Oration Delivered Before the City Government and Citizens of Boston by Richard Frothingham
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Title:Oration delivered before the city government and citizens of Boston, in Music hall, July 4th, 1874. By Richard Frothingham.

Author:Frothingham, Richard, 1812-1880.

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Print Source:Oration delivered before the city government and citizens of Boston, in Music hall, July 4th, 1874. By Richard Frothingham.

Frothingham, Richard, 1812-1880.

55 p. 25 cm.

Boston,

Rockwell & Churchill, printers,

1874.

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CITY OF BOSTON. IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, July 6, 1874. Resolved, That the thanks of the City Council be presented to the HoD. Richard Frothingham, for the eloquent and patriotic oration, delivered by him; before the municipal authorities of Boston, on the ninety-eighth anniversary of the Declaration of American Independence, and that he be requested to fulrnish a copy thereof for publication. Passed. Sent down for concurrence. JOHN T.

CLARK, Chairman. IN COMMON COUNcIL, July 9, 1874. E. O. SHEPARD

P?resident. Approved, July 10, 1874. SAMUEL C. COBB, Mayor. Concurred.

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0 RAT I 0 N. MR. MAYOR, GENTLEMEN OF THE COUNCIL, FELLOW CITIZENS: - The annual town-meeting, held in Boston in 1783, voted “that the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence should be constantly celebrated by the delivery of a public oration, in which the orator shall consider the feelings, manners, and principles which led to this great national event, as well as the important and happy effects” that ” shall forever continue to flow from it.” From that time there has been a succession of utterances giving expression to the love and veneration in which successive generations on this historic soil hold the memory of the sages and heroes of the Revolution. The men of Boston of that era, by their unswerving devotion to principle, won the admiration of their brethren in all the colonies, and the gratitude of posterity. We meet to-day, not as citizens of a town, or of a city, or of a State, but as Americans. From the time of the morning guns and bells to eventide, when the sky is brilliant with illuminations, the thought is fixed

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ORATION. on the country. What a spectacle of progress it has presented, as the three millions who began the national life with the aim of planting here the seeds of Christian civilization, grew to forty millions!

Commonwealth after commonwealth rose and took their places by the side of the thirteen original States, and thus as co-equals entered into the great inheritance of liberty and law,-each, by planting the school and the church, aiming to keep active those safeguards of our institutions, public education and religion. Boston presents a type of this progress. Its poptulation was but sixteen thousand when it did the great service in behalf of the principles of the Revolution; a population of three hundred and seventy-five thousand rejoices in the happy effects that flowed from the triumph. To-day, with the addition of Brighton, Charlestown, Dorchester, and Roxbury, there may be said to be a new Boston. Hence, the community dwelling in the beautiful natural scenery in which Joseph Warren was born, the communities around Bunker Hill and Faneuil Hall, join now, for the first time, to celebrate the gloirious Fourth. As their famed “

Committees of Correspondence” met of old in council to promote the cause of liberty and union, so may their descendants be ever ready to stand forth in their defence. The work of to-day is a work of peace. Boston is 6

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JULY 4, 1874. growing. On every side we see life and vigor. The way in which enterprise is covering with solid structures the recent desolation by fire, and the activ ity in the marts of trade, show how alive business men are to their opportunities. May the inhabitants of the places recently incorporated with Boston catch something of the spirit of the original town, and become sensitive to its interests and honlor. Unquestionably it is destined to be a great city. There cannot be a wiser policy than to take every step with such a future in view. Indeed, nothing is surer than a continuous growth of Boston, because nothing is surer than that its priceless privileges, its noble educational and charitable activities, its commerce and its arts, will ever have, what is essential to them, the protective shield of a great nation. We are here to celebrate the day in which the birth of the nation was announced to the world. The Saxon, the Celt and the Norman, the Scot, the Swede and the Huguenot came here, encountered the hardships of the wilderness, and began a new civilization.

They brought with them old ideas and principles; but here they assumed a significance they never had before. They brought here the Christian idea of man; on it they built their superstructure, and the individual took his proper place in the political system. They brought with them the idea of the municipality; but in their hands this primordial political unit be 7

