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M. L. 1
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
GC
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02223 8767
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INDEPENDENCE HALL IN 1876.
AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT
OF
THE OLD STATE HOUSE
OF PENNSYLVANIA
NOW KNOWN AS
THE HALL OF INDEPENDENCE
BY FRANK M ETTING
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS SECOND EDITION WITH CONTINUATION
1
PHILADELPHIA PORTER AND COATES 1891
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historicalaccoun00etti 0
PREFACE.
IN the work that I had " found for my hand to do," it became necessary to examine carefully into the details of the building of the State House of Pennsylvania ; much that surprised me came to light not only in the circumstances of its erection but in its subsequent history. Instead of Dr. Kearsley, to whom the credit had been as- cribed, I discovered that its Architect and actual Builder was one of the greatest mien ever fostered by Pennsylvania ; and that every important movement, from the very inception of the efforts of the colonists to assert their constitutional liberty, first assumed shape either within this building or under the shadow of its walls.
A friendly suggestion thrown out induced me to extend still further my investigations, with a view of preserving the information in print in some accessible form.
This desire was enhanced by the hope that the general public would ultimately share in the interest which every brick of this old build- ing possesses for me, and thus be inclined to lend each his individual aid towards its preservation, and to insure its proper custodianship for all time.
The desultory way in which, from causes unnecessary to be detailed, my memoranda have been thrown together, must leave its impress, and I cannot expect to be exempt from inaccuracies ; but having done my best without fee or reward, present or prospective, I have no apologies to make to the public for claiming their notice. To those nearer to me, whose social claims have from time to time been put aside, and I now have reason to fear in some cases neglected, from absorption in my work of "restoration," I tender in extenuation this monograph, descriptive of the causes which led me thereunto, but above all others, to him now beyond the reach of my words :-
To
To THE MEMORY OF BENJAMIN ETTING
I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME.
F. M. E.
MARCH 27, 1876.
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1
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS BEFORE THE BUILDING OF THE STATE HOUSE 3
PREPARATIONS FOR BUILDING A STATE HOUSE . 9
BUILDING THE STATE HOUSE 13
ITS FIRST USE 15
SKETCH OF ANDREW HAMILTON, ITS BUILDER 16
THE JUDICIARY AND THE EXECUTIVE OF THE COLONY OCCUPY THE STATE HOUSE 24
THE STATE HOUSE BELL ORDERED 27
THE COLONIAL DISSENSIONS 32
UNION OF THE COLONIES 39
THE CONGRESS OF 1754 40
MASSACHUSETTS FOSTERS UNION. 50
THE CONGRESS OF 1765
51
THE STAMP ACT RESISTED - INDEPENDENCE FORESHADOWED 52
PENNSYLVANIA ADHERES TO THE UNION 63
THE OBSERVATORY 64
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CHINA FACTORY . 65
THE PHILADELPHIA TEA PARTY . EFFECT OF THE BOSTON PORT BILL 67 74 83
THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS .
THE INITIATION OF INDEPENDENCE . 91
INSTRUCTIONS OF VIRGINIA TO MOVE FOR INDEPENDENCE 91 MOTION THEREFOR ACCORDINGLY MADE BY RICHARD HENRY LEE ₸6
INDEPENDENCE RESOLVED 100
THE DECLARATION ADOPTED 101
THE DECLARATION PROCLAIMED . 102
THE BELL FORETELLS THE JUBILEE OF 1876 104
INDEPENDENCE MADE UNANIMOUS 105
THE FIRST CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA 106
BRITISHI OCCUPATION OF PHILADELPHIA 107
ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION SIGNED 109
CONGRESS LEAVES PHILADELPHIA 111
vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CONVENTION TO FRAME THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
117 CONVENTION TO FRAME THE SECOND CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA 120
THE STATE HOUSE RELINQUISHED 121
SKETCH OF THE BANQUETING HALL 121
LECTURES ON ELECTRICITY AT THE STATE HOUSE . 125 THE STEEPLE REMOVED 127
SKETCH OF THE WINGS 129
SKETCH OF THE STATE HOUSE YARD 131
SKETCH OF CONGRESS HALL 135
SKETCH OF CITY HALL 146
SKETCH OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY BUILDING
152
SKETCH OF PEALE'S MUSEUM 154
THE STEEPLE RESTORED
158
THE RESTORATION OF INDEPENDENCE HALL .
