate. He, however, remained there but for a brief season, and then bade adieu to public employ- ments. He could never again be induced to leave his do- mestic pleasures ; and he passed the remainder of his days in agricultural pursuits, and the enjoyments to be derived from reading and study, and the cheerful intercourse with friends. Possessed of ample wealth, he used it like a philosopher and a Christian in dispensing its blessings for the benefit of his country and his fellow men. In April, 1797, he was prostrated by an attack of pleu- risy, which terminated his life in the course of a few days. He was in the sixty-third year of his age. His wife was attacked by the same disease, and died a few days after the decease of her husband. ARTER BRAXTON was bom at Newington, in King and Queen's county, Virginia, on the tenth of September, 1736. His father, George Braxton, was a wealthy farmer, and highly esteemed among the planters of Vir- ginia. His mother was the daughter of Robert Carter, who, for a time, was president of the royal council for that State. They both died while Carter and his brother George were quite young. Carter Braxton was educated at the college of William and Mary, and at the age of nineteen years, on leaving that institution, he was married to Miss Judith Robinso* the daughter of a wealthy planter in Middlesex county. His own large fortune was considerably augmented by this marriage, and he was considered one of the wealthiest men in his native county.* In 1757, Mr. Braxton went to England, for the pur- pose of self-improvement and personal gratification. He remained there until 1760, when he returned to America, and soon afterward married the daughter of Mr. Corbin, the royal receiver-general of the customs of Virginia..! Notwithstanding the social position, and patrician con nections of Mr. Braxton, which would seem naturally to have attached him to the aristocracy, he was among the earliest in Virginia who raised the voice of patriotism. In 1765 he was a member of the House of Burgesses. How much earlier he appeared in public life is not cer- tsnnly known. He was present when Patrick Henry's * His wife died at the time of the birth of her second child, when she was not quite twenty-one years of age. t Mr. Braxton had a large family by his second wife. She was the mother of sixteen children. 197 198 VIRGINIA. resolutions respecting the Stamp Act, were introduced, and was one of those who, fired by the wonderful elo- quence of the orator on that occasion, boldly voted in sup- port of them.* Mr. Braxton was a member of the Virginia Conven- tion in 1769, when Lord Botetourt, one of the best dis- posed royal governors that ever ruled in Virginia, sud- denly dissolved it, in consequence of some acts therein which he deemed treasonable. Mr. Braxton was one of the membei-s who immediately retired to a private room and signed a non -importation agreement. Lord Bote- tourt died toward the close of 1770, and was succeeded by Lord Dunmore, a man of very defective judgment and unyielding disposition, whose unpopular management greatly increased the spirit of opposition to royal misrule in Virginia. During the interval between the death of Botetouit and the arrival of Dunmore, Mr. Braxton held the office of high sheriff of the county where he resided, but he refused to hold it under the new governor. He was one of the eighty -nine members of the Assembly who, on the dissolution thereof by Governor Dunmore, in the summer of 1774, recommended a general convention of the people of Virginia, to meet at Williamsburg. They did so, and elected delegates to the Continental Congress, which met at Philadelphia on the fourth of the month fol- lowing. Mr. Braxton was a member of that convention. When, in 1777, the attempt of Lord Dunmore to take * The eloquence of Henry on tnat occasion, fell like successive thunderbolts on the ears of the timid Assembly. " It was in the midst of the magnificent de- bate on those resolutions," says Mr. Wirt, " while he was descanting on the tyr- anny of the obnoxious Act, that he exclaimed, in a voice of thunder, and with the iook of a God; 'Ceesar had his Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell and George the Third' 'Treason I' cried the Speaker ' treason, treason,' echoed from every part of the House. It was one of those trying moments which are decisive of character. Henry faltered not for an instant j but rising to a loftier altitude, and fixing on the Speaker an eye of the most determined fire, he finished the sentence with the firmest emphasis ' and George the Third may profit h> their exvr.ple. If that be treason make the most of '.t.' " CARTER BRAXTON. 199 the ammunition from the public magazines on board the Fovvey ship-of-war, then lying off Williamsburg, excited the people to the highest pitch, and threatened open re- bellion and armed resistance,* Mr. Braxton, by a wise and prudent course, succeeded in quelling the disturbance, and in bringing about such an arrangement as quite satis fied the people, and probably saved the town from de struction.t Mr. Braxton was an active member of the last House of Burgesses that convened under royal authority in Vir- ginia, and he was a member of the committee of that As- sembly to whom was referred the difficulty that existed between it and Governor Dunraore. It was while this committee was in conference, that the tumult above al- luded to, and the abdication of the governor, took place, and this, of course, rendered further action quite unne- cessary ; for the governor refused to return to his palace, and the legislature, of course, would not go on board the vessel to meet him. By this abdication all power reverted to the people, and a Provincial Government was at once formed by a convention of the inhabitants, in which move- ment Mr. Braxton took a conspicuous part, and was chosen a representative in the newly formed Assembly. In December, 1775, he was chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Peyton Randolph. He took an active part in favor of independence, and voted for and signed the * Patrick Heiiry put himself at the head of a military company, and marched toward Williamsburg, to demand from Lord Dunmore the return of the powder His company rapidly augmented in numbers as he approached the town, and he entered it at the head of an overwhelming force. The governor, finding resistance rain, finally agreed to pay for the powder, and was then allowed quietly to retire with his family on board the ship-of-war in the river. t The captain of the Fowey had declared his intention to fire upon and destroy the town, if the governor should experience any personal violence, and he placed the broads: J of his vesel parallel with the shore, and shotted his guns for the purpose. 200 VIRGINIA. Declaration. He remained in Congress during only one session, and then resumed his seat in the Virginia Legisla- ture, where he continued with but little interruption, until 1785. In 1786, he was appointed a member of the coun- cil of the State, and held that station until 1791. He was elected to the same office in 1794, where he continued until within four days of his death. This event, which was occasioned by paralysis, occurred on the tenth day of October, 1797, when he was in the sixty-first year of his age. Mr. Braxton was not a brilliant man, but he was a tal- ented and veiy useful one. He possessed a highly cul- tivated mind, and an imagination of peculiar warmth and vigor, yet the crowning attribute of his character, was Bound judgment and remarkable prudence and fore- thought. These, in a movement like the American Revo- lution, were essential elements in the characters of those who were the prominent actors, and well was it for them and for posterity, that a large proportion of not only the Signers to the Declaration of Independence, but those who were called to act in the councils of the nation, pos- sessed these requisites to a remarkable degree. Whilo fiery spirits were needed to arouse, and bold, energetic men were necessary to control and guide, the success of that rebellion, so far as human ken can penetrate, de- pended upon the calm judgment and well directed pru- dence of a great body of the patriots. Of this class Mr. Braxton was a prominent one. His oratory, though not brilliant, was graceful and flowing, and it was persuasive in the highest degree. He always fixed the attention of his auditors and seldom failed to convince and lead them. In public, as well as in private life, his virtue and morality were above reproach, and as a public benefector, his death was widely lamented. v. HOOPER was born in Boston, i'ij-csachusetts, on the seventeenth day of June, 1742. His father was a Scotchman and a graduate of the University of Edinburgh. Soon after leaving that inst .ition, he emigrated to America, and fixed nis residence at Boston, where he was married. William was his first bo-.n, and he paid particular attention to his preparation for a collegiate course. He was placed un- der the charge of Mr. Lovell, then one of the most emi- nent instructors in the colony of Massachusetts Bay 9* 201 202 NORTH CAROLINA. Having completed his preparatory studies, William was entered a pupil at Harvard University, where he remained a close and industrious student for three years, and in 1760 he graduated with distinguished honors. His father designed him for the clerical profession, but as he evinced a decided preference for the bar, he was placed as a student in the office of the cele- brated James Otis. On the completion of his studies, perceiving that the profession was quite full of practicians in Massachusetts, he went to North Carolina, where many of his Scotch relations resided, and began business in that province in 1767. Mr. Hooper formed a circle of very polished acquain- tances there, and he soon became highly esteemed among the literary men of the province. He rose rapidly in his profession, and in a very short time he stood at the head of the bar in that region. He was greatly esteemed by the officers of the government, and his suc- cess in the management of several causes, in which the government was his client, gave him much influence. When, in 1770-'71, an insurrectionary movement wa. set on foot T jy a party of the people termed the " Regula tors,"* Mr. Hooper took sides with the government, and * This movement of the " Regulators" has been viewed in quite opposing lights ; one party regarding them as only a knot of low-minded malcontents, who had everything to gain and nothing to lose, and who hoped by getting up an excite- ment, to secure something for themselves in the general scramble. This was the phase in which they appeared to Mr. Hooper, and thus regarding them, he felt it his duty to oppose them and maintain good order in the State. Others viewed them as patriots, impelled to action by a strong sense of wrong and injustice, the author of which was. Governor Tryon, whose oppressive and cruel acts, even hii partisans couid aot deny. From all the lights we have upon the subject, we can- not but view tijft movement as a truly patriotic one, and kindred to those which subsequently took place in Massachusetts and Virginia, when Boston harbor was made a teapot, and Patrick Henry drove the royal governor Dunmore from the Province of Virginia. Governor Tryon was a tyrant of the darkest hue, for he commingled, with his oppressions, acts of the grossest immorality and wanton cru- elty. Although thf "Regulators" were men moving in the common walks of life, /and doubtless many vagabonds enrolled themselves among them), yet the rules WILLIAM HOOPER. 203 advised and assisted Governor Tryon in all his measures to suppress the rebellion. For this, he was branded as a royalist, and even when he openly advocated the cause of the patriots, he was for a time viewed with some sus- picion lest his professions, were uni'eal. But those who knew him best, knew well how strongly and purely burned ' tftat flame of patriotism which his zealous instructor, Mr. Otis, had lighted in his bosom ; and his consistent course in public life, attested his sincerity. Mr. Hooper began his legislative labors in 1773, when he was elected a member of the Provincial Assembly of North Carolina, for the town of Wilmington. The next year he was returffed a member for the county of Hano- ver ; and from his first entrance into public life, he sympa- thised with the oppressed. This sympathy led him early to oppose the court party in the state, and so vigorous was his opposition that . he was soon designated by the royalists as the leader of their enemies, and became very obnoxious to them. The proposition of Massachusetts for a General Congress was hailed with joy in North Caro- lina, and a convention of the people was called in the sum- mer of 1774, to take the matter into consideration. The convention met in Newbem, and after passing resolutions approving of the call, they appointed William Hooper their first delegate to the Continental Congress. Although younger than a large majoiity of the members, he was placed upon two of the most important committees in that body, whose business it was to arrange and propose mea- sures for action a duty which required talents and judg- ment of the highest order. Mr. Hooper was again elected to Congress in 1775, and was chairman of the committee which drew up an of government they adopted, the professions they made and the practices they exhibited, all bear the impress of genuine patriotism ; and we cannot but regard the blood abed on the occasion by the infamous Tryon, as the blood of the early martyri of our Revolution. 204 NORTH CAROLINA. address to the Assembly of the island of Jamaica. This address was from his pen, and was a clear and able expo- sition of the existing difficulties between Great Britain and her American Colonies. He was again returned a member in 1776,* and was in his seat in time to vote for the Declaration of Independence. He affixed his signa- ture to it, on the second of August following. He was actively engaged in Congress until March, 1777, when the derangment of his private affairs, and the safety of his family, caused him to ask for and obtain leave of absence, and he returned home. Like all the others who signed the Declaration of In- dependence, Mr. Hooper was peculiarly obnoxious to the British, and on all occasions, they used every means in their power to possess his person, harass his family, and destroy his estate. When the storm of the Revolution subsided, and the sun-light of peace beamed forth, he re- sumed the practice of his profession, and did not again appear in public life until 1786, when he was appointed by Congress one of the judges of the federal court es- tablished to adjudicate in the matter of a dispute about territorial jurisdiction, between Massachusetts and New York. The cause was finally settled by commissioners, and not brought befoi'e that court at all. Mr. Hooper now withdrew from public life, for he felt that a fatal disease was upon him. He died at Hillsbo rough, in October, 1790, aged forty-eight years. * He was at home for gome time during the spring of that year, attending two different Conventions that met in North Carolina, one at Hillsborough, the seat of the Provincial Congress, the other at Halifax. The Convention at the former place put forth an address to the people of Great Britain. This address was written by Mr. Hooper ; and we take occasion here to remark, that as early as the twentieth of May, 1775, a convention of the Committees of Safety of North Carolina met at Char- lotte Court House, in Mecklenburg county, and by a series of resolutions, declared themselves free and independent of the British Crown ; to the support of which they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. For an account of tins Mecklenburg Convention we refer the reader to a work of the writer, en- titled " 1776, or the War of Independence," page 155. .HE parents of JOSEPH HEWES were na- itives of Connecticut, and belonged to [the Society of Friends, or Quakers. Immediately after their marriage they moved to New Jersey, and purchased a small farm at Kingston, within a short distance of Princeton. It was there that Joseph was born, in the year- 1730. He was edu- cated at the college in Princeton, and at the close of hia studies he was apprenticed to a merchant in Philadelphia to qualify him for a commercial life. On the termination 205 206 NORTH CAROLINA. of his apprenticeship, his father furnished him with a little money capital, to which he added the less fleeting capital of a good reputation, and he commenced mercantile busi- ness on his own account. His business education had been thorough, and he pursued the labors of commerce with such skill and success, that in a few years he amassed un ample fortune. At the age of thirty years, Mr. Hewes moved to North Carolina, and settled in Edenton, which became his home for life. He entered into business there, and his upright- ness and honorable dealings soon won for him the pro- found esteem of the people. While yet a comparative stranger among them, they evinced their appreciation of his character, by electing him a member of the legislature of North Carolina, in 1763, and so faithfully did he dis- charge his duties, that they re-elected him several consecu- tive years. Mr. Hewes was among the earliest of the decided pa- triots of North Carolina, and used his influence in bring- ing about a Convention of the people of the State, to sec- ond the call of Massachusetts for a General Congress. The convention that met in the summer of 1774, elected him one of the delegates for that State, in the Continental Congress that met at Philadelphia in September follow- ing. He took his seat on the fourteenth of the month, and was immediately placed upon the committee appointed to draw up a Declaration of Rights. During that session he was actively engaged in maturing a plan for a general non-importation agreement throughout the Colonies, and he voted for and signed it. In this act his devoted patri- otism was manifest, for it struck a deadly blow at the business in which he was engaged. It was a great sacri- fice for him to make, yet he cheerfully laid it upon the altar of Freedom. Mr. Hewes was again elected a delegate to Congress in JOSEPH HEWES. 207 1775, and took his seat at the opening, on the tenth of May. He seldom engaged in debate, but as an unwearied committee-man, he performed signal service there. He was at the head of the naval committee, and was in ef- fect the first Secretary of the Navy of the United States. He was also a member of the " Secret Committee," to which we have before alluded in these memoirs. Mr. Hawes was a member of Congress for 1776, and North Carolina having early taken a decided stand in fa- vor of independence, his own views upon this question were fully sustained by his instructions, and he voted for, and signed the Declaration thereof. As soon, thereafter as the business of the session would admit, he returned home, for the troubles there demanded his presence, and his private affairs needed his attention to save his fortune from being scattered to the winds. He remained at home until July, 1779, when he resumed his seat in Con- gress. But his constitution, naturally weak, could not sup- port the arduous labors of his station, and his health failed so rapidly, that he was obliged to resign his seat. He left it on the twenty-ninth of October, 1779, and being too unwell to travel, he remained in Philadelphia. But he only lived eleven days after he left his seat in Con- gress. He died on the tenth of November following, in the fiftieth year of his age. He was the first and only one of all the signers of the Declaration, who died at the seat of Government, while attending to public duty, and his remains wers followed to the grave by Congress in a body and a larg? concourse of the citizens of Philadelphia. OHN PENN was born in the county of Carolina, Virginia, on the seventeenth of May, 1741. His father, Moses Penn, seemed to be uttei'ly neglectful of the intellectual cultivation of his son ; and, although he possessed the means of giv- ing him a good English education, he allowed him no other opportunity, than that which two or three years' tu- ition in a common county school in his neighborhood af- forded. Mr. Penn died when his son was about eighteen years of age, and left him the sole possessor of a compe- tent, though not large estate. It has been justly remarked, that the comparative ob- scurity in which the youth of Penn was passed, was, un- der the circumstances, a fortunate thing for him, for he had formed no associates with the gay and thoughtless, which, on his becoming sole master of an estate, would have led him into scenes of vice and dissipation, that might have proved his ruin. His mind, likewise, was possessed of much vigor, and he was naturally inclined to pursue an honorable and virtuous course. Young Penn was a relative of the celebrated Edmund Pendleton, and resided near him. That gentleman kindly gave him the free use of his extensive library, and this opportunity for acquiring knowledge was industriously improved. He resolved to qualify himself for the pro- fession o ' the law, and strong in his faith that he should be successful, he entered upon a course of legal study, guided and instructed :>nly by his own judgment and good common sense. He succeeded admirably, and at the age of twenty-one years, he was admitted to the bar, 208 JOHN PENN. 209 in his native county. His profession soon developed a native eloquence before inert and unsuspected, and by it, in connection with close application to business, he rapidly soared to eminence. His eloquence was of that sweet persuasive kind, which excites all the tender emotions of the soul, and possesses a controlling power at times irresistible. In 1774 Mr. Penn moved to North Carolina, and com- menced the practice of his profession there. So soon did his eminent abilities and decided patriotism become known there, that in 1775 he was elected a delegate from that state to the Continental Congress, and he took his seat in that body, in October of that year. He remained there three successive years, and faithfully discharged the duties of his high station. Acting in accordance with the instruction of his state convention, and the dictates of his own judgment and feelings, he voted for the Declaration of Independence, and joyfully placed his sign manual to the parchment. When, in 1780, Comwallis commenced his victorious march northward from Camden, in South Carolina,* the the western portion of North Carolina, which lay in his path, was almost defenceless. Mr. Penn was a resident of that portion of the State, and the legislature, unable to act efficiently in its collective capacity, conferred upon him almost absolute dictatorial powers, and allowed him to take such measures for the defence of the state, as the * After the defeat of the Americans under General Gates, at Sanders' Creek, near Camden, Lord Comwallis left Colonel Ferguson to keep the Americans in South Carolina at bay, and at once proceeded northward with the intention of invading Virginia. He had made arrangements for General Leslie to reinforce him in that State, by landing somewhere upon the shore of the Chesapeake. But while pursuing his march northward, and greatly harassed by bands of patriots, who had been set in motion by the active energies of Penn, he heard of tha defeat and death of Colonel Ferguson at King's Mountain, and he hastened back to South Carolina. nd thus almost defenceless Virginia was saved from a destruc- tive invasion. 