USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > History of Independence Hall : from the earliest period to the present time : embracing biographies of the immortal signers of the Declaration of Independence, with historical sketches of the sacred relics preserved in that sanctuary of American freedom > Part 11
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In September of that year, Mr. Stockton received an equal number of votes with Mr. Livingston, for Governor of New Jersey, but for urgent reasons his friends gave the election to his competitor. He was at once elected Chief Justice of the State, but he de- clined the honor. He was afterward sent to the aid of General Schuyler. Soon after his return, he was obliged to hasten to his family to prevent their cap- ture by the British army, then pursuing Washington and his little band across New Jersey. He removed them to the house of a friend about thirty miles dis- tant, but there he was captured by a party of refugees, who were guided to his retreat by a treacherous neigh-
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bor of his friend. He remained a prisoner for some time, and on account of his position as one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, he was treated with great severity. The hardships he en. dured shattered his constitution. He suffered greatly from cold, and at one time he was kept twenty-four hours without a particle of food. Congress took up his cause, and threatened Lord Howe with retaliation upon British prisoners. This had its effect, and he was soon afterward exchanged, when he found him- self almost a beggar, through the vandalism of the British in destroying his estate, and by the deprecia- tion of the continental paper currency. He was seized with a despondency at this, from which he never re- covered. A cancer in the neck also hurried him toward the grave, and he died on the twenty-eighth of February, 1781, in the fifty-first year of his age. It is gratifying, however, to realize the fact, that the patriotism of the Stockton's did not die with him. It was transferred to his children, as his son Com. R. F. STOCKTON, amply illustrates. He has been tried in many positions of public trust, and in all has vindi- cated the American character with the honor of a patriot. His history is a portion of our nation's glory, and in him is perpetuated the patriotic blood that coursed so warmly in the veins of his noble ancestor.
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CHAPTER XIV.
DR. JOSIAH BARTLETT.
Among the men of lofty thought and aim, He stood a towering prodigy of strength.
As a signer of the Declaration of Independence Mr. Bartlett should be remembered to remotest posterity. Attached as is his signature to that immortal docu- ment, it will live when marble columns have crumbled, or life-like portraitures of the painter have faded from the canvas-yet undying as will be his memory while a thought of Freedom or Liberty burns in the breasts of our nation, Independence Hall seems incomplete without his likeness. A man who figured so conspicu- ously in the political scenes of the troublous times in which he resided, and who took so active a part in the formation of our republican government and in- stitutions, ought not to sleep in his grave uncom- memorated on canvas: his noble form should occupy some niche in Independence Hall, where his features could be admired by all who desired to visit this sacred Temple, and gaze on the holy relics of the past. Mr. Bartlett should be there among the portraits of his colleagues, to give historical eclat to the room, as well as to add to the sacredness of the place, and the Councils should exercise patriotism enough to have it placed there in an appropriate style. In this con.
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nection it is our purpose to give a brief biography of Mr. Bartlett, and we are indebted to Mr. Lossing for the facts we shall use.
Josiah was born in Amesbury, Massachusetts, in November, 1729. His mother's maiden name was Webster: she was a relative of the family of the great statesman of that name, of our times, but who has recently deceased. Young Bartlett lacked the advantage of a collegiate education, but he improved an opportunity for acquiring some knowledge of the Greek and Latin, which was offered him in the family of a relative, the Rev. Dr. Webster. He chose for a livelihood the practice of the medical profession, and commenced the study of that science when he was sixteen years old. His opportunities for acquiring knowledge from books were limited, but the active energies of his mind supplied the deficiency, in a measure, and he passed an examination with honor at the close of his studies. He commenced practice at Kingston, in New Hampshire, and proving skillful and successful, his business soon became lucrative, and he amassed a competency. Mr. Bartlett was a stern, unbending Republican in principle; yet, notwith- standing this, he was highly esteemed by Wentworth, the Royal Governor, and received from him a magis- trate's commission, and also the command of a regi- ment of militia. In 1765 he was elected a member of the Provincial Legislature of New Hampshire. It was at the time when the Stamp Act was before the British Parliament, and Mr. Bartlett soon became a prominent leader of the party that opposed the various oppressive measures of the home government. Through 14*
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Wentworth, magnificent bribes were offered him, but his patriotism was inflexible.
