110

1

CONGRESS CALLED.

ence. The inhabitants of the New Hampshire Grants, boldly claiming independence, both of New York and Parliament, soon made a new state organization successful at Dorset, at Westminster and at Windsor; gave the name of Vermont2 to the Green Mountain valley and adopted a constitution. In New York, Lord North's plan of reconciliation was practically rejected, the assembly refusing to discuss it before it should be considered by the Continental Congress about to assemble.

The calling of this Congress was approved by the country and most of the delegates had now been chosen.* With few exceptions the delegates to the late Congress were re-elected, and their credentials were similar to those given a year before." There was, however, some variation, as in the instructions to the Massachusetts delegates fully empowering them to concert with the members from other colonies and to agree upon and direct whatever measures were best calculated to establish American rights and liberties and to restore harmony with England. The delegates from Massachusetts were John Hancock, Cushing, Paine and John and Samuel Adams, who were elected by the Provincial Congress on the second of December, and

1 See the Address of the Hon. William A. Graham on the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence of the 20th of May, 1775; Delivered at Charlotte on the 4th day of February, 1875, by Request of the Citizens of Mecklenburg County; with Accompanying Documents, Including those Published by Order of the Legislature of North Carolina in the year 1831; Published by order of the Central Executive Committee of the Centennial and Monumental Association. New York: E. J. Hale & Sons, publishers; Murray street, 1875; 167 pp.

2 The name New Connecticut was proposed, and for a short time used, as in the Vermont declaration of independence.

3 Vermont Historical Association Collection, Vol. I, 1-56.

4 See its Journals in thirteen volumes; these are carefully followed in the narrative.

The credentials are printed in the Journal, I, 74, et seq.

any three of them were empowered to represent the Province. A new element in their credentials was their appointment "until the thirty-first day of December next ensuing and no longer," the limited time having been inserted on the sixth of February. The Connecticut assembly added Jonathan Sturgess and Titus Holmer to Sherman, Dyer and Duane, the election occurring on the third of November, 1774.

On the eighth of December, the deputies of the counties of Maryland reappointed Tilghman, Johnson, Paca and Chase, adding Robert Goldsboro, John Hall and Thomas Stone.1 Any three of them had full power to agree to whatever measures Congress might take and could bind the Province to execute them, yet Maryland had nothing so much at heart as a reconciliation of the differences with the mother country "upon a firm basis of constitutional freedom." On the fifteenth, Pennsylvania chose Biddle, Dickinson, Mifflin, Humphries, Morton and Ross, and, on the sixth of May, following, added James Harrison, and Franklin, who on the preceding day had arrived from England. On the twenty-fourth of January, 1775, the New Jersey assembly chose Kinsey, Livingston, Hart, Stephen Crane and Richard Smith, instructing them to report the proceedings of the Congress to the next session of the assembly.2 On the twenty-fifth, the New Hampshire convention of deputies appointed by the several towns, chose John Sullivan and John Langdon, giving each full power to act in the absence of the other.

1 Proceedings of the Conventions of the Province of Maryland, held at the City of Annapolis, in 1774, 1775 and 1776; Baltimore, 1836; 11, 12,

2 See Extracts from the Journal of Proceedings of the Provincial Congress of New Jersey, held at Trenton in the Months of May, June and August, 1775. Burlington: Printed and sold by Isaac Collins, MDCCLXXV; Woodbury, reprint, 1835, p. 6.

On the third of February, the House of Assembly of South Carolina appointed Middleton, Gadsden, John and Edward Rutledge, and Thomas Lynch as delegates, with full power to attend the Congress and its adjourned meetings, provided these did not extend over nine months. Delaware, on the sixteenth of March, in assembly, again chose Rodney, McKean and Read, instructing them to agree to such measures as should be "on a constitutional foundation." Four days later, the county delegates of Virginia, in convention at Richmond, chose for the second time, Randolph, Washington, Henry, Lee, Pendleton, Harrison and Bland. On the fifth of April, at Newbern, the convention of North Carolina chose William Hooper, Hewes and Caswell as delegates, and, two days later, the assembly confirmed their appointment.