210 NORTH CAROLINA. exigency of the case required. This was an extraordi- nary evidence of great public confidence, but in no parti- cular did he abuse the power thus conferred. He per formed his duties with admirable fidelity and skill and received the thanks of the Legislature, and the general benedictions of the people. Mr. Penn retired from public life in 1781, and resumed the practice of his profession. But he was again called out in 1784, when Robert Morris, the Treasurer of the Confederation, appointed him a Sub-Treasurer, or receiv- er of taxes for North Carolina. It was an office of honor and great trust, but unpopular in the extreme. Still he was willing to serve his country in any honorable capa- city where he could be useful, but he soon found that he would do but little that could in anywise conduce to the public weal, and after holding the office a few weeks, he resigned it, and resumed his private business. He did not again appear in public life, and in September, 1788, he died in the forty-seventh year of his age. The life of John Penn furnishes another example of the high attainments which may crown him who, though surrounded by adverse circumstances, by persevering industry cultivates mind and heart, and aims at an ex- alted mark of distinction. If young men would, like him, resolve to rise above the hindrance of adverse cir- cumstances and push boldly on toward some honorable goal, they would S3ldom fail to reach it, and the race would be found to I 3 far easier than they imagined it to oe, when girding foi its trial. DWARD RUTLEDGE was of Irish de- scent. His father, Doctor John Rut- ledge, emigrated from Ireland to America, in 1735, and settled at Charleston, South Carolina. He there commenced practice as a phy- sician, in which he was very suc- cessful, and in the course of a few years, he married a young lady by the name of Hert, who brought him, as a marriage dowry, an ample fortune. When she was 211 218 SOUTH CAROLINA. twenty-seven years of age, Dr. Rutledge died, and left her with a family of seven children, of whom Edward, the subject of this memoir, was the youngest. He was born at Charleston, in November, 1749. After receiving a good English and classical education, young Rutledge commenced the study of law with his elder brother, John, who was then a distinguished mem- ber of the Charleston bar. As a finishing stroke in his legal education, preparatory to his admission to the bar, he was sent to England at the age of twenty, and entered as a student at the Inner Temple, London,* where he had an opportunity of witnessing the forensic eloquence of those master spirits of the times, Mansfield, Wedder- bum, Thurlow, Dunning, Chatham and Camden. He returned to Charleston about the close of 1772, was ad- mitted to the bar, and commenced practice early in 1773. Mr. Rutledge, though young, had watched with much interest the political movements of the day, and when old enough to act as well as think, he took a decisive stand on the side of the patriots. This, together with the dis- tinguished talents which he manifested on his first appear- ance at the bar, drew toward him the attention of the public mind, when the Massachusetts Circular aroused the people to vigorous action. Although then only twenty-five years of age, the convention of South Caro- lina elected him a delegate to the first General Congress, and he was present at the opening, on the fifth of Sep- tember, 1774. There he was active and fearless, and re~ ceiving the entire approbation of his constituents, he was re-elected in 1775, and 1776 : and when, preparatory to * A number of Inns of Court, or sort of colleges for teaching the law were es- tablished in London at various times. The Temple (of which there were three Societies, namely, the Inner, the Middle, and the Outer) was originally founded, and the Temple Church b-oilt, by the Knights Templar, in the reign of Henry II, 1185. The Inner and Middle Temple were made Inns of Law In the reign of Ed- ward III., about 1340 ; tho Outer, not until the reign of Elizabeth, about 1560. See Stowes Survey. EDWARD RUTLEDGE. 213 the consideration of the subject of absolute independence, Congress, by resolution, recommended the several colo- nies to form permanent governments, Mr. Rutledge was associated with Richard Henry Lee and John Adams, in preparing the prefatory preamble to the recommenda- tion. He was warmly in favor of independence, and fearlessly voted for the Declaration, notwithstanding there were large numbers of people in his State opposed to it, some through timidity, some through self-interest, and some through decided attachment to the royal cause. When, during the summer of 1776, Lord Howe, came commissioned to prosecute the war or negotiate for peace, Mr. Rutledge was appointed one of a committee with Dr. Franklin and John Adams, to meet him in conference upon Staten Island. The commissioners were instructed not to enter upon negotiations for peace, except in the capacity of representatives of free states, and having independence as a basis. As Lord Howe could not thus receive them, or listen to such proposals, the conference, as was anticipated, failed to produce any important results. Partly on account of ill health, and partly because of the disturbed condition of his State, he withdrew from Congress in 1777, but was returned again in 1779. In the interval he was actively engaged at home in measures for the defence of the State, and to repel invasion. Mr. Rutledge took up arms and was placed at the head of a corps of artillery. In 1780, while Charleston was invested by the enemy, be was active in affording succor to General Lincoln, then within the besieged city. In one of these operations, in attempting to throw troops into the city, he was taken prisoner, and was afterward sent captive to St. Augustine in Florida.* He remained * After the fall of Charleston, and the capture of Lincoln and the American army, Cornwallis became fearful of the influence of many citizens, and finally 214 SOUTH CAROLINA. a prisoner nearly a year, and was then exchanged and set at liberty. It was a gloomy time for the patriots, and the stoutest hearts began to quail. The bulk of the southern army, under Lincoln, had been made prisoners. But still hope did not quite expire, and the successes of Greene, and the victories of Marion and Sumpter, reani- mated the fainting hearts of the republicans. After the British evacuated Charleston in 1781, Mr. Rutledge retii-ed, and resumed the practice of his profes sion ; and for about seventeen years, his time was alter- nately employed in the duties of his business and service in the Legislature of his State. In the latter capacity he uniformly opposed every proposition for extending the evils of slavery.* In 1794, Mr. Rutledge was elected to the United States Senate, to supply the vacancy caused by the resignation of Charles Coteswoith Pinckney; and in 1798, he was elected Governor of his native State. But he did not live to serve out his official term. He had suffered much from hereditary gout, and on returning to Charleston after the adjournment of the Legislature, which sat at Columbia, he caught a severe cold, that brought on a paroxysm of his disease and terminated his life on the twenty -third day of January, in the year 1800. He was in the sixtieth year of his age. adopted a most cowardly measure. By his order, the Lieutenant Governor, (Gadsden,) most of the civil and military officers, and some others of the friends of the republicans, of character, were taken out of their beds and houses by armed parties, and collected at tne Exchange, when they were conveyed on board a guard-ship, and transported to St. Augustine. Mr. Rutledge was one of the num- ber. His mother did not escape the persecutions of their masters. Cornwallis also feared her talents and influence, and compelled her to leave her country residence and move into the city, where she would be more directly under the vigilant eye of his minions. * As a means of relief to those who, during the war, had lost a great many slaves, and were pressed for payment by those of whom they were purchased on credit, it was proposed to import a sufficient number, either from the West Indies, or from Africa direct, to make up the decency. All men evil propositions met no favor from Edward Rutledge. (tes / > ^-t&rS HOMAS HAYWARD was born in St. Luke parish, South Carolina, in the year 1746. His father, Colonel Dame Hay- ward was one of the wealthiest planters in the Province, and fully appreciating the advantages of education, he placed his son Thomas in the best classical school in that region. He was a thoughtful and industrious student; and so readily did he master the Latin, that he read with fluency the works of the Roman historians and poets, in that language. 215 216 SOUTH CAROLINA. As soon as young Hayward had completed his prepa- ratory studies, he entered as a student, the law office of Mr. Parsons, a barrister of considerable eminence in South Carolina, at that time. Having accomplished his task well, his fatbfcr sent him to England at the age of about twenty years, to finish his legal education there. He entered one of the Inns of court at the Temple, and there he prosecuted his studies with as much zeal as if poverty had been his inheritance, and the bread of his future ex- istence depended upon his personal exertion when he should enter the profession. This zeal brought him in- valuable treasures in the form of a well-stored mind, and he left that intellectual retreat, a polished lawyer. While in England, Mr. Hayward, became deeply im- pressed with the injustice of the prevailing feeling there, that a colonial British subject was quite inferior (and should be treated as such) to the native born English- man. Such was the sentiment of society, and upon this sentiment, the government seemed to act by appointing to office in the colonies few but natives of the British Islands ; and in its carelessness of the rights and privi- leges of the colonists, as if they were not equally pi-otec- v ted by the broad aegis of the British Constitution. These things, even at that early age, alienated his affection from Jhe mother country, and he returned to his native land with mortified feelings, and a heartfelt desire to free it from the bondage of trans-atlantic rule. Before returning to America, Mr. Hayward visited '-evetfal of the states of Europe, and instead of being dazzled by the pomp and trappings of royalty and its minions, he looked upon them all as the costly and blood- stained fruit of wrong and oppression ; and he saw in the toiling, down-trodden millions of the producers, such a contrast to the happy laborers of his own dear land, that he felt an affection for his country of the tendereet nature, \ THOMAS HAYWARD, JR. 217 and his patriotism took deep root, even while he stood before the throne of royal rulers. Soon after his return, Mr. Hayward entered upon the practice of his profession. He married a most amiable and accomplished young lady, named Matthews ; and with a sedateness and energy of purpose, rare at his age, he commenced his career of usefulness. He was among the earliest in South Carolina who resisted the oppressive measures of the Home .Government, and from the pas- sage of the Stamp Act, until the battle of Lexington, he consistently and zealously promoted the patriot cause, ever repudiating the degrading terms of conciliation absolute submission which the British Government demanded. The openness and manly frankness with which he es poused the patriot cause, made him a leader in the revo- lutionary movements in that Province, and he was placed in the first General Assembly, that organized after the abdication of the colonial governor. He was also appoint- ed a member of the first " Committee of Safety" there. In 1775, Mr. Hayward was chosen a delegate to the General Congress. He at first modestly declined the honor, but being waited upon personally by a deputation of the people, he complied, and took his seat early in 1776. He warmly supported Mr. Lee's motion for ab- solution from British rule, when brought forward in June of that yearf and he joyfully voted for and signed the Declaration of Independence. He remained in Con- gress until 1778, when he accepted the appointment of Judge of the criminal and civil courts of South Carolina. This acceptance and his previous offence in signing the Declaration, made him very obnoxious to the enemy, and great efforts were made, through the treacherous tones, to get possession of his person.* * The position he held was one of great danger and trial, and nothing but the promptings of pure patriotism could have kept him there, for hit pecuniary means 10 218 SOUTH CAROLINA. Mr. Hayward held a military commission while he was Judge, and he was in active service, with Edward Rutledge, in the skirmish with the enemy at Beaufort, in 1780. In that skirmish he received a gun-shot wound, which scarred him for life. When, soon after, Charles- ton was captured by Sir Henry Clinton and Admiral Arbuthnot, Mr. Hayward was taken prisoner, and it was generally believed that he would be excluded from the terms of capitulation, as an arch traitor. This, however, was not the case, and he was sent, with Mr. Rutledge and others, to St. Augustine, in Florida, where he re- mained nearly a year.* On his return to South Carolina, Judge Hayward re- sumed his seat upon the bench, and was actively engaged in his judicial duties until 1798. He was a member of the convention of his state, which framed its constitution, in 1790. Having again married an amiable lady, by the name of Savage, he coveted the retirement and happiness of domestic life, from which he had been so long an ex- ile, and in 1799, he withdrew entirely from public life, and in the bosom of his family he bore the honor, which a nation's gratitude conferred, and there calmly awaited the summons for another world. His death took place iu March, 1809, when he was sixty-three years of age. were such, that he might have lived at ease in the retiracy of private life. At tho time he was appointed Judge, the enemy were in force at Charleston and vicinity. But this had no effect upon him, for he tried, and caused to be executed, virtually within sight of the British lines, several persons who were found guilty of treason * While confined prisoner there, a detachment of British soldiers were sent to his plantation, and carried off all his slaves. They were sent to Jamaica, and sold there to the sugar planters. He recovered some of them afterward, but about one hundred and thirty, valued at fifty thousand dollars, were a total loss Iwaddition to this loss of property, he met with another, in the meanwhile, a thou- sand times more afflictive and irreparable that of the affectionate wife of his boeom. HOMAS LYNCH, JUNIOR, was born in Prince George's parish, upon the North Santee river, South Carolina, on the fifth day of August, 1749. He was a descendant of an ancient Austrian family, natives of the town of Lintz. A branch of the family moved to England, and settled in the county of Kent. Thence they went to Connaught in Ireland, and it was from that place that the great - grandfather of our subject emigrated to America and settled in South Carolina, a short time after its first settlement. He pr- 219 220 SOUTH CAROLINA. chased large tracts of land, and when they fell into the possession of the father of Thomas Lynch, junior, they possessed great value, and gave him a splendid fortune. He was a man of greai influence, and having early es- poused the cause of the colonists, he was elected a dele- gate to the first Continental Congress which met in Phil- adelphia, in 1774. He continued a member of that body until his death. Thomas Lynch, junior, was sent to England, to be edu- cated, at the age of thirteen years. He had previously received a good academical education, at Georgetown, in South Carolina. In England he was placed in Eton School, that seminary of preparation for higher instruc- tion, in which, for a long period, many eminent men were educated. After completing his preparatory studies there, he entered the University of Cambridge, where he took his degree, and he left the institution bearing the highest respect of the tutors, because of his studious and virtuous career while there. On leaving Cambridge, young Lynch entered upon the study of the law in one of the inns of the Temple, where, by close application, he became a finished lawyer at the close of his studies. He there became acquainted with some of the leading politicians of the day, and acquired a pretty thorough knowledge of the movements of the government. And when he heard the murmur of dis- content come from his native land, and listened to the haughty tone of British statesmen, when speaking of the colonies, he felt an irrepressible desire to return home. He obtained permission of his father, and reached South Carolina in 1772. He soon afterward married a beauti- ful young lady, named Shu brick, between whom and himself, a mutual attachment had existed from childhood. This tender relation and the possession of an ample for- tune, were calculated to wed him to - * It is said that after the Declaration was signed, a deep solemnity rested upon nil present, and profound silence pervaded the assembly. It was at length broken by Dr. Franklin, who remarked, " Gentlemen, we must now all hang together, or we ihall most assuredly Jiang separately." t Washington, then encamped upon York Island, received a copy of the Decla- ration on the ninth of July, and at six o'clock that evening the regimen:s of his army were paraded, and the document was read aloud in the hearing of them all- It was greeted with the most hearty demonstrations of joy and applause. I Samuel Adams, in a letter to Richard Henry Lee, dated at " Philadelphia, July 15th, 1776," said, " Our Declaration of Independence has given vigor to the spirit* of the people. Had this decisive measure been taken nine months ago, it is my opinion that Canada would by this time have been in our hands. But what doe* it avail to find fault with what is past t Let us do better for the future." 270 THE DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE mission, in the exercise of their authority, it was con- sidered as the act of the Sovereign. I. He has refused Ms assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. After the conclusion of a general peace in 1763, between Great Britain and the states of Europe with which she had been at war for seven long years, the con- duct of the government toward its American colonies was very materially altered. Whether it arose from avarice, or from a jealousy of the power of the colonies so signally displayed during the war just closed, or a fear that a knowledge of that power would make the colonists aspire to political independence, it is not easy to deter- mine. It is probable that these several causes com- bined engendered those acts of direct and indirect oppression, which finally impelled the colonies to open rebellion. The growing commercial importance of the colonies, and their rapidly accumulating wealth and more rapid increase of population, required new laws to be enacted, from time to time, to meet the exigencies which these natural increments produced. The colonial assemblies made several enactments touching their commercial ope- rations, the emission of a colonial currency, and colonial representation in the imperial parliament, all of which would have been highly beneficial to the colonies, and not at all prejudicial to the best interests of Great Britain. But the jealousies of weak or wicked ministers, excited by the still stronger jealousies of colonial governors, inter- posed between the King and his American subjects, and to these laws, so " wholesome and necessary for the pub- lic good," he refused his royal assent. When the excite- ments produced by the " Stamp Act " resulted in popular tumults, ani publidproperty was destroyed, and royal autho- HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 271 lity was defied, the home government, through Secretary Conway, informed the Americans that these things should be overlooked, provided the assemblies should, by appro- priations, make full compensation for all losses thus sus- tained. This requisition the assemblies complied with ; but in Massachusetts, where most of the indemnification was to be made, the legislature, in authorizing the pay- ment thereof, gi*anted free pardon to all concerned in the tumults, desiring thus to test the sincerity of the proposi- tion of the Crown to forgive the offenders. This act was " wholesome and necessary for the public good," for it would have produced quiet, and a return of confidence in the promises of the King. But the King and his council disallowed the act he " refused his assent." IT. