USA > Pennsylvania > The history of Pennsylvania from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 16
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At a subsequent meeting, at which it was esti- mated eight thousand people were present, the Boston port bill was declared unconstitutional. The expediency of a Continental Congress was affirmed, and a committee of forty-three were . appointed for the necessary correspondence, and to set on foot a subscription for the relief of the
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Boston sufferers. This committee immediately addressed a circular to all the counties, request- ing the appointment of deputies to a conference at Philadelphia ; and in pursuance of the call, a highly respectable body of freemen met on the 15th of July, 1774, representing the influence and weight of the province. Thomas Willing was chairman of this convention, and Charles Thompson, secretary. At this convention a se- ries of resolutions were adopted which covered the whole ground. After enumerating the rea- sonable causes of complaint against Great Bri- tain, and declaring a Colonial Congress neces- sary, the convention resolved, that although its members desired that the gentler mode of stating their grievances should be tried by the projected Continental Congress, yet, if non-importation ' and non-exportation were deemed expedient, Pennsylvania would join with the other colonies in such an association as should be agreed upon. It was also resolved that it was the duty of every member of the convention to promote, to the , utmost of his power, the subscription set on foot in the several counties of the province for the relief of the distressed inhabitants of Boston. The convention assumed also, as the special and immediate representatives of the people, the right to instruct the assembly which was now about to convene, and to request that body to appoint delegates to the Colonial Congress. These reso-
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lutions desired the assembly to instruct their delegates to exert themselves, in the ensuing Congress, to obtain a repeal of all the oppressive acts which had occasioned the difficulty; and that in return for these concessions, the colonies should consent to settle a certain annual revenue on the crown, and to satisfy all damages done to the East India Company. In case all could not be obtained, the repeal of the most onerous was declared indispensable. The assembly were de- sired also to instruct their deputies to unite with those of the other colonies, even though the plans they should present, as the deputies of Pennsyl- vania, should not be carried.
These proceedings were laid before the as- sembly, while they had under consideration the proceedings of the other colonies upon the same subject. The assembly unanimously appointed as their delegates to Congress, Joseph Galloway, Samuel Rhoads, Thomas Mifflin, Charles Hum- phries, George Ross, Edward Biddle, and John Dickenson. The Congress assembled in Phila- delphia, in Carpenter's Hall, on the 4th of September, and organized by electing Peyton Randolph of Virginia, president, and Charles Thompson, of Philadelphia, secretary. The Con- gress consisted of fifty-three members, Georgia alone being unrepresented. There were fifty- three delegates present. Each province had a. single vote in the proceedings, and eight weeks
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were spent in deliberation. The meetings were held with closed doors; and though the measures adopted went abroad with the apparent seal and with all the force of unanimity, the resolutions and decisions were the subject of earnest debate, and in some cases met considerable opposition. But patriotism prompted concessions; and for the good of the whole, and the sake of union, the patriotic men who formed this assembly sur- rendered private opinions and sectional preju- dices. The meetings were opened with prayer, a rigid Congregationalist of Massachusetts, Samuel Adams, moving the appointment of Rev. Jacob Duchè, an Episcopal clergyman of Phila- delphia.
It was resolved that the whole continent ought to support Massachusetts in her resistance to the oppressive measures of Great Britain. A De- claration of Rights was adopted, in which the privileges of British subjects were declared to be the birthright of the colonists. The oppressive acts passed by Parliament since the accession of George III. were denounced as a derogation of the rights of the freemen of America. By, " Articles of Association" the colonists were pledged to commercial non-intercourse with Great Britain, and such of her colonial dependencies as should not enter into the same agreement. Com- mittees were directed to be appointed in every colony to detect and publish the names of the
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violators of the agreement. A petition to the king, and memorials to the inhabitants of British America, to the inhabitants of Canada, and to the people of Great Britain, were also adopted. John Dickenson, of Pennsylvania, prepared the petition to the king and the address to the in- habitants of Canada. Hi mild and persuasive tone was in strong contrast to the fire of some of the others; for he was one who adhered to the hope to the last that the difficulties with the mother country could be reconciled.
