USA > Massachusetts > The history of Massachusetts, the commonwealth period. 1775-1820 v. III > Part 12
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It would, doubtless, be interesting to every American citi-
1 Jefferson's Works, i. 14-17.
111
ARGUMENTS IN FAVOR OF THE DECLARATION.
zen to be in possession of a full report of the debate on this CHAP. occasion ; and it is a matter of regret that so little is known III.
of the deliberations of that body which was assembled in 1776. Philadelphia to decide upon our destinies. Tradition has preserved a portion of the speech of Mr. Lee, the mover of the resolution ; 1 and Mr. Webster, in his eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, has embodied in eloquent phrase what may be supposed to have been the speech of John Adams.2 But these, with a few others, imperfectly rendered, are the only fragments which have reached our day. It was a time for action, rather than for preserving the memorials of action. The sentiments uttered were the promptings of the hour ; and resolute men were inspired by the greatness of the theme before them. In such cases, the patriot is less anxious to transmit to posterity the evidence of his own zeal than to make his mark upon passing events. He builds his monument with deeds, not words. We know, however, that the dele-
1 Lee's Lee, i. 172, 173. Its conclud- ing sentences are said to have been as follows : " Why, then, sir, do we long- er delay ? Why still deliberate ? Let this happy day give birth to an Amer- ican republic. Let her arise, not to devastate and conquer, but to re- establish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us; she demands of us a living exam- ple of freedom, that may exhibit a contrast, in the felicity of the citizen, to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. . She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose. She entreats us to cultivate a propitious soil, where that generous plant which first sprang and grew in England, but is now with- ered by the poisonous blasts of Scot- tish tyranny, may revive and flourish, sheltering under its salubrious and in- terminable shade all the unfortunate of the human race. If we are not this day wanting in duty to our coun-
try, the names of the American legis- lators of '76 will be placed by poster- ity at the side of those of Theseus, of Lycurgus, of Romulus, of Numa, of the three Williams of Nassau, and of all those whose memory has been, and forever will be, dear to virtuous men and good citizens." J. Adams, Corresp. in Works, x. 177, speaking of the speech of Lee given by Botta in his Hist. of the Am. Rev., says it " may have been delivered, but I have no remembrance of it, though in Con- gress, nor would it do any member much credit."
2 Eulogy, 38-42. The extract is too long to be quoted here, but it is worthy of perusal -not only for the evidence it presents of the genius of the orator, but of the sentiments of Mr. Adams, which are correctly rep- resented, and in some parts stated in his own glowing words. See Letter of J. Adams to J. Winthrop June 23, 1776, in Works, ix. 409.
112
COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO DRAUGHT A DECLARATION.
CHAP. gates from Massachusetts were particularly active; and “it III. is doing no injustice to others to say, that the general opinion 1776. was, and uniformly has been, that, in debate, on the side of independence, John Adams had no equal. The great author of the Declaration has himself expressed that opinion uniformly and strongly. 'John Adams,' said he, 'was our Colossus on the floor.' " 1
As it appeared in the course of the debate that several of the colonies were not yet ripe for independence, and as it was deemed prudent to give their assemblies an opportunity to take off their restrictions, that the declaration might be unan- imously made, the result of this day's deliberation was the appointment of a committee to draught a declaration of inde- pendence, to report at some future time ; and the final decision upon the general question was postponed to the first Monday in July.2 By the courtesies of parliamentary usage, Mr. Lee, as the mover of the resolution, should have been put at the head of the committee now appointed ; and it is an obvious inquiry why he was not placed there. Evidently it was not because of his disqualification for the post, for his talents were certainly highly respectable. Nor was it because he had any reluctance to assume the responsibility it imposed. It is sug- gested by his biographer - and it is probably the true reason - that it was because he was suddenly called from his seat by an express from Virginia informing him of the dangerous illness of his wife.3 It became necessary, therefore, to select
1 Webster's Eulogy, 32. Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, likewise spoke; and, in one speech in particu- lar, he " laid out his whole soul." Austin's Life of Gerry, i. 188-191.