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ORATION. came a new creation. They brought with them the great discovery of modern times, representation; and in their hands, as applied in the municipality and to the general assembly, it was a representation of every community. In this way was produced the free and independent AmeIican. It was a new growth. It was the greatest American product. Power attempted to checkthis development. Oiriginal methods were devised to meet the demands and wants of the hour. The thirteen communities grew into union. They became the United Colonies. At length a mnajority of the people of these colonies instructed their representatives in Congress assembled to dissolve their connection with the crown. This was done by the resolution passed on the Secolid day of July, 1776. Then the United Colonies became the United States. The form’of proclaiming this fiact was then matured. On the Fourth day of July the Declaiation announced that the people had assumed, ” among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of Nature and of Natnire’s God entit]ed them.” Prophecy then became reality. It is remaikable how far back there were prophetic voices concerning this continent. They are met with before it was discovered,- before even the voyages of the Northmen. I have not time even to quote these sayings. Columbus knew of them, and used them to induce monarchs 8

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JULY 4, 1874. to engage in costly enterpiise. Thus the unknown quantity in America, like the unknown quantity in algebra, helped to solve the problem of its own existenice. In the early days of colonization, Herbeit wrote the well-known lines, “Religion stands on tiptoe in our land, Ready to pass to the American strand; ” which Archbishop Tillotson, in 1703, interpreted to mean, that, when vice should overspread England, the Gospel would pass into America, and that vast colonies had been transplanted out of Europe into these parts on purpose to make way for the chainge. The idea that these colonies were looking to the establishment of a republic, that they designed independence, and would become independent, was discussed in the Cabinets-of Charles the Second and of James, and ill the Parliament of Queen Anne. It was a constant allegation of the royal governors throughout the colonial age that they were devising plans for dissolving their allegiance to the crown. During this period the rising glory of America was the theme of many an American pen. It was common to piedict that here would be a great nation. I can think of no prediction so distinct as that of Nathaniel Ames. the father of Fisher Ames. His little almanac of 1758, full of information in regard to the condition of the country, burns and glows with the thought of 2 . . 9

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ORATION. the rising glory of America. As,” he says, “the celestial light of the Gospel was directed here by the finger of God, it will doubtless finally drive the long, long night of heathenish darkness from America. So arts and sciences will change the face of nature in their tour from hence to the western ocean.” Having dwelt on the prospect of progress, he says,’

O ye unborn inhabitants of America! should this page escape the destined conflagration at the year’s end, and these alphabetical letters remain legible; when your eyes behold the sun after he has rolled the season round for two or three centuries more, you will know that in Auno Domini 1758 we dreamed of your times.” This was printed on the eve of the aggressions on the rights of the colonists, by successive British administrations. They elicited a continuous strain of animating prophecy concerning America. It was computed, in 1765, that in seventy-five years the population would number sixteen millions; that in one hundred years it would increase to thirty-two millions; and it was said that America would be the greatest empire the world had ever seen. It was averred, in 1773, that, if the ministiry persisted in its policy, it would not be fifteen years before the Americanswould form an independent nation; and all were enjoined to prepare to act as joint members of the grand American Commonwealth. In this way a sen . I.. i ~ a o 10

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JULY 4, 1874. timent of nationality mingled instinctively in the utterances with the idea of independence; or the thought that the colonies would not only throw off their allegiance to the crown, but would become a political unit, - -a nation. This sentiment was miuisteried to by the nature of the country: a vast, connected, and fertile land; the absence of impassable barriers between the sections; a climate uniting the productions of the torrid and the temperate zones; majestic rivers invitilng iiiland commuiiication; an imperial line of coast, stimulating maritimne enterprise. It-seemed, to the thoughtful, that the Almighty had formed it for the abode of a people that should stand pie-emiinent in the world. Their ideal of what should constitute a country was not simply hills and valleys, land and water, but spiritual things as well; and as they mused on the establishment, in this land, of American liberty on the basis of Americaii law,- on the Christian idea of man that was shaping their civil and religious institutions, they reached the faith that progress was about to receive a fresh impulse, ais if the New World was to surpass the Old, and the gloiy of the human nature was to receive its highest perfection near the setting sun.” But there is an unfair way of presenting even truths, as when all the facts are gathered on one side of a subject, and those on the other side are ignored. The critical have a right to ask the salient 11

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ORATION. question, Is there not to be found as much argument in favor of forming the thirteen colonies, each entirely independent of each other, into so many nations, as there is in favor of establishing one American Republic? The conviction in relation to the power which might be justly exercised by the several colonies was remarkable. There was in the public mind an ideal of a line of limitation, in relation to local rights, which they never allowed the imperial power to invade without a protest. From the earliest period of the colonies, down to the controversy on the Stamp Act, there was not a single assembly which had not been called upon, at one time or another, to defend their free exercise of political rights against the aggressions of the prerogative. In each instance the same manliness in standing in defence of this ideal line was ever seen. There was a oneness of political ideas in all the colonies on this point. The positions thus maintained with respect to local rights induced the royalists to charge upon their opponents, that, logically, they would make each town, or each county, or each colony, an independent nation. The whigs would indignantly repudiate this, and would aver that they claimed no rights which were inconsistent with any obligation which the individual the municipality, or the colony owed to the crown or the common country.