The first " committee of correspondence," to see that the non-importation agreement was car- ried into effect, was appointed in Philadelphia, soon after the dissolution of Congress. In all the colonies the recommendations of the Con- gress were endorsed by the provincial assemblies, New York and Georgia excepted, the Tory in- fluence proving able to postpone the measure in those colonies. In the Pennsylvania assembly . the approval was by a decisive majority, and delegates were appointed to the next Congress, which was to assemble in May, 1775. Governor Penn remonstrated against the system of union which had been entered into, and recommended addresses by the several assemblies as the pro- per and constitutional mode of appealing to the crown. But the assembly of Pennsylvania de- clined to take any course except that which had been adopted by the united colonies.
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The proceedings of the Americans caused much commotion in England, but the ministry were committed to the policy of force. Lord North brought forward a plan which was termed a scheme of conciliation, the effect of which was to leave the colonies the collection of the revenue, while Parliament dictated the amount ; thus clinging to the disputed right of Parliament to tax America, and still, as Lord North declared, yielding nothing of the matter in dispute. He acknowledged that he did not expect the colonies would accept it, but hoped to divide them by the proposition. The papers from Congress were received, but when the agents of the colonies . desired to be heard by counsel, their request was refused, on the ground that Congress was an illegal assemblage. Parliament declared in an address to the throne, in answer to the royal speech, that rebellion already existed in Massa- chusetts, aided by unlawful corporations in other colonies. Acts were passed forbidding all the . colonies, except New York, North Carolina and Georgia, to trade to any ports except those of Great Britain, Ireland, and the West Indies, and interdicting the prosecution of the fisheries. Against these measures Chatham, Burke and others eloquently but warmly protested.
As much effort had been required in the as- sembly to procure favourable action upon the proceedings of the Congress, the committee ap-
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pointed for Philadelphia called a provincial convention, ostensibly to encourage domestic industry-really to keep the assembly up to their work. Joseph Reed, afterward prominent in the councils of Washington, was president of this convention. The measures recommended by it were in accordance with the patriotic spirit of the times, and a perpetual existence was given to the body by conferring upon the Philadelphia committee the power to call a provincial conven- tion whenever they deemed it necessary. This committee afterward assumed the power of giving direction to public movements, and supplying the guidance without which all popular impulses are ineffectual. The public sentiment was also expressed by them ; they became the exponents of popular opinion ; influenced the proceedings of the assembly, and counteracted the move- ments of the Friends, who, true to their prin- ciples, bore testimony "against every measure · and writing tending to break off the happy con- nection of the colonies with the mother country." But while the official epistles of the Friends bore this testimony, many individuals shared the zeal of the patriots, and determined at every hazard to defend the rights and liberties of America. Prominent in the convention was Thomas Mifflin, a young Quaker, afterward General Mifflin of revolutionary celebrity.
Governor Penn transmitted the pacific pro-
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posal of Lord North to the assembly, with an earnest 'recommendation that Pennsylvania should take the lead in " restoring public tran- quillity and rescuing both countries from the horrors of a civil war." The assembly answered by exceptions to Lord North's plan, and by de- claring that " were it unexceptionable they should deem it dishonourable to adopt it without the advice and consent of their sister colonies." So ended the hope of pacification in that mode. Lord North had meanwhile been attempting an indirect negotiation with Franklin in England ; but that shrewd statesman listened, demurred, and hopeless of any accommodation, embarked for his own country.