2 Jefferson's Works, i. 17; E. Ger- ry to J. Warren, June 11, 1776, in Austin's Life of Gerry, i. 191, 192. " The Congress," wrote Reed to Pet- tit, March, 1776, in Reed's Reed, i. 183, "are proceeding in their military operations, reserving themselves for
any great alteration in the civil sys- tem, as the temper and inclination of their constituents shall lead. I be- lieve a majority of them would cut the knot to-morrow ; but they must have a concurrence of the people, or at least a general approbation of any such material change." Comp. also Curtis's Hist. of the Const. i. 51.
3 Lee's Lee, i. 173. Comp. Aus- tin's Life of Gerry, i. 197; Curtis's Hist. of the Const. i. 81.
113
MR. JEFFERSON SELECTED TO DRAUGHT THE DECLARATION.
one in his stead ; and, out of compliment to Virginia, who had CHAP. instructed her delegates to initiate this matter, Mr. Jefferson III. was placed at the head of the committee, though a much 1776. younger man, and less familiar with the details of business.1
The proceedings of this committee have not been preserved ; nor have we any thing more than occasional references to the same in the writings of the members. It, appears, however, that Mr. Jefferson was unanimously selected to prepare the draught of the proposed declaration, and that, after some hes- itation, he complied with the request. Nor is there reason to regret that this delicate duty was intrusted to him ; for, young as he was, he understood well the merits of the con- troversy in which the colonies had been engaged, and wielded the pen of an eloquent advocate ; and, though the admirable document which it was his good fortune to frame has since been censured for its "glittering generalities," it is too dura- ble a monument to his fame to be destroyed by one sweeping assertion. "To say of the author," observes Mr. Webster, " that he performed his great work well, would be doing him injustice. To say that he did it excellently well, admirably
1 Mr. Adams, Letter to T. Picker- ing, Aug. 6, 1823, in Works, ii. 512, 513, intimates that Jefferson was placed at the head of this committee in accordance " with the Frankfort ad- vice, to place Virginia at the head of every thing ;" but the reason suggest- ed in the text seems to me sufficient. " Mr. R. H. Lee," he adds, " might be gone to Virginia, to his sick family, for aught I know, but that was not the reason of Mr. Jefferson's appointment. There were three committees appoint- ed at the same time - one for the declaration of independence, another for preparing articles of confederation, and another for preparing a treaty to be proposed to France. Mr. Lee was chosen for the committee of confeder- ation, and it was not thought conven- ient that the same person should be VOL. III. 8
upon both. Mr. Jefferson came into Congress in June, 1775, and brought with him a reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent of compo- sition. Writings of his were handed about, remarkable for the peculiar fe- licity of expression. Though a silent member in Congress, he was so prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive upon committees and in conversation, - not even Samuel Adams was more so, - that he soon seized upon my heart ; and upon this occasion I gave him my vote, and did all in my power to procure the votes of others. I think he had one vote more than any other, and that placed him at the head of the committee. I had the next highest number, and that placed me second."
114
DISCUSSION RESUMED.
CHAP. well, would be inadequate and halting praise. Let us rather III. say, that he so discharged the duty assigned him that all
1776. Americans may rejoice that the work of drawing the title deed of their liberties devolved on him." 1
The report of the committee was presented to the House Jun. 28. on the twenty-eighth of June, and was read, and ordered to July 1. lie on the table. On the following Monday, the House resolved itself into a committee of the whole, and the consideration of the original motion of Mr. Lee was resumed .? The debate which ensued " took up the most of the day," though nothing was said but what had been " repeated before a hundred times for six months past." 3 In the committee of the whole, the question was decided in the affirmative by the votes of nine colonies, and reported to the House.4 But here hesitation was manifested ; and, at the instance of Edward Rutledge, of South Carolina, the determination of the question was deferred to the next day, on the ground that, though his colleagues " disapproved of the resolution, they would then join in it July 2. for the sake of unanimity." 5 On Tuesday a decision was reached, and a resolution was passed, by twelve of the col- onies, "that these United States are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states ; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown ; and that all political con-
1 Webster's Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson, 27; Austin's Life of Gerry, i. 201. John Randolph, of Virginia, is said to have once called the Dec- laration of Independence a "fanfaro- nade of abstractions." Oration of Hon. C. F. Adams before the City Authorities of Boston, July 4, 1843, p. 13.