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of imme- diate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained ; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. In 1764, the assembly of New York were desirous of taking measures to conciliate the Indian tribes, particu- larly the Six Nations, and to attach them firmly to the British colonies. To this measure Governor Golden lent his cheerful assent, privately ; but representations having been made to the King, by an agent of Lord Bute, then travelling in the colonies, that the ulterior design was to add new strength to the physical power of the colonists for some future action inimical to their dependence upon Great Britain, the monarch sent instructions to all his governors to desist from such alliances, or to suspend their operations until his assent should be given. With this order, the matter rested, for then (as was doubtless his intention) he "utterly neglected to attend to them." The assembly of Massachusetts, irf 1770, passed a law 272 THE DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE for taxing the commissioners of customs and other offi cers of the Crown, the same as other citizens. Of this they complained to the King, and he sent instructions tc Governor Hutchinson to assent to no tax bill of this kind, without first obtaining the royal consent. These instructions were in violation of the expressed power of the charter of Massachusetts ; and the assembly, by reso- lution, declared " that for the Governor to withhold his assent to bills, merely by force of his instructions, is vacating the chaiter, giving instructions the force of law within the province." Neither the assembly nor the Governor would yield, and no tax bill was passed that session. The assembly was prorogued until September, and then again until April, 1772 ; and all that while laws of pressing importance were virtually annulled the King " utterly neglected to attend to them." III. He has refused to pass otJier laws for the accommoda- tion of large districts of people unless those people would relinquith the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. In the spring of 1774, Parliament passed a bill, by which the free system of English government in Canada, or, as it was called, the " province of Quebec," was radi- cally changed. Instead of the popular representative sys- tem by a colonial assembly, as obtained in the other Anglo American colonies, the government was vested in a Legis- lative council, having ah 1 power, except that of levying taxes. The members of the council were appointed by the crown, the tenure of their office depending upon the will of the King. Thus the people were deprived of the representative privilege. A large majority of the in- habitants were French Roman Catholics, and as the same act established that religion in the province, they consid- HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 273 ered this a sufficient equivalent for the political privilege that had been taken away from them. But " large districts" of people of English descent bordering on Nova Scotia, felt this act to be a grievous burden, for they had ever been taught that the right of representation was the dear- est prerogative conferred by the Magna Charta of Great Britain. They therefore sent strong remonstrances to parliament, and humble petitions to the King, to restore them this right. But not only were their remonstrances and petitions unheeded, but their efforts to procure the passage of laws by the Legislative Council touching their commercial regulations with Nova Scotia, were fruitless, and they were plainly told by Governor Carleton (under instructions from the Secretary for Foreign Affairs) that no such laws should be passed until they should cease their clamors for representation, and quietly submit to the administration of the new laws. But, like their more southern neighbors, they could riot consent to sacrifice a principle, even upon the stern demands of hard neces- sity, and they were obliged to forego the advantages which asked-for enactments would have given. The right which they claimed, was a right guarantied by the British con- stitution, and was " inestimable to them." But as the right was "formidable to tyrants," and as the King, by his sanction of the destruction of free English laws in Canada had dared to become such, they wei'e obliged to submit, or else " relinquish the right of representation in the Leg- islature." About the same time, a bill was passed "For the better regulating the government in the province of Massachu- setts Bay." This bill provide" 3 for an alteration in the constitution of that province, as it stood upon the charter of William III. to do away with the popular elections which decided everything in that colony ; to take away the executive power out of the hands of the growing de 12* 274 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE mocratic party ; and to vest the nominations of the coun- cil, of the judges, and of magistrates of all kinds, inclu- ding sheriffs, in the Crown, and in some cases in the King's governor. This act deprived the people of free "representation in the legislature ;" and when in the ex- ercise of their rights, and on the refusal of the Governor to issue warrants for the election of members of Assembly, in accordance with the provisions of their charter before altered, they called a convention, their expressed wishes, for the passage of " laws for the accommodation of large districts of people" were entirely disregarded. They were refused the passage of necessaiy laws, unless they would quietly " relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them, and formi- dable to tyrants only." IV. He has called together legislative bodies at places unu- sual, uncomfortable, and distant from the repository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with Jiis measures. The inhabitants of Boston became the special objects of ministerial vengeance, after the news of the destruc- tion of tea in that harbor reached England. That event occurred on the evening of the sixteenth of December, 1773, and in February following the matter was laid before Parliament. It was at once determined to punish severely the people of that refractory town ; and accord- ingly Lord North, then prime minister, presented a bill which provided for the total annihilation of the trade and commerce of Boston, and the removal of the courts, offi- cers of customs, &c., therefrom. This was the famous Boston Port Bill," and it went into effect on the first of June following. General Gage, who had been appointed governor of the province arrived at Boston about the last of May, and HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 275 at once proceeded, according to his instructions to remove the courts, &c., from that town. He also adjourned the assembly, on the thirty-first of May, to meet on the seventh of June, at Salem. But he retained all the public records in Boston, so that if the members of the assembly had been so disposed they could not have referred to them. Military power ruled there two regiments of British troops being encamped upon the Commons. The patri- otic assembly, although " distant from the repository of the public records," and in a place extremely "uncomfort- able," were not "fatigued into compliance with his mea- sures," but, in spite of the Governor, they elected delegates to a general Congress. They adopted various other measures for the public good, and then adjourned. V. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. In January, 1768, the assembly of Massachusetts addressed a circular to all the other colonies, asking their co-operation with them in asserting and maintaining the principle that Great Britain had no right to tax the colo- nies without their consent. This was a bold measure, and more than all others displeased the British ministry. As soon as intelligence of this proceeding reached the ministry, Lord Hillsborough, the secretary for foreign affairs, was directed to send a letter to Bernard, the Governor of Massachusetts, in which it was declared, that " his majesty considers this step as evidently tending to create unwarrantable combinations, to excite unjustifi- able opposition to the constitutional authority of parlia- ment ;" and then he added, " It is the King's pleasure, that as soon as the general court is again assembled, at the time prescribed by the charter, you require of the house of representatives, in his majesty's name, to rescind 276 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE the resolutions which gave birth to the circular letter from the speaker, and to declare their disapprobation of, and dissent to, that rash and hasty proceeding. If the new assembly should refuse to comply with his majesty's reasonable expectations, it is the King's pleasure that you should immediately dissolve them." In accordance with his instructions, Governor Bernard required the assembly to rescind the resolutions. To this requisition, the house replied : " If the votes of this house are to be controlled by the direction of a minister, we have left us but a vain semblance of liberty. "We hare now only to inform you that this house have voted not to rescind, and, that on a division on the question, there were ninety-two yeas and seventeen nays." The Governor at once proceeded to dissolve the assembly ; but before the act was accomplished, that body had prepared a list of serious accusations against him, and a petition to the King for his removal. Counter circulars were sent to the several colonies, warning them to beware imitating the factious and rebellious conduct of Massachusetts ; but they entirely failed to produce the intended effect, and the as- semblies in several of the colonies were dissolved by the respective governors. In 1769, the assemblies of Virginia and North Caro Una were dissolved by their governors, for adopting reso- lutions boldly denying the right of the King and parliament to tax the colonies to remove offenders out of the coun- try for trial and other acts which infringed upon the sacred rights of the people. In 1774, when the various colonial assemblies enter tained the proposition for a general congress, they wero nearly all dissolved by the respective governors, to pre- vent the adoption of the scheme and the election of dele- gates to that national council. But the people assembled in popular conventions, assumed legislative powers, and HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 2V7 sleeted their delegates to a General Congress, in spite of the efforts of royal minions to restrain them. These disso- lutions of" representative houses repeatedly" only tended to inflame the minds of the people and widen the breach between them and their rulers. VI. He has refused, for a longtime 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 meantime, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within. Soon after the repeal of the Stamp Act, in 17G7, the col- onists were again alarmed at the expressed intention of ministers to enforce a new clause in the Mutiny Act. This act granted power to every officer, upon obtaining a war- rant from a justice, to break into any house by day or by night, in search of deserters. The new clause alluded to provided that the troops sent out from England should be furnished with quarters, beer, salt and vinegar, at the ex- pense of the colonies. The people justly regarded this as disguised taxation, and opposed it as a violation of the same principles as those upon which the Stamp Act tram- pled. Besides, the soldiers were insolent and overbearing toward the citizens ; they were known to be quartered here for the purpose of abridging and subduing the inde- pendent actions of the people, and the supplies demanded were to be drawn from the very men whom they came tc injure and oppress. The Assembly of New York refused to make the re- quire'd provisions for the troops, and in consequence of this disobedience of royal orders, its legislative functions were entirely suspended. The Assembly was prohibited from making any bill, order, resolution or vote, except for Adjourning, or choosing a speaker, until the requirements 278 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE were complied with. Consequently "the legislative pow- ers, incapable of annihilation, 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." Thus matters stood for several months. The Assembly of Massachusetts, also, after its dissolution by the governor in July, 1768, was not permitted to meet again until the last Wednesday of May, 1769, and then they found the state house surrounded by a military guard, with cannon pointed directly at the place wherein they met for deliberation. Thus restricted in the free exer- cise of their functions as legislators, the power they had possessed " returned to the people, " because it was an- nulled in them by restraining their freedom of action VII. He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states for that purpose, obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the con- ditions of new appropriations of lands. John, Earl of Bute, was the pupil and favorite com- panion of George III. while he was yet Prince of Wales, and when, on the sudden death of his grandfather, George II.,he became King, he looked to this nobleman for council and advice. He was one of his first cabinet, and so com- pletely did he influence the mind of the King, at the begin- ning of his reign, that those who wished for place or pre- ferment, first made their suits to the Earl of Bute. Among other measures advised by Bute, was the employ- ment of men, in secret service, in different parts of the realm, to keep th.3 King advised of all that in any way ejected the power, stability and glory of the crown. A.n agent of this kind was Bent by Bute to America HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 279 and the glowing account which he gave of the rapid growth of the colonists in wealth and number, after the peace of 1763, and the great influx of German immigrants, caused Bute to advise his royal master to look well to those things, lest a spirit of independence should grow side by side with the increase of power, which would finally re- fuse to acknowledge a distant sovereignty, and defy the authority of the British crown. Some of the colonial gov- ernors within whose jurisdiction immigrants had been most freely settled, encouraged this idea, for they found the Grerman people, in general, strongly imbued with princi- ples of political freedom. Added to this innate character- istic, they remembered the German battle-fields where George II., in his efforts to maintain the Electorate of Hanover, had been the cause of the offering of whole hec- atombs of their countrymen upon the altar of the Moloch, War. George III . therefore, at the instigation of Bute, took mea- sures to arrest any influence which this Germanic leaven might exert, and he cast obstacles in the way of further immigration to any extent. He also became jealous of the tendency to immigration to the more salubrious states, es- pecially Roman Catholic Maryland, which the French of Canada exhibited, fearing their ancient animosities might, by contact with the English colonies, weaken the loyalty of the latter. The colonists on the other hand, joyfully hailed the ap- proach of the German immigrants, and extended the right hand of fellowship to their now peaceful French brethren. Both interest and policy dictated this course toward the immigrant, and the colonial assemblies adopted various measures to encourage their migration hither. Unwilling to excite alarm among the colonists the King endeavored to thwart the operation of these measures by instructing his governors to refuse their assent to many of those enact- 280 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE ments until the royal consent should be obtained. Such refusals were made under various pretences, and there was so much delay in the administration of the naturalization laws, through which alone foreigners could hold lands in fee, and enjoy othei* privileges, that immigration in a mea- sure ceased. The easy condition too, upon which lands on the frontiers were conveyed to foreigners, were so changed, that little inducement was held out to them to leave their native country ; and the bright prospect of the valley of the Ohio peopled and cultivated, which appeared at the peace of '63, faded away, and the gloom of the interminable for- est alone met the eye. So much did these obstructions check immigration, that when the war of the Revolution broke out, the current had quite ceased to flow hitherwai'd. Bute, however, was right in his conjecture about the inde- pendent spirit which the German immigrants would evince, if occasion should offer, for when the Revolution broke forth, almost the entire German population, numbering about two hundred thousand, took side with the patriots. VIII. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by re- fusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. Under the act already referred to, " For the better regu- lation of the government of Massachusetts Bay," adopted in March, 1774, the judiciary powers were taken out of the hands of the people. The judges were appointed by the CMOWII, were subject to its will, and depended upon it for the emoluments of office. These emoluments, too, were paid to them out of moneys extracted from the people of the colonies by the "Commissioners of Cus- toms," in the form of duties ; and, therefore, the judges were more obnoxious to the hate and contempt of the colonists. They were also, by this act, deprived, in most cases, of the benefits of trial by jury, and the lives and property of the people were placed in the custody of the HI8TORICALI If CONSIDERED. 281 myrmidons of royalty. The " administration of justice " was effectually obstructed, and the very lights which the people of England so manfully asserted, and successfully defended in the revolution of 1688, were trampled under foot. In other colonies, too, the administration of justice was so obstructed by the interference of the royal govern- ors, that it had but the semblance of existence left. The people tried every honorable means, by petitions to the King, addresses to the parliament, and votes in legislative assemblies and in popular conventions, to have laws passed, either in the provincial legislature, or in the su- preme national council, for " establishing judiciary pow- ers;" but their efforts were ineffectual. Power stood in the place of right, and exercised authoiity ; and under the goadings of a system of wrong and oppression, the people resorted to arms to " right themselves by abol- ishing the forms," and in prostrating the power of a monarchy become odious though the mal-administration of weak or wicked ministers. IX. He lias made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, aud the amount and payment pf their salaries. In 1773, an act was passed by the British Parliament, on motion of Lord North, to make the governors and judges quite independent of those they governed, by paying their salaries directly from the National Treasury, instead of making them dependent upon the appropria- tions of the Colonial Assemblies for that purpose. This measure, making the public servants in the colonies wholly dependent upon the Crown for support, and inde- pendent of the people, was calculated to make them pliant instruments in the hands of their masters ready at all times to do the bidding of the King and his coun- cil The various Colonial Assemblies strongly protested 282 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE against the measure ; and out of the excitement and just alarm which followed, that mighty lever of the revolution, the system of Committees of Correspondence, was brought forth and vigorously applied. Early in 1774, the Massachusetts Assembly required the judges in that colony to state explicitly whether they intended to receive their salaries from the Crown. Chief Justice Oliver declared that to be his intention, and the Assembly proceeded at once to impeach him. By a vote of ninety-six to nine, he was declared to be obnoxious to the people of the colony, and a petition to the Governor for his removal was adopted. The Governor refused compliance with this expressed will of the people, and this was presumptive evidence that the Governor, too, intended to receive his salary from the Crown. This matter produced much irritation, and just cause for bitter complaint on the part of the colonists. The Governor assuming the right to keep a judge in his seat, contrary to the wishes of the people, and the Crown paying his salary, made him dependent upon the will of the King alone for the tenure of his office, and the amount and payment of his emoluments." X. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance. The passage of the Stamp Act, in 1765, called for the establishment of a new officer in every sea-port town, who was entitled Stamp Master. It was his business to dis- pose of the stamps and collect the revenue accruing from the same. In 1766, an act was passed for imposing rates and duties, payable in the colonies. This act called for the creation of collectors of the customs, and " swarms of offi- cers " were brought into being. HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 283 In 1767 an act was adopted "to enable his majesty to put the customs, and other duties in America, under the management of commissioners," &c., and a board of commissioners was at once erected. The members were paid high salaries, besides having many perquisites all of which were paid by the colonists. In 1768 Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty courts were established on a new model, and an increase in the num- ber of officers was made ; and thus, by act after act, each receiving the royal signature, were " sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance." XI. He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. After the " Peace of Paris," in 1764, when, by treaty, the " Seven Yeai's' War " was ended, and quiet was for a time restored in both Europe and America, Great Britain, instead of withdrawing her regular troops from America, left quite a large number here, and required the colonists to contribute to their support. On the sur- face of things, there appeared no reason for this " stand- ing army in time of peace ;" but there can be little doubt, as we have before said, that growing jealousy of the power and independent feeling of the colonists, and an already conceived design to tax the colonies with- out their consent, were the true cause of the presence of armed men among a peaceful people. They were doubtless intended to suppress democracy and republican independence, and to enforce every revenue law, however arbitrary and unjust soever it might be. The colonists felt this, and hence the presence of the British troops was always a cause for irritation, and unappeased dis- content. And, finally, when the people of Massachusetts openly to resist the encroachments of British 284 THB DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE power, a large standing army was quartered in its capi- tal, for no other purpose than to awe them into submis- sion to a tyrant's will. XII. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. In the spring of 1774, General Gage, who was the commander-in-chief of all the British forces in America, was appointed Governor of Massachusetts ; and the first civil duty he was called upon to perform was to carry into effect the provisions of the Boston Port Bill. To sustain and enforce this harsh measure, he introduced two regiments of troops into Boston ; and soon afterward they were reinforced by several regiments from Halifax, Quebec, New York, and Ireland. By an order of the King, the authority of the commander-in-chief, and under him, the brigadier-generals, was rendered supreme in all civil governments in America. This, be it remem- bered, was in a time of peace ; and thus an uncontrolled military power was vested in officers not known as civil functionaries to the constitution of any colony. The mili- tary was rendered " independent of, and superior to, the civil power.'' XIII. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknow- ledged by our laws, giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation. One of the most prominent acts, obnoxious to this serious charge, was the establishment by act of Parlia- ment, under the sanction of the King, of a Board of Trade in the colonies, independent of colonial legislation; and the creation of resident commissioners of customs, to enforce strictly the revenue laws. This act was passed in July, 176" ; and when the news of its adoption HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 285 reached America, it produced a peiiect tornado of in- dignation throughout the Colonies. The people per- ceived clearly that they were now not only to be sub- jected -D the annoyance of unqualified assertions that Par- liament had " a right to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever," but that they were to be subject to the actual control of persons appointed to carry out these principlea avowed by the British Ministry. The establishment of this Board of Trade in the colonies, unto whom was given ppwer to regulate the customs and secure the revenue the modeling of the admiralty courts upon a basis which quite excluded trial by jury therein and the supremacy given to the military power in 1774, as alluded to in the next preceding charge are all evidences that prove the truth and jus- tice of this charge. The Commissioners of Customs arrived in May, 1768, and at Boston they entered vigorously upon their duties ; and the riots which ensued on the seizure by them of a vessel belonging to John Hancock, attest the deep feeling of resistance in the hearts of the people to a "jurisdiction foreign to their constitution, and unac- knowledged by their laws." The powers which the Commissioners possessed, in connexion with the Board of Trade, in the appointment of an indefinite number of subordinates, and in con- trolling legislative action, were dangerous to the liberties of the people ; for they claimed the right of adjudicating in all matters connected with the customs. The jurisdic- tion, too, of the newly -modeled Courts of Admiralty, where, in many cases, a trial by jury was denied, was " foreign to their constitution, and unacknowledged by their laws." When, in 1774, the charter of Massachusetts was altered, the character of the colonial council was 286 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE changed. Before that time, the members of the council, (answering to our senate,) were chosen by the general assembly, but, in the alteration, it was provided that after the first of August of that year they should be chosen by the King, to consist of not more than thirty- six, nor less than twelve ; and to hold their office during his pleasure. To the Governor was given almost unlim- ited power, and the people were subjected to " a juris- diction foreign to their constitution," and the assent of the King was given to the acts of " pretended legisla- tion," made by these crown-chosen senators. XIV. For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us. In 1767, the patriotic movements of the colonists so alarmed the British ministry, that they determined to repress the republican feeling by force, if necessary. For this purpose, Lord Hillsborough sent a secret letter to General Gage, then in Halifax, telling him that it was the King's pleasure that he should send one regiment, or more, to Boston to assist the civil magistrate and the offi- cers of revenue. About the same time, Governor Ber- nard, of Massachusetts, requested General Gage to send some troops to Boston. Seven hundred were accordingly sent; and on the first of October, 1774, they landed, under cover of the cannon of armed ships in the harbor. The people refused to provide quarters for them, and they were quartered in the State House. This unwise movement, which greatly exasperated the people, was repeated the next year, not only at Boston, but in New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and other sea-port towns. At the beginning of 1775, Parliament voted a supply of ten thousand men for the American service, and a large number of them landed at Boston in the spring of that year, accompanied by Generals Howe, HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 287 Clinton, and Burgoyne. The tragedies of Lexington and Concord soon followed ; and in June, the blood of American patriots was profusely spilt upon Bunker Hill by the "large bodies of armed troops quartered among us." XV. For protecting them, ly a mock trial, from punish- ment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states. In 1768, a dispute occurred between some soldiers and citizens of Annapolis, in Maryland, and two of the latter were killed by the former. As they were marines, belonging to an armed vessel lying near, they were arraigned before the court of admiralty for murder, on the complaint of some of the citizens. The whole affair assumed the character of a solemn farce, so far as justice was concerned ; and, as might have been expected, the miscreants were acquitted. In 1771, a band of patriots, called the " Regulators," in North Carolina, became so formidable, and were so efficacious in stirring the people to rebellion, that Governor Tryon of that state, determined to destroy or disperse them. Having learned that they had gathered in considerable force upon the Alamance river, he proceeded thither with quite a large body of regulars and militia. They met near the banks of that stream, and a parley ensued. The "Regulators," asking only for redress of grievances, sought to negotiate, but Tryon perempto- rily ordered them to disperse. This they refused to do, and some of his men, thirsting for blood, fired upon them and killed several. These soldiers were afterward arraigned for murder, through, the clamorous demands of the peo- ple ; but, after a mock trial had been acted, they were acquitted, and thus they were " protected from punish- ment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states." 288 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE XVI. For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world. The narrow, restrictive policy of Great Britain, begun as early as the middle of the seventeenth century, had a tendency to repress, rather than to encourage, the com- merce of the colonies. Instead of allowing them free commercial intercourse with other nations, the home government did all in its power to compel the colonists to trade exclusively with Great Britain.* In 1764, the British Minister, under a pretence of preventing illegal traffic between the British colonies and foreign American possessions, made the naval commanders revenue offi- cers directed them to take the usual custom-house oaths and to conform to the custom-house regulations. By this means a profitable trade with the Spanish and French colonies in America, which the colonists had long uninterruptedly enjoyed, (although in violation of the old Navigation Act,) was destroyed. This trade was advantageous to Great Britain as well as to the colonies ; but as the enforcement of these laws was a part of the system of "reforming the American governments,"t began by Bute, the advantages to England were over- looked. Under this act, many seizures of vessels were made ; and the Americans were so distressed and har- assed, that they were obliged to abandon the trade. Other measures, having a tendency to narrow the com- mei'ce of the colonies to a direct trade with Great Britain, * The Navigation Act, first adopted in 1651, and extended in 1660, declared that no merchandise of the English plantations should be imported into England in any other than English vessels. There were also restrictive laws respecting the manufactures of the colonies, and their domestic commerce. For the benefit of English manufacturers, the colonists were forbidden to export, or introduce from one colony into another, hats and woollens of domestic manufacture ; and hatters were forbidden to have, at one time, more than two apprentices. They were not allowed to import sugar, rum, and molasses, without paying an exor- bitant duty, and forbade the erection of certain iron works. t See Gordon, ve). i., p. 108. HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 289 were adopted; and finally, in 1775, among the acts pro- jected by Lord North for punishing the colonies, was one for effectually stopping the commerce of New England with Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, and also fishing on the Banks of Newfoundland. This restrictive act, first applied to the New England colo- nies, was afterward extended to all the others, and thus, as far as parliamentary enactments could effect it, " trade with all parts of the world " was cut off. XVII. For imposing taxes on us without our consent. George Grenville, an honest but short-sighted states- man, became the Prime Minister, or " First Lord of the Treasury," of Great Britain, in 1764. He found the treasury drained empty by the vampire appetite of war, and his first care was to devise means to replenish it. Believing that the Crown had an unquestionable right to tax its colonies, and perceiving the capacity of the Americans to pay a tax if levied, he turned his attention to a project for replenishing the treasury, by establishing new duties upon all foreign goods imported by the Americans. They were already submitting to the taxes, in the shape of duties, which the Navigation Act, and the Sugar Act, imposed ; and when this new scheme was proposed to Parliament, the people were at once aroused to a sense of their danger they saw clearly the design of the British Ministry to impose tax upon tax, as long as forbearance would allow it. Action on the subject was taken in the colonial assemblies, and one sentiment seemed to prevail, a denial of the right of Great Britain to tax its colonies without their consent. The fundamental principle of a free government, that " Taxation and equitable representation are inseparable" was boldly proclaimed, and petitions and remonstrances from the 13 290 THE DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE colonies were transmitted to the King and Parliament. But the King, instead of heeding these remonstrances, asserted his right to tax the colonies, in his speech to Parliament at the opening in January, 1765, and recom- mended the adoption of Grenville's measures. Em- boldened by this, the Minister proposed his famous Stamp Act in February, and in March it became a law, and received the royal signature. The ferment which this act produced in America, and the violent opposition it met with from Pitt, and other leading minds in Parliament, caused its repeal in March 1766. The Repeal Act, however, was accompanied by a Declaratory Act, which contained the germ of other oppressions. It affirmed that Parliament had power to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever. Although it was thought expedient to repeal the Stamp Act, yet the De- claratory Act asserted the correctness of the doctrine it contained and exhibited practically.* Again in 1767, another tax was imposed in the shape of duties upon glass, paper, painter's colors, and tea. Here again taxes were imposed upon us " without our con- sent." The act was strongly condemned throughout the colonies, and the British ministry perceiving a tendency toward open rebellion in America, repealed this act also, excepting the duty upon tea. Finally, in 1773, Lord North attempted to draw a revenue from America by imposing additional duties upon tea ; but it was met by firm opposition, and the celebrated Boston Tea Riot en- sued. We might cite other proofs of the truth of this charge, but these may suffice. * As the Stamp Act was the first and chief cause which fully aroused the colonists to a sense of the danger of enslavement by the mother country, and awakened the first notes of universal alarm that led to a general union of the Anglo-Americans in defence of their inalienable rights, and resulted finally in the adoption of a Declaration of Independence, we hare inserted it in detail in the Appendix to this work. MP rf * - , . '** 4 J HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 291 XVIII. For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury. When the British ministry perceived that their scheme for taxing the colonies without their consent, met with de- termined opposition, and the Commissioners of Customs, in 1768, were obliged* to flee for personal safety from Boston to Castle William, they so modified the Courts of Admiralty in America, as to make them powerful aids to these Commissioners, and a strong right arm of op- pression. An act was passed, in which it was ordained " that whenever offences should be committed in the colonies against particular acts, imposing various duties and restrictions upon trade, the prosecutor might bring his action for penalties in the Courts of Admiralty ;" by which means the subject lost the advantage of being tried " by an honest, uninfluenced jury of the vicinage, and was subjected to the sad necessity of being judged by a single man, a creature of the crown, and according to the course of law, which exempted the prosecutor from the trouble of proving his accusation, and obliged the defender either to evince his innocence, or suffer."* XIX. For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pre- tended offences. On the fifteenth of April, 1774, Lord North introduced a bill in Parliament, entitled " A bill for the impartial ad- ministration of justice in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by them in the execution of the laws, or for the suppression of riots and tumults in the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England." This bill provided that in case any person indicted for murder in that prov- ince, or any other capital offence, or any indictment for riot, resistance of the magistrate, or impeding the revenue * Address of the first continental congress, to the people of Great Britain. 292 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE laws in the smallest degree, he might, at the option of the Governor, or, in his absence, of the Lieutenant Governor, be taken to another colony, or transported to Great Britain, for trial, a thousand leagues from his friends, and amidst his enemies. The arguments used by Lord North in favor of the mea- sure, had very little foundation in either truth or justice, and the bill met with violent opposition in parliament. The minister seemed to be actuated more by a spirit of retaliation, than by a conviction of the necessity of such a measure. " We must show the Americans," said he, '* that we will no longer sit quietly under their insults ; and also, that even when roused, our measures are not cruel or vindictive, but necessary and efficacious." Colo- nel Barre, who, from the first commencement of troubles with America, was the fast friend of the colonists, de- nounced the bill in unmeasured terms, as big with miseiy, and pregnant with danger to the British Empire. " This," said he, " is indeed the most extraordinary resolution that was ever heard in the Parliament of England. It offers new encouragement to military insolence, already BO insupportable. By this law, the Americans are de- prived of a right which belongs to every human creature, that of demanding justice before a tribunal composed of impartial judges. Even Captain Preston,* who, in their own city of Boston, had shed the blood of citizens, found among them a fair trial, and equitable judges." Alder- man Sawbridge, another warm friend of the Americans, in Parliament, also denounced the bill, not only as un- necessary and ridiculous, but unjust and cruel. He asserted that witnesses against the crown could never be brought over to England; that the Act was meant to en- slave the Americans; and he expressed the ardent hcpe * See biography of John Adams. HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 293 that the Americans would not admit of the execution of any of these destructive bills,* but nobly refuse them all. "If they do not," said he, "they are the most abject slaves upon earth, and nothing the minister can do is base enough for them." Notwithstanding the manifest inexpediency of such a measure, the already irritated feeling of the colonists, and the solemn warning of sound statesmen in both Houses of Parliament, the bill was passed by one hundred and twenty-seven to forty -four, in the Commons, and forty -nine to twelve in the House of Lords. The king signed the bill, and it was thus decreed that Americana might be " transported beyond the seas, to be tried for pretended offences" or real crime. XX For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein' an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and Jit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies. After the adoption of the Boston Port Bill, the bill for changing the government of Massachusetts, and the bill providing for the transportation of accused persons to England for trial, the British ministry were evidently alarmed at the fury of the whirlwind they themselves had raised ; and they doubtless had a presentiment of the coming rebellion which their own cruel measures had engendered and ripened. They therefore thought it pru- dent to take steps in time to, secure such a footing in America as should enable them to breast successfully the gathering storm. Accordingly a bill was introduced in the House of Lords in May, 1774, " for making more ef- * The Boston Port Bill ; the bill for altering, or rather for polishing, the co Btitution of Massachusetts ; and the bill under consideration. 294 THE DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE fectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, in North America." This bill proposed the establishment, in Canada, of a Legislative Council, invested with all powers, except that of levying taxes. It was provided that its members should be appointed by the crown, and continue in authority during its pleasure ; that Canadian subjects, professing the Catholic faith, might be called to sit in the Council ; that the Catholic clergy, with the exception of the regular or- ders, should be secured in their possessions and of their tithes, from all those who professed their religion ; that the French laws, without jury, should be re-established, preserving, however, the English laws, with trial by jury, in criminal cases. It was also added, in order to furnish the ministers with a larger scope for their designs, that the limits of Canada should be extended, so as to embrace the territory situated between the lakes, and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers.* This was a liberal concession to the people of Canada, nearly all of whom were French, and but a small portion of them Protestants.t The nobility and clergy had fre- quently complained of the curtailment of their privileges, and maintained that they were better off under the old French rule previous to 1763, than now. The measure proposed was well calculated to quiet all discontent in Canada, and make the people loyal. By such a result, * Soon after the introduction of this bill, Thomas and John Penn, son and grand- son of William Penn, put in a remonstrance against the boundary proposition, as it contemplated an encroachment upon their territory, they being the proprieta- ries of Pennsylvania, and the counties of New Castle, Kent, and Sussex, in Dela- ware. Burke, also, who was then the agent for New York, contended against the boundary proposition, because it encroached upon the boundary line of that Colony. t General Carleton, then Governor of Canada, asserted, during his examination before Parliament, that there were then in that province only about three hun- dred and sixty Protestants, besides women and children ; while there were one hundred and fifty thousand Roman Catholics. HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 295 a place would be secured in the immediate vicinity of the refractory Colonies, where troops and munitions of war might be landed, and an overwhelming force be con- centrated, ready at a moment's warning to march into the territory of, and subdue, the rebellious Americans. This was doubtless the ulterior design of the ministry in offering these concessions, and the eagle vision of Colonel Barre plainly perceived it. In the debate on the bill, he remarked, " A very extraordinary indulgence is given to the inhabitants of this province, and one calculated to gain the heaits and affections of -these people. To this I can- not object if it is to be applied to good purposes ; but if you are about to raise a Popish army to serve in the Colo- nies, from this time all hope of peace in America will be destroyed." The bill was so opposed to the religious and national prejudices of the great mass of the people of Great Britain, that it met with violent opposition both in and out of Parliament, yet it passed by a large majority, and on the twenty-first of June it became a law by receiving the royal signature. XXI, For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering, fundamentally, the forms of our governments. While the Boston Port Bill was before the Loi'ds, Lord North, on the twenty-eighth day of March, 1774, in a Committee of the whole Lower House, brought in a bill "for the better regulating of the government in the pro- vince of Massachusetts Bay." It provided for an altera- tion in the Constitution of that province as it stood upon the charter of William III. By this act the people of Massachusetts were, without a hearing, deprived of some of the most important rights and privileges secured to them by their charter ; rights which they had enjoyed 296 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE from the first settlement of the colony. The members of the -Council, heretofore chosen under the charter, by the General Assembly, were, after the first of August of that year, to be chosen by the King ; to consist of not more than thirty-six, and not less than twelve; and to hold their office during his pleasure. After the first of July the governor was authorized to appoint and remove, without the consent of the Council, all judges of the inferior Courts of Common Pleas, Commissioners of Oyer and Terminer, the Attorney General, Provosts, Marshals, Justices of the Peace, and other officers belonging to the Council and courts of justice ; and was also empowered to appoint sheriffs without the consent of the Council, but not to remove them without their consent. The ministers did not confine themselves to these fun- damental alterations in the charter of that province, but materially altered or totally repealed the laws relating to town meetings, and the election of jurors ; laws which had been in existence from the commencement of the government, and deemed a part of the constitution of the colony. The right of selecting jurors by the inhabitants and freeholders of the several towns, was taken from them, and all jurors were by this act, to be summoned and returned by the sheriffs.* This bill was zealously opposed by the friends of America in the British House of Commons. Barre and Burke, the leaders of this party, opposed it with all their strength of mind and eloquence of speech. " What," said the latter, " can the Americans believe but that Eng- land wishes to despoil them of all liberty, of all franchises ; and by the destruction of their charters to reduce them to a state of the most abject slavery ] As the Americana are no less ardently attached to liberty than the English * Pitkin's Political and Civil History of the United States, vol. i. p. 266. HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 297 themselves, can it ever be hoped they will submit to such exorbitant usurpation : to such portentous resolutions?" Governor Pownall, too, lifted up the voice of warning, and plainly told the ministers that their measures would be resisted, not only by the will and sentiment of the whole people, but probably by force' of arms. But a false security shut the ears of the British ministry against all of these portentous warnings, and the British legisla- tors seemed to have lost all sense of right and equity. The bill was adopted by an overwhelming majority two hundred and thirty-nine against sixty-four in the Com- mons, and ninety-two against twenty in the House of Lords. The King gave the bill his royal signature, and thus he " combined with others for taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally, Reforms of our governments." XXII. For suspending our oicn legislatures, and decla- ring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. By the act described in the next preceding charge, enti- tled " For the better regulation of government in the pro- vince of Massachusetts Bay," the colonial legislature was virtually and actually " suspended ;" for, according to the charter under which the people had always lived and been governed, they recognised no legislature but one of their own free choice and election. By that act, the members of the council were chosen by the King, and a free legislature was in fact suspended, and a declaration virtually made that the King and Parliament were " in- vested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatso- ever." In 1767 the powers of the Legislature of New York were suspended indefinitely, because the Assembly refused to furnish the soldiers, quartered among them, with certain articles mentioned in a clause in the Mutiny Act. 13* > -v ^ ?, ;;,*; _ -$ 298 THE DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE In the language of the Declaration of Independence, by such an act of suspension of legislative functions, those " powers, incapable of annihilation, returned to the people at large for their exercise j" but the King and his council, by both word and deed, claimed that those powers return- ed to, and were vested in, the Crown, and thus asserted the principle, that it in connexion with the Council, was invested with power to legislate for the colonies " in all cases whatsoever." Lord Dunmore, after dissolving the Assembly of Vir- ginia about the beginning of 1775, assumed the same right, and issued proclamations to the people, calling upon them to perform certain duties, which had not been re- quired of them by their own representatives in the House of Burgesses. XXIII. He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. As early as the meeting of Parliament in 1774, the King, in his address from the throne, spoke of the colo- nies as in a state of almost open rebellion, and assured Parliament that he should employ vigorous efforts to sup- press the unfolding insurrection. Again, in February, 1775, he sent a message to the Commons, declaring his American subjects to be in a state of open rebellion, and informing them that it would be necessary to augment the naval and military force in the colonies. Toward the close of 1775, he gave his assent to an agreement, with several German princes, to send armies to America to assist in crushing his rebellious subjects ; and he sanc- tioned the barbarous acts of his governors, who sought to engage the Indian tribes in a warfare upon the colonists. In these measures, he personally declared us "out of his pi'Otection," and waged war against them. Through his representatives, his governors of colonies HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 299 he, in several instances, " abdicated government here." Lord Dunmore, Govemor of Virginia, fearing the just resentment of the people, " abdicated government," by fleeing on board the Fowey ship of war. Tryon, of New York, " abdicated government," when, for fear of the resentment of the patriots, he fled on board a Halifax packet ship ; and Governor Martin, of North Carolina, also took refuge on board a British ship of war. Lord William Campbell, Governor of South Carolina, also " abdicated government," by withdrawing from the colony, arid carrying off with him the royal seals and the instructions to governors ; and he " waged war " against the people, by acting in concert with Sir Peter Parker and Sir Henry Clinton, in besieging Charleston. In various ways, both personally and by representatives, did King George " abdicate government here," and waged a " cruel war against us." XXIV. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the. lives of our people. In 1764, when the provisions of the Navigation Act were strictly enforced, and the commanders of vessels were invested with the power of custom-house officers to enforce the revenue laws under that act, a great many American vessels were seized, by which much distress was produced. Although this was done under the sanc- tion of written law, yet it was nothing more, in the mode of enforcing the law, than " plundering our seas." In April, 1775, the " lives of our people " were destroyed at Lexington and Gpncord, by an expedition sent out by Governor Gage, of Massachusetts. In June of that year, he " burnt our towns," and destroyed the "lives of our people," by his troops setting fire to Charlestown, and attacking and slaying our people upon 300 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE Breed's, and Bunker Hill ; and shortly afterward, the unprotected town of Bristol, in Rhode Island, was can- nonaded, because the people refused lo comply with an order from the commander of the vessels that appeared before it, tD supply him with three hundred sheep. In the autumn of 1775, several royal cruisers ravag- ing the coasts of New England. Captain Wallace, with the man-of-war, Rose, and two others, pursued a vessel which took shelter in the port of Stonington, Connecticut. He entered the harbor, and opened a fire upon the town, which he kept up nearly a whole day. He killed two men, and carried off some vessels. This was the same Captain (Sir James) Wallace who afterward commanded the flying squadron of small vessels that made a preda- tory expedition up the Hudson river, and, in connection with Colonel Vaughan of the land force, burnt Esopus, or Kingston, in Ulster county. On the eighteenth of October, Captain Mowatt, with a few armed vessels, burnt the town of Falmouth, upon the north-eastern coast of Massachusetts ; and he asserted that he had orders to destroy, by fire, all the sea-port towns from Boston to Halifax. In December, 1775, Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, having been obliged to take refuge on board the Fowey, a British armed vessel at Norfolk, tried every means in his power to bring the people to subjection under him. Finally, the frigate Liverpool arrived, and the Governor felt quite strong in his resources, believing, that with the two vessels and the armed force of tories and blacks which he had collected on board, he should be able to regain his lost power. He sent a peremptory order to the inhabitants of Norfolk to supply the vessels with provisions. The order was of course disobeyed ; and on the first of January, 1776, the two vessels opened a destructive cannonading upon the town. At the same HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 301 time, some marines were landed, who set fire to the town, and reduced it to ashes. In June, 1776, while the proposition of independence was before Congress, a naval armament under Admiral Sir Peter Parker, and a. land force under Sir Henry Clinton, made a combined attack upon Charleston, South Carolina, and many Americans were killed. And after the Declaration of Independence went forth, the King's minions continued to " plunder our seas, ravage our coasts, and destroy the lives of our people." XXV. Hs 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 paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. Toward the close of 1775, Lord North introduced a bill in Parliament, which provided for prohibiting all intercourse with the colonies, until they should submit, and for placing the whole country under martial law. This bill included a clause for appointing resident com- missioners in America, who should have discretionary powers to grant pardons and effect indemnities, in. case the Americans should come to terms. Having thus determined to place the countiy under martial law, and to procure the submission of the colonies by force of arms, the next important consideration was to procure the requisite force. The estimated number of men sufficient to carry out successfully the designs of the ministry, was twenty-eight thousand seamen, and a land force of fifty- five thousand men. This was a large fprce to raise within the brief space which the exigency of the case required, for the peace establishment at home was small enough already, and the delay in pi-ocuring volunteers, or waiting for the return 302 THE DECLARATION OP INDEPENDENCE of troops from foreign stations, might prove fatal to their plans. Ministers therefore resolved to hire soldiers of some of the German princes, and they at once appointed a commissioner for the purpose. Early in 1776, a treaty was concluded, and the Landgrave of Hesse- Cassel agreed to furnish twelve thousand one hundred and four men ; the Duke of Brunswick, four thousand and eighty-four ; the Prince of Hesse, six hundred and sixty- eight; the Prince of Waldeck, six hundred and seventy; making in all, seventeen thousand five hundred and twenty-six. The masters of these mercenaries, per- ceiving the stern necessity which had driven the British government to this atrocious resort, in its endeavor to crush the spirit of freedom in ita American colonies, extoited hard terms terms which none but a desperate suitor for favor would have agreed to. It was stipulated that they were to receive seven pounds, four shillings and four pence sterling for each man, besides being relieved from the burden of maintaining them. In addition, the piinces were to receive a certain stipend, amounting in all to one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds sterling, or about six hundred and seventy-Jive thousand dollars. And Great Britain further agreed to guaranty the dominions of those princes against foreign attacks during the absence of their soldiers. This hiring of the bone and sinew, and even the lives, of foreign troops purchased assassins to aid in en- slaving its own children, whose only crime was an irre- pressible aspiration for freedom, is the foulest blot upon the escutcheon of Great Britain, which its unholy warfare against us during the revolution produced. The best friends of Great Britain, in and out of Parliament, deeply deplored the measure ; and the opposition in the Na- tional Legislature, wnth a sincere concern for the fair fame of their country did all in their power to prevent the HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 303 transaction. But Parliament, as if madly bent on the entire destruction of British honor, and on pulling down the very pillars of the Constitution, seconded the views of Ministers, and adopted the measure by an overwhelm- ing majority. For this act, the King and his Ministers were obliged to hear many home truths from statesmen in both Houses of Parliament. Among others, the Earl of Coventry inveighed most heartily against the employment of foreign mercenaries to fight the battles of England, even in a just war. He maintained that the war in question was an unnatural and unrighteous one, and, as such, would not terminate favorably to the oppressor. " Look on the map of the globe," said he ; " view Great Britain and North America; compare their extent; consider their soil, rivers, climate, and increasing population of the latter ; nothing but the most obstinate blindness and partiality can engender a serious opinion that such a country will long continue under subjection to this. The question is not, therefore, how we shall be able to realize a vain, delusive scheme of dominion, but how we shall make it the interest of the Americans to continue faithful allies and warm friends. Surely that can never be effected by fleets and armies. Instead of meditating conquest, and exhausting our strength in an ineffectual struggle, we should wisely, abandoning wild schemes of coercion, avail oui'selves Df the only substantial benefit we can ever expect, the profits of an extensive com- merce, and the strong support of a firm and friendly alliance and compact for mutual defence and assistance." What blood and treasure would have been spared had such statesmanlike views prevailed in the British Parliament. But national pride was wounded, and its festerings produced relentless hate, whose counsels had no whispers of justice or of honorable peace. " Large 304 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE armies of ftn-eign mercenaries, to complete the work of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun," were sent hither, and the odious Hessians (the general title given to those German troops) performed their first act in the bloody d^ama, in the Battle of Long Island, on the twenty-ninth o\ August, 1776. XXVI. 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. About the last of December, 1775, the British Parlia- ment passed an act for prohibiting all trade and com- merce with the colonies, and authorizing the capture and condemnation, not only of all American vessels with their cargoes, but all other vessels found trading with the colonies, and the crews were to be treated, not as pri- soners, but as slaves. By a clause in the act, it was made lawful for the commander of a British vessel to take the masters, crews, and other persons, found in the captured vessels, and to put them on board any other British armed vessel, enter their names on the books of the same, and, from the time of such entry, such persons were to be con- sidered in the service of his majesty, to all intents and purposes, as though they had entered themselves volun- tarily on board such vessel.* By this means, the Ameri- cans were compelled to fight even against their own friends and countrymen " to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall by their hands." This barbarous act was loudly condemned on the floor of Parliament, as unworthy of a Christian people, a " refinement of cruelty unknown among savage nations," and paralleled only " among pirates, the outlaws and ene * Pitkin, vol. 1., p 357. HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 305 mies of human society." But the act became law, and to the disgrace of Great Britain it was put in force. It was the provisions of this odious act which laid the British government under the necessity of providing a force to carry out its designs in America, which its re- sources in men were inadequate to do ; and ministers resorted to the foul measure of hiring German soldiers to fight their battles against their brethren here XXVII. He has excited domestic insurrections among us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. Lord Dunmore, one of the most unpopular governors Virginia ever had, became involved in difficulties with the people, soon after his accession. Like too many of the native born Englishmen at that time, he regarded the colonists as inferior people, and instead of using concili- atory measures, which might have made his situation agreeable to himself, he maintained a haughty carriage and aristocratic reserve. These private matters would have been tolerated, had not his public acts partaken of the same spirit. He seemed to be exceedingly deficient in judgment, and by various acts of annoyance he greatly exasperated the people. At length they arose in arms in consequence of his removing the powder of the colonial magazine on board of a ship of war, and he was obliged to fly thither himself, with his family, for fear of personal injury. This was early in May, 1775, and during the summer and autumn he attempted to regain his lost power. All moderate attempts having failed, he resolved on a bolder and more cruel measure. He issued his procla- mation, and authoritatively summoned to his standard all capable of bearing arms ; and in that proclamati/: \ as J06 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE well as through private emissaries, he offered freedom to the slaves if they would take up arms against their mas- ters. Thus he " excited domestic insurrection." In the spring of 1775, this same Governor Dunmore was an accomplice in, and an active promoter of, a scheme to " bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merci- less Indian savages." The plan adopted was to organize an active co-operation of all the various Indian tribes on the frontier, with the Tories. John Connelly, a Pennsyl- vanian, has the honor of originating the plot ; and he found in Governor Dunmore a zealous coadjutor and liberal patron in the enterprise. Fort Pitt (now Pittsburgh) was to be the place of rendezvous, and ample rewards were offered to the chiefs of the Indians, as well as to the militia captains, who should join their standard. In order to connect the plan, give it wider scope, secirre more efficiency, and have higher sanction, a mes- senger was sent to Governor Gage, at Boston, then commander-in-chief of all the British forces in America. Gage entered heartily into the atrocious scheme, and gave Connelly a commission as Lieutenant-Colonel. He also sent an emissary named John Stuart, to the nation of the Cherokees on the borders of the Carolinas. General Carleton, governor of Canada, sent Colonel Johnson to the Indians of St. Francis, and others, belonging to the Six Nations, and in every case heavy bribes were offered. Too well did these emissaries succeed, for during the summer hundreds of innocent old men, women, and young children, were butchered in cold blood upon the frontiers of Virginia and the Carolinas. This charge was true, not only at the time it was made in tha Declaration of Independence, but on several subse- quent occasions it might with verity have been made. When Burgoyne prepared to invade the States from Canada, he, by express orders of ministers, put under HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 307 arms, and secured for the British service several tribes of Indians inhabiting the country between the Mohawk river and Lake Ontario. And just before going to attack Ticonderoga, he gave a great war feast to the Indians, and issued a proclamation calling upon tho Americans to surrender or suffer the consequences of savage ferocity. The American Congress, in its Declaration of Inde- pendence, after asserting that " The History of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of absolute tyranny over these states," and submitting the foregoing charges as proofs of the truth of their declaration, they asserted: First : That in every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. For ten long years, " in every stage of these oppres- sions," did the colonists " petition for redress in the most humble terms." It was done by the Colonial Congress which assembled in 1765, in consequence of the p^sage of the Stamp Act. They put forth a Declaration of Rights, the thirteenth section of which asserted, " That it is the right of the British subject in these colonies to petition the King, or either House of Parliament." This right was denied by the colonial governors, claiming it exclusively for the assemblies in their legislative capacity. But acting upon their declared right, that Congress sent a most humble petition to the King, setting fcirth the grievances which the acts for taxing the colonies imposed upon the people, and beseeching him to lay the subject before the Parliament and obtain redress for them. But this petition was un- heeded, as well as those of the popular provincial con- ventions, and " repeated injuries " were inflicted, in tha 308 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE form of new and oppressive acts for taxing the colonists without their consent. The first Continental Congress, that convened in Sep- tember, 1774, humbly petitioned the King, and set forth the various measures of his government which bore heavily upon their prosperity and curtailed their rights as British subjects. The General Congress that met in May, the next year, also sent another humble petition to the King, but both were " answered only by repeated injuries." Instead of listening to their loyal importunities for redress, he deprived them in many cases of " trial by jury ;" he prepared to " transport them beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences ;" he " abolished the free system of English laws in a neighboring province ;" he took away their charters, abolished their " most valuable laws," and "altered, fundamentally, the forms" of their government ; he " plundered their seas, ravaged their coasts, burnt their towns, and destroyed the lives of their people ;" and he transported " large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun, with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation." Secondly : We have not been wanting in attention to our British brethren. This assertion the journals of the Continental Congress, and the proceedings of the British Parliament, fully cor- roborate. The first address put forth by the Continental CDngress, in 1774, was to the people of Great Britain, in which the most affectionate terms of brotherhood, ex- pressive of the strongest feelings which the ties of con- sanguinity could produce, were used. They concluded their address by expressing a hope " that the magnanim- ity and justice of the British nation will furnish a parlia- ment of such wisdom, independence, and public spirit, aa HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED. 309 may save the violated rights of the whole empire from the devices of wicked ministers and evil counsellors, whether in or out of office ; and thereby restore that harmony, friendship, and fraternal affection, between all the inhabitants of his majesty's kingdoms and territo- ries, so ardently wished for by every true and honest American." The second Continental Congress, in 1775, sent an affectionate address to the people of Ireland, in which they thanked them for the friendly disposition which they had always shown toward Americans ; expressed a strong sympathy for them, on account of the grievances which the inhabitants of that fertile island suffered at the hands of the same arbitrary rulers, and closed with a " hope that the patient abiding of the meek may not always be forgotten ;" and that God would " grant that the iniqui- tous schemes for extirpating liberty from the British empire might be soon defeated." But, not only were British rulers unmindful of their petitions and of their remonstrances ; their " British brethren" also were deaf to the "voice of justice and con- sanguinity ;" and the colonists were obliged to acquiesce in the necessity which denounced their separation ; and they held them, as they held the rest of mankind, " BNK MIES IN WAR IN PEACE, FRIENDS." THE CONFEDERATION. THE Declaration of the representatives of the united colonies of North America, in General Congress assem- bled, that " these colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states," was but the initial act in the great work of founding a free republic out of a dis- membered portion of one of the mightiest empires of the earth. It was an easy matter to declare the states free, but they well knew it would be a laborious task to support that declaration, and consummate the work thus begun. Already fleets were hovering upon our coasts, and armies traversed our provinces, with the dire purpose of quelling rebellion by fire and sword, and all the vast ini- quities of war. At the very time the Declaration was made, a British squadron was near our coast, bearing thousands of hired mercenaries, some of them veterans from the vast armies of Frederick the Great, all eager to win the laurels of glory or the gold of plunder, in the exercise of their desolating profession. Combined with these foes from without, were the more dreaded foes within those who, through principle or interest, ad- hered to the Crown. They consisted chiefly of the timid, the time-serving, the ambitious, and the indolent, who feared British power, courted its caresses, sought the preferments it could bestow, or loved ease better than freedom. This class was not small nor weak, but by its secret treacheries, or open resistance, it weakened the bond of the American union, and greatly strength- ened the royal arm. With such a great work before them with such beset ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 311 ments in the way by such dangers surrounded it is no wonder that great doubt, and anxiety, and dread, per- vaded the minds of the people, and caused American legislators to desire a more tangible bond of union than a Federal Congress, and a Federal Army. The various state governments were in utter confusion, and in their practical operations they harmonized in few things, ex- cept in making provisions for the army ; and even this paramount claim was often so neglected by particular states as almost to paralyze the military movements. Royal governments in all the colonies had been over- turned, and the people, in spontaneous assemblies, col- lected the best fragments together and formed provincial congresses, in which they vested local governmental powers. But these were perceived to be but broken reeds to depend upon in the great work of the revolu- tion yet to be performed ; and the statesmen of that dark hour, feeling the necessity of a central power, regarded a confederation of the several states, with Congress as a controlling head, a measure essential to the perpetuity, not only of their efforts to become free, but of their very existence. As early as July, 1775, that far-sighted and clear- headed statesman, Doctor Franklin, submitted to the consideration of Congress a sketch of articles of con- federation between the colonies, limiting the duration of their vitality to the time when reconciliation with Great Britain should take place ; or in the event of the failure of that desirable result, to be perpetual. At that time, Congress seemed to have no fixed plans for the future - the teeming present, with all its vast and novel concerns, engrossed their whole attention ; and Doctor Franklin's plan seems not to have been discussed at all in the National Council. But when a declaration of inde- pendence was proposed, that idea alone suggested the necessity of a confederation of the states to carry forward 312 ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. the woi'k to a successful consummation. Congress, there- fore, on the eleventh of June, 1776, resolved that a com- mittee should be appointed to prepare, and properly digest, a form of confederation to be entered into by the several states. The committee appointed under the resolution consisted of one delegate from each state. John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, (who was opposed to the Declaration of Independence, and would have voted against it, if he had been present,) was chosen chairman, and through him the committee reputed a draft of arti- cles of confederation, on the twelfth of July. Almost daily debates upon the subject ensued until the twen- tieth of August, when the report was laid aside, and was not taken up again for consideration until the seventh of April, 1777. In the meanwhile, the several states had adopted constitutions for their respective government, and Congress was practically acknowledged the supreme head in all matters appertaining to the war, public finances, &c. It emitted bills of credit, or paper money, appointed foreign ministers, and opened negotiations with foreign governments. From the seventh of April, until the fifteenth of November following, the subject was debated two or three times a week, and several amendments were made. As the Confederation might be a permanent bond of Un- ion, of course local interests were considered prospec- tively. If the union had been designed to be temporary, to meet the exigencies arising from the state of war in which the colonies then were, local questions could hardly have had weight enough to have elicited debate; but such was not the case, and of course the sagacious men, who were then in Congress, looked beyond the present, and endeavored to legislate accordingly. From the seventh of October, until the fifteenth of November, the debates upon it were almost daily, and the conflict- ing interests of the several states were strongly brought ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 313 into view by the different speakers. On that day, the fol- lowing draft, containing all of the amendments, was laid before Congress, and after a spirited debate was adopted : 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 Amer- ica in Congress assembled, did, on the fifteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord on thousand seven hundred and seventy -seven, and in the second year of the independence of America, agree to certain articles of confederation and perpetual union between th6 States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in the words following, viz. : Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. ARTICLE 1 . The style of this confederacy shall be, " The United States of America." ARTICLE 2. Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by this confederation expressly dele- gated to the United States in Congress assembled. ARTICLE 3. The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other for their com- mon defence, the security of their liberties, ar.'d their mti' 14 314 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. tual 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, sove- reignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever. ARTICLE 4. The better to secure and perpetuate rrvu- tual friendship, and intercourse among the people of the different states in this Union, the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds, and fugitives from justice excepted, shall be entitled to all privileges and im- munities of free citizens in the several states ; and the people of each state shall have free ingress and regress to and from any fither 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 tc. the state having jurisdiction of his offence. Full faith and credit shall be given in each of theso states to the records, acts, and judicial proceedings of tho courts and magistrates of every other state. ARTICLE 5. For the more convenient management of the general interests 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 Novembei', in every year, with a power re- served to each state to recall its delegates or any of them, ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 315 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 delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or another for his benefit receives any salary, fees, or emoluments of any kind. Each stai i shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the states, and while they act as members of the com- mittee 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 Congress ; and the members of Congress shall he protect- ed in their persons from arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from and attendance on Con- gress, except for treason, felony or breach of the peace. ARTICLE 6. No state, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference 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 what- ever, 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, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered ato and how long it shall continue. 316 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. No state shall lay any Imports or duties, which may interfere 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 pro- posed 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 necessaiy by the United States in Congress assembled for Ae defence of such state or its trade ; nor shall any body of forces be kept up by any state in time of peace, ex- cept such number only as in the judgment of the United States in Congress assembled, shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defence of such state ; but every state shall always keep up a well-regu- lated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and ac- coutred, 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 re- ceived certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such state, and the danger is BO imminent as not to admit of a delay till the United States in Congress assembled can be consulted ; nor shall any state grant commissions to any ships or vessels-of-war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the United States in Congress as- sembled, and then only against the kingdom or state, and the subjects thereof, against which war has been so de- clared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such state be infested by pirates, in which case vessels-of-war may be fitted out *br that occasion, and kept so long as ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 317 fhe danger shall continue, or until the United States in Congress assembled shall determine otherwise. ATICLE 7. When land forces are raised by any state 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 vacan- cies shall be filled up by the state which first made the appointment. ARTICLE 8. All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence or gene- ral welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states in propor- tion to the value of all land within each state granted to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the building? 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 assembled. ARTICLE 9. The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of de- termining on peace and war, except in the cases men- tioned in the sixth article of sending and receiving am- bassadors entering into treaties and alliances ; provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made whereby the legislative power of the respective states shall be re- strained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever of establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures on land or water 318 ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 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 ah 1 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 ah 1 disputes and differences now subsisting or that hereafter may arise between two or more states concerning boundaiy, jurisdiction or any other cause whatever ; which authority shall always be exercised in the manner following : whenever the legisla- tive or executive authority or lawful agent of any state in controversy with another shall present a petition to Con- gress, stating the matter in question, and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Con- gress to the legislative or executive authority of the other state in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of the parties, by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed to appoint by joint consent commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hear- ing 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, the petitioners beginning, until the number shall be reduced to thhteen ; and from that number not less than seven nor more than nine names, as Congress shall direct, shall, in in the presence of Congress, be drawn out by lot ; and the persona whose names shall be so drawn, or any five of them, sjall be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally determine the controversy, so always as a major ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 319 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 showing 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 secre- tary of Congress shall strike in behalf of such party ab- sent or refusing ; 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 par- ties shall refuse to submit 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 manner be final and de- cisive, 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 par- ties concerned ; provided, that every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, to be administered 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, according to the best of his judgment, without favor, 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 jurisdiction 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 juris- diction, shall, on the petition of either party to the Con- gress of the United States, be finally determined as near as may be, in the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction different states. 320 ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the 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 members of any of the states ; provided that the legislative right of any state within its own limits be not infringed or violated establishing and regulating post- offices from one state to another throughout all the Uni- ted States, and exacting such postage on the papers pass- ing through 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 making 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 offices 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 appropriate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses to borrow money oi 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 f ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 321 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 thereupon, the legislature of each state shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and clothe, arm, and equip them, in a soldier- like manner, at the expense of the United States ; and the officers and men so clothed, 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 considera- tion 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 number of men than the quota thereof, such extra number shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed, and equipped, in the same manner as the quota of such state, unless the legislature of such state shall judge that such extra number can not safely be spared out of the same ; in which case they shall raise, officer, clothe, arm and equip, as many of such extra number as they judge can be safely spared. And the officers and men so clothed, 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 welfare of the United States or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the num- ber of vessels-of-war to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor ap- point a Commander-in-chief of the army or navy, unless 14* 323 ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 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 adjourn to any time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that no period of adjourn- ment be for a longer duration than the space of six months ; and shall publish the journal of their proceed- ings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to trea- ties, 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 dele- gates 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 befoi-e the legislatures of the several states. ARTICLE 10. The committee of the states, or any nine of them, shall be authorized to execute, in the recess of Congress, 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 ; provided 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 assembled is requisite. ARTICLE 11. 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 Bame, unless such admission be agreed to by nine states. ARTICLE 12. All bills of credit emitted, moneys bor- rowed, and debts contracted, by or under the authority of Congress, before the assembling of the United States, ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION, 323 in pursuance of the present confederation, shall be deemed 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 13. Every state shall abide by the decision of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which, by this confederation, are submitted to them. And the articles of this confederation shall be inviolably ob- served 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 afterward confirmed by the legislature of every state. And whereas it has 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 author- ize us to ratify the said articles of confederation and per- petual Union : know ye, that we, the undersigned dele- gates, by virtue of the power and authority to us given for that purpose, 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 fur- ther solemnly plight and engage the faith of our respect- ive constituents, that they shall abide by the determina- tions 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 obsen'ed by the states we respectively represent ; and that the union oe perpetual. In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, in Congress. Done at Philadelphia, in the state of Penn- sylvania, the ninth day of July, in the year of our Lord 324 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. one thousand seven hundred and seventy-eight, and in the third year of the independence of America. New Hampshire. JOSIAH BARTLETT, JOHN WENTWORTH, JR. Massachusetts Bay. JOHN HANCOCK, SAMUEL ADAMS, ELBRIDGE GERRY, FRANCIS DANA, JAMES LOVELL, SAMUEL HOLTEN, Rhode Island. WILLIAM ELLERY, HENRY MARCHANT, JOHN COLLINS. Connecticut. ROGER SHERMAN, SAMUEL HUNTINGTON, OLIVER WOLCOTT, TITUS HOSMER, ANDREW ADAMS. New York. JAMES DUANE, FRANCIS LEWIS, WILLIAM DUER, GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. New Jersey. JOHN WITHERSPOON, NATH. SCUDDER. , Pennsylvania. ROBERT MORRIS, DANIEL ROBERDEAU, JONATHAN BAYARD SMITH, WILLIAM CLINGAN, JOSEPH REED. Delaware. THOMAS M'KEAN, JOHN DICKINSON, NICHOLAS VAN DYKE. Maryland. JOHN HANSON, DANIEL CARROLL. Virginia. RICHARD HENRY LEI, JOHN BANISTER, THOMAS ADAMS, JOHN HARVIE, FRANCIS LIGHTFOOT LEE, North Carolina. JOHN PENN, CONSTABLE HARNETT, JOHN WILLIAMS. South Carolina. HENRY LAURENS, WILLIAM HENRY DRAYTON JOHN MATTHEWS, RICHARD HUTSON, THOMAS HEYWARD, j. Georgia. JOHN WALTON, EDWARD TELFAIR, EDWARD LANGWORTHT. ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. 325 After the Articles of Confederation were adopted by Congress, that body directed a copy of them to be sent to the speakers of the various state legislatures to be laid before them for action. They were accompanied by a communication, requesting the several legislatures, in case they approved of them, to instruct their delegates in Congress to vote for a ratification of them, which last act should be final and conclusive On the twenty-ninth of November, a committee of three was appointed to pro- cure the translation of the Articles of Confederation into the French language ; and also to prepare and report an address to the people of Canada, urging them to become a portion of the confederacy. The letter which accompanied the Articles of Con- federation when they were sent to the several state legislatures, was in the form of an urgent appeal for im- mediate and united action. A direful necessity called for some strong bond of union, for the clangor of arms was heard on every side. Foes without, and traitc "s within, were everywhere sowing the seeds of jealousy between the states, and using every effort to sunder the ligaments of a common interest and repress a common aspiration which united them. It was easily foreseen that the con- flicting interests of thirteen distinct states would neces- sarily clash, and that the idea of sovereignty which each possessed would interpose many objections to a general confederation, such as was proposed. Therefore, the letter was an argumentative one, and endeavored to show them that the plan proposed was the best which could be adapted to the circumstances of all. It concluded with the following impressive admonition : " We have reason to regret the time which has elapsed in preparing this plan for consideration. With additional solicitude, we look forward to that which must be neces- sarily spent before it can be ratified. Every motive 326 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. loudly calls upon us to hasten its conclusion. More than any other consideration it will confound our foreign enemies, defeat the flagitious practices of the disaffected, strengthen and confirm our friends, support our public credit, restore the value of our money, enable us to main- tain our fleets and armies, and add weight and respect to our councils at home, and to our treaties abroad. In short, this salutary measure can no longer be deferred. It seems essential to our very existence as a free people ; and without it, we may soon be constrained to bid adieu to independence, to liberty, and to safety blessings which from the justice of our cause, and the favor of our Almighty Creator visibly manifested in our protection, we have reason to expect, if in an humble dependence on his divine providence, we strenuously exeit the means which are placed in our power." Notwithstanding this pathetic appeal, and the general feeling that something must be speedily done, the state legislatures were slow to adopt the Articles. In the first place, they did not seem to accord with the prevailing sentiment of the people, as set forth in the Declaration of Independence; and in many things that Declaration and the Articles of Confederation were manifestly anti- podent. The former was based upon declared right ; the foundation of the latter was asserted power. The former was based upon a superintending Providence, and the inalienable rights of man ; the latter rested upon the "sovereignty of declared power one ascending for the foundation of human government, to the laws of nature and of nature's God, written upon the heart of man the other resting upon the basis of human institutions, and prescriptive law, and colonial charters."* Again, the sys- tem of representation proposed, was highly objectionable, * John Quincy Adams' Jubilee Discourse, 1839. ARTICLES OP CONFEDERATION. 327 because each state was entitled to the same voice in Congress, whatever might be the difference .in popula- 'tion. But the most objectionable feature of all was, that the question of the limits of the several states, and also in whom was vested the control or possession of the Crown- lands, was not only unadjusted, but wholly unnoticed. These and other defects, caused most of the states to hesitate at first, to adopt the Articles, and several of them for a long time utterly refused to accept them. On the twenty-second of June, 1778, Congress pro- ceeded to consider the objections of the states to the Arti- cles of Confederation, and on the twenty-seventh of the same month, a form of ratification was adopted and ordered to be engrossed upon parchment, with a view that the same should be signed by such delegates as were instructed so to do by their respective legislatures. On the ninth of July, the delegates of New Hamp- shire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina, signed the Articles. The delegates from New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland were not yet empowered to ratify and sign. Georgia and North Carolina were not represented, and the ratification of New York was conditional that all the other states should ratify. The delegates from North Carolina signed the articles on the twenty-first of July, those of Georgia on the twenty-fourth of the same month, those of New Jersey on the twenty-sixth of November, and those of Delaware on the twenty-second of February and fifth of May, 1779. Maryland still firmly refused to ratify, until the question of the conflicting claims of the Union and of the separate states to the Crown-lands, should be fully adjusted. This point was finally settled by cessions of the claiming states to the United States, of all the unsettled and unappropriated lands for the bene- fit of the whole Union. This cession of the Crown-lands 328 ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. to the Union, originated the Territorial System, and the erection of the North Western Territory into a distinct government similar to the existing states, having a local legislature of its own. The insuperable objection of Maryland having been removed by the settlement of this question, her delegates signed the Articles of Confedera- tion on the first day of March, 1781, four years and four months after they were adopted by Congrers. By this act of Maryland, they became the organic law of the Union, and on the second of March, Congress assembled under the new powers. THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. IT was early perceived that the Articles of Confedera- tion conferred powers upon Congress quite inadequate to the objects of an effective National Government. That body, according to the terms of those Articles, possessed no power to liquidate debts incurred during the war,* it had the privilege only of recommending to the several States, the payment thereof. This recommendation was tardily complied with,t and Congress possessed no power to compel the States to obey its mandateft To a great extent, the people lost all regard for the authority of Congress, and the commercial affairs of the country be- came wretchedly deranged. In truth, everything seemed to be tending toward utter chaos soon after peace in 1783, and the leading minds of the Revolution, in view of in- ci'easing and magnified evils, and the glaring defects of the Articles of Confederation, were turned to a consider- ation of a plan for a closer union of the states, and for a general government founded on the principles of the Declaration of Independence, from which the Confedera- tion in question widely departed. The sagacious mind of Washington perceived with intense anxiety the tendency toward ruin of that fair fabric which his prowess had helped to rear, and he took the initial step toward the adoption of measures which * The general government, at the close of the Revolution, was burdened with R foreign debt of eight millions of dollars, and a domestic debt of about thirty millions, due to the army and to other American citizens. t During fourteen months, only $482,890 were paid into the public treasury. and the foreign interest was paid by a fresh loan from Holland. 