USA > New Jersey > The history of New Jersey, from its discovery by Europeans, to the adoption of the federal Constitution > Part 27
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"Upon the whole, though sincerely desirous to give every mark of duty and attachment to the King, and to show all due reverence to the Parliament, we cannot, consistently, with our real sentiments, and the trust reposed in us, assent to a proposal big with consequences destructive to the public welfare, and hope that the justice of our parent country will not permit us to be driven into a situation, the prospect of which fills us with anxiety and horror."
If the governor really supposed that he could prevail on the colony over which he presided to separate from the union, he had egregiously mistaken his power; but he laboured so earnestly to effect this object, that his defeat should not, and did not lessen his claim upon the favour of his royal master. He observed, however, that his labour was in vain, and had the good sense to retire from further contest by a short and moderate rejoinder.
Congress had fixed on the month of May, for their next meeting, that the disposition of the parent state might be known previously to their deli- berations. They entertained hopes, that their re-assembling might be un- necessary; that the union of the colonies, their petition to the King, and address to the people of Great Britain, might lead to the redress of their grievances. But these flattering delusions now gave place to the stern and gloomy truth, that their rights must be defended by the sword, their quarrel be determined by the god of battles. For this appeal, the colonies, generally prepared, as soon as the proceedings of Parliament, and the resolution of the ministry to send out additional troops were known. Means were every where taken to organize and instruct the militia, and to procure arms and munitions of war.
XXI. The New Jersey committee of correspondence appointed by the convention, met at New Brunswick on the second of May, 1775; when taking into consideration the alarming and very extraordinary conduct of the British ministry for executing the acts of Parliament, as also the several acts of hostility which had been actually commenced for this purpose by the regular forces under General Gage, they directed their chairman, imme- diately, to call a second provincial convention, to meet at Trenton on the 23d of May, to consider and determine on such matters as should then come before them .*
This important body met at the time and place appointed, and clected Hendrick Fisher their president, Samuel Tucker, vice-president, Jonathan D. Sergeant, Secretary. and William Patterson, and Frederick Freling- hausen, his assistants. On the resignation of Mr. Sergeant, soon after, Mr. Patterson was chosen principal, and Mr. Frelinghausen deputy secretary.
Under a deep and religious sense of the responsibility they had assumed, the members of the Convention declared, that, "Inasmuch as the business on which this Congress are now assembled, and is likely to engage their de- liberation, appears to be of the highest moment, and may, in the event, affect the lives and properties, the religion and the liberties of their constituents,
* See Appendix, note CC, for the names of the members.
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and of their remotest posterity, it unquestionably becomes the representative body of a Christian community, to look up to that all powerful Being, by whose providence all human events are guided, humbly imploring his divine favour, in presiding over, and directing their present councils, towards the re-establishment of order and harmony between Great Britain and her dis- tressed colonies; and that he would be graciously pleased to succeed the measures that may be devised as most conducive to these desirable ends: It is, therefore, ordered, that the president do wait on the ministers of the gospel in this town, and in behalf of this Congress, request their alternate attendance and service, every morning at eight o'clock, during the session, in order, that, the business of the day may be opened with prayer for the above purposes."
The president opened to the Congress, the important occasion of their meet- ing, recommending the utmost deliberation in determining on the measures to be pursued in the defence of their rights and privileges, to which, by their happy constitution, the inhabitants of the province were justly entitled, and that due care might be taken to support the established civil authority, (so far as might consist with the preservation of their fundamental liberties) for the maintenance of good order and the undisturbed administration of justice. The restriction, which regard for " the established civil authority," imposed on the power of the Congress, was, indeed, very inconsiderable. For the Convention, reflecting the majesty of the people, assumed as occasion re- quired, the full power of all the branches of government.
They proceeded, to take into consideration the unhappy contest between Great Britain and the colonies, which they determined was of such a na- ture, and had reached such a crisis, that the Convention had become abso- lutely necessary, to provide such ways and means for the security of the province as the exigencies of the times require: and at the same time de- clared, that they had assembled with the profoundest veneration for the per- son and family of his sacred majesty, George III., firmly professing all due allegiance to his rightful authority and government. And as a majority of the members of the Legislature, convened at Amboy, in the preceding Janua- ry, had been instructed by their constituents, to appoint deputies to the Con- gress, and some of the counties had omitted so to instruct their representa- tives, who, notwithstanding, had cordially joined in such appointment, the Convention approved the nomination, and rendered thanks to the House, for the regard they had shown for the rights and liberties of the province, in timely adopting the continental association, and resolving in favour of the resolutions and proceedings of the continental Congress. But the Conven- tion, also, resolved, that whenever a continental Congress should again be necessary, that it would be most eligible, for the inhabitants of each county, to apoint deputies for the purpose of electing delegates.