2 Jefferson's Works, i. 18, 118.
3 Corresp. of J. Adams, in Works, ix. 36, 415; Ramsay's Am. Rev. i. 340, 341. "The last debate but one," says Mr. Adams, " was the most co- pious and the most animated ; but the question was now evaded by a motion to postpone it to another day ; some
members, however, declaring that, if the question should now be demand- ed, they should vote for it, but they wished for a day or two to consider of it." Comp. Works, iii. 54.
4 These were New Hampshire, Con- necticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted against it. Del- aware had but two members, and they were divided. The delegates from New York declared that they were for it themselves, but had no authority to vote in its favor. Jefferson's Works, i. 18.
5 Jefferson's Works, i. 18.
115
LETTER OF JOHN ADAMS.
nection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and CHAP. ought to be, totally dissolved." 1 III.
" The delay of this declaration to this time," wrote John 1776. Adams, " has many great advantages attending it. The hopes July 3. of reconciliation which were fondly entertained by multitudes of honest and well-meaning, though weak and mistaken peo- ple, have been gradually, and at last totally, extinguished. Time has been given for the whole people maturely to consider the great question of independence, and to ripen their judgment, dissipate their fears, and allure their hopes, by discussing it in newspapers and pamphlets, by debating it in assemblies, con- ventions, committees of safety and inspection, in town and county meetings, as well as in private conversations -so that the whole people, in every colony of the thirteen, have now adopted it as their own act. This will cement the union, and avoid those heats, and perhaps convulsions, which might have been occasioned by such a declaration six months ago.
" But the day is past. The second of July, 1776, will be the most memorable era in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemo- rated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward, forevermore."
" You will think me," he adds, " transported with enthusi- asm ; but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, the blood, and treasure that it will cost to maintain this declaration, and support and defend these states. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that pos-
1 Jour. Cont. Cong. ii. 227; Boston son's Works, i. 18; Obs. on the Am. Gazette for July 15, 1776 ; J. Adams's Rev. 53-57.
Corresp. in Works, ix. 418; Jeffer-
116
UNANIMITY WITH DIFFICULTY SECURED.
CHAP. terity will triumph in that day's transactions, even although III. we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not." 1
1776. It should be observed, in passing, that unanimity was not secured without great exertions on the part of the friends of independence. As we have seen, at the hour of adjournment, . on the first of July, but nine of the colonies were in favor of the resolution, and two were opposed - the other two, New York and New Jersey, withholding their vote for the want of instructions.2 Of the seven Pennsylvania delegates, three voted for, and four against, the resolution. Two of the ad- verse party were absent on the following day, so that the vote of that province was "accidentally, and by a majority of one, given in its favor." 3 Delaware, which had but two delegates, was divided - one being in favor, and the other opposed ; but by the arrival of Rodney, who was sent for by express, the vote of that province was given in the affirmative.4 The delegates from New York " thought themselves not justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw from the question ; which was given them." 5 South Carolina, when the question was taken, voted in the affirmative. Thus the resolution of Mr. Lee in favor of independence was passed
1 Corresp. in Works, ix. 419, 420. Comp. Niles's Principles and Aets of the Rev. 327-330.
2 Lett. of J. Adams to W. Plumer, March 28, 1813, in Works, ix. 35, " The measure," says he, " had been upon the earpet for months, and ob- stinately opposed from day to day. Majorities were constantly against it. For many days, the majority depend- ed on Mr. Hewes, of North Carolina. While a member was one day speak- ing, and reading documents from all the colonies to prove that the publie opinion, the general sense of all, was in favor of the measure, when he eame to North Carolina, and produced let- ters and public proceedings which de- monstrated that the majority of that colony were in favor of it, Mr. Hewes,
who had hitherto constantly voted against it, started suddenly upright, and, lifting up both his hands to heaven, as if he had been in a trance, eried out, ' It is done, and I will abide by it.'" 3 Reed's Reed, i. 187 ; Corresp. of J. Adams, in Works, x. 87. Among the opposers were Robert Morris and John Diekinson. See Morris's Letter to Reed, July 20, 1776, in Reed's Reed, i. 201. Jefferson, Works, i. 18, says " members of a different sen- timent " attended that morning, and changed the vote of Pennsylvania.