The spring of 1775 found matters drawing to a crisis. The people of New England were drilling, arming and officering their militia, col- lecting warlike stores, and establishing military depots. To destroy one of these magazines, General Gage despatched a detachment of Bri- tish troops, eight hundred in number, from Bos- ton to Concord. They marched at midnight, and at sunrise found in Lexington a hundred "minute men" assembled. . A collision took place, the British troops fired on the provincials, and this first revolutionary volley left eight men dead and wounded several more. The survivors dispersed, and the British pushed on to Concord, where they commenced the work on which they
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had been sent. But the gathering of the pro- vincial militia warned them of their danger, and as the Americans approached, now in a formid- able body, the regulars fired. The fire was re- turned and several of the soldiers killed. A hasty retreat was commenced, the militia fol- lowed up their advantage, suffering under an irregular but destructive fire from walls, trees, and houses, and the detachment was very much spent and jaded when it reached Lexington. There a reinforcement of nine hundred men, sent forward by General Gage from Boston, received and protected them; and after a short halt the retreat was resumed. At the close of the day the regulars reached the vicinity of Boston with a loss in killed and wounded of nearly three hundred men. The provincial loss was about ninety.
Boston was instantly besieged, and Massa- chusetts and the New England states generally promptly organized levies of men. · Philadelphia caught the spirit of resistance, even to the sword. The battle of Lexington took place on the 19th of April. On the 24th an immense meeting of citizens was convened at Philadelphia, at the call of the committee of correspondence. A
military association was formed, and its branches extended through every county of the province. The members furnished themselves with arms, and were drilled by their officers in the use of
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them. Some of the young Friends in Philadel- phia organized a company, which was called "The Quaker Blues" in a spirit of competition with " The Greens," which corps also numbered in its ranks many whose education and associa- tions had promised other views for them.
On the 10th of May, 1775, the Continental Congress assembled in Philadelphia. Besides the Lexington affair the seizure of Ticonderoga and Crown Point had compromised the American colonies as rebels, and Congress was now em- boldened and empowered by public sentiment to assume the direction of hostile movements. Elected to provide for public exigencies, they found a war ready declared to their hands. The heat and precipitancy of the British forces, and the determined resistance of the New Englanders had brought the crisis. Congress resolved that hostilities had been commenced by Great Bri- tain; and while they disclaimed any intention of throwing off their allegiance, and expressing an anxious desire for peace, they voted that the colonies ought to be put in a posture of defence against the attempt to coerce them by arms to submit to taxation. Mr. Dickinson, who was a member of this Congress, earnestly advocated, and carried another petition to the king, not- withstanding the fate of former memorials of the kind. The submissive tone and language of this paper was almost offensive to some of the mem-
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COMMITTEE OF SAFETY.
1777.]
bers, particularly those from New England ; but the high estimation in which Mr. Dickinson was held procured its passage. After Congress had adopted the paper, Mr. Dickinson rose and said, " There is but one word in that paper which I disapprove, Mr. President, and that word is Con- gress:" so anxious was he still to conciliate and avoid the appearance of concerted rebellion. Mr. Harrison, of Virginia, immediately retorted, " There is but one word in the paper, Mr. Pre- sident, which I approve, and that word is Con- gress." Dr. Franklin, who had just returned from Europe, was now a member. He had been dismissed from his office of postmaster-general of the colonies by the British ministry ; and the royal mail having now nearly become useless, Congress assumed an act of sovereignty, little commented upon, but really significant, by the establishment of a post-office system, with Frank- lin for postmaster-general.
The Pennsylvania assembly which was in ses- sion at the same time, recognised the acts of Congress and the acts of the people. The mili- tary association formed by the latter was ap- proved, and the assembly engaged to pay such of the members as should be called into actual service. They also took the important steps of appointing a Committee of Public Safety, with power to call the associated troops into service, to pay and support them, and to provide gene-
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1777.
rally for the military expenses and exigencies of the province. Bills of credit for thirty-five thousand pounds were issued for these. purposes ; and other appropriations were made with a like object, all being placed in the control of the committee. The committee became in effect the executive power of the province, and Governor Penn's office existed only in name. He prudently yielded to .the force of public opinion, and was suffered to remain in quiet; although when the royal army approached the city, in 1777, he was
. I from it by the Whigs. Other loyalists did not fare so well. Several of the more ob- noxious were carted about the streets to the tune of the Rogue's March, and others were put under duress. But beyond taunt and mortification they suffered no injury.