On the twenty-fifth of May, a written message was addressed to the conti- nental Congress, then, in session at Philadelphia, declaring that the provincial Congress was convened " with dispositions most heartily to concur, to the utmost of their abilities, in the common cause of America, but that they did not deem it advisable to enter into any measures of consequence, until some general plan had been adopted by the general Congress : That, in this first instance of such an assembly in the colony, without precedent for their direction, and anxiously desirous to make their provincial measures con- sistent with that plan, they decined it necessary, by a special deputation, to request such advice and assistance as the Congress might be disposed to give .* This deputation reported on the thirtieth, that the Congress was not,
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* This committee consisted of William P. Smith and Elias Boudinot.
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then, prepared to give any advice upon the state of the province, but promised duc attention to the request.
The Convention adopted the following form of association, which they directed to be sent to the committees of observation or correspondence in the several counties, which had not already associated in a similar manner, in order that it might be signed by the inhabitants.
" We, the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of the township of in the county of and province of New Jersey, having long viewed with concern, the avowed design of the ministry of Great Britain to raise a revenue in America; being deeply affected with the cruel hostilities, already commenced in the Massachusetts Bay, for carrying that arbitrary design into execution; convinced that the preservation of the rights and privileges of America depends, under God, on the firm union of its inhabitants; do, with hearts abhorring slavery, and ardently wishing for a reconciliation with our parent state, on constitutional principles, solemnly associate and resolve, under the sacred ties of virtue, honour, and love to our country, that we will, personally, and so far as our in- fluence extends, endeavour to support and carry into execution, whatever measures may be recommended by the continental and our provincial Congress, for defending our constitution and preserving the same inviolate. We do, also, further associate and agree, as far as shall be consistent with the measures adopted for the preservation of American freedom, to support the magistrates and other civil officers in the execution of their duty, agreeable to the laws of this colony, and to observe the direction of our committee, acting according to the resolutions of the continental and pro- vincial Congresses; firmly determined, by all means in our power, to guard against those disorders and confusions to which the peculiar circumstances of the times may expose us." Surely, no more effectual mode could have been devised, of subjecting a people to the will of their leaders, than this association and its written pledge. Happily, the leaders and the people had the same interest, which the former steadily pursued.
Mr. Pierpoint Edwards, having been deputed from Connecticut to New Jersey, for the purpose of obtaining intelligence of the true state of the pro- vince, and to communicate the actual condition of his own, the Convention gave their state and purposes as we have detailed them; and they, also, opened a correspondence with the provincial Congress of New York.
The organization of the military force was, in every colony, an object of the first importance, and received from the provincial Congress of New Jersey, due attention. ' One or more companies of eighty men, each, were directed to be formed in cach township or corporation, from the male inha- bitants between sixteen and fifty years of age, under the supervision of the respective committees, with power to elect their commissioned officers: The officers of the companies determined the number which should form a regi- ment, and named the officers. And as the inhabitants of Morris, Sussex, and Somerset counties, had made spirited exertions in raising minute men, pledged to march to any point of the country whenever called on, the Con- gress approved their conduct, and voted their thanks.
In order to raise the necessary funds, the convention imposed a tax of ten thousand pounds, which they apportioned, specifically, among the several counties; and each county quota was apportioned among the townships, by the township committees, according to the act of Assembly, settling the quotas of the several counties, to be collected by agents nominated by the township committees, and to be paid to the treasurer of the county committees. Then, after appointing a committee of their body, any three of whom, together with
:744.5
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the president or vice-president, were empowered to convoke them, the Con- gress adjourned, upon the 3d day of June, after a session of eleven days.
XXII. Before the continental Congress again met, * hostilities between the colomsts and the British troops in America, had commenced. The battle of Lexington was fought, f-and Ticonderoga captured;}-and soon after, the ever memorable engagement at Breed's Hill,§ gave confidence to the colo- nists; and the British army, under General Gage, was besieged in Boston. Instead of contending against orations of ministers, votes and acts of Parlia- ment, by petition and remonstrance, addresses and resolutions, Congress was now to be employed, in developing the resources and directing the energies of the colonies, to resist the military power of Great Britain.
Peyton Randolph was again chosen president, but being in a few days called to his duties, as speaker of the house of burgesses, of Virginia, Mir. John Hancock, of Boston, was unanimously elected his successor. Mr. Charles Thompson was re-appointed secretary. The leading patriots had long foreseen, that, the controversy must be decided by arms; yet they were anxious, that the odium of the war should fall on their oppressors. Care was, therefore, taken, to show that the royal troops had been the aggressors at Lexington; and the inhabitants of New York were advised to act, defen- sively, on the arrival of British troops there; to permit the forces to remain in barracks, but to sufier no fortifications to be erected, nor the communication between the town and country to be impeded. To this cause, we must also assign the resolution of Congress ascribing the capture of Ticonderoga, to the imperious necessity of resisting a cruel invasion from Canada, planned and commenced by the ministry.
