CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE RESOLUTION AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

FROM THE FIRST TO THE FOURTH OF JULY 1776.

On the morning of the first of July, the day set apart for considering the resolution of independence, John Adams, confident as if the vote had been taken, invoked the blessing of heaven to make the new-born republic more glorious than any which had gone before. His heart melted with sorrow at the sufferings of the army that had been in Canada; he knew that England, having recovered that province, commanded the upper lakes and the Mississippi; that she had a free communication with all the tribes of Indians along the western frontiers, and would induce them by bloodshed and fire to drive in the inhabitants upon the middle settlements, at a time when the coasts might be ravaged by the British navy and a single day might bring the army before New York. Independence could be obtained only by a great expense of life; but the greater the danger, the stronger was his determination, for he held that a free constitution of civil government could not be purchased at too dear a rate. He called to mind the fixed rule of the Romans, never to send or receive ambassadors to treat of peace with their enemies while their affairs were in a disastrous situation; and he was cheered by the belief that his countrymen were of the same temper and principle.

At the appointed hour, the members, probably on that day fifty in number, appeared in their places; among them, the delegates lately chosen in New Jersey. The great occasion had brought forth superior statesmen-men who joined moderation to energy. After they had all passed away, their lon

gevity was remarked as a proof of their calm and temperate nature; full two thirds of the New England representatives lived beyond seventy years-some of them to be eighty or ninety. Every colony was found to be represented, and the delegates of all but one had received full power of action. Comprehensive instructions, reaching the question of independence without explicitly using the word, had been given by Massachusetts in January, by Georgia on the fifth of February, by South Carolina in March. North Carolina, in the words of Cornelius Harnett, on the twelfth of April, led the way in expressly directing its representatives in congress to concur in a declaration of independence. On the first of May, Massachusetts expunged the regal style from all public proceedings, and substituted the name of her "government and people;" on the fourth, Rhode Island more explicitly renounced allegiance, and made its delegates the representatives of an independent republic; Virginia on the fifteenth, the very day on which John Adams in congress carried his measure for instituting governments by the sole authority of the people, ordered her delegates at Philadelphia to propose independence, and by a circular letter communicated her resolve to all her sister colonies. The movement of Virginia was seconded almost in her words by Connecticut on the fourteenth of June, New Hampshire on the fifteenth, New Jersey on the twentyfirst, the conference of committees of Pennsylvania on the twenty-fourth, Maryland on the twenty-eighth. Delaware on the twenty-second of March had still hoped for conciliation; but on the fifteenth of June she instructed her delegates to concur in forming further compacts between the united colonies, concluding treaties with foreign powers, and adopting such other measures as should be deemed necessary for promoting the liberty, safety, and interests of America. The vote of the eleventh of June showed the purpose of New York; but, under the accumulation of dangers, her statesmen waited a few days longer, that her voice for independence might have the direct authority of her people.

The business of the day began with reading various letters, among others one from Washington, who returned the whole number of his men, present and fit for duty, including the one

regiment of artillery, at seven thousand seven hundred and fifty-four. Of near fourteen hundred, the firelocks were bad; more than eight hundred had none at all; three thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, more than half the whole number of infantry, had no bayonets. Of the militia who had been called for, only about a thousand had joined the camp. With this force the general was to defend extensive lines against an army, near at hand, of thirty thousand veterans. An express from Lee made known that fifty-three ships, with Clinton, had arrived before Charleston, of which the safety was involved in doubt.

A more cheering letter, which Chase had forwarded by express from Annapolis, brought the first news of the unanimity of the Maryland convention, whose vote for independence was produced and read.