They revered the British Constitution, because 12

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JULY 4, 1874. they viewed it as a protector of their civil and religious institutions. Especially did they look upon their municipalities and their general assemblies as the fields in which the individual was trained in the duties of self-government. But I have not met, in all the files of newspapers which I have examined, prior to 1776, a single essay, written by a whig, urging the establishment of thirteen nations. Thus there is found, in the political thought of that era, the idea of a nation. It was not merely speculation by the scholar in his closet. It was a distinct aim urged in the press. It was the talk in the marts of trade, in the workshop, in the fields. The thought was grander than Greece ever attained. “That the Greeks could be united into one political community, never came into the mind of any Greek statesman, or Greek philosopher. The independence of each city was the one cardinal principle from which all Greek political life started. The city was the Greek idea of a nation.” In America it was not merely public opinion, but it was a conviction that the civilization which had been planted here demanded for its future development the protective power of a common country. The Declaration of Independence was the joint act of a people acting on such ideas. It was mnatured, announced, and ratified, under circumstances that Americans on this day canilot tire of remembering. 13

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ORATION. The war had continued, with various success, from the hour of the rattle of the musketry on the glorious morning of the nineteenth of April, 1775. During the summer succeeding perils were multiplying on every side.

The Indians in the settlements on the frontiers were indulging their merciless play of scalping; Carlton was driving the continental army out of Canada; the Howes, at the head of a powerfull land and naval force, were threatening New England and moving on New York; Parker’s fleet was approaching Charleston; the loyalists were arming, enirolling and rising in Delaware, New Jersey and New York. ” Armies,” it was said in the press, composed of Hessians, HIanoverians, regulars, and Indians, were plundering and murdering, while the king was amusing a distressed people with the sound of commissioners crying,‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace! ” “

Anxiety and apprehension,” a contemporary says, invaded every breast.

Every public assembly, every religious coigregation, every scene of social intercourse or domestic privacy and retirement, was a scene of deliberation on the public calamnity and impending da,nger.” There was moturning in many a home on account of the fall of the ” beauty of Israel on the high places.” What though the land was poor, and the future all unknown? The people felt that the time which the prophets had predicted had come. There was a sentiment of 14

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JULY 4, 1874. nationality. There was a fMesh emotion of love of country, and that country America. It was inspiration; it was power. Their words wele: ” May America rise triumphant, blossom as the rose, and swell with increasing splendor, like the growilng beauties of the spr’ing, bearing in her right hand the great charter of salvation, the Gospel of the heavenly Jesus, and ill the left, the unfolding volumes of Peace, Liberty, and Truth.” They were confident that their cause would raise up delenders; and though the cloud of wai made their horizon as the night, yet a living faith in the providence of God looked up in trust, and in the darkenied sky saw golden hues that gave the promise of the mnorning. Every newspaper of this period that I have seen contains the following lines: “From NORTH
though stormy winds may blow, To blast fair Freedom, fragrant flower, And urge the seas to overflow The banks, that shield it from their power; Yet, planted here by God’s own hand, Be not, dear fugitive, dismayed; The winds shall cease at His command, The sea’s proud waves shall soon be stayed.”

In this devoted spirit there was great political action. The whole land was alive with meetings, called to take into consideration the subject of inde penldence. The people mnet in the towns, as in 15

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ORATION. Massachusetts; in the counties, as in Virginia; or they sent delegates to act for them in conventions, or in general assemblies; and resolutions were adopted to stand by Congress, in case Congress made a Declaration of Independence. Such was the action of Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, and Boston. The noble town which the British army had just left put forth a plea for independence, that is a fit crowning of their revolutionary action. It might have been read by every member of Coiigress during the first debate onl independence, for it was printed in the Philadelphia papers of that date. After such action, the Congress, sitting in Independence Hall, matured the Declaration. This was printed at once in the newspapers. The press pronounced it the greatest event that ever happened to the Ameriican colonies. It predicted that it would be celebrated through a long succession of fiuture ages by anniversary commemorations, and be considered a grand era in the history of the American States. The people of the Old Thirteen colonies, in every form of rejoicing, received the Declaration with exultation. There were spontaneous meetings in hundreds of villages, towns, cities and counties.

