and Mary, Connecticut and Rhode Island had each resumed the charter of government which James II. had superseded; the people of Massachusetts now wished to revive their old charter, and continue allegiance to George III. on no other terms than those which their ancestors had stipulated with Charles I.; "otherwise," said they," the laws of God, of nature, and of nations oblige us to cast about for safety." "If the four New England governments alone adopt the measure," said Hawley of Hampshire, "I will venture my life to carry it against the whole force of Great Britain." In the congress of Worcester county a motion was made to reassume the old charter and elect a governor. Warren, careful lest the province should be thought to aim at greater advantages than the other colonies might be willing to contend for, sought first the consent of the continental congress, reminding its members that one colony of freemen would be a noble bulwark for all America.

New England had surmounted its greatest difficulties; its enemies placed their hopes on the supposed timidity of the general congress.

At Philadelphia the South Carolinians greeted the delegates of Massachusetts as the heralds of freedom, and the Virginians equalled or surpassed their colleagues in resoluteness and spirit; but, while there was great diversity of opinions respecting the proper modes of resisting the aggressions of the mother country, all united in desiring "the union of Great Britain and the colonies on a constitutional foundation."

On Monday, the fifth of September, Galloway, the speaker of the Pennsylvania assembly, would have had congress use the state-house as the place for their deliberations, but the carpenters of Philadelphia offered their plain but spacious hall; and, from respect for the mechanics, it was accepted by a great majority. The names of the members were then called over; and Patrick Henry, Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Jay, Gadsden, John Rutledge of South Carolina, the aged Hopkins of Rhode Island, and others, representing eleven colonies, answered to the call. Peyton Randolph, late speaker of the assembly of Virginia, was nominated for the chair by Lynch of South Carolina, and was unanimously

chosen. The body named itself " the congress," and its chairman "the president." Jay and Duane would have selected a secretary from among themselves; but, on the motion of Lynch, Charles Thomson was appointed. Colonies differing in religious opinions, in commercial interests, and in everything dependent on climate and labor, in usages and manners swayed by reciprocal prejudices, and frequently quarrelling with each other respecting boundaries, found themselves united in one representative body.

Then arose the question as to the method of voting. There were fifty-five members, each colony having sent as many as it pleased. Henry, a representative of the largest state, intimated that it would be unjust for a little colony to weigh as much in the councils of America as a great one. "A little colony," observed Sullivan of New Hampshire, "has its all at stake as well as a great one." John Adams admitted that the vote by colonies was unequal, yet that an opposite course would lead to perplexing controversy; for there were no authentic records of the numbers of the people or the value of their trade.

The discussion led the members to exaggerate the population of their respective colonies; and the aggregate of the estimates was made to exceed three millions. Few of them possessed accurate materials; Virginia and the Carolinas had never enumerated the woodsmen among the mountains and beyond them. From returns which were but in part accessible to the congress, it appears that the number of white inhabitants in all the thirteen colonies was, in 1774, about two millions one hundred thousand; of blacks, about five hundred thousand; the total population, very nearly two millions six hundred thousand.

At the beginning of the next day's session a long and deep silence prevailed. The voice of Virginia was waited for, and was heard through Patrick Henry.

Making a recital of the wrongs inflicted on the colonies by acts of parliament, he declared that all government was dissolved; that an entire new one must be founded; that the congress then assembled was but the first in a never-ending succession; that their present decision would form a precedent.

Asserting the necessity of union and his own determination to submit to the opinion of the majority, he discussed the mischiefs of an unequal representation, the advantage of a system that should give each colony its just weight. The democratical part of the constitution, he insisted, must be preserved in its purity. Without refusing some regard in the adjustment of representation to the opulence of a colony as marked by its exports and imports, he spoke for a representation of men. "Slaves," said he, "are to be thrown out of the question; if the freemen can be represented according to their numbers, I am satisfied." To the objection that such a representation would confer an undue preponderance on the more populous states, he replied: "British oppression has effaced the boundaries of the several colonies; the distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American." "A compound of numbers and property," said Lynch, "should determine the weight of the colonies;" but he admitted that such a rule could not then be settled. In the same spirit spoke the elder Rutledge: "We have no legal authority; and obedience to the measures we adopt will only follow their reasonableness, apparent utility, and necessity. We have no coercive authority. Our constituents are bound only in honor to observe our determinations." "I cannot see any way of voting but by colonies," said Gadsden. "Every colony," insisted Ward of Rhode Island, "should have an equal vote. The counties of Virginia are unequal in point of wealth and numbers, yet each has a right to send two members to its legislature. We come, if necessary, to make a sacrifice of our all, and by such a sacrifice the weakest will suffer as much as the greatest." Harrison of Virginia spoke strongly on the opposite side, and was "very apprehensive that, if such a disrespect should be put upon his countrymen as that Virginia should have no greater weight than the smallest colony, they would never be seen at another convention." For this menace of disunion he was at once rebuked by his colleagues. "Though a representation equal to the importance of each colony were ever so just," said Richard Henry Lee, "the delegates from the several colonies.

