USA > Pennsylvania > Lives of the governors of Pennsylvania : with the incidental history of the state, from 1609 to 1873 > Part 15
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On the 19th of April, 1775, was fought the battle of Lex- ington, the first blood spilled in the Revolution. By this, the opening act of the drama, was plainly manifested the determination of the Ministry to force the Colonies to sub- jection. It created intense excitement throughout all the Colonies. A meeting of citizens was convened in Philadel- phia, at which thousands were present, and a resolution adopted to form a military association, under the direction of the committee of correspondence for defence. The asso- ciation was extended through all the counties, and the organ- ization of militia was prosecuted with much spirit. The Assembly approved of this popular demonstration, and en- gaged to provide for the pay of the militia while in service. The second Congress, which met in May, resolved to organ- ize an army for defence, the number to be raised in Pennsyl-
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vania being four thousand three hundred men. The Assem- bly entered heartily into this measure and recommended to the Commissioners of the several counties to provide arms and accoutrements for this force, advised the organization of minute-men trained to seize their arms at the instant of dan- ger and fly to the rescue, made further appropriations for the defence of the city, and, to encourage its manufacture, offered a premium for saltpetre. The Assembly also appointed a committee of public safety, empowered to call the troops into service and provide for their pay, and resolved that all per- sons between the ages of sixteen and fifty, who did not asso- ciate for the defence of the Colony, ought to pay an equiv- alent for the time spent by the associators in acquiring military discipline. On the 10th of May Ticonderoga was captured, and on the 17th of June the famous battle of Bun- ker Hill was fought. Two days before this, George Washing- ton was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the American armies. Four Major-Generals and eight Brigadier-Generals were also appointed.
Congress, soon after meeting in May, recommended "to the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs has been hitherto established, to adopt such government as shall, in the opinions of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and America in general." This was, in fact, dispensing with the royal Governors, and such Assemblies as did not act with the party opposing the Crown.
A few days after this recommendation was made, a public meeting was held in Philadelphia, in which it was resolved that the present Assembly of the Colony is " not competent to the exigencies of affairs," and that a Provincial Convention ought to be called for inaugurating a form of Colonial gov- ernment, in compliance with the recommendation of Con- gress. The committee of inspection for the city, accordingly, called on the committees of the counties to send delegates to
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a conference for this purpose, and on the 18th of June, 1776, the delegates assembled in Philadelphia and elected Thomas McKean president, provided for holding a convention of del- egates, eight in number from each county, to frame a consti- tution and inaugurate a new government suited to the present condition of the Colony, fixed the qualifications of voters, prescribed the form of oath to be administered to electors and delegates, apportioned the counties into election districts, appointed the election judges, and issued a brief, but patriotic and persuasive address to the people.
The idea of a formal declaration of independence by Con- gress was now freely canvassed. The Assembly of Virginia, on the 15th of May, had recommended it. The Assembly of Pennsylvania was reluctant to sever the bonds of union with the parent State, but instructed its delegates, on the 14th of June, to unite with the other Colonies in legislating for the common good, only reserving the right to regulate its own internal affairs, and, in conclusion, made this frank declara- tion: "The happiness of these Colonies has, during the whole course of this fatal controversy, been our first wish, their reconciliation with Great Britain our next. Ardently have we prayed for the accomplishment of both. But if we re- nounce the one or the other, we humbly trust in the mercies of the Supreme Governor of the Universe, that we shall not stand condemned before His throne if our choice is de- termined by that overruling law of self-preservation which His divine wisdom has thought proper to implant in the hearts of His creatures." The Conference, which had pro- vided for a constitutional convention, approved the idea of declaring independence, and authorized the raising of six thousand militia. The Assembly had been prevented from legislating to the same effect by the continued absence of its members.