Communities rested from thteir daily toil as on gala days. There were processions; the Declaration was read amidst the acclamations of the people, mingled with roll of drums and the roar of 16

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JULY 4, 1874. artilleriy. Then followed feasts and toasts. In the evening there were bonfires on the hills and illumninations in the towns. Such were the scenes along the line of the colonies from New Hampshire to Georgia. There was also official action by the assemblies as they convened. They gave pledges to stand by the Declaration. The Assembly of Massachusetts expressed their entire satisfiacetion with it, and with the general approbation it elicited. They pledged their fortunes, lives and sacred honor to support it. The ratification was hearty and unanimous. The Declaration was ordered to be published in form in every locality,- by the selectmen of the towns, or by the sheriffs in the counties, or by the clergy fi-oom the pulpit. Such was the spectacle which the people of the United States presented,’ of joy and of sorrow, of suffering and of heroismn, as they entered into the solemn covenant of country. It requires imagination to give actions past a life-like image as though they were present. How vividly has the poet embodied i n immortal song the feelings of that generation as they launched the ship United States! “Sail on, O

Ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all the hopes of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fate! 3 17

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ORATION. We know what Master laid thy keel, What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel, Who made each mast, and sail, and rope, What anvils rang, what hammers beat, In what a forge and what a heat Were shaped the anchors of thy hope! Fear not each sudden sound and shock, - ‘Tis of the wave and not the rock; ‘Tis but the flapping of the sail And not a rent made by the gale! In spite of rock and tempest’s roar, In spite of false-lights on the shore, Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea! Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee,Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o’er our fears, Are all with thee,- are all with’thee! 7 It is simple justice to the illustrious builders of this ship to say, that they did not launch her until they had devised means to meet the storms she might be destined to encounter. The band who had entrusted in her their all of life and fortune had covenanted with each other to malke her safety their paramount object. They had provided a Council to guide her, and they had pledged themselves to abide by its decrees. They had chosen as their commander WASlINGTON, - the deai and venerated name, which the American mother will never cease to pronounce to her children with every tender expression of love and of gratitude-whose star will forever l)e a light and guide to the sons of liberty over the civilized 18

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JULY 4, 1874. world. They had fixed at her mast-head The Union Flag.

Having done all that their wisdom could suggest, they had invoked Almighty God to smile upon their efforts, and guide her into a haven of safety.

This Council was the Continental Congress. It met in 1774. The present year is the centenary of memorable political action. I do not purpose to review the proceedings of that remarkable body, but only to emphasize some of the things that make that year an epoch in our history. The method adopted by the popular party, to obtain a repeal of the Townshend revenue acts, was by entering into an agreement not to buy merchandise imported from England until the obnoxious law was repealed. Fidelity to the non-importation covenant was a test of patriotism. The result was a repeal of all but the duty on tea. Then the merchants of New York, in a circular letter, proposed to reopen trade with England in everything except in the single article of tea. A venerable ination has just celebrated hei one hundred and fifth birthday. She was born in 1769. She was living when this proposition from New York was submitted to the colonies. What was the Union, what this country, then? A few items of intelligence, in that mirror of the passing time, the newspaper, will supply the outline, 19

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ORATION. which the imagination can fill up. This was the news in Boston: “

At a great meeting in Faneuil Hall a circular letter from the city of New York, in token of abholrence, was ordered to be torn in pieces, and scatteired to the winlds.” The students ill Princeton College, arrayed in black gowns, gathered ill the college yard (James Madison is one of them), and while the bell tolled, this letter was committed to the flames.” - A great meeting in the City of Charleston, South Carolina, of which Charles Pinckney was chairman, voted that the people of Georgia ought to be amputated from the rest of the birethren, as a rotten part, that might spread a dangerous iiifection.” ~ At a meeting held in Faneuil Hall, it was voted not to hold intercourse with the merchants of New Hampshire, or with any who hold intercourse with them.” The merchants of Philadelphia, Boston and Charleston have decreed nlon-intercouirse with New York.” “

Captain Whitman, lately arrived in Philadelphia from Newport, was not allowed to land his cargo, but was compelled to turn back.” ” In Wyoming, Pennsylvania, the Connecticut men have kept up an almost continuous fire on the blockhouse from four entrenchments.” 20

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JULY 4, 1874. “There has been a raid from New York into sundry towns granted by New Hampshire, ill which blood was shed.” This was the Union that eyes saw which see the Union of to-day. The patriots were bitter towards each other on account of the breaking of the non-imnportation agreement. Colonies were fighting each other on questions of jurisdiction.