166
ITS ILLUSTRATIONS
173
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 179
DEDICATION OF INDEPENDENCE HALL AND ITS ADJUNCTS TO THE PEO-
PLE OF THE UNITED STATES 183
ENGRAVINGS.
/ INDEPENDENCE HALL, 1876 . Frontispiece.
/ INDEPENDENCE HALL IN 1776 . Title Page Illustrated.
/ THE PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM PENN Face 2
/ THE LETITIA COTTAGE (THE FIRST RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM PENN) 4
/ THE SLATE ROOF HOUSE (GOVERNMENT HOUSE) 6
/ THE FIRST TOWN HALL (AND COURT HOUSE) . 8
" ELEVATION OF THE STATE HOUSE . 18
THE PORTRAIT OF ANDREW HAMILTON .
17
/ THE MARCH OF THE PAXTON BOYS ON PHILADELPHIA, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. SCENE AT THE COURT HOUSE OR TOWN HALL . 46
/ NON-IMPORTATION RESOLUTIONS .
.
·
54
/ THE BURIAL OF THE STAMP ACT IN ENGLAND (UPON ITS REPEAL) 58 67
Y THE TEA-POT TEMPEST . . . .
/ THE STATE HOUSE YARD (AS ENCLOSED DURING THE REVOLUTION) 82 . INDEPENDENCE CHAMBER (AFTER RESTORATION) 84 103 / LIBERTY BELL 104 105
THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
THE TREATY ELM · · . ·
i THE OLD STATE HOUSE, 1781-1813 (REAR VIEW) .
. 127 128 138
i THE OLD STATE HOUSE, 1781-1813 (FRONT VIEW)
' CONGRESS HALL, 1790-1800 . 140
/ CHARLES WILSON PEALE . 154
1 INDEPENDENCE HALL 1876 (REAR VIEW)
162
INDEPENDENCE CHAMBER AS A GENERAL RECEPTACLE (BEFORE RES- TORATION) .
. 165
THE TABLE UPON WHICH " THE DECLARATION " WAS SIGNED AND CHAIRS OF PRESIDENT AND MEMBERS OF CONGRESS OF 1776 (AFTER RESTORATION) . .
· 167
. INDEPENDENCE CHAMBER, WESTERN SIDE (AFTER RESTORATION) 173 THE HALL OF THE OLD STATE HOUSE (AFTER RESTORATION) 179
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM (EASTERN SIDE) 180
/ THE VESTIBULE OF INDEPENDENCE HALL (AFTER RESTORATION) .
186
(vii)
" THE PORTRAIT OF JOHN NIXON
viii
ENGRAVINGS.
TEXTUAL ILLUSTRATIONS.
SIGNATURE OF CHARLES II. . 2
SIGNATURE TO PENN'S CHARTER 3
SIGNATURE OF WILLIAM PENN 3
BANK MEETING HOUSE · 5
SIGNATURE OF THOMAS MAKIN
7
DRAFT OF BILL FOR BUILDING STATE HOUSE 10
SIGNATURE OF DAVID LLOYD 11
SIGNATURE OF PATRICK GORDON 11
SIGNATURE OF WM. ALLEN . 15
SIGNATURE OF JAMES LOGAN .
16
SIGNATURE OF HAMILTON FAMILY
18
SIGNATURE OF FRANKLIN FAMILY
18 20
SIGNATURE OF J. PETER ZENGER
20
. SIGNATURE OF KING JAMES II. .
27
PROCLAMATION OF KING JAMES II.
28
SIGNATURE OF DAVID RITTENHOUSE .
32
SIGNATURE OF EARL OF HOLDERNESSE
40
ORDER FOR PAYMENT OF WAGES OF ASSEMBLY-MAN TO BENJAMIN FRANKLIN . . 41 .