On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, seconded by John Adams, of Massachusetts, brought forward in Congress the proposition, that the " United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, and
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that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." It was debated most ardently and eloquently, John Dickinson, of Pennsylvania, one of the ablest and purest of the patriots, opposing, for the time, its passage, urging, as an objection, the disorganized condition in which the Colonies would be left if the British protection and power were removed, Prov- ince being left to rise against Province, and city against city. The proposition was passed upon, on the 2d of July, the votes of all being in favor of its adoption except Pennsylvania and Delaware, the votes of the delegates from these States being divided. In the meantime, a committee of five, consisting of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston, had been appointed to draw up a more formal instrument. Jefferson and Adams were appointed as a sub-committee to make the draft; and the immortal instrument, drawn by the hand of Mr. Jefferson, was reported on the 28th of June, and, after a sharp debate, was finally adopted on the 4th of July, 1776. From Pennsylvania, Franklin, Wilson, and Mor- ton voted for it, Willing and Humphrey against it, Dickinson being absent. The Pennsylvania convention being informed that a majority of its delegates in Congress had voted against the preliminary declaration, named a new delegation on the 20th, omitting Dickinson, Willing, and Humphrey, reappoint- ing the three who had voted for the declaration, Morris, who had been absent, and appointing five new members, Rush, Clymer, Smith, Taylor, and Ross. The engrossed copy which was subsequently made was signed by them .*
The Convention for framing a new constitution for the Colony, assembled in Philadelphia on the 15th of July, and elected Franklin President. Its first act was to provide for the opening its deliberations by the performance of divine service. This Convention, in addition to the specific duty of framing a constitution for which it was elected, at once took upon itself the entire government of the Colony. The new
* Letter of Jefferson to S. A. Wells, 1819. - Randall's Life of Jefferson, Vol. L. p. 171.
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Constitution was completed on the 28th of September, and, after being signed by the President and all the members, was intrusted to the hands of the Council of Safety, to be pre- sented to the new General Assembly at its first session, and immediately after having chosen a speaker. The old Assem- bly adjourned on the 14th of June to the 26th of August. A quorum failed to convene on that day, and two days after, an adjournment was voted to the twenty-third of September. Little was done at this adjourned session beyond approving the report of the committee on accounts, by which a thousand pounds was voted for the salary of the Governor, and an aggregate sum exceeding eleven thousand pounds to the old provincial officers, and remonstrating against certain ordi- nances passed by the Convention as violations of power delegated to it; and on the 28th of September, this Assembly, which had existed for nearly a century under the organic law of Penn, ceased to exist, and the Proprietary Governor was shorn of power.
John Penn, eldest son of Richard, was born in England in 1728. At the age of twenty-five, he first visited the Colony, and ten years later, he came bearing the commission of Deputy Governor. The day of his last arrival was on Sun- day, and was marked by the shock of an earthquake, which the superstitious interpreted as an evil omen to his admin- istration. It is described as being severe, and accompanied by a loud, roaring noise, the sky being clear with a moderate wind from the south-west. At the time of his appointment as governor, his father was proprietor of one-third of the Province, and his uncle, Thomas, of two-thirds; the latter having inherited the share of John, the oldest of the three original Proprietors, upon the occasion of his death in 1746. Upon the death of Richard, father of the Governor, in 1771, the latter inherited the one-third of the Proprietary interest. In spirit he manifested little of the mild and peaceful dis- position of his grandfather, but believed in supporting the authority of his government by the sword. Especially was he averse to temporizing with the Indians, and even offered,
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without scruple, graduated bounties for their capture, scalp- ing, or death. He married Anne Allen, daughter of William Allen, Chief Justice of the Colony. In person he is described as of the middle size, reserved in manners, and very near- sighted. After being virtually superseded in authority by the Supreme Executive Council, he seems to have submitted gracefully to the progress of events, which he found himself unable to control, and remained during the Revolution a quiet spectator of the long struggle, without manifesting any particular interest in its result. With other Crown and Pro- prietary officers remaining in America, he at several times fell under the suspicion of Congress, and orders were issued for his arrest and removal to Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and to Winchester, Virginia, but he seems to have been soon released on parole. He continued to live at his home in Bucks County, after the Revolution, where he died in Feb- ruary, 1795, aged sixty-seven. From his grave in Christ's Church-yard, where he was buried, his remains were sub- sequently transferred for interment to England.
