CHAPTER vention authorized their delegates to join with the other

XXXIII. colonies in declaring independence. The Assemblies of

1776. Rhode Island and Connecticut indicated their inclinaApril 23. tion by dispensing with the oath of allegiance to the May 7. king,

May 6.

At

Encouraged by symptoms every where apparent, ConMay 10. gress, on the motion of John Adams, adopted a resolution, recommending to the Assemblies and Conventions of the colonies, in all cases where it had not already been done, to establish governments adequate to their exigencies. Before this resolution was promulgated, the May 15. Convention of Virginia appointed a committee to draw up a Bill of Rights and a Frame of Government. the same time, the Virginia delegates in Congress were instructed to propose in that body, a declaration of independence. That very day Congress had voted, by way of preamble to their resolution above recited, that "all oaths for the support of government under the crown of Great Britain were irreconcilable with reason and good conscience; and that the exercise of every kind of authority under that crown ought to be totally suppressed, and all the powers of government exerted, under authority from the people of the colonies, for the maintenance of internal peace, and the defense of their lives, liberties, and properties against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies."

Steps were taken in Philadelphia to carry out this recommendation. The Pennsylvania Assembly met a May 20. few days after, but a public meeting protested against their proceeding to business; nor was it without difficulty that they obtained a quorum.

In Maryland the resolution did not meet with full reMay 21. sponse. The Convention voted, on the contrary, that it was not necessary to suppress every exercise of author

XXXIII.

ity under the crown. In consequence of several inter- CHAPTER cepted letters, Congress had recommended to arrest Gov.. ernor Eden. The Baltimore committee volunteered in 1776. that matter, but became involved, in consequence, in a collision with the Convention. A committee reported that, in such correspondence as the governor had carried on with the British ministry, he did not appear to have acted in a hostile character. This report was accepted; but, at the same time, it was voted to signify to Eden that the public safety and quiet required him to leave the province.

At the annual election in Massachusetts, the voters May 30. were requested to instruct their representatives on the subject of independence, and these instructions were unanimous in its favor.

The subject, at length, was formally introduced into Congress by Richard Henry Lee, who moved, at the re- June 7. quest of his colleagues, and in obedience to the instructions of the Virginia Convention, "that the United Colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent states, and that their political connection with Great Britain is, and ought to be, dissolved." Committee of the Whole, this resolution was sustained by the mover, by Wythe, his colleague, and very earnestly by John Adams. It was opposed by John Dickinson, by his colleague Wilson, by Robert R. Livingston, of New York, and Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, not as bad or improper in itself, but as premature. Of this important debate, which, like all the other proceedings of the Continental Congress, took place with closed doors, we possess only the merest outline. Several members besides those named, distinguished then and afterward for good service to their country, opposed the resolution. It passed by a bare majority, seven states to six. The

Debated the next day in June 8.

CHAPTER delegations of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland XXXIII. were expressly instructed against it. Those from New 1776. York, Delaware, and South Carolina, as yet without

instructions or clear intimation of the opinions of their respective provinces, were unwilling to assume the responsibility of so decided a step.

The Reverend Dr. Zubly, one of the Georgia delegates, much alarmed at what was going on, was presently accused by Chase of Maryland of having violated the injunction of secrecy by sending letters to Governor Wright, whose flight was not yet known in Philadelphia. Zubly denied the charge; but his sudden departure seemed to confirm the accusation, and his colleague, Houston, was sent in pursuit of him.

To give time for greater unanimity, the subject was postponed till the first of July; but, meanwhile, a committee was appointed, consisting of Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston, to prepare a formal declaration of independence. Two other committees were appointed at the same time: one to draw up a plan of confederation; the other to prepare a scheme of the terms proper for foreign alliances.

A Board of War was also established, consisting of five members of Congress, with a secretary and clerks, the first rudiments of a War Department. John Adams, selected for the important post of chairman of this committee, presently resigned the office of chief justice of Massachusetts, to which he had been lately appointed. His successor in that office was William Cushing, the only one of the late judges who adhered to the popular side, and who seemed to have a sort of hereditary claim to the office, it having been held by his father and grandfather. Adams's position at the head of the War Department gave him full insight into the details of af

XXXIII.

fairs, and he complained, like Washington, of "corrup- CHAPTER tion even in this infant age of our republic," and of a "predominating avarice which threatened the ruin of 1776. America." The golden age of pure, disinterested patriotism is much like all other golden ages; that which seems to be such at a distance will hardly bear a close inspection.

The new form of government for Virginia being hast- June 12. ily completed, Patrick Henry was chosen governor under it, partly in compensation for the slight he had experienced in being passed over in the nomination of continental brigadiers. Of the details of this new government, an account will be found in a subsequent chapter.

The Provincial Congress of New York having recalled Jay from Philadelphia to inform them more particularly of the state of affairs, asked of their constituents express instruction on the question of independence, and also as to assumption of government. The people of the several counties were to recall such members of the Provincial Congress as they saw fit, and to appoint new ones; and the Congress, thus reorganized and instructed, was to open on the ninth of July. The Assemblies of New Hampshire and Connecticut unanimously instructed their delegates in Congress to concur in the declaration. The Assembly of Pennsylvania, under the heavy pressure of public opinion, rescinded their instructions. A Pro- June 8. vincial Conference" presently met, sanctioned the decla- June 18. ration of independence, and made arrangements for a convention to frame a new government.

The Provincial Congress of New Jersey, somewhat unexpectedly, appointed a new set of delegates, with instructions to vote for independence. Governor Franklin had been made a prisoner in his own house, and placed upon parole by Sterling, some months before; but, as he

XXXIII.

CHAPTER persisted in corresponding with the enemy, he was again arrested, and sent a prisoner to Connecticut, where he 1776. was subjected to a pretty rigid confinement.

Through the efforts of Chase in calling county conventions, a change had also taken place in Maryland; June 28. and the same day that the British fleet was so gallantly repulsed in its attack upon Charlestor, the Maryland Convention empowered its delegates in Congress "to concur with the other United Colonies, or a majority of them, in declaring the said colonies free and independent states." That same day, the committee appointed to draft it reported to Congress a Declaration of IndependJuly 1. ence. The subject being resumed in Committee of the Whole, nine colonies voted for the declaration. New York declined to vote, as no instructions were yet received; Delaware was divided; the delegation of Pennsylvania stood three for and four against it; that of South Carolina, one for and three against it.

July 4.

When the question came up for final action, two of the Pennsylvania members who had voted in the negative absented themselves. Cæsar Rodney, from Delaware, decided the vote of that province in the affirmative. The vote of South Carolina was also given the New York still declined to vote.

same way.

The draft of a declaration, prepared by Jefferson, and reported by the committee, was then taken up. Not to offend the friends of America in Great Britain, it was agreed to strike out several paragraphs especially severeupon the British government. An emphatic denunciation of the slave trade, and a charge against the king of having prostituted his negative for the defeat of all legislative attempts to prohibit or restrain "that execrable traffic," was also omitted. It would have been going a little too far to ask Georgia to vote for that clause. Thus