The New York delegates, chosen in Provincial convention on the twenty-second of April, were representatives of districts rather than of the province at large; they were Philip Livingston, Duane, Alsopp, John Jay, Boerum, William Floyd, Wisner, Philip Schuyler, George Clinton, Lewis Morris, Francis Lewis and Robert Livingston; they represented the city and county of New York, the city and county of Albany, the counties of Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Westchester, Suffolk and Kings, and by special appointment, Queens. Any five of them were empowered to act with the representatives from the other colonies.1 The New Jersey delegates were appointed on Sunday. Three days before the Congress met, Hopkins and Ward were again chosen by the general assembly of Rhode Island; thus within eighteen days of the affair at

1 See the Journal of the Provincial Congress, Provincial Convention, Committee of Safety and Council of Safety of the State of New York, 1775, 1776, 1777; Vol. I; Albany, 1842, p. 5.

Lexington the twelve colonies had chosen delegates to a second Continental Congress.

2

On the tenth of May, they assembled and organized at the State House in Philadelphia,1 again unanimously choosing Randolph, President, and Charles Thompson, secretary. Now, as before, their sessions were in secret. And first, they took into consideration the depositions of the citizens of Massachusetts, who had suffered loss at Lexington, but as the Congress had no funds, the only reimbursement was the consolation of sympathy and the assurance that the cause of the patriots at Lexington was the common cause of America. Though delegates continued to arrive, for several weeks, the great leaders were present on the opening day, and the work of the Congress shows the effect of concert among them.

Of the population of America at this time we have no accurate knowledge. It was not far from two and a half. millions, of whom one-fifth were negro slaves. With few exceptions, the people spoke the English tongue, were accustomed to the common law and had common political sentiments. The almost endless diversity in their religious opinions is not traceable in their politics. Their commercial interests were sufficiently alike to become ultimately the basis of a general government. The refusal of Parliament and the King to redress the grievances of which the first Continental Congress had complained was creating a spirit of independence, but this was not yet strong enough to control public opinion. Clinton, of New York, was known to be devoted to popular rights; and Franklin from Pennsylvania, now included in her delegation, had continental sympathies. The parish of St. Johns in Georgia had sent a delegate to the late Congress and

1 Journal, I, 73.

2 Id. 84, et seq.

now, on the twenty-first of March, it chose Lyman Hall as delegate to the new and by his admission to a seat, on the thirteenth of May, all the colonies were represented.

On the twenty-sixth,' a New Jersey member laid Lord North's conciliatory plan before the Congress. After careful discussion it was decided that the acts of Parliament, taxing America and enforcing legislation by arms were unconstitutional and oppressive; and that the collection of the taxes and the change in the constitutional and internal policies of some of the Colonies, meaning particularly Massachusetts, were in violation of the natural and civil rights of the people. Hostilities had already be gun in Massachusetts, yet with a sincere desire of contributing to the restoration of harmony, Congress decided to present another humble petition to the King, at the same time urging the provincial convention of New York to arm and train its militia and to prepare vigorously for defense, as it was uncertain whether the earnest endeavors of Congress to accommodate the differences between the colonies and Parliament by conciliatory addresses would be successful. Thus, while keeping the way open for peace, Congress was preparing for war.

Hancock, who had presented the report from the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts which outlined the affair at Lexington, at length urged Congress to take military action for the whole continent. The Massachusetts Congress was convinced that the King's authority was forever gone in the Province and that a new form of civil government must be organized, but it hesitated to assume civil authority without the consent of Congress,

1 May 26, 1775, Journal, I, 104.

2 See the recommendation in the Journal of the New York Provincial Congress, p. 16, and its action, pp. 20-21. Journal of Congress, I, 106.