In 1776 he was appointed a member of the Com- mittee of Safety of his State. The Governor was alarmed when this Committee was appointed, and to prevent the transaction of other business of a like nature, he dissolved the Assembly. They reassembled in spite of the Governor, and Dr. Bartlett was at the head of this rebellious movement. He was soon after elected a member of the Continental Congress, and in 1775 Governor Wentworth struck his name from the magistracy list and deprived him of his military com- mission. Still he was active in the Provincial As- sembly ; and the Governor, despairing of reconcilia- tion, and becoming somewhat alarmed for his own safety, left the Province. The Provincial Congress assumed the reins of government, and immediately reappointed Dr. Bartlett Colonel of the Militia.
In August, 1775, he was again chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was again re-elected in 1776. He was one of the committee appointed to devise a plan for the confederation of the States, as proposed by Dr. Franklin. He warmly supported the proposition for Independence, and when, on the second of August, 1776, the members of Congress signed the Declaration, Dr. Bartlett was the first who affixed his signature, New Hampshire being the first State called. ,
In 1778, he obtained leave from Congress to visit his family and look after his private affairs, which had become much deranged. He did not resume his seat again in that body .. In 1779 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas of New Hamp-
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shire, and the muster-master of its troops. He was afterward raised to the bench of the Supreme Court. He took an active part in the Convention of his State, in favor of the Constitution of 1787, and when it was adopted, he was elected a member of the Senate that convened under it in the city of New York. But he declined the honor, and did not take his seat there. He had been previously chosen President of New Hampshire, and held that responsible office until 1793, when he was elected the first Governor of that State, under the Federal Constitution. He held the office one year, and then resigning it, he retired to private life, and sought that needful repose which the declining years of an active existence required. He had served his country faithfully in its hour of deepest peril, and the benedictions of a free people followed him to his domestic retreat. But he was not per- mitted long to bless his family with his presence, nor was he allowed to witness his country entirely free from perils of great magnitude that threatened its de- struction, while the elements of the new experiment in government were yet unstable, for in 1795 death called him away. He died on the 19th of May, of that year, in the 66th year of his age, regretted by a large circle of warm friends, and lamented as a na- tional loss. Thus passed away from the scenes of active life, not only in the private walks of duty, but in the discharge of onerous political labors, one whose whole life was devoted to the good of his country. And would it not be but a very small mark of re- spect, and yet befitting in every sense of the word, for some patriotic body, or individual, to procure a- life- like portrait of JOSIAH BARTLETT, to hang in "Inde-
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pendence Hall," where the relics connected with those brave old heroes should all be placed ? Let us see who will first move in the matter. His native State should possess sufficient liberality to perform such an act of justice.
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CHAPTER XV.
SAMUEL ADAMS.
His history too embraces much That Freedom's heroes won.
THIS eminent man and distinguished patriot of the Revolution, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on the 22d of September, 1722. He was of pilgrim an- cestors, and had been taught the principles of Freedom from his infancy. His father was a man of consider- able wealth, and was for a series of years a member of the Massachusetts Assembly, under the Colonial government. It was his aim and pride to give Samuel a liberal education, and after a preparatory course of study, he entered him at Harvard College, Cambridge, where, in 1740, at the age of eighteen years, he took his degree of A. B. He was uncommonly sedate, and very assiduous in the pursuit of knowledge while a pupil. Mr. Lossing, and other biographers say that his father destined him for the profession of the law, but this design was relinquished, and he was placed as an apprentice with Thomas Cushing, a distinguished merchant of Boston, and afterward an active patriot. His mind, however, seemed fixed on political sub- jects," and the mercantile profession presented few
* In connection with a genial companion, he wrote a series of political essays for a newspaper called the "Independent Ad- vertiser." They incurred the nickname, by way of derision, of the " Whipping Club."