RECEIPT OF BENJAMIN AND DEBORAH FRANKLIN THEREFOR 42
SIGN MANUAL OF KING GEORGE II. 45
SIGN MANUAL OF KING GEORGE III. 45
PRIVY PURSE IN 1753 AND IN 1763 47
SIGNATURES OF JAMES OTIS, THOMAS CUSHING, OXENBRIDGE THACHER AND OTHERS 48
STAMP OF 1765 . 50 .
SIGNATURE OF MR. SPEAKER WHITE . 51
SIGNATURE OF MR. SPEAKER FOX OF PENNSYLVANIA . 51
THE " PENNSYLVANIA JOURNAL " OF OCTOBER 31, 1765 56
THIRD AND LAST SUPPLEMENT TO THE " MARYLAND GAZETTE," OCTO- BER 31, 1765 57
REPEAL OF STAMP ACT 58
BURNT STAMPED PAPER 59
WRECKED STAMPED PAPER 60
HEADING OF THE "NEW YORK GAZETTE " 60
SIGNATURE OF DANIEL DULANY 61
THE DECLARATORY ACT 61
SIGNATURE OF LORD HILLSBOROUGH 63
SIGNATURE OF JOSEPH GALLOWAY ·
79
SIGNATURE OF WM. BRADFORD .
-----------
ix
ENGRAVINGS.
CARPENTER'S HALL . 80 .
SIGNATURE OF JOSIAH QUINCY, JR. . 81
PENNSYLVANIA BILL OF CREDIT, RESOLVE MONEY 86
PENNSYLVANIA BILL OF CREDIT, GENERAL ISSUE . 87
SIGNATURE OF DANIEL ROBERDEAU 90
SIGNATURE OF EDMUND PENDLETON 92
RESOLUTION OF RICHARD HENRY LEE FOR INDEPENDENCE . 95
SIGNATURE OF HENRY WISNER 99
SIGNATURE OF JOHN ALSOP 99
SIGNATURE OF JOHN DICKINSON . 100
SIGNATURE OF CHARLES HUMPHREYS 100
SIGNATURE OF THOMAS WILLING 100
SIGNATURE OF JOHN ROGERS . 100
CARD OF ADMISSION TO LECTURE ON ELECTRICITY . 125
SIGNATURES OF PHILIP SYNG AND OF THOMAS HOPKINSON 126
INN OPPOSITE THE STATE HOUSE 129
CARICATURE OF REMOVAL OF CONGRESS TO PHILADELPHIA 139
CARD OF ADMISSION TO PEALE'S MUSEUM 156
HISTORY
OF INDEPENDENCE HALL.
T O tell the story of the old State House of Pennsylvania in full would be to chronicle provincial history for more than half a century ; it would be to describe the vicissitudes of a colony but re- cently planted in the New World, to trace its gradual growth and transition into a distinct and independent sovereignty, and its final merger in a nation whose creation it contributed to, and whose birth it witnessed. While we do not undertake this, we must glance even at the incidents which preceded the erection of the edifice and recall those more prominent events in the history of the State and of the nation, which, occurring under the roof or within the shadow of its venerable walls, give immortality to the very bricks and mortar.
If, in investigating the antecedents of the State House or in invok- ing the shades of its builders, we are led into details of inanimate ob- jects otherwise trivial, we may well point to the fact that around them the all potent power of association has set an imperishable halo, whose light is now as clearly recognized in temporal as in spiritual illustra- tions.
Young as our country is, the actuality, so to speak, of our Founders is already losing itself in the mists of the past ; so long, however, as we can preserve the material objects left to us which those great men saw, used, or even touched, the thrill of vitality may still be trans- mitted unbroken.
In description " one hundred and ninety years ago " is almost as indefinite, as unreal to our adult ears as the "once upon a time " that was wont to usher in the fairy tales of early childhood ; but give us the Treaty Elm, the residence of Penn, the Home of Washington, the "strong box " of Robert Morris, the walking stick of Franklin - what you will - material evidences of the public action, or even of the daily life and habits of the men of the day, and we can annihilate distance in time as in space. They serve as talismans with which to conjure
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2
HISTORY OF INDEPENDENCE HALL.
up forms and figures, and endow them with life. A letter written by the hand of Penn, appeals as strongly to us - is as distinct and com- prehensible at the distance of two hundred years, as a mechanical autograph transmitted by House's telegraph from a point as many miles away.
