USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania : from its discovery by Europeans, to the Declaration of Independence in 1776 > Part 46
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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 pro- testations of loyalty to their king, while they were preparing for a general revolt; and that their rebellious war was mani- festly carried on for the purpose of establishing an indepen- dent 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 inju- ries they had sustained. "We are," they said, " reduced to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of this con- test, and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery."
General Washington, immediately after his appointment to the chief command, 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-
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ing, when the Americans, having seized and fortified Dor- chester heights, which overlooked and commanded the place, general Howe, who had succeeded general Gage,* abandoned it, and sailed with his command for Halifax.
The capture of Ticonderoga had opened the gates of Cana- da, and the impetuous spirit of colonel Arnold was eager 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 depriving the enemy, for such the parent state was now considered, of the means of assailing the colonies from that quarter. The command of this enter- prise 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, he led his gallant little army to the walls of Quebec.
During the progress of general Montgomery, colonel Ar- nold, with boldness and perseverance rarely surpassed, con- ducted 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 originally consisted of one thousand men, one-third of whom were com- pelled to return by the want of necessaries. The remainder persevered with unabated resolution, surmounting every ob- stacle of mountain and forest, progressing at times not more than five miles a day, and 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
* October 10.
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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 reach- ed 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 surrendered by the astounded and affrighted garrison. But the want of boats occasioned an indispensable delay of a few days, and the in- habitants, English and Canadians, alarmed for their property, united for its defence.
The prospects of the Americans, however, were cheering. The inhabitants 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 wisdom 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 considerations, to attempt it by storm. The depth of winter was approaching; dissentions 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 enthusias-
tic commander dreaded to disappoint. He was not unaware of the danger and hazard of such an attempt. Governor Carl- ton, who commanded in Quebec, was an experienced and able soldier ; and the garrison, provided with every thing necessary for defence, daily acquired firmness. But success had often crowned adventures more hopeless than that which he pro- posed; 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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The escalade of the town was made with a force of less than eight hundred men .* Two feints were directed, one by co- lonel Livingston, at the head of his regiment of Canadian auxiliaries, the other by major Brown ; the principal attacks were conducted by Montgomery and Arnold, in person. The former advancing against the lower town, had passed the first barrier, and was preparing to storm the second, when he was killed by the discharge of a cannon fired by the last of its re- treating defenders. His death so dispirited the assailants, that colonel Campbell, on whom the command devolved, thought proper to draw them off. Arnold, at the head of about three hundred and fifty men, with irresistible impetu- osity, carried a two gun battery ; but in the conflict receiving a wound from a musket ball, which shattered his leg, he was compelled to quit the field. His party continued the assault, and mastered a second barrier. But after a contest for three hours with the greater part of the garrison, finding themselves hemmed in, without hopes of success, relief, or retreat, they yielded themselves prisoners. This issue, so unfortunate for the colonists, relieved the town from all apprehensions for its safety, the invaders being so much weakened as to be scarce competent to their own defence. Arnold encamped at three miles distance from Quebec, and maintained his position amid many difficulties and great privations, until the spring, when he was joined by reinforcements.
The fall of general Montgomery was deplored by friends and foes. He was an Irishman by birth, and though scarce thirty-eight years of age, was a veteran soldier. He had shared in the labours and triumph of Wolfe, was distinguish- ed for talent and military genius, blessed with a mild and constant temper, and dauntless courage; the highest honours .of his profession awaited him in the British service. These he abandoned for the enjoyments of domestic happiness in the country of his adoption. But devoted to freedom, he en- gaged enthusiastically in defence of the American cause, and by his early successes in the Canadian campaign, induced the highest anticipations of future greatness, In parliament his
* December 31.
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worth was acknowledged, and his fate lamented; the minister himself joined in his praise, whilst condemning the cause in which he fell, and concluded his involuntary panegyric, in the language of the poet, crying, " Curse on his virtues, they've undone his country." In congress he was mourned as a martyr to liberty, and by their direction a marble monument, of beautiful simplicity, with emblematical devices, has been erected to his memory, in front of St. Paul's church, New York.