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charms for him. His father furnished him with ample capital to commence business as a merchant, but his distaste for the profession, and the diversion of his mind from its demands, by politics, soon caused him serious embarrassments, and he became almost a bankrupt. When Samuel was twenty-five years old, his father died, and the cares of the family and estate devolved on him, as the oldest son. Yet his mind was constantly active in watching the movements of the British government, and he spent a great deal of his time in talking and writing in favor of the resist- ance of the Colonies to the oppressions of the crown and its ministers. He took a firm and decided stand against the Stamp Act, and its antecedent kindred schemes to tax the Colonies. As early as 1763 he boldly expressed his sentiments relative to the rights and privileges of the Colonies; and in some instruc- tions which he drew up for the guidance of the Boston members of the General Assembly in that year, he denied the right of Parliament to tax the Colonies without their consent-denied the supremacy of Par- liament, and suggested a union of all the Colonies, as necessary for their protection against British aggres- sions. It is asserted that this was the first public ex- pression of such sentiments in America, and that they were the spark that kindled the flame upon the altar of Freedom here.
In 1765 Mr. Adams was chosen a representative for Boston, in the General Assembly, and became early distinguished in that body for his intelligence and activity. He became a leader of the opposition to the royal Governor, and treated with disdain the efforts made to silence him, although the offers prof-
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fered would have placed him in affluent circumstances. When the Governor was asked why Mr. Adams had not been silenced by office, he replied that "such is the obstinacy and inflexible disposition of the man that he can never be conciliated by any office or gift whatever." And when, in 1774, Governor Gage, by authority of ministers, sent Colonel Fenton to offer Adams a magnificent consideration if he would cease his hostility to government, or menace him with all the evils of attainder, that inflexible patriot gave this remarkable answer to Fenton: "I trust I have long since made my peace with the King of kings. No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams to him, no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people." He was chosen Clerk of the House of Representatives; and he originated the " Massachusetts Circular," which pro- posed a Colonial Congress to be held in New York, and which was held there in 1766. During the ex- citement of the Boston Massacre, he was among the most active; and chiefly through his influence, and the boldness with which he demanded the removal of the troops from Boston, was that object effected.
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Mr. Adams, and Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, almost simultaneously proposed the system of Com- mittees of Correspondence, which proved such a mighty engine in bringing about a union of senti- ment among the several Colonies previous to the bursting out of the Revolution. This, and other bold movements on his part, caused him to be selected as an object of ministerial vengeance, and when Governor Gage issued his proclamation, offering pardon to all
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who would return to their allegiance, Samuel Adams and John Hancock were alone excepted. This greatly increased their popularity, and fired the people with indignation. Adams was among those who secretly matured the plan of proposing a general Congress, and appointing delegates thereto, in spite of the opposition of Governor Gage. The governor hearing of the movement in the General Assembly, then sitting at Salem, sent his secretary to dissolve them, but he found the door locked, and the key was safely lodged in Samuel Adams's pocket. Mr. Adams was one of the five delegates appointed, and he took his seat in that body on the fifth of September, 1774. He con- tinued an active member of Congress until 1781, and was among those who joyfully affixed their signatures to the Declaration of Independence. The journals of Congress during that time show his name upon almost every important committee of that body. And prob- ably no man did more toward bringing about the American Revolution, and in effecting the Indepen- dence of the Colonies, than did Samuel Adams. He was the first to assert boldly those political truths upon which rested the whole superstructure of our confederacy-he was the first to act in support of those truths-and when, in the General Council of States, Independence was proposed, and the timid faltered, and the over-prudent hesitated, the voice of Samuel Adams was ever loudest in denunciations of a temporizing policy, and also in the utterance of strong encouragement to the faint-hearted. "I should advise," said he, on one occasion, "persisting in our struggle for liberty, though it were revealed from heaven that nine hundred and ninety-nine were to
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perish, and only one of a thousand were to survive and retain his liberty! One such freeman must pos- sess more virtue and enjoy more happiness, than a thousand slaves; and let him propagate his like, and transmit to them what he hath so nobly preserved."