While Congress was maturing its plans for a military organization, hostilities proceeded in Massachusetts. On the 14th of June, George Washington was unanimously chosen " general and commander-in-chief of the armies of the United Colonies, and of all the forces now raised or to be raised by them." On the 17th was fought the battle of Bunker Hill, in which, in dislodging the provincial troops from an eminence overlooking Boston, one thousand British troops were killed or wounded. Four hundred and fifty of the provincials were killed, wounded, or made prisoners, and the village of Charlestown was
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STATE OF PARTIES.
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reduced to ashes. The breach was now irrepa- rable. The petition by Congress to the throne was contemptuously left unanswered, and nothing remained but to carry out the declaration of Congress. "We are 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 contest, and find nothing so dread- s voluntary slavery."
The Pennsylvania Committee of Safety ap- plied to the assembly for aid in enforcing the rules of the military association which they had drawn up. This request was not acted upon at the spring session ; but at their meeting in Octo- ber, the assembly, by resolution, converted the voluntary association into a compulsory militia. The Quakers and the Menonists remonstrated, but the resolutions passed notwithstanding. The proceedings of the Assembly of Pennsylvania appear difficult of comprehension without a re- view of the provincial politics of that period; and we avail ourselves of the clear narrative in the Life of President Reed, by his grandson, to place the condition of affairs briefly before the reader. There were two well-defined parties- the friends of government and the revolutionary. In the former were royalists, those in the pro- prietary interest, and the greater part of the Society of Friends. Acting generally with the
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revolutionary party, but not prepared to go to extreme lengths, was a class of men earnestly devoted to the colonies, but still anxious to pro- cure a reconciliation. These men generally were in favour of continuing the charter institutions of the province, and of continuing the assembly even in the crisis of a revolution, if revolution became inevitable. Mr. Dickinson, who was
earnest and active in conciliatory measures, pro- cured the passage of instructions to the dele- gates in Congress, (November, 1775,) to which, after directions to the delegates to use their ut- most endeavours to obtain redress of American grievances, was added this sentence-very offen- sive to the revolutionary party : "Though the oppressive measures of the British Parliament have compelled us to resist their violence by force of arms, yet we strictly enjoin you, that you, in behalf of this colony, dissent from and utterly reject any proposition, should such be made, that may cause or lead to a separation from our mother country, or a change of the form of this government."
Such instructions ill accorded with popular sentiment after Lexington and Bunker Hill. And the body who passed them were above the influence of some of the most zealous of the "Sons of Liberty." A fifty-pound qualification was necessary to entitle citizens to vote, while conferences and provincial conventions imposed
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no such restrictions. War and revolution set aside conservation ; and the people, swayed by popular impulses, were disposed to apply the soldier's solution to all gordian knots. The assembly who passed the instructions to which we have just referred, were nevertheless com- pelled to yield to the outside pressure. Hence the passage of the compulsory law in relation to military service, so contrary to Pennsylvania precedents. On this the Committee of Safety insisted. The people demanded also an increase of the number of representatives. This measure was accorded to them. But parties were so nearly balanced in the house, that the casting vote of the speaker was necessary to authorize the raising of fifteen hundred men for the de- fence of the province. The friends of popular measures counted on better things when the new representatives came in.
