fortification of Boston, and his arbitrary exercise in other CHAPTER respects of the illegal power he had assumed. A XXX. A committee of two from each province reported, in 1774. the form of a series of resolves, accepted and adopted by the Congress, a "Declaration of Colonial Rights." The enjoyment of life, liberty, and property were claimed in this Declaration as natural rights. The privilege of being bound by no law to which they had not consented by their representatives was claimed for the colonists in their character of British subjects. The sole and exclusive power of legislation for the colonies was declared to reside in their respective Assemblies, reserving to Parliament the enactment of such laws only as might be essential to the bona fide regulation of trade, but excluding all taxation, internal or external. The common law of England was claimed as the birthright of the colonists, including the right of trial by a jury of the vicinage, the right of public meetings, and of petition. protest was made against standing armies maintained in the colonies without their consent; and a similar protest against legislation by councils dependent on the crown-this last in allusion to the Quebec Act. All immunities hitherto enjoyed in the colonies, whether by charter or custom, were claimed as established rights, beyond the power of the mother country to abrogate. Eleven acts of Parliament, passed since the accession of George III.-the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, the two Quartering Acts, the Tea Act, the Act Suspending the New York Legislature, the two Acts for the trial in Great Britain of offenses committed in America, the Boston Port Bill, the Act for Regulating the Government of Massachusetts, and the Quebec Act-were enumerated in conclusion as having been passed in derogation of the rights of the colonies. CHAPTER As means for enforcing this claim of rights, fourteen articles were agreed to as the basis of an "American 1774. Association," pledging the associators to an entire commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, and the non-consumption of tea and British goods this non-intercourse to be extended to such provinces of North America as should decline to come into the Association, and to last till the obnoxious. acts of Parliament were repealed. The non-importation clauses were to commence in December, but the nonexportation clauses were postponed for nine months longer. The slave trade was specially denounced, and entire abstinence from it, and from any trade with those concerned in it, formed a part of the Association. The associators were also pledged to encourage the breeding of sheep and the disuse of mourning. Traders were not to be allowed to enhance the price of goods in consequence of this agreement. Committees were to be appointed in every county, city, and town, to detect and to publish the names of all violators of it; and all dealings with such "enemies of American liberty" were to be immediately broken off. Patrick Henry, who had electrified the Congress by his eloquence, was selected by the committee, to which that business was intrusted, to draft the petition to the king. But this draft, when received, did not give satisfaction. Dickinson, lately added to the Pennsylvania delegation, was added also to the committee, and a new draft was prepared by him, which the Congress approved. A memorial to the inhabitants of British America was drawn up by Richard Henry Lee. The grave, manly, yet fervid eloquence of the "Address to the People of Great Britain," drafted by Jay, was universally admired. Short letters, inclosing the doings of Congress, were ad XXX. dressed to the colonies of St. John's (now Prince Ed- CHAPTER ward's), Nova Scotia, Georgia, and the two Floridas, inviting them to join in the Association. An elaborate "Address to the Inhabitants of Canada" was drawn up by Dickinson. Both the civil and ecclesiastical provisions of the Quebec Act were highly offensive to the other colonies, as well as to the small body of British settlers in Canada. But the French Canadians, and especially the priests, were so well satisfied with the restoration of their old laws and security to their religion, that the eloquent appeal of Congress for union and co-operation had but little effect; the less, indeed, as the Canadians and their religion were but slightingly alluded to in the Address to the People of Great Britain. The petition to the king, along with a vote of thanks to the advocates of the colonies in both houses of Parliament, was inclosed in a letter to the colonial agents. Having made provision for another Congress to meet the May following, unless redress of grievances should meanwhile be obtained, after a busy session of eight weeks this remarkable assembly adjourned without day. The course of measures finally adopted in the Congress had not been agreed to without considerable opposition and a good deal of debate. "Every man in this assembly," wrote John Adams to his wife, "is a great man, an orator, a critic, a statesman, and therefore. every man, upon every question, must show his oratory, his criticism, and his political abilities. The consequence is, that business is spun out to an immeasurable length." After the first flush of confidence was over, suspicions and jealousies began to revive. There were in all the colonies many wealthy and influential men, who had joined, indeed, in protesting against the usurpations of 1774. XXX. er. CHAPTER the mother country, but who were greatly disinclined to any thing like a decided rupture. Galloway proposed, 1774. as a means of accommodation, a union of the colonies, with a Grand Council authorized to regulate colonial affairs jointly with the British Parliament-Parliament and the council to have a mutual negative on each othThis plan seemed at first to find a good deal of favor; but, after a warm debate, was rejected by a majority of one, and was even refused an entry on the journal. Still, however, it was generally believed that matters might yet be accommodated. The two Adamses, who thought differently, were regarded by several members as desperate men with nothing to lose, too much implicated by the long struggle in Massachusetts to be safe guides for gentlemen who had estates to forfeit. The zeal of these two northern members was seconded, indeed, by the impetuous and plain-spoken Gadsden, who proposed to attack Gage, and expel him from Boston before he could be re-enforced. The Congress, however, was not yet prepared for any direct assumption of political authority. Even the American Association, the nearest approach to it, was warmly opposed, not only by Galloway and Duane, but by all the South Carolina members except Gadsden. It was only at the last moment that Gadsden's colleagues were induced to sign it, by an exception in favor of rice inserted into the nonexportation clause. The These differences in Congress were veiled, however, from the public eye by the injunction of secrecy. proceedings of that body went forth with all the weight Oct. 20. of apparent unanimity. The signature of the Associa tion by the members of Congress may be considered as the commencement of the American Union. While the Continental Congress was still in session, XXX. matters in Massachusetts were fast verging to a crisis. CHAPTER Gage had summoned a House of Representatives to meet him at Salem, to proceed to business under the late act 1774. of Parliament; but the spirit evinced in the resolutions of the town meetings and county conventions induced him to issue a proclamation countermanding the Assembly. It was denied, however, that the governor could prorogue the court till it had first met; and, notwithstanding the countermand, most of the members elect assembled at Salem on the day appointed. As nobody Oct. 7. appeared to open the session and administer the oaths, they adopted the advice already given by the Essex county Convention, resolved themselves into a Provincial Congress, adjourned to Concord, and there organized by Oct. 1. choosing John Hancock as president, and for secretary Benjamin Lincoln, a farmer of Hingham, afterward a major general in the revolutionary army. A large committee, appointed to consider the state of the province, reported an address to Gage, which the Congress adopted; after which they adjourned to Cambridge, whence a committee was sent to present the address to the gov ernor. The Congress, in this address, protested their attachment to Great Britain, their loyalty to the king, and their love of peace and order, but complained of the recent acts of Parliament, the employment of the powers of government to harass and enslave them, the military force concentrated in Boston, and the fortifications erecting there. The people, they declared, would never be satisfied till these military preparations were discontinued and those fortifications demolished. Gage replied that his military preparations were only in self-defense, and justified by threats every where uttered. He disavowed, on behalf of Great Britain, any design to harass or enslave; expressed a wish for har |