330 CONSTITUTION O/ THE UNITED STATES. finally resulted in the formation of the present Constitu- tion of the United States. Washington had contemplated a scheme for uniting the Potomac with the Ohio, and through his influence, the legislatures of Virginia and Maryland were induced to send commissioners to Alex- andria in March, 1785, to deliberate upon the subject. During their stay at Mount Vernon they devised another commission to establish a general tariff on imports, and to mature other commercial regulations. This conven- tion was held at Annapolis, in September, 1786, but only five states were represented Virginia, Delaware, Penn- sylvania, New Jersey and New York.* The chief ob- ject of the convention was to consult on the best means of remedying the defects of the Federal government. The delegates jnet on the eleventh, and by a unanimous vote, chose John Dickinson chairman. After a full inter- change of sentiments, they agreed that a committee should be appointed to prepare a draft of a report to be made to the legislatures of the several states then repre- sented. On the fourteenth of September, the following report was submitted : To the honorable the legislatures of Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, the commis- sioners from the said states respectively, assembled at Annapolis, humbly beg leave to report : That, pursuant to their several appointments, they met at Annapolis, in the state of Maryland, on the eleventh day of September instant, and having proceeded to a communication of their powers, they found that the states of New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, had, in sub- * The names of the members of the Convention were as follows : New York, Alexander Hamilton, Egbert Benson ; New Jersey, Abraham Clark, William C. Houston, James Schureman ; Pennsylvania, Tench Coxe ; Delaware, Georje Read, John Dickinson, Richard Basset ; Virginia, Edmund Randolph, James Madison, jr., St George Tucker. CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. 331 stance, and neai'ly in the same terms, authorized their respective commissioners "to meet such commissioners as were or might be appointed by the other states in the Union, at such time and place as should be agreed upon by the said commissioners, to take into consideration the trade and commerce of the United States, to consider how far a uniform system in their commercial intercourse and regulations might be necessary to their common in- terest and permanent harmony, and to report to the several states such an act relative to this great object, as, when unanimously ratified by them, would enable the United States, in Congress assembled, effectually to provide for the same." That the state of Delaware had given similar powers to their commissioners, with this difference only, that the act to be framed in virtue of these powers, is required to be reported " to the United States, in Congress assem- bled, to be agreed to by them, and confirmed by the legislature of every state." That the state of New Jersey had enlarged the object of their appointment, empowering their commissioners " to consider how far a uniform system in their commer- cial regulations, and other important matters, might be necessary to the common interest and permanent harmony of the several states ;" and to report such an act on the subject, as, when ratified by them, " would enable the United States, in Congress assembled, effectually to pro- vide for the exigencies of the Union." That appointments of commissioners have also been made by the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and North Carolina, none of whom, how- ever, have attended : but that no information has been received by your commissioners of any appointment having been made by the states of Connecticut, Mary land, South Carolina, or Georgia. 332 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. That the express terms of the powers to your commis- sioners supposing a deputation from all the states, and having for object the trade and commerce of the United States, your commissioners did not conceive it advisable to proceed on the business of their mission under the cir- cumstances of so partial and defective a representation. Deeply impressed, however, with the magnitude and importance of the object confided to them on this occa- sion, your commissioners cannot forbear to indulge an expression of their earnest and unanimous wish, that speedy measures may be taken to effect a general meet- ing of the states, in a future convention, for the same and such other purposes as the situation of public affairs may be found to require. If, in expressing this wish, or in intimating any other sentiment, your commissioners should seem to exceed the strict bounds of their appointment, they entertain a full confidence, that a conduct dictated by an anxiety for the welfare of the United States, will not fail to receive an indulgent construction. 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 com- prehensive extent, and will enter so far into the general system of the federal government, that to give it efficacy, and to obviate questions and doubts concerning its pre- cise nature and limits, may require a correspondent ad- justment of other parts of the federal system. That there are important defects in the system of the CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 333 federal government, is acknowledged by the acts of all those states which have concurred in the present meet- ing ; that the defects, upon a closer examination, may be found greater and more numerous than even these acts imply, is at least so far probable, from the embarrass- ments which characterize the present state of our national affairs, foreign and domestic, as may reasonably be sup- posed to merit a deliberate and candid discussion, in some mode which will unite the sentiments and councils of all the states. In the choice of the mode, your commis- sioners are of opinion .that a convention 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 discovered to exist, will be entitled to a preference, from considerations which will occur without being particularized. Your commissioners decline an enumeration of those national circumstances on which their opinion respecting the propriety of a future convention, with more enlarged powers, is founded ; as it would be a useless intnision of facts and observations, most of which have been fre- quently the subject of public discussion, and none of which can have escaped the penetration of those to whom they would, in this instance, be addressed. They are, however, of a nature so serious, as, in the view of your commissioners, to render the situation of the United States delicate and critical, calling for an exertion of the united virtue and wisdom of all the members of the con- federacy. Under this impression, your commissioners, with the most respectful deference, beg leave to suggest their unanimous conviction, that it may essentially tend to ad- vance the interests of the Union, if the states, by whom they have been respectively delegated, would themselves concur, and use their endeavors to procure the concur- 334 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED. STATES. rence of the other states, in the appointment of commis- sioners, to meet at Philadelphia, on the second Monday in May next, to take into consideration the situation of the United States, to devise such further provisions as shall appear to them necessary, to render the constitution of the federal government adequate to the exigencies of the Union ; and to report such an act for that purpose, to the United States, in Congress assembled, as, when agreed to by them, and afterward confirmed by the legislature of every state, will effectually provide for the same. Though your commissioners could not, with propriety, address these observations and sentiments to any but the states they have the honor to represent, they hare never- theless concluded, from motives of respect, to transmit copies of this report to the United States, in Congress assembled, and to the executives of the other states. By order of the Commissioners. Dated at Annapolis, September 14th, 1786. This report was adopted, and transmitted to Congress. On the twenty-first of February, the committee of that body, consisting of Messrs. Dane, Varnum, S. M. Mitchell, Smith, Cadwallader, Irvine, N. Mitchell, Forrest, Gray- son, Blount, Bull, and Few, to whom the report of the commissioners was referred, reported thereon, and offered the following resolutions, viz. Congress having had under consideration the letter of John Dickinson, Esq., chairman of the commissioners who assembled at Annapolis, during the last year ; also the proceedings of the said commissioners, and entirely coinciding with them, as to the inefficiency of the federal government, and the necessity of devising such further provisions as shall render the same adequate to the ex- igencies of the Union, do strongly recommend to the dif- CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 335 ferent legislatures to send forward delegates, to meet the proposed convention, on the second Monday in May next, at the city of Philadelphia. The delegates for the state of New York thereupon laid before Congress instructions which they had received from their constituents, and in pursuance of the said in- structions, moved to postpone the further consideration of the report, in order to take up the following proposi- tion, viz. " That it be recommended to the states composing the Union, that a convention of representatives from the said states respectively, be held at , on , for the pur- pose of revising the articles of confederation and perpet- ual union between the United States of America, and reporting to the United States, in Congress assembled, and to the states respectively, such alterations and amend- ments of the said articles of confederation, as the repre- sentatives, met in such convention, shah 1 judge proper and necessary, to render them adequate to the preservation and support of the Union." On taking the question, only three states voted in the affirmative, and the resolution was negatived. A motion was then made by the delegates for Massa chusetts, to postpone the further consideration of the report, in order to take into consideration a motion which they read in their place ; this being agreed to, the motion of the delegates for Massachusetts was taken up, and being amended was agreed to, as follows : " Whereas, there is provision in the articles of con federation and perpetual union, for making alterations therein, by the assent of a Congress of the United States, and of the legislatures of the several states; and whereas, experience hath evinced that there are defects in the pre- sent confederation, as a mean to remedy which, several of the states and particularly the state of New York, bj 336 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. express instructions to their delegates in Congress, have suggested a convention for the purposes expressed in the following resolution ; and such convention appearing to be the most probable means of establishing in these states, a firm national government : " Resolved, That, in the opinion of Congress, it is ex- pedient that, on the second Monday in May next, a con- vention of delegates who shall have been appointed by the several states, be held at Philadelphia, for the sole and express purpose of revising the articles of confedera- tion, and reporting to Congress and the several legisla- tures, 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 the government, and the preservation of the Union." This preamble and resolution were immediately trans- mitted to the several speakers of State legislative assem- blies, and they were laid before the representatives of the people in all the States of the confederacy. While a feel- ing prevailed generally that something must be done to avert the threatened anarchy, toward which governmental operations were tending, great caution was observed in the delegation of powers and in instruction to those who should be appointed members of the proposed convention. However, in compliance with the recommendation of Con- gress, delegates were chosen in the several states, for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation, and assembled in Philadelphia on the second Monday in May, 1787. All the states were represented except Rhode Island.* Washington who was a delegate from Virginia, was chosen president of the convention. Able statesmen were his associates, and they entered earnestly upon their * For the names of the Delegates to the constitutional convention, see Aj> pendix. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 337 duties. They had not proceeded far, however, before they perceived that the Articles of Confederation were so radically defective and their powers so inadequate to the wants of the country, that instead of trying to amend the code of the old Confederation, they went diligently at work to form a new Constitution. Edmund Randolph submitted a series of resolutions on the twenty-ninth of May, which embodied the plan of a new Constitution. It was proposed to form a general government consisting of a legislature, executive, and judiciary ; and a revenue, army and navy independent of the control of the several states. It was to have power to conduct war, establish peace, make treaties ; to have the exclusive privilege of coining money, and the supervision of all national transactions. Upon general principles this plan was highly approved, but in that convention there were many ardent and pure patriots, who looked upon the preservation of State Sovereignty as essential, and regarded this proposed form of government, as a radical infringement upon those rights. They therefore violently opposed it. Another plan was proposed by Mr. Patterson, a dele- gate from New Jersey. It enlarged the power of Con- gress, but left it resources and supplies to be found through the medium of the State governments. This plan had that serious defect of the Articles of Confedera- tion, a dependence of the general government upon the several states, for its vitality. On the 12th of Septem- ber, the committee to " revise the Articles," submitted the following resolution to Congress, which was adopted : " Resolved unanimously, That the said report, with the resolutions and letters accompanying the same, be trans- mitted to the several legislatures, in order to be submitted to a convention of delegates chosen in each State by the people thereof, in conformity to the resolves of the con- vention, made and provided in that case." 15 338 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. The following is a certified copy of the Constitution sent to the various states for ratification, together with all its amendments subsequently made, and profusely an- notated. It is copied from, and compared with, the Roll in the Department of State. WE the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general 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. The house of representatives shall be com- posed of members chosen every second year by the peo- ple 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. No person shall be a representative who shall not have attained 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. Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers,* which * The constitutional provision, that direct taxes shall be apportioned among the tereral States according to their respective numbers, to be ascertained bj a cen- sus, was not intended to restrict the power of imposing direct taxes to State* . Blake, 5, Whtaton, 319. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 339 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 hot taxed, three fifths o f 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 subse- quent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of representatives shall not ex- ceed one for every thirty thousand,* but each state shall have at least one representative ; and until such enume- ration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to choose three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Caro- lina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three. When vacancies happen in the representation from any state, the executive authority thereof shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. The house of representatives shall choose their speaker and other officers ; and shall have the sole power of im- peachment. SECTION 3. The senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof, for six years ; and each senator shall have one vote.t 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 expira- tion of the second year, of the second class at the expi- ration of the fourth year, and of the third class at the ex- * See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 124 ; lii., 261 ; ir., 332. AcU of 17m Cougress, 1st session, chap. x. ; and of the 22d and 27th Congress, t See art. v, clause 1. ' 340 CONSTITUT ON OF THE UNITED STATES. piration of the sixth year, so that one third may be chosen every second year ; and if vacancies happen by resigna- tion or otherwise, during 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 vacancies. 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. The vice-president of the United States shall be presi- dent of the senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided. The senate shall choose their other officers, and also a president, pro tempore, in the absence of the vice-presi- dent, or when he shall exercise the office of president of the United States. The senate shall have the sole power to try all im- peachments ; 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. Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, 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. 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 regulations, except as to the places of choosing senator! CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 341 The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by law appoint a different day. SECTION 5. Each house shall be the judge of the elec- tions, returns and qualifications -of its own members, and a majority of each shall constitute a quorum to do business ; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the attendance of absent members, ir such manner, and under such penalties as each house may provide. Each house may determine the rules of its proceedings,* punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two thirds, expel a member. 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 ques- tion shall, at the desire of one fifth of those present, be entered on the journal. * To an action of trespass against the sergeant-at-arms of the house of repre- sentatives of the United States for assault and battery and false imprisonment, it is a legal justification and bar to plead that a Congress was held and sitting during the period of the trespasses complained, and that the house of representatives had resolved that the plaintiff had been guilty of a breach of the privileges of the house, and of a high contempt of the dignity and authority of the same ; and had ordered that the speaker should issue his warrant to the sergeant-at-arms, com- manding him to take the plaintiff into custody wherever to be found, and to have him before the said house to answer to the eaid charge ; and that the speaker did accordingly issue such a warrant, reciting the said resolution and order, and com- manding the sergcant-at-arms to take the plaintiff into custody, &c., and deliver the said warrant to the defendant : by virtue of which warrant the defendant ar- rested the plaintiff, and conveyed him to the bar of the house, where he was heard in his defence touching the matter of said charge, and the examination being ad- journed from day to day, and the house having ordered the plaintiff to be de- tained in custody, he was accordingly detained by the defendant until he was finally adjudged to be guilty and convicted of the charge aforesaid, and ordered to be forthwith brought to the bar and reprimanded by the speaker, and then dis charged from custody, and after being thus reprimanded, was actually discharged from the arrest and custody aforesaid. Anderson vs Dunn, 6 Wheaton, 204. 342 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. 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. SECTION 6. The senators and representatives shall re- ceive 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 bi'each of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their at- tendance 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. No senator or representative shall, during the time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil office un- der 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. All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the house of representatives ; but the senate may pro- pose or concur with amendments as on other bills. Every bill which shall have passed the house of repre- sentatives and the senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the president of the United States ; if he ap- prove he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections to that house in which it shall have originated, 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 h juses shall CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. 