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PART III. PRESIDENTS OF THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.
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THOMAS WHARTON, JR.,
PRESIDENT OF THE SUPREME EXECUTIVE COUNCIL. March 5, 1777, to May 23, 1778.
ITHE Provincial Convention which had been elected to frame a new Constitution, and which, upon meeting on the 15th of July, 1776, assumed the entire government of the Colony, elected, on the 24d of the same month, a Council of Safety, composed of twenty-five members, to which was com- mitted the executive department of the Government until the new frame of the constitution about to be promulgated should be put in operation. This Council was organized by the se- lection of Thomas Rittenhouse as chairman, and Jacob S. Howell, Secretary. By this action the Proprietary Govern- ment was completely superseded, and the title of the Propri- etors to landed estate in Pennsylvania was suspended. An es- timate commenced by Thomas Penn, and completed by Frank- lin, in 1759, made the value of this estate about ten millions of pounds sterling. It should here be observed that the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania, on the 27th of November, 1779, passed an Act for vesting the estate of the Proprietors in the Common- wealth, but reserving to the Proprietors all their private es- tates, including the tenths of manors, and paying to them the sum of one hundred and thirty thousand pounds sterling " in remembrance of the enterprising spirit of the Founder," and " of the expectations and dependence of his descendants." In addition to this, Parliament, in 1790, granted an annuity of four thousand pounds per annum to the heirs and descendants of the Founder, " in consideration of the meritorious services of the said William Penn, and of the losses which his family have sustained." This annuity has ever since been regularly
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paid, and in a reference made to it a short time ago [1872] in the House of Commons, Chancellor Lowe stated that the pension would not be discontinued.
On the 6th of August, a formal organization of the Council of Safety was effected, when Thomas Wharton, Jr., was elected President. , On the 28th of September, the new constitution was completed and passed unanimously, taking effect from the date of its passage. It provided for an annual Assembly and for a Supreme Executive Council, to consist of twelve persons to be chosen by the people, and to hold office for three years. Members of Congress were to be appointed by the Assembly. Assembly men were eligible to membership but four years out of seven, and members of Council but one term in seven years. The Constitution could not be changed for the space of seven years. At the expiration of that time censors were to be elected, who were to consider whether a revision was demanded, and if so, they were to call a conven- tion for the purpose. The Council was charged with the due execution of the laws, its powers being not materially differ- ent from those of the Council under the Proprietary Govern- ment. From the first, this instrument met with violent opposition.
On the first day of January, 1776, Washington unfurled over his camp, at Cambridge, for the first time, the Union Flag. It had thirteen stripes of alternate red and white, with the cross of St. George in the upper left-hand corner. For this cross Congress ordered, on the 14th of June, 1777, thirteen white stars in a field of blue to be substituted, and this design became the emblem of nationality. The Continental Congress, before the close of the year 1775, had agreed upon certain articles of war, declared the cause for which arms had been taken up, and had issued bills of credit for prosecuting the war to the amount of six millions of dollars. The Parliament of Great Britain had, on the other hand, declared the Colonists rebels; had authorized the seizure or destruction of American vessels; had voted a force of fifty-five thousand men for compelling obedience to its man-
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dates in America, with over a million of dollars for their pay; and had, in addition to these, hired from the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and other German rulers, seventeen thousand men, agreeing in their absence to defend these States, and paying for them over eight hundred thousand dollars. All this was done while yet the Americans were supplicating for terms of reconciliation in the most respectful and earnest tones. These acts, however, had the effect to convince all thinking men, that there was but one alternative, either a slavish submission or a bitter and wasting struggle.