The perpetuity of such associations must essentially depend upon our appreciation of the events which gave them being. So long as the truths declared self-evident by the men of 1776 remain manifest to their descendants, so long as we " the sovereign people of America" possess sufficient worth to make feasible the government then insti- tuted, just so long will we cherish and keep undefiled the birth cham- ber of the Republic.
Nor are the memories of the State House confined to the epoch of the Revolution. Directly and indirectly they bring before us some of the grandest characters in the history of the world's progress during the past two hundred years.
William Penn reached Newcastle in Delaware, on the 27th of Oc- tober, 1682, to take possession of the territory granted to him in Charles America by King Charles II. The frame of govern- ment "agreed upon by himself and certain free- men of the Province," was published ere he left England ; it provided for the Proprietary as Governor, a Provincial or Governor's Council consisting of seventy-two members, and one House of Assembly, the representatives to which were to be elected by the freemen of the Province to the number of two hundred.
Accompanied in his own ship - the Welcome, -by less than suf- ficient to form a Council of the proportion contemplated, he had been preceded by about the number of his grantees sufficient to constitute a " House of Assembly," but it was no part of his design to restrict to his own followers the privileges he had granted. The Swedes, the Finns, the Dutch, whom he expected to find, were to be naturalized, while the then settlers, grantees of the Duke of York, and of Lord Baltimore, who pay "scot and lot to the government," recognizing " the one Almighty eternal God to be the Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of the world," were to be placed upon an equal footing. In "laying the fundamentals " at the first Assembly all the freemen were to be members thereof.
----
THE PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM PENN.
3
PENN'S FIRST ASSEMBLY.
Penn's first Assembly convened at Chester, on the 4th day of De- cember, 1682. Its numbers were small, notwithstanding the liberal-
James lay poole frans Plumstra Thomas Barko Philip ford Edward Srichard Andrero Soul
Kristopher Taylor Charles Boul
· OPliam Gibson, Rundid Daving a. more> FertRudyard -Horst Springett
PENN'S SEAL AND SIGNATURE TO THE PENNSYLVANIA CHARTER, WITH SIGNATURES OF THE WITNESSES.
ity of the invitation. Its work, prepared in some measure in advance, though alterations in ratifying the " Great Law," or general system
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2
op Pant 2g . fire: 1682.
of jurisprudence, bear unmistakable evidences of other and less lib- eral minds than Penn's, was accomplished in three days. This ses- sion was held, tradition tells us, in a small brick house of one story and a half, belonging to one John Hart.
4
HISTORY OF INDEPENDENCE HALL.
Penn shortly afterwards issued his writs for the election of members of his Council according to programme, seventy-two in number, and included an invitation to every freeman to appear at an Assembly at Philadelphia, on the 10th of March, 1683, pursuant to the Constitu- tion he had framed.
But the freeholders to whom these writs were addressed, while mak- ing "their humble acknowledgments of the favor intended them," asked attention to the smallness of their numbers, and the fewness of those acquainted with public business, together with their general in- ability to support the charge of such great elections, etc., concluding with the request that, out of the twelve elected from the county, three might be selected for councillors and the remaining nine form the county representation in Assembly. Thus the numbers were reduced to eighteen for the Council and fifty-four for the Assembly. The six counties being composed of three for Pennsylvania - Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester - and the " three lower counties," afterwards constituting Delaware.
Even with the reduction thus made, there then stood on the site of Philadelphia no tenement capable of accommodating this first govern- ment assemblage. It is probable that Penn met his Council in the yet unfinished house of George Guest, which stood near the spot where he is reported to have first landed - a house familiarly known to us as " The Blue Anchor Tavern."
The usual Hobson's choice of that day, as well for the individuals themselves, as for our annalists when at a loss for the locus in quo - the " Meeting House " - was not yet built at Philadelphia.