are unprepared with materials to settle that equality." Bland of Virginia saw no safety but in voting by colonies. "The question," he added, "is whether the rights and liberties of America shall be contended for, or given up to arbitrary power." Pendleton acquiesced, yet wished the subject might be open for reconsideration when full information should have been obtained.

It was resolved that, in taking questions, each colony should have one voice; but the journal adds as the reason, that "the congress was not then able to procure proper materials for ascertaining the importance of each colony."

During the debate, Jay dissented in part from Henry, saying: "I cannot yet think that we came to frame an American constitution, instead of endeavoring to correct the faults in an old one. The measure of arbitrary power is not full, and it must run over before we undertake to frame a new constitution."

It was next voted that "the doors be kept shut during the time of business;" and the members bound themselves by their honor to keep the proceedings secret until the majority should direct them to be made public. The treacherous Galloway pledged his honor with the rest.

To the proposal that congress the next day should be opened with prayer, Jay and Rutledge objected, on account of the great diversity of religious sentiments. "I am no bigot," said Samuel Adams, the Congregationalist; "I can hear a prayer from a man of piety and virtue, who is at the same time a friend to his country;" and, on his nomination, Duché, an Episcopal clergyman, was chosen for the service. Before the adjournment, Putnam's express arrived with the report that, after a bloody attack on the people by the troops at Boston, Connecticut as well as Massachusetts was rising in arms. The next day muffled bells were tolled. At the opening of congress, Washington was present, standing in prayer, and Henry and Randolph and Lee and Jay and Rutledge and Gadsden; and by their side Presbyterians and Congregationalists; the Livingstons, Sherman, Samuel Adams, John Adams; and others of New England, who believed that a rude soldiery were then infesting the dwellings and taking the lives of their friends.

When the psalm for the day was read, Heaven itself seemed uttering its oracle. "Plead thou my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me; and fight thou against them that fight against me. Lay hand upon the shield and buckler, and stand up to help me. Bring forth the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me. Let them that imagine mischief for me be as dust before the wind. Who is like unto thee, who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him? Lord! how long wilt thou look on? Awake, and stand up to judge my quarrel; avenge thou my cause, my God and my Lord." After this, the minister, with the earnestness of the best divines of New England, unexpectedly burst into an extempore prayer for America, for the congress, for Massachusetts, and especially for Boston.

The congress that day appointed one committee on the rights of the colonies, and another on the British statutes affecting their manufactures and trade. They received by a second express the same confused account of bloodshed near Boston. Proofs both of the sympathy and the resolution of the continent met the delegates of Massachusetts on every hand; and the cry of "war" was pronounced with firmness.

The next day brought more exact information, and the committee of congress on the rights of the colonies began their deliberations. The first inquiry related to the foundation of those rights. Lee of Virginia rested them on nature. "Our ancestors," he said, “found here no government, and, as a consequence, had a right to make their own. Charters are an unsafe reliance, for the king's right to grant them has itself been denied. Besides, the right to life and the right to liberty are inalienable." Jay of New York likewise recurred to the laws of nature; and enumerated among natural rights the right to emigrate, and the right of the emigrants to erect what government they pleased. John Rutledge, on the contrary, held that allegiance is inalienable; that the first emigrants had not had the right to elect their king; that American claims were derived from the British constitution rather than from the law of nature. But Sherman of Connecticut deduced allegiance from consent, without which the colonies were not bound by the act of settlement. Duane, like Rutledge, shrunk from the

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