Pursuant to the recommendation of congress, the assembly of Pennsylvania authorized the enlistment of a battalion of eight companies for the continental service, and nominated John Bull, colonel; James Irwin, lieutenant-colonel; and Anthony J. Morris, major .* The house also resolved by the casting vote of the speaker, to levy fifteen hundred men for the defence of the province, to be engaged until the first of January, 1778; subject, however, to be discharged at any time on the advance of a month's pay. These troops were divided into three battalions, two of riflemen, and one of in- fantry. The riflemen were formed into a regiment, and placed under the command of Mr. Samuel Miles, a distin- guished member of the assembly, with the rank of first pro- vincial colonel. James Piper was appointed lieutenant-colonel, and Ennion Williams major of the first battalion, and Daniel Broadhead lieutenant-colonel, and John Patton major of the second battalion. Mr. John Cadwallader was nominated co- Jonel, and Mr. James Potts major of the infantry battalion. But Mr. Cadwallader having applied for the command of the first battalion, refused to accept the commission tendered to him, and it was subsequently given to Mr. Samuel Atlee.
Whilst the colonies openly resisted the authority of their
* CAPTAINS .-- William Allen, jr. Jonathan Jones, William Williams, Jo- siah Harman, Marien Lamar, Thomas Dorsey, William Jenkins, and Augus- tus Willet. LIEUTENANTS-Benjamin Davis, Samuel Watson, Jacob Ashmead, Peter Hughes, Adam Hubley, John Reece, Frederick Blanken- burg, Richard Stanley. ENSIGNS-Roger Steiner, Philip Clumburg, jr. Jaoob Zeigler, George Jenkins, Christian Stoddle, Thomas Ryerson, Wil- liam Moore, and Amos Wilkinson.
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king, and strove to conquer by their arms a province which had no participation in their grievances, they continued to administer the civil government in his majesty's name.
This inconsistency served to distract the patriotic with doubts, and to paralyze their energies, and congress hastened to correct it. They declared, that his Britannic majesty, with the lords and commons, had, by act of parliament, excluded the United colonies from the protection of the crown; that, not only had their humble petition for redress and reconci- liation been received with disdain, but the whole force of the kingdom, aided by foreign mercenaries, was about to be ex- erted for their destruction ; that, therefore, it was irreconci- lable with reason and good conscience for the colonists to take the oaths for supporting any government under the crown of Great Britain ; and it was necessary that the exercise of every kind of authority under the crown should be suppressed, and that all the powers of government should be exercised by the people of the colonies for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order, and the defence of their lives, liber- ties, and properties, against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies. For these purposes congress resolved, "That it be recommended to the respective assem- blies and conventions of the United colonies, where no go- vernment 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 virtually a declaration of independence. It was such almost in terms. The renunciation of allegiance to the British crown, and the establishment of governments by the authority of the people, were made certainly with no hope of reconciliation, nor desire of re-union with the parent state. When Massachusetts asked advice of congress on the pro- priety of "taking up and exercising the powers of civil go- vernment,"t they recommended such regulations only as
* May. 1 June, 1775.
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were indispensable, and those to be conformed as nearly as possible to the spirit of their charter ; and to endure no longer than until a governor of his majesty's appointment should consent to govern the colony according to that instrument. This was in perfect accord with the professions of the colo- nies of respect and attachment, and dependence on Great Bri- tain. But the resolution now adopted spoke not of limitation to the powers to be assumed by the people, neither as to their nature nor duration.
The preamble to the resolution, containing the reasons for its adoption, denied that the people, with good conscience, could take the oaths to any form of government under the crown, and required the suppression of every species of au- thority claimed by it; but the resolution itself recommended the adoption of a new form of government, where none suffi- cient for the exigencies of present affairs had been established. Hence it became a question in Pennsylvania, and especially with her assembly, whether congress designed that a change should be made in her government, which one party declared " sufficient for the exigencies of their affairs;" and whether the assembly, or some other body, should make the alteration, if any were deemed necessary.