Mr. Adams retired from Congress in 1781, but not from public life. He was a member of the Convention to form a Constitution for Massachusetts, and was on the committee who drafted it. He was successively a member of the Senate of that Commonwealth, its President, Lieutenant-Governor, and finally Governor. To the latter office he was annually elected, until the infirmities of age obliged him to retire from active life. He expired on the third day of October, 1803, in the eighty-second year of his age. 15
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CHAPTER XVI.
WILLIAM WHIPPLE.
" Bold, fearless, undaunted, and brave, In the hour of trial and gloom, He swore e'er he'd yield as a slave His body should sink in the tomb."
THIS distinguished signer of the Declaration of In- dependence, although, like many of his heroic com- patriots, his portrait is not to be found in Indepen- dence Hall, was born in Kittery, in New Hampshire -that portion which now comprises the State of Maine-in the year 1730. His early education, says what little biography we have of him, was received at a common school in his native town. When, how- ever, he was quite a lad, he embarked in the occupa- tion of a sailor, and followed the sea for several years. But when he was about thirty years of age, he left the sea, and engaged in the mercantile business, with his brother, Joseph Whipple, in Portsmouth, New Hamp- shire. When the difficulties arose between this and the mother country, William early espoused the cause of the Colonies, and soon became a leader among the opposition to British authority. In 1775 he was elected a member of the Provincial Congress of New Hampshire, and was chosen by that body one of the Committee of Safety. These committees were organ- ized in several of the States. Their business was to
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act as an executive body to regulate the general con- cerns of the government during the continuance of the war. These committees were of vast importance, and acted efficiently in conjunction with the committees of correspondence. In some instances they consisted each of the same men. When, in 1775, the people of that State organized a temporary government, Mr. Whipple was chosen a member of the council. In January, 1776, he was chosen a delegate to the Con- tinental Congress, and was among those who, on the fourth of July of that year, voted for the Declaration of Independence. He remained in Congress until 1777, when he retired from that body, having been appointed a Brigadier-General of the New Hampshire Militia. He was very active in calling out and equip- ping troops for the campaign against Burgoyne. He commanded one brigade and General Stark the other. He was under Gates at the capture of Burgoyne, and was one of the commissioners to arrange the terms of capitulation. He was afterward selected one of the officers to march the British prisoners to Cambridge, near Boston. He joined Sullivan in his expedition against the British on Rhode Island in 1778, with a pretty large force of New Hampshire Militia; but the perverse conduct of the French Admiral D'Estaing, in not sustaining the siege of Newport, caused a fail- ure of the expedition, and General Whipple, with his brigade, returned to New Hampshire. The Count D'Estaing agreed to assist Sullivan in reducing the town of Newport, but just as he was entering the har- bor, the fleet of Lord Howe, from New York, appeared, and he proceeded to attack him. A storm prevented an engagement, and both fleets were greatly damaged
a
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by the gale. D'Estaing, instead of remaining to assist Sullivan, sailed for Boston, under the pretense of re- pairing his shattered vessels.
In 1780 he was offered the situation of Commis- sioner of the Board of Admiralty, but declined it. In 1782 he was appointed by Robert Morris, financial agent in New Hampshire,* but he resigned the trust in the course of a year. During that year, he was appointed one of the Commissioners to settle the dis- pute between Pennsylvania and Connecticut, concern- ing the Wyoming domain, and was appointed Presi- dent of the Court. He was also appointed, during that year, a side Judge of the Superior Court of New Hampshire. The early western boundary of Con- necticut, before the organization of New York, was, like most of the other States on the Atlantic, quite in- definite. A Colony from this Province had settled in the Wyoming Valley, and that region was not in- cluded in New York. It was within the bounds of · Pennsylvania, hence the dispute. At that time the Courts in New Hampshire were constituted of four Judges, of whom the first, or Chief Justice, only, was a lawyer, the others being chosen from among civilians, distinguished for sound judgment, and a good educa- tion. Soon after his appointment, in attempting to sum up the arguments of counsel, and submit the case to the jury, he was attacked with a violent palpitation of the heart, which ever after troubled him. In 1785 he was seriously affected while holding court, and re-
* Robert Morris was then the manager of the finances of the Confederation, and these agents in the various States were a kind of sub-treasurers. Hence it was an office that required honest and faithful incumbents.