343 be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the jouinal of each house respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the president within ten days (Sun- day 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. Every order, resolution, or vote to which the concur- rence of the senate and house of representatives may be necessaiy (except on a question of adjournment) shall be pi-esented to the president of the United States; and be- fore 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, accord- ing to the rules and limitations pi'escribed in the case of a bill. SECTION 8. The Congress shall have power 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, imposts and excises, shall be uniform throughout the United States ; To borrow money on the credit of the United States ; To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes ; To establish a uniform rule of naturalization ,t and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies}: throughout the United States ; * The power of Congress to lay and collect taxes, duties, ice., extends to the Dis- trict of Columbia, and to the territories of the United States, as well as to the elates. Lougl&orough, vs. Blake, 5 Whtaton, 318. But Congress are not bound to extend a direct tax to the district and territories. Id., 318. t Under the constitution of the United States, the power of naturalization is ex- clusively in Congress. Chivac vs. Chivac, 2 Wheaton, 259. See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 30; ii., 261; iii., 71 ; iii., 288; Hi., 400; hr., 564 ; vi., 33. ' Since the adoption of the constitution of the United States, a rtate hw authoritl J44 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. To coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of for- eign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures ; To provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the se- curities and current coin of the United States ; To establish post-oifices and post-roads ; To promote the progress of science and useful arts, b) securing for limited times to authors and inventors, the exclusive right to their respective writings and dis- coveries ; To constitute tribunals inferior to the supreme court ; To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations;* To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water ; To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years ; To provide and maintain a navy ; To make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces ; To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel in- vasions ; to pass a bankrupt law, provided such law does not impair the obligation of con- tracts within the meaning of the constitution (art. i., sect. 10), and provided thero be no act of Congress in force to establish a uniform system of bankruptcy con- flicting with such law. Sturgtst vs. Crovminshitld, 4 Wheaton, 122, 192. See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 368, sect 2 j iii., 66 ; iii., 158. The act of the 3d March, 1819, chap. 76, sect. 5, referring to the law of nations for a definition of the crime of piracy, is a constitutional exercise of the power of Congress to define and punish that crime. United States va. Smith, 5 Whtaton, 153, 157. Congress have power to provide for the punishment of offences committed by persons on board a ship-of-war of the United States, wherever that ship may lie. But Congress have not exercised that power in the case of a ship lying in the waters of the United States, the words within fort, arsenal, dockyard, magazine, or in any other place or district of country under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, in the third section of the act of 1790, chap. 9, not extending to a ship-of-war, but only to objects in their nature, fixed and territorial. United State* vs. Bevant, 3 WlMton, 890. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 345 To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part > them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserv- ing to the states respectively, the appointment of the offi- cers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress j* To exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatso- ever, over such district (not exceeding ten miles square) as may, by cession of particular states, and the accept- ance of Congress, become the seat of the government of the United States, t and to exercise like authority over all places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be, for the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful build- ings ; And 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 govern- ment of the United States, or in any department or offi- cer thereof.f * Vide amendments, art. ii. t Congress has authority to impose a direct tax on the District of Columbia, in proportion to the census directed to be taken by the constitution. LougKboroug\ vs. Blake, 5 Wheaton,3n. But Congress are not bound to extend a direct tax to the district and territo- ries. Id., 322. The power of Congress to exercise exclusive jurisdiction in all cases whatso- ever within the District of Columbia, includes the power of taxing it. Id, 324 J Whenever the terms in which a power is granted by the constitution to Con- gress, or whenever the nature of the power itself require* that it should be exer- cised exclusively by Congress, the subject is as completely taken away from the etate legislatures as if they had been expressly forbidden to act on it. Sturgessve. Crtncninshitld, 4 WhetUon, 193. Congress has power to incorporate a bank. McCidloch v*. State of Maryland, 4 Whealon, 316. The power of establishing a corporation is not a distinct sovereign power or end of government, but only the means of carrying into effect other powers which are sovereign. Whenever it becomes an appropriate means of exercising any of the powers given by the constitution to the government of the Union, it may be exercUed by that government. Id., 411, 421. If a certain means to carry into effect any of the powers expre*ly given by the 15* 346 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. SECTION 9. The migration or importation of such per- sons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to constitution to the government of the Union, be an appropriate measure, not pri* hibited by the constitution, the degree of its necessity is a question of legislative discretion, not of judicial cognizance. Id., 421. Ths act cf the 19th of April, 1816, chap. 44, to incorporate the subscribers to tha bank of the United States is a law made in pursuance of the constitution. Id., 424. The bank of the United States has constitutionally a right to establish its branches or offices of discount and deposite within any state. Id., 424. There is nothing in the constitution of the United States similar to the articles of confederation, which excludes incidental or implied powers. Id., 403. If the end be legitimate, and within the scope of the constitution, all the meant which are appropriate, which are plainly adapted to that end, and which are not prohibited, may constitutionally be employed to carry it into effect. Id., 421. The powers granted to Congress are not exclusive of similar powers existing in the states, unless where the constitution has expressly in terms given an exclu- sive power to Congress, or the exercise of a like power is prohibited to the states, or there is a direct repugnancy or incompatibility in the exercise of it by tha states. Houston vs Moore, 5 Wheaton 49. The example of the first class is to be found in the exclusive legislation dele- gated to Congress over places purchased by the consent of the legislature of the state in which the same shall be for forts, arsenals, dockyards, &c. Of the se- cond class, the prohibition of a state to coin money or emit bills of credit. Of the third class, the power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, and the delegation of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. Id., 49. In all other classes of cases the states retain concurrent authority with Con- gress, Id., 48. But in cases of concurrent authority, where the laws of the states and of the Union are in direct and manifest collision on the same subject, those of the Union being the supreme law of the land, are of paramount authority, and the state so far, and so far only as such incompatibility exists, must necessarily yield. Id., 49. The state within which a branch of the United States bank may be established, can not, without violating the constitution, tax that branch. McCulloch vs Statt of Maryland,* Wheaton, 425. The state governments have no right to tax any of the constitutional means employed by the government of the Union to execute its constitutional powers. Id., 427. The states have no power by taxation, or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operation of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress, to carry into effect the powers vested in the national government.-^ Id., 430. This principle does not extend to a tax paid by the real property of the bank of the United States, in common with the other real property in a particular state, nor to a tax imposed on the proprietary which the citizens of that state may hold In common with the other property of the same description throughout the state -#.436. CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. 347 the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such importation, not ex- ceeding ten dollars for each person. 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. No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed. No capitation, or other direct tax shall be laid, unless in proportion to the census or enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken. No tax or duty shall be laid on articles exported from any state. No preference shall be given by any regulation of com- merce 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. No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law ; and a regu- lar statement and account of the receipts and expendi tures of all public money shall be published from time to time. 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 Con- gress, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state. SECTION 10. 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 anything but gold and silver coin a tender in payment of debts ; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impair- ing the obligation of contracts,* or grant any title of no- bility. * Where a law is in ita nature a contract, where absolute rights hare vested 348 CONSTITUTION O*' THE UNITED STATES. 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 in- spection laws : and the net produce of all duties and im- posts, laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States ; and all su ch laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the Congress. 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 under that contract, a repeal of the law can not divest those rights. Fletcher vs. Peck, 6 Crunch, 88. A party to a contract can not pronounce its own deed invalid, although that party be a sovereign state. Id., 88. A grant is a contract executed. Id., 89. A law annulling conveyance is unconstitutional, because it is a law impairing the obligation of contracts within the meaning of the constitution of the United States. Id. The court will not declare a law to be unconstitutional, unless the opposition between the constitution and the law be clear and plain. Id., 87. An act of the legislature of a state, declaring that certain lands which should be purchased for the Indians should not thereafter be subject to any tax, constituted a contract which could not, after the adoption of the constitution of the United States, be rescinded by a subsequent legislative act ; such rescinding act being void under the constitution of the United States. State of New Jersey vs. Wilson, 7 Cranch, 164. The present constitution of the United States did not commence its operation until the first Wednesday in March, 1789, and the provision in the constitution, that " no state shall make any law impairing the obligation of contracts," does not extend to a state law enacted before that day, and operating upon rights of pro- perty vesting before that time. Omngs vs. Speed, 5 Whcaton, 420, 421. An act of a state legislature, which discharges a debtor from all liability for debts contracted previous to his discharge, on his surrendering his property for the benefit of his creditors, is a law impairing "the obligations of contracts," within the meaning of the constitution of the United States, so far as it attempts to discharge thtf'eofctract ; and it makes no difference in such a case, that the suit was brought in a state court of the state of which both the parties were citizens where the contract was made, and the discharge obtained, and where they con- tinued to reside until the suit was brought. Farmers and Mechanics' Sank vs. Smith, 6 Wheaton,l3l. The act of New York, passed on the 3d of April, 1811 (which not only liberate! the person of the debtor, but discharges him from aU liability for any debt con- tracted previous to his discharge, on his surrendering his property in the manner CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 349 state, or with a foreign power, or engage in war, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent danger as will not admit of delay. ARTICLE II. SECTION 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, to- gether with the vice-president, chosen for the same term, be elected, as follows : Each state shall appoint, in such manner as the legisla- ture 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. it prescribes,) so far aa it attempts to discharge the contract, is a law impairing the obligation of contracts within the meaning of the constitution of the United States, and is not a good plea in bar of an action brought upon such contract Sturgtss vs. Crenoinshield, 4 Wheaton, 122, T97. Statutes of limitation and usury laws, unless retroactive in their effect, do not Impair the obligation of contracts, and are constitutional. Id., 206. A state bankrupt or insolvent law (which not only liberates the penon of the debtor, but discharges him from all liability for the debt,) so far as it attempts to discharge the contract, is repugnant to the constitution of the United States, and it makes no difference in the application of this principle, whether the law was passed before or after the debt was contracted. McMillan vs. Me Jf till, 4 Whea- ton, 209. The charter granted by the British crown to the trustees of Dartmouth col- lege, in New Hampshire, in the year 1769, is a contract within the meaning of that clause of the constitution of the United States (art. I., sect. 10) which declares, that no state shall make any law impairing the obligation of contracts. The charter was not dissolved by the revolution. College vs. Woodard, 4 Wheaton, 518 An act of the state legislature of New Hampshire, altering the charter of Dart- mouth College in a material respect, without the consent of the corporation, is an act impairing the obligation of the charter, and is unconstitutional and void. Id., 518. * See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 12. t See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109. 350 CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. [*The electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for two persons, of whom one at least shall not be an inhabitant 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 the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the president of the senate. The president of the senate shall in the presence of the senate and house of representa- tives, 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 choose by ballot one of them for presi- dent ; and if no person have a majority, then from the five highest on the list the said house shall in like manner choose the president. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote ; a quorum 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 neces- sary to a choice. In 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 choose from them by ballot the vice-presi- clent.t] The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors,} and the day on which they shall give their votes ; which day shall be the same throughout the United States. No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoptiojn of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president ; * Vide amendments, art. xli. \ This clause is annulled. See amendments, art xii. t Bee laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 104, sect. 1; also law S8th Congress. See laws United States, reUi., chap. 109, sect. 2. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 351 neituoi *hall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States. 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 de- volve on the vice-president, and the Congress may by law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability, both of the president and vice-president, decla- ring what officer shall then act as president, and such officer shall act accordingly, until the disability be removed, or a president shall be elected .t The president shall, at stated times, receive for his ser- vices, a compensation, which shall neither be increased 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. 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. The president shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, and of the mi- litia of the several states, when called into the actual service of the United States ;$ he may require the opinion, in wri- * See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 104, sect 11. t See laws United States, vol. ii., chap. 109, sect. 9 ; and vol iii. chap. 403. J The act of the state of Pennsylvania, of the 28th March, 1814 (providing, tect. 21, that the officers and privates of the militia of that state neglecting or refusing to serve when called into actual service, in pursuance of any order or requisition of the president of the United States, shall be liable to the penalties defined in the act of Congress of 28th February, 1795, chap. 277, or to any penalty which may have-been prescribed einc^ the date of that act, or which may here- after be prescribed by any law of the United States, and also providing for tbt 352 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. ting, of the principal officer in each of the executive do partments, upon any subject relating to the duties of then respective offices, and he shall have power to grant re- prieves and pardons for offences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment. He shall have power, by and with the advice and con- sent 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 con- suls, 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 the Congress may by law ^st the appointment of such inferior officers, as they think proper, in the presi- dent alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of de- partments. The president shall have power to fill up all vacancies that may happen during the resess of the senate, by grant- ing commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session. SECTION 3. He shall from time to time give to the Con- gress information of the state of the Union, and recom- mend to their consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient ; he may, on extraordina- ry occasions, convene both houses, or either of them, and in case of disagreement between them, with respect to the time of adjournment, he may adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper ; he shall receive ambassa- dors and other public ministers ; he shall take care that trial of such delinquents by a state court-martial, and that a list of the delinquents fined by such court should be furnished to the marshal of the United States, &c. ; and also to the comptroller of the treasury of the United States, in order that the further proceedings directed to be had thereon by the laws of the United Statei might be completed), is not repugnant to the constitution and law* of the United States. Houston, vs. Moore, 5 Whtaton. 1, 12. CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED ft FATES. 35* the laws be faithfully executed, and shall commission al the officers of the United States. SECTION 4. The president, vice-president, and all civil officers of the United Slates, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. ARTICLE III. 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 compen- sation, which shall not be diminished during their contin- uance in office. t SECTION 2. 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 am- bassadors, other public ministers and consuls ; to all ca- ses of admiralty and maritime jurisdictions ; 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 be- tween a state, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects. * Congress may constitutionally impose upon the judges of the supreme court of the United States the burden of holding circuit courU. Stuart Y. Laird, 1 Cranck,Z99. f See laws of the United States, rol. ii., chap. 20. | A citizen of the District of Columbia is not a citizen of a state within the meaning of the constitution of the United States. Hepburn a al YI. Elhey 2 Crunch, 445. The supreme court of the United States baa not power to Issue a tiandamut 354 CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 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.* to a secretary of state of the United States, it being an exercise of original jurisdic- tion not warranted by the constitution, notwithstanding the act of Congress. Marbury, vs. Madison, 1 Cranch, 137. See a restriction of this provision. Amendments, art.xi. * The appellate jurisdiction of the supreme court of the United States extends to a final judgment or decree in any suit in the highest court of law, or equity of a state, where is drawn in question the validity of a treaty, &c. Martin vs. Hunter's lessee, 1 Wheaton, 304. Such judgment, &c., may be re-examined by writ of error, in the same manner as if rendered in a circuit court. Id. If the cause has been once remanded before, and the state court decline or refuse to carry into effect the mandate of the supreme court thereon, this court will proceed to a final decision of the same, and award execution thereon. Quere. Whether this court has authority to issue a mandamus to the state court to enforce a former judgment? Id., 362. If the validity or construction of a treaty of the United States is drawn in question, and. the decision is against its validity, or the title specially set up by either party under the treaty, this court has jurisdiction to ascertain that title, and determine its legal validity, and ia not confined to the abstract construction of the treaty itself. Id., 362. Quert. Whether the courts of the United States have jurisdiction of oftencei at common law against the United States ? United States vs. Ooolldge, 1 Wheaton, 415. The courts of the United States have exclusive jurisdiction of all seizures made on land or water for a breach of the laws of the United States, and any intervention of a state authority, which by taking the thing seized out of the hands of the United States' officer, might obstruct the exercise of this jurisdiction, is illegal. Slocum vs. Mayberry et al, 2 Wheaton, 1, 9. In such a case the court of the United States have cognizance of the seizure, may enforce a re-delivery of the thing by attachment or other summary process. I(L, 9. The question under such a seizure, whether a forfeiture has been actually incurred, belongs exclusively to the courts of the United States, and it depend* upcn the final decree of such courts, whether the seizure is to be deemed rightful or tortuous. Id., 9, 10. If the seizing officer refuse to institute proceedings to ascertain the forfeiture, the district court may, on application of the aggrieved party, compel the office; to proceed to adjudication, or to abandon the seizure. Id., 10. The jurisdiction of the circuit court of the United Statea extends to a case CONSTITUTION OP THE UNITED STATES. 355 The trial of all crimes, except in cases of impeachment, shall be by jury ; and such trial shall be held in the state where the said crimes shall have been committed ; but between citizens of Kentucky, claiming lands exceeding the value of five hundred dollars, under different grants, the one issued by the state of Kentucky and the other by the state of Virginia, upon warrants issued by Virginia, and locations founded thereon, prior to the separation of Kentucky from Virginia. It is the grant which passes the legal title to the land, and if the controversy i founded upon the conflicting grants of different states, the judicial power of the courts of the United States extends to the case, whatever may have been the equitable title of the parties prior to the grant. Colson et al vs. Lewis, 2 Wheaton, 377. Under the judiciary of 1789, chap. 20, sect. 25, giving appellate jurisdiction to the supreme court of the United States, from the final judgment or decree of the highest court of law or equity of a state, in certain cases the writ of error may be directed to any court in which the record and judgment on which it is to act may be found ; and if the record has been remitted by the highest court,