4 Jefferson's Works, i. 18; T. M'Kean to J. Adams, Jan. 1814, in Adams's Works, x. 87, 88. M'Kean was in favor, and Read was opposed. Jefferson's Works, i. 18; Sparks's Life of Gouverneur Morris, i.
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117
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE CONSIDERED.
by twelve of the colonies - a majority of the delegates of CHAP. each colony voting in the affirmative.1 The thirteenth colony, III. New York, within a few days approved of the step, "and thus 1776. supplied the void occasioned by the withdrawing of her dele- gates from the vote." 2 "Remember," wrote John Adams, " you cannot make thirteen clocks strike precisely alike, at the same second." But when they did strike, there was concord in their notes.3
On the same day that the resolution of Lee was passed, the July 2. Congress proceeded to consider the Declaration of Independ- ence, which had been reported and laid on the table the Friday preceding, and on Monday referred to a committee of the whole. This, too, provoked discussion, and considerable com- ment was made upon portions of it. Two passages, in partic- ular, were vehemently opposed. "The pusillanimous idea," says Jefferson, " that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with still haunted the minds of many. For this reason, those passages which conveyed censures on the people of England were struck out, lest they should give them offence. The clause, too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa was struck out, in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation
1 Lett. of S. Adams to R. H. Lee, July 15, 1776, in Lee's Lee, i. 183.
2 Jefferson's Works, i. 18, 19.
3 Corresp. in Works, ix. 402. Bis- sett, Hist. Eng. i. 471, judiciously ob- serves on the passage of this declara- tion, " From the series of acts which the narrative has presented, it appears that the New Englanders, since the commencement of the disputes, man- ifested dispositions to republicanism, from which we might fairly infer a de- sire, and even a design, of eventual separation ; but that the middle and southern colonies were the votaries of loyal and constitutional connection and subordination ; that their cooper- ation with the colonies of the north was the immediate effect of the sys-
tem of 1774 ; that their subsequent resistance arose from refused redress and attempted coercion, and their con- sent to the scheme of independence from the total rejection of all their applications, combined with elation for the success of the former campaign. The independence of America, there- fore, whether wise or unwise, evident- ly proceeded from no preconcerted design, but was a natural consequence of the measures which were pursued by the mother country, and the prog- ress of human passions when they re- fuse the admonitions of reason and wisdom - from disputes to quarrels, repeated with increasing asperity, un- til they terminated in a final rup- ture."
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118
DISCUSSION UPON THE SAME.
CHAP. of slaves, and who, on the contrary, still wished to continue III. it. Our northern brethren, also, I believe, felt a little tender 1776. under these censures ; for though their people had very few slaves themselves, yet they had been pretty considerable car- riers of them to others." 1
The original draught, in the autograph of Mr. Jefferson, of the Declaration of Independence, has been preserved and published ; and, by comparing that draught with the declara- tion as passed, the changes made in it will be readily per- ceived. The alterations, however, were principally verbal ; and it speaks volumes in favor of the skill of the framer, that, where so many opinions prevailed, so few exceptions were taken to his work.2
The discussion upon the Declaration of Independence occu- pied the time of the House for the greater part of three days ; July 4. but at length, on the evening of the third day, it was passed, "signed by every member present, except Mr. Dickinson ; " 3 and copies of the same were ordered to be sent " to the sev- eral assemblies, conventions, and committees or councils of safety, and to the several commanding officers of the conti- nental troops ; that it be proclaimed in each of the United July 19. States, and at the head of the army."4 A fortnight later, the Declaration was ordered to be engrossed on parchment ; and, when ready, it received the signatures of all the delegates, and became the act of the thirteen colonies.5
1 Jefferson's Works, i. 19; Lee's Lee, i. 175 ; J. Adams's Letter to T. Pickering, Aug. 6, 1822, in Works, ii. 514; Curtis's Hist. of the Const. i. 87, 88.
