the extensive and important trust. However, as the Congress desire it, I will enter upon the momentous duty and exert every power I possess in their service, and for the support of the glorious cause. I beg they will accept my most cordial thanks for this distinguished testimony of their approbation.

"But, lest some unlucky event should happen unfavorable to my reputation, I beg it may be remembered by every gentleman in the room that I this day declare with the utmost sincerity I do not think myself equal to the command I am honored with.

"As to pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to accept this arduous employment at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses. These, I doubt not, they will discharge, and that is all I desire."

On the 6th of July Congress declared to the world the causes which led them to take up arms.

DECLARATION TO THE WORLD

BY CONGRESS

Having stated the various acts of the British Parliament in violation of their rights, and the hostile proceedings of the Administration to enforce them, they observed:

"We are reduced to the alternative of choosing between unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this contest, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Honor, justice, and humanity forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors; and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.

"Our cause is just our union is perfect-our internal resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the divine favor toward us, that His providence would

not permit us to be called into this severe controversy until we were grown to our present strength, had been previously exercised in warlike operations, and possessed of the means of defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare that, exerting the utmost energy of those powers which the beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves. Lest this declaration shall disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow subjects in any part of the empire, we assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us to that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war against them. We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from Great Britain and establishing independent states. We fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unprovoked enemies without any imputation or even suspicion of offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death. In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it, for the protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered we have taken up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of the aggressors and all danger of their being renewed, and not before.

"With an humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial judge and ruler of the universe we most devoutly implore His divine goodness to protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries to reconciliation on reasonable terms and thereby relieve the empire from the calamities of civil war.

This was drawn by John Dickinson.

On the recommendation of the New York delegates, as instructed by their provincial convention, Congress issued paper currency to be discharged proportionately by the colonies, the united colonies to pay that part which any colony should fail to discharge.

On the first of August Congress adjourned to meet on the fifth of September.

The capture of Ticonderoga by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold early in May, 1775, the brave defence of Bunker (or Breed's) Hill by the raw New England militia in June, and the investment of the British troops in Boston by General Washington which followed, infused great hope in the patriots.

ACTS OF CONGRESS

At the next meeting of Congress in September delegates from Georgia were present, and the name of "The

A common newspaper heading in 1776; devised by Franklin in May, 1754, at the beginning of the French War

Thirteen United Colonies" was chosen to designate the country. A national navy was established and authority given to private persons to capture ships of the enemy.

The first military movement decided upon was the conquest of Canada. The invading force under Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold was repulsed at Quebec with the death of Montgomery.

At the request of the people of New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Virginia, Congress advised them in the formation of provisional governments to be terminated when Great Britain and the colonies should be reconciled.

REPRESSIVE ACTS OF PARLIAMENT

In his speech at the opening of Parliament in October, 1775, the King ignored the petition to him by Congress, and advocated extensive military operations in which

foreign as well as British troops were to be employed to put down the rebellion which he declared had been undertaken by the colonists for the purpose of establishing an independent empire.

While it was generally agreed by Parliament that the war should be prosecuted vigorously, a lively debate ensued over the employment of mercenaries to destroy people of their own blood. The proposition was carried.

The passage of an act to prohibit all trade with the colonies, containing a clause empowering British naval commanders to impress into the King's service captured American seamen and other persons, following as it did the employment of mercenary troops, shut and bolted the door on all prospect of reconciliation. The ablest men in America now began to advocate separation from Great Britain. Many colonials who had taken an active part in opposing the war left the country for Canada or England.

RECEPTION OF

CHAPTER VI

COLONIES VS. THE CROWN

[SPEECHES AND DEBATES ON THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE]

The Mecklenburgh [N. C.] Declaration of Independence "Common Sense,' by Thomas Paine [Pa.]—Judge William Henry Drayton's Charge to the Grand Jury of Charleston, S. C.: "America Created to Be Free”— Declaration of Rights by Virginia (drafted by George Mason)-Resolution of Independence Introduced in Congress by Richard Henry Lee [Va.]-Thomas Jefferson's Report of the Debate on Lee's Resolution: in favor, Lee, John Adams [Mass.], George Wythe [Va.]; opposed, James Wilson [Pa.], Robert R. Livingston [N. Y.], Edward Rutledge [S. C.], John Dickinson [Pa.]—Daniel Webster's Re-creation of the Debate: Supposed Speeches of John Hancock [Mass.] and John Adams— Speech of Mr. Lee: "Independence a Solemn Duty"-The Declaration Is Passed.

EVEN while the Congress had been in session a convention consisting of two delegates from each militia company of Mecklenburgh, N. C., met (on May 20, 1775) at Charlotte, the county seat, and passed certain resolutions which on their face seem to be a forecast not only of the declarations of the second Congress, but of the Declaration of Independence in July, 1776. A fierce controversy over the authenticity of these resolutions has been waged by American historians, owing to the fact that the original transcript was burned in 1800, and only what purports to be a copy has been preserved. The two significant resolutions are:

"Resolved, That we, the citizens of Mecklenburgh county, do hereby dissolve the political bands which have connected us to our mother country and hereby absolve ourselves from all allegiance to the British Crown, and abjure all political connection, contract, or association, with a nation which has wantonly