Washington, who, from the moment of taking command, had been busy in organizing and gathering in his forces, de- termined to drive the enemy from Boston. To this end he sent forces under General Thomas, under cover of darkness, on the night of March 4th, 1776, to a commanding position on Dorchester Heights, where, by morning, they had thrown up considerable works, and were prepared to open upon the city and the shipping in the harbor. All efforts to dislodge this force proved futile, and, seeing that destruction or capture awaited him, General Howe, the commander of the British troops, sought terms of capitulation. Upon tacit condition that he would leave the city unharmed, he was allowed to depart without injury ; and on the 17th of March, eleven thousand soldiers and sailors, and a number of Loyalist families, sailed away to Halifax.
Washington, having been apprised early in the year that Sir Henry Clinton had sailed from Boston on a secret expe- dition, presumed its destination to be New York, and accord- ingly sent General Charles Lee thither to defend it. Clinton arrived off Sandy Hook in March, but finding Lee in posses- sion of the city, withdrew, and being joined some time after- wards by Admiral Sir Peter Parker, proceeded South for the reduction of Charleston, South Carolina; and on the 28th of June opened a combined land and naval attack upon the defences on Sullivan's Island, commanding the entrance to the harbor. He was met by the Carolina militia under Gen- eral William Moultrie, which had thrown up a breast-work
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of palmetto logs and sand, and had twenty-six pieces of artillery mounted. For ten hours the battle raged with great violence. The Provincials stood manfully to their guns. doing terrible execution upon the British fleet. At nightfall the action ceased, and Clinton, finding his forces decimated and his little armada terribly shattered, decided to withdraw from the contest, and returned to New York.
Taught by this unfortunate experience, the British com- mander determined to concentrate all his forces, and strike with overwhelming power. General Howe, who had gone from Boston to Halifax, returned early in July, and proceeded directly to New York. Here he was joined by Clinton with the remnant of his army from before Charleston, and by Admiral Lord Howe with a large fleet directly from Eng- land. To this powerful combination, Washington had no adequate forces to oppose, and the events which followed were most unfortunate for the American arms. Driven from Long Island, from Harlem, from White Plains, Washington, at length, determined to withdraw in the direction of Phila- delphia, and was closely pursued by Cornwallis with a heavy detachment of the British army, causing him to abandon, in succession, Newark, New Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton, and finally to cross to the west bank of the Delaware to Penn- sylvania soil. Cornwallis would have pushed forward vigor- ously, and constructed boats for crossing the river in pursuit; but Howe ordered a cautious policy, directing Cornwallis to wait until the ice should be frozen sufficiently upon the river to bear the troops and trains. The approach of a hostile army to the banks of the Delaware created consternation in Phila- delphia. In the Council of Safety, on the 30th of November, the following order was issued: " It is no less necessary than painful, that the present movements of General Howe's army requires that we should apprise the inhabitants of this city who wish to avoid the insults and oppressions of a licentious soldiery, that they prepare for removing their wives and chil- dren, and valuable effects, on a short warning to some place of security." On the 2d of September the Council ordered all
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shops in the city to be closed, and the schools to be broken up, and by the 10th, General Cadwalader, with a brigade of twelve hundred men, was on his way to join Washington's army. Congress now became thoroughly alarmed, and on the 12th, after having invested Washington with dictatorial powers, adjourned to meet at Baltimore, taking with them all the public papers, but leaving a committee behind, of which Robert Morris was chairman, to act in concert with the army for the defence of the city. On the same day Washington dispatched General Putnam, clothed with absolute power, to take command in the city.
The want of troops rendered the American commander powerless to oppose the advancing foe. In this alarming posture of affairs, the Council of Safety issued a stirring address, calling upon all able-bodied men to come to the rescue. "If you wish," say they, " to live in freedom, and are determined to maintain that best boon of heaven, you have no time to deliberate. A manly resistance will secure every blessing; inactivity and sloth will bring horror and destruction. ... Shall we, with Heaven and justice on our side, (unless we could impiously suppose that the Almighty had devoted mankind to slavery,) shall we hesitate to meet our enemies in the hostile field ? ... May Heaven, which has bestowed the blessings of liberty upon you, awaken you to a proper sense of your danger, and arouse that manly spirit of virtuous resolution which has ever bidden defiance to the efforts of tyranny. May you ever have the glorious prize of liberty in view, and bear with a becoming fortitude the fatigues and severities of a winter campaign. That, and that only, will entitle you to the superlative distinction of being deemed, under God, the deliverers of your country."