The wide spreading branches of the Treaty Elm would form an inviting shelter, but the season of the year forbids that inference, besides which it was rather remote from the place where the Council was sitting, and from the landing. The caves along the banks of the river in which the settlers were living were too small to hold an as- sembly of fifty-four men ; thus we are feign to believe that as the Swedes' Church was not very far off at Wicaco, it had the honor of af- fording shelter to the first Assembly of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Its proceedings belong to general history.
The building familiarly known as " Penn's Cottage," in Lætitia Court, near Market Street,1 appears to have been finished in the Fall of 1683, and was occupied by the Proprietary during the remainder of his stay in Pennsylvania. In it met the next following Provincial Council, and its successors for many years. The precedent seems thus
1 This cottage, though somewhat changed in its exterior, is still (1875) standing
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--
--.. .
THE LAETITIA COTTAGE. (THE FIRST RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM PENN.)
5
EARLY MEETINGS OF COUNCIL AND ASSEMBLY.
to have been established for the Council to meet at the Governor's residence, since they unquestionably continued the practice till the erection of the State House, to which, as will be seen, they removed in 1747.
The Assembly was even more peripatetic from force of circum- stances.
A Friends' " Meeting House," of however rough a construction, was prepared, shortly after Penn's arrival, and undoubtedly served for holding sessions of the Legislature. It and its successor - built within the same vicinity, Front Street, above Arch, and known as the Bank
-
THE BANK MEETING HOUSE.
Meeting House - seems to have been continued in this use for twelve years. During this period there had been built a private house of
6
HISTORY OF INDEPENDENCE HALL.
some pretensions on the lower side of Front Street, between Walnut and Spruce, which proved " too big for a private man," as Penn wrote in 1687, and " as Richard Whitpain has been at great expense for the advancement of the Province, and taketh share here (in England) on all occasions for its honor, I can do no less than recommend to you for public service his great house, which would provide you a conven- iency above what my cottage affords. It were reputable to take at least a moiety of it which might serve for all the offices of State."
The hint does not seem to have been taken in Mr. Whitpain's life- time, though about eight years afterwards, on the 10th of September, 1695, we find the Assembly met in " the large room " of this mansion, and in order to pay the rent to Sarah Whitpain, the members then and there obliged themselves to defray the charges personally, and un- dertook to collect the same from their respective counties.
In another year the "Carpenter mansion," known as the Slate Roof House 1 served their turn ; but we find that in 1701, the Assem-
1 In reference to this building Mr. Westcott, in his invaluable History of Philadel- phia, says: " This house was built by Samuel Carpenter, and was then considered as one of the best edifices in the town. That the mansion was rented to Penn is evi- dent from a letter written by him to James Logan, in September, 1701, when about leaving for England, in which he says : " Thou may continue in the house I lived in until the year is up.' But Logan, it seems, continued to occupy the house for some time longer as an office for the transaction of government affairs, and writes to Penn in 1702; 'I am forced to keep this house still, there being no accommodation to be had elsewhere for the public business.' About the year 1703, this house was sold to William Trent, for £850. Whether this purchaser (afterwards the founder of Trenton) occupied the house himself, we are not informed; but it seems to have been regarded by Logan as a very desirable property, and peculiarly fitted for the residence of the Proprietary should he again return to his government. Thus, in 1709, he writes : ' William Trent designing for England, is about selling his house he bought of Samuel Carpenter, which thou lived in with the improvement of a beautiful garden, etc.' 'I wish it could be made tline as nothing in this town is so well fitting a Governor. His price is £900 of our money, which it is hard thou canst not spare. I would give twenty to thirty pounds out of my own pocket that it were thine - nobody's but thine.' "
But Logan's wish was not gratified. The house became the property of Isaac Norris, an eminent citizen, for some time Speaker of the Assembly, and distin- guished for the part which he took in public affairs. From him it descended to his heirs, and until the late disposal of the lot to the Commercial Exchange Association was still the property of the descendants of the Norris family. It was occupied for many years as a superior and fashionable boarding-house, and was distinguished as the lodgings of a number of persons of note while sojourning in Philadelphia. Gen- eral Forbes, the successor of Braddock, died here in 1759, and was buried with military honors, the pomp of his funeral exceeding anything of the kind previously witnessed in the city.
89
THE SLATE-ROOF HOUSE. (GOVERNMENT HOUSE.)
