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CHAPTER I

1 See Life of George Washington.

2 See p. 9.

8

Georgia only was unrepresented. See note 60, chapter II. He signed the Declaration on parchment now in the Department of State.

5 Galloway says of him (See Historical and Political Reflections on the Rise and Progress of the American Rebellion, London, 1780) that he "eats little, drinks little, sleeps little, thinks much, and is most decisive and indefatigable in the pursuit of his objects." Jefferson is reported (See note 22, chapter VI) as saying (Also, see note 53, chapter IV): "For depth of purpose, zeal, and sagacity, no man in Congress exceeded, if any equalled, Sam Adams; and none did more to originate and sustain revolutionary measures in Congress. But he could not speak. He had a hesitating, grunting manner." John Adams, in his Autobiography, says (evidently of him) that "when he did speak, his sentiments were clear and pertinent and neatly expressed."

#

Samuel and John Adams are compared by Jefferson, in a letter of 1819 to Wells, as follows: "[P] I can say that he [Samuel Adams] was truly a great man, wise in council, fertile in resources, immovable in his purposes . . . as a speaker he could not be compared with his living colleague and namesake [John

Adams], whose deep conceptions, nervous style, and undaunted firmness made him truly our bulwark in debate. but mr Samuel Adams, altho' not of fluent elocution, was so vigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant in good sense, and master always of his subject that he commanded the most profound attention whenever he rose in an assembly by which the froth of declamation was heard with the most sovereign contempt." Also, see note 53, chapter IV.

• See latter part of note 5, supra.

7 See note 38, chapter VIII.

8 John Adams, in his Diary, says: "He is between fifty and sixty, a solid, sensible man." He writes later of him: “... generally he stands upright, with his hands before him, the fingers of his left hand clenched into a fist, and the wrist of it grasped with his right. But he has a clear head and sound judgment; but when he moves a hand in anything like action, Hogarth's genius could not have invented a motion more opposite to grace; — it is stiffness and awkwardness itself, rigid as starched linen or Buckram; awkward as a junior bachelor or a sophomore."

"Duane", writes John Adams, in his Diary, "has a sly, surveying eye, a little squint-eyed; between forty and forty-five, I should guess very sensible, I think, and very artful.” 10 John Adams, in his Diary, says: "Mr. Jay is a young gentleman of the law, of about twenty-six."

11

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John Adams writes: "Phil. Livingston is a great, rough, rapid mortal. There is no holding any conversation with him. He blusters away

12 See p. 140.

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13 John Adams writes: "He is a plain man, tall, black, wears his hair, nothing elegant or genteel about him."

14 If we can credit John Adams, Rodney was "the oddest looking man in the world; he is tall, thin and slender as a reed, pale; his face is not bigger than a large apple, yet there is sense and fire, spirit, wit, and humor in his countenance."

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15 Dr. Benjamin Rush says: "[Rid] W Paca-a good tempered worthy Man, with a sound Understanding which he was too indolent to exercise. He therefore gave himself up to be directed both in his political Opinions & conduct by Sam' Chase who had been the friend of his youth, & for whom he retained a regard in every Stage of his life. —”

16 Rush says: "[Rid] Samuel Chase-a bold declaimer with slender reasoning powers. His person & manner were very acceptable, and to these, he owned much of his success in. political life."

17 John Adams, in his Autobiography, under date of February 29, 1776, says: "He was represented to be a kind of nexus utriusque mundi, a corner stone in which the two walls of party met in Virginia. He was descended from one of the most ancient, wealthy, and respectable families in the ancient dominion, and seemed to be set up in opposition to Mr. Richard Henry Lee." Also, see note 93, chapter IX.

18 After one of the debates of this Congress, John Adams speaks of him as "a perfect Bob-o-Lincoln,- a swallow, a sparrow, a peacock; excessively vain, excessively weak, and excessively variable and unsteady; jejeune, inane, and puerile." In 1775, he writes: "Rutledge is a very uncouth and ungraceful speaker; he shrugs his shoulders, distorts his body, nods and wriggles with his head, and looks about from side to side, and speaks through his nose, as the Yankees sing. His brother John dodges his head too, rather disagreeably, and both of them spout out their language in a rough and rapid torrent, but without much force or effect."

19 John Adams writes: "He is a solid, firm, judicious

man."

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20 John Adams describes him as a tall, spare man.. gentleman of fine talents, of amiable manners and great worth .. he is a masterly man." Also, see note 17, supra, and

note 4, chapter IV.

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