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tiring to his chamber, he never left it again while living. He expired on the twenty-eighth day of November, 1785, in the fifty-fifth year of his age. He requested a post-mortem examination, which being done, it was found that a portion of his heart had be- come ossified or bony. Thus terminated the valuable life of one who rose from the post of a cabin-boy to a rank among the first men of his country. His life and character present one of those bright examples of self-reliance which cannot be too often pressed upon the attention of the young; and although surrounding circumstances had much to do in the development of his talents, yet, after all, the great secret of his suc- cess was doubtless a hopeful reliance upon a conscious ability to perform any duty required of him. In the revolutionary struggle for American Independence, many a young man, who commenced the active scenes of life under the most disadvantageous circumstances, arose by self-exertion and activity, to prominence and respect. The names of many of those men are now emblazoned on the scroll of Fame, and will remain as bright stars in the galaxy of our country's heroes. Such a name is that of Mr. Whipple, and
"While the fir-tree is green, Or the winds roll a wave, The tear-drop shall brighten The turf of the brave."
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CHAPTER XVII.
JOHN ADAMS.
One of the stern and dauntless few Whose name made despots tremble.
DURING the struggle for Independence there was no loftier genius, no purer patriot, who took part in that memorable contest, than the subject of this me- moir. The town in which he was born was then called Braintree, but was subsequently changed to that of Quincy, a name which it still retains, and is situ- ated in the old Commonwealth of Massachusetts. John Adams was born October 30, 1735. He was a direct lineal descendant, in the fourth generation, from Henry Adams, who fled from the persecution in England during the reign of the first Charles. It will be re- membered that Archbishop Laud, the spiritual ad- viser of Charles I., influenced no doubt by the Roman Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria, took especial pains to enforce the strictest obeservance of the Liturgy of the established Church of England, in the Church of Scotland, and also in the Puritan churches.' Those individuals and congregations who would not conform to these requirements were severely dealt with, and these persecutions drove a great many to the western world, where they might worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. The maternal
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ancestor of John Adams was John Alden, a passenger in the Mayflower, and thus he inherited from his parentage the title of a "Son of Liberty," which was in due course of time given to him and others. Col. Barre was the first to designate those American pa- triots thus, on the floor of the British House of Com- mons. His primary education was derived in a school at Braintree, and there he passed through a preparatory course of instruction for Harvard University, where he graduated when he was only twenty years of age. Having chosen the law as a profession, says his biog- rapher, he entered upon the study of it with an emi- nent barrister in Worcester, by the name of Putnam. There he had the advantage of sound legal instruc- tion, and through Mr. Putnam he became acquainted with many distinguished public men, among whom was Mr. Gridley, the Attorney-General. The first in- terview awakened sentiments of mutual regard, and young Adams was allowed the free use of Mr. Grid- ley's extensive library, a privilege of great value in those days. It was a rich treasure thrown open to him, and its value was soon apparent in the expansion of his general knowledge. He was admitted to the bar in 1758, and commenced practice in Braintree. At an early period young Adams's mind was turned to the contemplation of the general politics of his country, and the atmosphere of liberal principles in which he had been born and nurtured, gave a patriotic
bias to his judgment and feelings.
HIe watched
narrowly the movements of the British Government
toward the American Colonies, and was ever out- spoken in his condemnation of its oppressive acts. In 1761 he was admitted as a barrister. The busi-
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