Congress promptly proceeded to further measures of offence and defence. They prohibited exports to such parts of British America, as had not joined the confederacy-forbade the supply of provisions, or other necessaries, to the English fisheries on the coast, to the army and navy in Massachusetts, and to vessels employed in transporting British troops and munitions of war; and interdicted the negotiation of bills of exchange, drawn by British officers, agents or contractors, and the advance of money to them, on any terms what- ever. To secure the colonies against the forcible execution of the late ob- noxious acts of Parliament, they resolved, to put them immediately in a state of defence; recommending to them, severally, to provide the munitions of war-to prepare the militia; so classing them, that a fourth of their number might be drawn into action, at a minute's warning; and to form a corps for continual service ;- authorizing cach colony, apprehensive of attack, to levy one thousand regulars at the expense of the confederacy. They organized the higher departments of the army, framed regulations for its government, and issued three millions of dollars, in bills of credit, for its maintenance. They prepared an address to the army and the people, reviewing the conduct of Great Britain, exposing the enormity of her pretensions, exhibiting the dreadtid alternative she had created, of unconditional submission, or resist- ance by arms, and asserting the justice of their cause, the competency of the means to maintain it, and their fixed determination to employ, at every hazard, the utmost energy of the powers granted them by their Creator, for the preservation of their liberties. This spirit-stirring manifesto closed with the following solemn protestation .- " In our native land, in defence of the freedom which is our birth-right, and which we ever enjoyed, until 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
.: * 10th May, 1775. # 9th May.
+ 19th April. § June 17th, 1775.
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offered, we have taken up arms; we shall lay them down when hostilitics shall cease on the part of the aggressors, and all danger of their being re- moved, and not before."
XXIII. Under other circumstances, the selection of a commander-in-chief, amid opposing pretensions, would have been exceedingly difficult. The individual best fitted for this important trust was now a delegate in Con- gress, and had embarked a high character and splendid fortune, with his life, in the perilous contest. Of mature age, and advantageously known to all British America, by his military talents, sound judgment, firm temper, spot- less integrity, and dignified person and demeanour, there could not exist a single personal objection to his nomination. The middle and southern dis- tricts possessed no man having superior claims to public confidence; and if the northern had a preference for an individual of their own section, policy and gratitude required its sacrifice. The delegates of Massachusetts, there- fore, nominated Colonel George Washington, of Virginia, who was unani- mously appointed commander-in-chief' of the united colonies .* His com- mission, revocable by Congress, invested him with " full power and autho- rity to act as he should think for the good and welfare of the service;" subject to the rules of war and the orders of Congress. By a resolution, simultaneous with his appointment, Congress declared, " that for the main- tenance and preservation of American liberty, they would adhere to him with their lives and fortunes." The reply of Mr. Washington, to the an- nunciation of his appointment, by the president of Congress, was marked by that modesty, disinterestedness, and devotion to duty, which eminently dis-
. tinguislied him. As no pecuniary motive had excited him to assume the dangerous honour, he declined all compensation for services that were in- estimable; declaring that he would accept only the reimbursement of his expenses.
Soon after the nomination of the commander-in-chief, Congress created and filled the offices of subordinate generals. Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam, were appointed major-generals, ranking in the order we have named them : Horatio Gates, adjutant-general; and Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathaniel Greene, brigadiers.
. XXIV. Although determined to resist to the uttermost the tyranny of the parent state, the colonies had given no public indication of their desire to be- come independent of her government. . Many provincialists, certainly, looked to political independence as the possible result of the contest; some, perhaps, wished and sought it, but none avowed such wishes. The American people were proud of their derivation, and exulted in their connexion with Great Britain. Some of their most distinguished patriots could under no circum- stances, resolve to break the bonds which bound them to her. It was cha- racteristic, therefore, that, amid warlike preparations, renewed attempts should be made to propitiate the British government and people. Another petition to the King was, however, opposed by several members of the Congress, from a conviction that it would prove nugatory. But the influ- ence of Mr. Dickenson, by whom it was proposed and written, procured its adoption.
This address, replete with professions of duty and attachment, declared, that " the provincialists not only most fervently desired the former harmony between Great Britain and the colonies to be restored, but that a concord might be established between them upon so firm a basis, as to perpetuate its .
* June 15th, 1775.