In seeking redress from British taxation, and denying to parliament the right for its unlimited exercise, great unani- mity had prevailed in Pennsylvania. The old proprietary and popular parties forgot their animosities, and united to oppose a common oppression. Whilst bound with the band of loyalty to the king, this union appeared indissoluble, but when armed, resistance became necessary, still more after it had com- menced, strong repulsive qualities discovered themselves in the mass. The Quakers, opposed to every form of war, and strongly attached to the parent state, and to their church, and family connexions therein, shrunk with deep sensibility from the unnatural contest, and with horror from permanent sepa- ration and independence. The proprietaries and proprietary officers, their dependents and connexions, embracing a large proportion of the wealthy and distinguished of the province, beheld in a change of government the loss of official emolu-
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ment and influence. The great body of the people, however, led by enterprising spirits, who were not only impatient of oppression, but who saw even in the vicissitudes of war the excitement they loved, and in independence successfully maintained, bright visions of glory and wealth, hailed with rapture the recommendation of congress to take the first irre- vocable step towards political emancipation.
For these parties names were borrowed from English po- litics. The devotees of American freedom and independence assumed the title of whigs, whilst they designated their op- ponents by that of tories."
Within a few days after congress had recommended the formation of new governments, the whigs assembled in town meeting, at Philadelphia, resolved,* " That the present as- sembly not having been elected for the purpose of forming a new government, could not proceed therein, without as- suming arbitrary power: That a protest be immediately en- tered by the people of the city and county of Philadelphia against, the power of the house to carry into execution the resolve of congress: That a provincial assembly, elected by the people, be chosen for that purpose: That the present government of the province was not competent to the exigen- cies of its affairs; and that the meeting would abide by these resolutions, be the consequences what they might.""
In the protest adopted by the meeting, and presented to the assembly, the qualification of the latter to form a new consti- tution was denied, inasmuch as its chartered power was derived from their mortal enemy, the king, and its members elected by persons in the real or supposed allegiance of the crown, to the exclusion of many whom the late resolve of congress had rendered electors; and the assembly was in the immediate intercourse with a governor bearing the king's commission, his sworn representative, holding, and by oath obliged to hold official correspondence with his ministers, from which oath the people could not absolve him. " As we mean not," continued the protestors, "to enter into any
* May 20. + Of this meeting, Daniel Roberdeau was chairman.
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altercation with the house, we shall forbear enumerating the particular inconsistencies of its former conduct, and content ourselves with declaring that as a body of men, bound by oaths of allegiance to our enemy, and influenced as many of its members are, by connexion with a pecuniary employ- ment under the proprietary, we have very alarming appre- hensions that a government modelled by them would be the means of subjecting us and our posterity to greater grievances than any we have hitherto experienced."
The protestors did not object against the house exercising its accustomed powers for the safety and convenience of the province, until a constitution founded on the authority of the people should be finally settled by a convention elected for that purpose, and until the proper officers and representatives should be chosen. For this purpose they declared their in- tention to apply to the committee of inspection and observa- tion of the city and liberties, whose services, they said, on all occasions, had been applied to the support of the rights of the people, to call a conference of committees of the several counties, that they might direct the election of a provincial convention, consisting at least of a hundred members. " We are fully convinced," they concluded, " that our safety and happiness, next to the immediate providence of God, depends on our compliance with, and firmly supporting the resolve of congress, that thereby the union of the colonies may be pre- served inviolate."
The change of government, however, was earnestly op- posed by many of the most respectable inhabitants. The committee of inspection and observation for the county of Philadelphia, presented an address to the assembly, declaring their satisfaction, in expressing their sentiments to the con- stitutional representatives of the province-their concern, that the ground of opposition to ministerial measures was to- tally changed-that, instead of forwarding a reconciliation with the parent state, on constitutional principles, a system had been adopted by some persons in the city and liberties, tending to a subversion of the constitution-and advising, that the assembly should religiously adhere to the instructions
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given to their delegates in congress; and they earnestly en- treated, that the assembly would, to the uttermost of their power, oppose the changing or altering in the least, their in- valuable constitution, under which they had experienced every happiness, and in support of which there was nothing just or reasonable they would not undertake.'