The frequent reverses of the American arms, and the repeated retreats before a victorious foe, had caused great depression in the public mind. Washington felt deeply the humiliation, and sought earnestly for an opportunity to strike a blow that should revive confidence in the patriot cause. A detachment of Hessian troops had been posted at Trenton.
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while the main body of the enemy, under Cornwall ;s, was at Princeton. Christmas-time was approaching. Believing that the Hessian hirelings would celebrate this festival by long potations, Washington formed the purpose of assuming the offensive, and, crossing the Delaware, of falling suddenly upon the enemy resting securely in their cantonments. Ac- cordingly, on the evening of the 25th, taking a picked force to a point some eight or ten miles above Trenton, where now is located the village of Taylorsville, he succeeded, though the current was strong and the river filled with floating ice, in crossing in flat-boats, and in making his way unperceived to the neighborhood of the British encampment. It was al- ready sunrise when they arrived, and the Hessian leader, Rall, was still at his cups, having spent the night in debauch. The struggle for the mastery was brief. Forty or fifty of the enemy were killed or mortally wounded, and more than a thousand were made prisoners, and marched away in the train of the victors; arms, ammunition, and stores, captured in considerable quantities, swelling the triumphal train. The victory was, in regard to numbers engaged, insignificant; but it was complete and, in its bearing upon the cause of the patriots, momentous. It inspired hope and confidence in every breast, and the daring and triumph of the American leader became the subject of eulogy in every European court. Cadwalader, who was in command of the Pennsylvania troops, had been ordered to cross and co-operate with the attacking column; but was unable to carry out his instruc- tions on account of the force of the current and the power of the floating ice. Three days after, nine hundred of these pris- oners were marched through the city of Philadelphia on their way to the prison camp at Lancaster, forming a line on Front Street two deep from Market to Walnut. Inspired by his success, Washington resumed the offensive, and moving all his forces into New Jersey, prepared to face the British troops ; but too feeble in numbers to successfully cope with the main body which had approached Trenton, eluding the grasp of the confident foe, he, by a night march, descended
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upon the British reserves at Princeton, and fought them with sturdy valor; but Cornwallis, warned by the booming of can- non of their peril, and grown vigilant since the late disaster, hastened to their relief, compelling Washington to withdraw. The activity and enterprise of the Americans frightened the enemy into the adoption of the most cautious policy, causing him to call in and confine his troops to their encampments upon the Raritan; while Washington, with his main body, encamped at Morristown, and sent out detachments in all directions to keep the country clear, and pick up stragglers and deserters.
This active winter campaign had the effect to relieve Pennsylvania, and enabled Congress, which had assembled in Baltimore on the 20th of December, to return again to Philadelphia. General Putnam, who had been invested with authority, had ordered fortifications to be commenced at Red Bank, on the Delaware, and at various points about the city, using for the purpose the timber upon the Proprietors' lands in the neighborhood. Upon the retreat of the enemy through New Jersey, Putnam rejoined the army, and was succeeded by General Irvine, and subsequently by General Gates, in the command in Philadelphia.
The elections having been held according to the provisions of the new Constitution, the Supreme Executive Council met on the 4th of March, 1777, and organized on the 5th, by the election, in joint convention of the members of the Assembly and the Council, of Thomas Wharton, Jr., as President, and George Bryan as Vice-President; whereupon the Council of Safety was dissolved. To impress the multitude with an adequate idea of the power and dignity of the office, the inauguration was attended with much pomp and ceremony ; the result of the election being declared from the Court- House amid the shouts of the multitude and the booming of the captured cannon from the field of Trenton. The title given to the new dignitary was a long and loud resounding one: "His Excellency Thomas Wharton, Junior, Esquire, President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania,
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