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blowings, uninterrupted by any future dissentions, to succeeding generations in both countries. They, therefore, besought his Majesty to direct some mode by which the united applications of his faithful colonists to the throne, in pursuance of their common counsels, might be improved to a happy and permanent reconciliation. These sincere professions of three millions of his subjects, were contemptuously treated by the King. The petition was pre- sented through the secretary for American affairs, on the first of Septem- ber, by Messrs. Richard Penn and Henry Lee; and on the fourth, Lord Dartmouth informed them, that " to it no answer would be given." And in a speech from the throne, the colonists were accused of designing " to amuse, by vague expressions of attachment to the parent state, and the strongest protestations of loyalty to their King, while they were preparing for a ge- neral revolt; and their rebellious war was manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire." Contumely so unwise and undeserved, served but to confirm the scrupulous in America, in the course of resistance-removing the faintest hope of redress by the humble and pacific means of petition and remonstrance.
Whilst resorting to arms, respect for the opinions of their fellow subjects induced Congress to make an exposition of their motives in addresses to the inhabitants of Great Britain, to the people of Ireland, and to the Assembly of Jamaica. They also published a declaration to the world, setting forth the necessity of assuming arms, and recapitulating the injuries they had sustain- cd. " We are," they said, " reduced to the alternative of choosing an un- conditional 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."
General Washington, immediately after his appointment to the chief com- mand, repaired to the army before Boston. With incredible difficulty he was enabled to maintain a show of force, which confined the British troops to that town from the month of June, 1775, until the month of March follow- ing, when the Americans, having seized and fortified Dorchester Heights, which overlooked and commanded the place, General Howe, who had suc- ceeded General Gage,* abandoned it, and sailed with his command for Halifax.
The capture of Ticonderoga had opened the gates of Canada, and the im- petuous spirit of Colonel Arnold was cager to enter them. At his instance, Congress resolved to invade that province; and from the unprepared state of its defence, and the friendly disposition of its inhabitants, well founded hopes were entertained of success. This step, which changed the character of the war from defensive to offensive, was justified by the obvious propriety of de- priving the enemy, for such the parent state was now considered, of the means of assailing the colonies from that quarter. The command of this en- terprise was given to Generals Schuyler and Montgomery. The former, however, soon retired, in consequence of ill health. The latter, with a force of one thousand men, having captured the fort at Chamblee, and the post of St. Johns, proceeded to Montreal in despite of the opposing efforts of General Carlton, governor of the province; and, having obtained at this place many necessary supplies, led his gallant little army to the walls of Quebec.
During the progress of General Montgomery, Colonel Arnold, with bold- ness and perseverance rarely surpassed, conducted a detachment to the St. Lawrence, by an unexplored course along the Kennebeck and Chaudiere rivers, through a trackless desert of three hundred miles. His force origi- nally consisted of one thousand men, one-third of whom were compelled to
* October 10th.
Y
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return by the want of necessaries. The remainder persevered with unabated resolution ; surmounting every obstacle of mountain and forest; progressing at times, not more than five miles a day ; whilst so destitute of provisions, that some of the men ate their dogs, cartouch boxes, breeches and shoes. When distant a hundred miles from any habitation, their whole store was divided, yielding only four pints of flour per man; and after having baked and eaten their last morsel, they had thirty miles to travel before they could expect relief. After a march of thirty-one days, they reached the inhabited parts of Canada, where they were kindly received, and their wants supplied by the astonished natives.
Before Montgomery attained Montreal, Arnold had reached Point Levy, opposite Quebec; and had it been possible for the latter to cross the St. Lawrence, that important place would, probably, have been, immediately, sur- rendered by the astonished and affrighted garrison. But the want of boats occasioned an indispensable delay of a few days, and the inhabitants, English and Canadians, alarmed for their property, united for its defence.
The prospects of the Americans, however, were not desperate. The inhabi- tants of Canada, many of whom were from the colonies of New England and New York, were friendly to the colonial cause, and excited by the wis- dom and humanity of General Montgomery, gave the most efficient aid. The united American forces laid siege to Quebec, but the paucity of their number forbade any just expectations of reducing the place, unless by a coup de main. General Montgomery was induced, by various considera- tions, to attempt it by storm. The depth of winter was approaching; dissen- tions had arisen between Arnold and his officers; the specie of the military chest was exhausted, and the continental bills were uncurrent; the troops, worn by toil, were exposed to the severities of the season; the term for which many had enlisted was near expiring, and their departure for home was apprehended; and the brilliant success that had hitherto attended them had excited hopes, which their high-spirited and enthusiastic commander dreaded to disappoint. Ile was not unaware of the danger and hazard of such an attempt. Governor Carlton, who commanded in Quebec, was an expe- rienced and able soldier; and the garrison, provided with every thing neces- sary for defence, daily acquired firmness. But success had often crowned adventures more hopeless than that which he proposed; and the triumph of Wolfe, on this very field, taught him, that to the brave and resolute, difficult things were not impossibilities.
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