2 Jefferson's Works, i. 19-26, with the fac-simile attached ; Lee's Lee, i. 275-280. The alterations made in the draught of Jefferson caused Frank- lin, who sat near him, to relate, with his usual humor, the story of "John Thompson, the Hatter," given in Sparks's Life of Franklin, 407. A series of strictures on the Declaration
of Independence is given in Almon's Remembrancer, iv. 28-41.
3 Jefferson's Works, i. 19, 120.
4 Jour. Cont. Cong. ii. 233; Al- mon's Remembrancer, iii. 258. On the famous Mecklenberg Declaration, of May 20, 1775, see Force's Am. Archives ; Niles's Principles and Acts of the Rev. 132-136.
5 Jefferson's Works, i. 120-122; Secret Journals ; Webster's Eulogy, 31; Austin's Life of Gerry, i. 203, 204. Lord Mahon, Hist. Eng. vi. 98, very justly observes that, "among all the
119
CHARACTER OF THE INSTRUMENT.
" This celebrated instrument," " regarded as a CHAP.
legislative proceeding, was the most solemn enactment, by the III.
representatives of all the colonies, of a complete dissolution 1776. of their allegiance to the British crown. It severed the po- litical connection between the people of this country and the people of England, and at once erected the different colonies into free and independent states. The body by which this step was taken constituted the actual government of the nation at the time ; and its members had been directly in- vested with competent legislative power to take it, and had also been specially instructed to do so. The consequences flowing from its adoption were, that the local allegiance of the inhabitants of each colony became transferred and due to the colony itself, or, as it was expressed by the Congress, became due to the laws of the colony from which they derived protection ; that the people of the country became thence- forth the rightful sovereigns of the country ; that they be- came united, in a national corporate capacity, as one people ; that they could thereafter enter into treaties and contract alliances with foreign nations, could levy war and conclude peace, and do all other acts pertaining to the exercise of a national sovereignty ; and, finally, that, in their national cor- porate capacity, they became known and designated as the United States of America. This Declaration was the first national state paper in which these words were used as the style and title of the nation. In the enacting part of the instrument, the Congress styled themselves 'the representa- tives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled ;' and, from that period, the previously 'United Colonies' have been known as a political community, both
coincidences of date which history re- cords, there is none, perhaps, so strik- ing as that John Adams and Jeffer- son, the two main movers of this dec- laration, should both, after filling with signal reputation the highest office
in their native land, expire on the fif- tieth anniversary of the day on which this their own handiwork, this the foundation of their own greatness, was first sent forth."
1 Hist. Const. i. 87, 88.
120
REJOICINGS ON ITS PASSAGE.
CHAP. within their own borders and by the other nations of the III. world, by the title which they then assumed."
1776. In accordance with the arrangements which had been made for that purpose, the Declaration of Independence was read publicly in all the states, and at the head of the army, and was welcomed with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. In July 8. Philadelphia, in particular, the bell in the State House rang for the first time the stirring peal of American liberty, and the enthusiasm of the people rose to the highest pitch.1 Throughout the country, indeed, a change was visible ; and every thing, from this date, assumed a new form. "The Americans no longer appeared in the character of subjects in arms against their sovereign, but as an independent people, repelling the attacks of an invading foe. The propositions and supplications for reconciliation were done away. The dispute was brought to a single point - whether the late British colonies should be conquered provinces, or free and independent states." 2
July 18.
The reading of the Declaration in Boston took place on the eighteenth of July, from the balcony of the Town House, which was thenceforth the State House, in the presence of a vast concourse of the citizens, of a number of military compa- nies, of the officers of the militia and of the continental army then on the station, of the selectmen and other municipal officers of the town, and of many members of the Executive Council and the General Assembly. The parade on the occasion was unusually great ; the exultation of the people was unbounded. The king's arms were removed from the place they had long filled ; and a public dinner was given, at which hundreds were seated. On the ensuing Sunday, the Declaration was read in most of the churches at the close of the religious services of the afternoon ; and the piety of the
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