7
EARLY MEETINGS OF THE ASSEMBLY.
bly returned to Whitpain's house, which had passed into the tenure of Joseph Shippen ; its " great front room " was then by resolution " or- dered to be prepared and put in order," and Joseph Shippen was allowed compensation for it " by the government."
After the new charter extorted from William Penn in 1701, the Council was no longer recognized as a part of the Legislature, and the number of members of Assembly was reduced first by the secession of the representatives of the three lower counties, and by the terms of the charter, to twelve, though shortly afterwards raised to twenty-six members.
We now find this body in occupancy of the public school-house, much to the annoyance and professional detriment of its master, Thomas Makin, Lo. Makes who was also clerk to the Assembly.
Mr. Makin was voted in consequence some compensation for the loss of his pupils.1
The building of a third " meeting house," at the corner of Second and Market streets, seems to have drawn off "Friends" from the Front Street meeting-house. At all events in the latter the Assem- bly were enabled for some time to hold their sessions apparently undisturbed, but it would seem they were again placed under the necessity of procuring a private house in 1727-28, when it became palpable to the members, as well as to the citizens, that "it was incommodious as well as dishonorable for the General Assembly of the Province to be obliged annually to hire some private house to meet and sit in," and that it was now full time that a Government or State House should be erected, so that the Assembly, the Gov- ernor's Council, and the Supreme Court of the Colony might have appropriate chambers.
No data are accessible from which any positive conclusion can be drawn as to the place of sitting of the Supreme Court, anterior to this time. Its sessions had been very irregular, and seem to have been held at the Court House in Market Street near Second.
Gabriel Thomas states, in 1698, "there is lately built a noble Towne House or Guild Hall, also a handsome Market House, and a convenient Prison." This would appear to refer to the Court House,
1 Thomas Makin was one of the early settlers in Philadelphia, and before he be- came head master was associated at first with George Keith in what he calls his " pedagogie," and subsequently with Francis Daniel Pastorius. He wrote a descrip- tion of Pennsylvania in Latin verse in 1729, which, with its translation, covers four- teen pages of Proud's History of Pennsylvania.
8
HISTORY OF INDEPENDENCE HALL.
though Mr. Westcott and other reliable authorities do not believe that it was erected for eight or nine years after, or about the date of the charter of privileges to Philadelphia, as a city. October 25, 1701. This building was appropriated to general city and county purposes, including the City Council.
The General Assembly and the Governor's Council never held their sessions herein, as some have imagined.
Towards the close of the year 1728, a project was seriously enter- tained of fixing upon another place than Philadelphia for the sessions of the Legislature. The Assembly did actually go so far as to make application to the Governor (Gordon) to convene them elsewhere, as- signing as a reason, "the several indecencies lately used towards the members while attending the services of the country in Philadelphia, by rude and disorderly people unknown to the House."
The Governor, disinclined to this change, temporized in his reply, but designated Chester as, next to Philadelphia, the most convenient place for meeting, should the request be persisted in. This, however, was not the case. Still the effort thus made no doubt aroused the city members and contributed to enforce a petition which was soon after-in February of the following year-presented to the Assem- bly, praying for a law empowering the city and councils of Philadelphia to build a State House in High Street, near the Prison, in connection with a market. This petition was laid before the House during an animated discussion on the expediency of making an addition to the existing paper currency, to which the Governor had seriously objected. Legislative tactics were apparently then not unknown, while the gov- ernmental machinery, inseparable from colonial dependency, was even more cumbersome than at any time subsequent to the Revolution. The paper currency bills, three of which had been passed previous to this one of 1728, now under consideration, were always fruitful subjects of dispute between the Assembly, the Governor, the Proprietary, and the " Home Government," the concurrence of all these being needed to pass any law. In this instance, the House on 1st January, 1729, re- solved upon an issue of £50,000 in paper money, and appointed a committee to draft a bill accordingly. On the 4th, the result of their deliberations was reported, but it was not till the 6th that the bill was discussed, and blanks in it filled. On the 17th it was transcribed, and the next day compared by a Committee of the House in order to determine its accuracy before its transmission for his sanction to the Governor.
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