Many of the inhabitants of the city and county of Philadel- phia, and other counties of the province, remonstrated against the protest-because the resolution of congress, on which it was based, applied to such colonial governments only as were insufficient to the exigencies of their affairs; and, by that re- solution, congress, who had never interfered with the domes- tic policy of the colonies, had left the representatives of the people sole judges of the efficiency of their governments- because the protest proposed a measure tending to disunion, and to damp the zeal of multitudes, who, having a high vene- ration for their civil and religious rights, as secured by char- ter, never conceived when they engaged, among other things, for the support of the charter rights of another colony, that they would be required to sacrifice their own-and because whatever temporary alteration in forms, circumstances might render expedient, could be effected by authority of the assembly, six parts in seven of that body having power to change the con- stitution. In conclusion, the remonstrators recommended to the assembly the example of South Carolina, which, when im- pelled by necessity, had adopted temporary regulations, to endure until " an accommodation of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and America could be obtained;" an event, though traduced and treated as rebels, they still pro- fessed earnestly to desire.
But these attempts to arrest the progress of the province towards independence, were too feeble to resist the energy of the whigs. Whilst their opponents were supplicating the
* Names of the committee of Philadelphia county :- colonel Henry Hill, colonel Robert Lewis, Dr. Enoch Edwards, colonel William Hamil- ton, colonel John Bull, colonel Frederick Antes, major James Potts, major Robert Lollar, Joseph Mather, Matthew Brooks, and Edward Bartholo- mew.
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assembly to preserve their charter, and their dependence on Great Britain, they were stripping that assembly of every power. Pursuant to the resolutions of the town meeting, the committee of inspection for the city and liberties com- municated to the committees of the several counties the pro- ceeding of that meeting, and invited them to meet in a pro- vincial convention; and, the more speedily to break every tie between them and the king, they endeavoured to prevent the administration of justice in his majesty's name, by re- questing the judges of the several county courts to suspend business until a new government should be formed.
The provincial conference, composed of one hundred and eight members, assembled at Philadelphia on the eighteenth of June, and chose colonel Thomas M'Kean president, colonel Joseph Hart vice-president, and Jonathan B. Smith and Sa- muel C. Morris secretaries. The counties being unequally represented, it was determined that each should have a sin- gle vote. This body, highly respectable by the number and character of its members, resolved unanimously, That they fully approved of the resolution of congress, recommending a modification of the colonial governments: that the present government of the province was incompetent to the exigen- cies of its affairs; and that a provincial convention should be called for the express purpose of forming a new one: that such convention should consist of eight members from each county; elected by persons then qualified to vote for mem- bers of assembly, and by the military associators, being free- men of twenty-one years of age, resident in the province one year immediately preceding the election, who had paid or been assessed for a provincial or county tax; exempting, how- ever, the inhabitants of the county of Westmoreland from the last condition, as they had for the preceding three years been exonerated from the payment of taxes : that every per- son who had been published by a committee of inspection, or the committee of safety, as an enemy to the liberties of America, and had not been restored to the favour of his country, should be excluded from the exercise of the elective franchise: that every elector, if required, should take an oath
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or affirmation, that he did not hold himself in allegiance to George the third, and would not by any means oppose the establishment of a free government within the province, by the convention about to be chosen, nor the measures adopted by congress against the tyranny of Great Britain: that any person qualified to vote for members of assembly might be chosen to the convention, provided he had been a resident for one year preceding his election, in the city or county for which he was elected, and should, before he took his seat, make and subscribe the following declaration of faith: "I do profess faith in God the Father, and in Jesus Christ, his eternal son, the true God, and in the Holy Spirit, one God, blessed for evermore; and do acknowledge the Holy Scrip- tures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration :" and should also take the following oath or af- firmation: "I do declare, that I do not hold myself bound to bear allegiance to George the third, king of Great Britain, &c., and that I will steadily and firmly, at all times, promote the most effectual means, according to the best of my skill and knowledge, to oppose the tyrannical proceedings of the king and parliament of Great Britain against the American colonies, and to establish and support a government in this province on the authority of the people only, &c .; that I will oppose any measure that shall or may in the least interfere with, or obstruct, the religious principles or practices of any of the good people of this province, as heretofore enjoy- ed."(1) And, to render the elections convenient to the people, the conference divided the province into proper dis- tricts, and appointed the necessary judges.
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