The order of the day came next, and congress resolved itself "into a committee of the whole to take into consideration the resolution respecting independency." For a few minutes, silence prevailed. In the absence of the mover of the resolution, the eyes of every one turned toward its seconder, John Adams; and the new members from New Jersey requested that the arguments used in former debates might be recapitulated. He had made no preparation for that morning; but for many months independence had been the chief object of his thoughts and his discourse, and the strongest arguments ranged themselves before his mind in their natural order. Of his sudden, impetuous, unpremeditated speech, no minutes ever existed, and no report was made. It is only remembered that he set forth the justice and the necessity, the seasonableness and the advantages of a separation from Great Britain; he dwelt on the neglect and insult with which their petitions had been treated by the king; and on the vindictive spirit manifested in the employment of German troops whose arrival was hourly expected. He concluded by urging the present time as the most suitable for resolving on independence, inasmuch as it had become the first wish and the last instruction of the communities they represented.

Dickinson of Pennsylvania rose, not so much to reply as to justify himself before congress. He took pride in being the

ardent assertor of freedom, was conscious that his writings had won him a great name, and had prepared himself with the utmost care to vindicate his opinions, which he would have held it guilt to suppress. These were his words:

"I value the love of my country as I ought, but I value my country more. The first campaign will be decisive of the controversy. The declaration will not strengthen us by one man or by the least supply, while it may expose our soldiers to additional cruelties and outrages. Without some prelusory trials of our strength, we ought not to commit our country upon an alternative, where to recede would be infamy and to persist might be destruction.

"No instance is recollected of a people, without a battle fought or an ally gained, abrogating forever their connection with a warlike commercial empire. It might unite the different parties in Great Britain against us, and it might create disunion among ourselves.

"It is singularly disrespectful to France to make the declaration before her sense is known, as we have sent an agent expressly to inquire whether such a declaration would be acceptable to her, and we have reason to believe he is now arrived at the court of Versailles. The door to accommodation with Great Britain ought not to be shut, until we know what terms can be obtained from some competent power. Thus to break with her before we have compacted with another is to make experiments on the lives and liberties of my countrymen. We ought to inform that power that we are determined to declare ourselves independent, and to support that declaration with our lives and fortunes, provided that power will approve the proceeding, acknowledge our independence, and enter into a treaty with us upon equitable and advantageous conditions.

"The formation of our governments and an agreement upon the terms of our confederation ought to precede the assumption of our station among sovereigns. A sovereignty composed of several distinct bodies of men, not subject to established constitutions and not combined together by confirmed articles of union, is such a sovereignty as has never appeared. These particulars would not be unobserved by foreign kingdoms and states, and they will wait for other proofs

of political energy before they will treat us with the desired attention.

"With respect to ourselves, the consideration is still more serious. The forming of our governments is a new and difficult work. When this is done and the people perceive that they and their posterity are to live under well-regulated constitutions, they will be encouraged to look forward to independence as completing the noble system of their political happiness. The objects nearest to them are now enveloped in clouds and those more distant appear confused; the relation one citizen is to bear to another, and the connection one state is to have with another, they do not, cannot, know.

"The confederation ought to be settled before the declaration of independence. Foreigners will think it most regular; the weaker states will not be in so much danger of having disadvantageous terms imposed upon them by the stronger. If the declaration is first made, political necessities may urge on the acceptance of conditions highly disagreeable to parts of the union. The present comparative circumstances of the colonies are now tolerably well understood; but some have very extraordinary claims to territory, that, if admitted, as they might be in a future confederation, the terms of it not being yet adjusted, all idea of the present comparison between them would be confounded. Those whose boundaries are acknowledged would sink in proportion to the elevation of their neighbors. Besides; unlocated lands, not comprehended within acknowledged boundaries, are deemed a fund sufficient to defray a vast part, if not the whole, of the expenses of the war. These ought to be considered as the property of all, acquired by the arms of all. The boundaries of the colonies ought to be fixed before the declaration, and their respective rights mutually guaranteed; and unlocated lands ought, previous to that declaration, to be solemnly appropriated to the benefit of all; for it may be extremely difficult, if not impracticable, to obtain these decisions afterward. When things shall be thus deliberately rendered firm at home and favorable abroad, then let America, bearing up her glory and the destiny of her children, advance with majestic steps and assume her station among the sovereigns of the world."