The operations of the war during the winter of 1775-6, were confined to the ultimately un- successful invasion of Canada and the siege of Boston. Spring brought high hopes to the pa- triots on the news of the evacuation of Boston by the British troops, which was considered as little less than a glorious victory. The assembly erected a court for the trial of prizes, Congress having declared all ships of war harassing the colonies, and all vessels bringing stores to the British, lawful prizes; and requested the colonies
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to erect prize courts. Large emissions of cur- rency were made, and new fines were imposed on such as refused to do militia duty. These mea- sures look like concessions to preserve the as- sembly; but they were ineffectual. On the 1st of May an election was held for a new assembly. The whole Whig ticket for the city, with one exception, was defeated; and the people, exaspe- rated at the weight of royal, proprietary, and pacific influence, under the existing state of
things, became clamorous for a change. The anomaly of invading Canada, which had no share in these grievances, and of resisting those griev- ances in the colonies, while they still continued to administer government in his majesty's name, began to be discussed. Several colonies, under advice of Congress, had relieved themselves from the dilemma. In such provinces as required a summons from the governor to elect representa- tives, a change had become absolutely necessary. The Pennsylvania legislature was more inde-
pendent. Elections were held on a stated day, the members convened at a time fixed by law, and sat on their own adjournment. The governor had no power to prorogue or dissolve it; and it was the belief of many patriots that it could still have been continued. The people were, however, resolved on a change. They wished a body en- tirely free from royal predilections. Congress helped to solve the dilemma. That body had
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gone a step farther in relation to independence, by declaring all British vessels lawful prizes. Rhode Island and Connecticut dispensed with > the oath of allegiance to the king, in qualifying their legislators. North Carolina authorized her delegates in Congress to join with the others in declaring the colonies independent. Virginia instructed her delegates to propose such a de- claration in Congress .. And Congress almost simultaneously adopted a resolution recommend- ing to the assemblies and conventions of the colonies, in all cases where it had not already been done, to " establish governments adequate to their exigencies." A few days after (May 15th) Congress passed a preamble to the above resolution, in which they declared that "all oaths for the support of government under the crown of Great Britain were irreconcilable with reason and good conscience, and that the exercise of every kind of authority under that crown ought to be totally suppressed; and all the powers of government exerted, under authority from the people of the colonies, for the maintenance of internal peace and the defence of their lives, liberties, and properties against the hostile inva- sions and cruel depredations of their enemies."
About this time the first revolutionary gun was heard near Philadelphia. A flotilla of Philadelphia gun-boats had a smart engagement with a British sloop-of-war in the Delaware, and
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HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA. [1776.
compelled the sloop to haul farther down the river. . The sound of guns at their doors waked the people. The proceedings of Congress gave the patriots a new impulse. The resolution and preamble of Congress were considered "a dis- solution of the provincial government." It was determined " to call a convention with speed," and protest against the assembly doing any business until the "sense of the province" was taken.
Some members of the assembly met on the 20th of May, but no quorum was present. The people met on the same day, four or five thou- sand in number, in the State House Yard, and made their protest, which was, on that very day, presented to the house. The protest renounced in emphatic terms the authority of the assembly, as derived " from our mortal enemy, the king of Great Britain," and its members were "elected by persons in the real or supposed allegiance of the crown, to the exclusion of many whom the late resolves of Congress had rendered electors." This was a strong free suffrage point. The protest declared that as the assembly was a body of men by oaths of allegiance to the enemy, and many of its members were under influence by pecuniary connection with the proprietary, it could not be trusted to model a government. On the other hand, counter memorials were present- ed; and the beleaguered assembly found rest
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principally in the fact that they seldom had a quorum for business. They directed a resolution of inquiry as to what Congress did mean, by its preamble and resolutions. The result of the inquiry is of the less consequence, since the peo- ple interpreted the matter for themselves.
On the 14th of June, the assembly rescinded the obnoxious instructions-but in such terms that the members seem only to have communi- cated their perplexities to their delegates. Mean- while the delegates had already once acted under their former instructions. On the 7th of June, Richard Henry Lee moved, in obedience to the Virginia instructions " that the United Colonies are, and ought to be, free and independent states, and that their connection with Great Bri- tain is and ought to be dissolved." It was car- ried on the 8th, seven states to six-the delegates from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland voting against it under instructions; and those from New York, Delaware, and South Carolina not choosing, in the absence of positive instruc- tions, to take so decided a step. The matter was then postponed to the 1st of July, to give time for such correspondence with the various assem- blies as would secure union. Under the outside pressure, the Assembly of Pennsylvania suc- cumbed as above stated, and rescinded their pro- hibition of their delegates from voting for any measure which should lead to a change of go-
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