America seemed destined to reproduce the petty autonomy of ancient Greece, and, as a penalty, to suffer from border warfare, chronic impotence, and subjection to foreign sway. Two years after this disLinion the tax on tea was annutlled. The bold strike of the Boston Tea Party elicited the Boston Port Act, by which the trade of the town was cut off and its municipal privileges were annulled; the act altering the charter of Massachusetts, by which its local government was overthrown; and the act foi the administration of justice, by which persons charged with offences might be removed to England for trial. The presence of all army and a fleet attested that the hand of the greatest power on the globe was laid heavily on Massachusetts. The people of the twelve colonies saw, ill this action, their own rights and liberties menaced. Then the separate interests, the rivalries, the contentions, the prejudices, the antagonisms of the colonies seemed buried and forgotten -the only thing remembered 21

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ORATION. was, that one of them had been stricken down by the hand of power. Pathetic appeal, party manipulation, personal influence, were not required to arouse a general indignation. This instinctively welled up from every American heart. The blow, like a wound uponl a single nerve, convulsed the whole body politic. On the Fourth of July, 1774, what unbounded congratulations must have been heard in this community as the journals of that morning announced, “Every post brings advices of the action of towns, cities and counties, containing assurances of their sending deputations to assist at the grand Congress of representatives of all the colonies, to whose wisdom, firmness and virtue, the liberty, property and whole interest of this fiee and august continent are to be delegated!” The action here’ described as going on in July continued until the meeting of the Congress in September. The foremost men of the Revolution participated in it. It was fai’r more than the choice of members to the proposed Congress. For illustration: Baltimore adopted this significant resolution: _Resolved, unanimously, that the inhabitants of this county will, and it is the opinion of this meeting that this colony ought to, break off all trade and dealings with that colony, province or town, which shall decline or refuse to come into similar resolutions with a majority of the colonies.” The pledge to abide by 22

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JULY 4, 1874. the decision of the Congress in relation to dealing with the mother country was universal. No colony was more decisive in its action than Virginia; and no resolves were more explicit than those which Jefferson penned, or of the meeting in which Washington was the chairman.

In this colony a convention of delegates from all the counties decided that those who refused to abide b)y the decisions of the Congress ought to be regarded as inimical to the country. These meetings had the quality of regularity. They were composed of persons qualified to vote under the laws. They collected and expressed definitely and authoritatively the will of the majority. It was to the effect, that, in the matter of procuring a redress of grievances, the way marked out by the Congress should be looked upon as a paramount rule of action. Further, it was declared that those who did not submit to the decisions of the majority should suffer pains and penalties. The inhabitants of Massachusetts in the same way were enjoined to annul the acts of Parliament which altered their charter. This injunction was universal. Thus it was decided, before the Congress met, or before the act was attempted to be executed, that it should share the fate of the Stamp Act, even though the shedding of blood might be the consequence. And the pledge was given to support Massachusetts in this resistance. In maturing this action, Wash 23

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ORATION. ington said, in the Virginia Convention, “I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head for the relief of Boston.” This Congress met on the fifth day of September, 1774. Their first great act related to Massachusetts. It was passed on the eighth of October: “Resolved, That this Congress approve of the opposition made by the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to the late acts of Parliament; and if the same shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force, in such case all America ought to support them in their opposition.” This pledge was but the echo of hundreds of localities.

After great difficulty Congress agreed to Articles of Association. On the twentieth of October, fifty-two members signed them. This instrument begins with these words: “We do for ourselves, and the inhabitants of the several colonies whom we represent, firmly agree and associate under the sacred ties of virtue, honor, and love of our country.” The instrument consists of fourteen articles. It contains rules in relation to the non-importation and non-exportation and non-consumnption of merchandise from Great Britain. One article provides that the parties to the Association will not import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December, and will wholly discontinue the slave-trade, and refuse to deal 24

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JULY 4, 1874. with those concerned in it. Another stipulated not only for non-intercourse with the inhabitants of any colony that did not accede to or might hereafter violate this Association, but for holding them ” as unworthy the rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country.” Another provides that “a committee be chosen in every county, city, and town, by those who are qualified to vote for the representatives in the Legislature, whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this Association;” and these committees were instructed to publish in the ” Gazette” the names of violators of the Association, to the end that they might be “universally condemned as the enemies of American liberty.” The Committees of Correspondence were charged to inspect the entries at the custom-houses. Thus the Association was virtually law bearing on the individual; and a penalty was affixed to all violations of it. The close of the labors of this Congress was thus announced in the journals: ” Last week, the grand Continental Congress ended, they having, in a manner h ighly honorable to themselves and their constituents, and serviceable to their country, finished the important business on which they were appointed an d met -to deliberate and determine for a great and increasing nation. The world has hardly ever seen any assembly that had matters of greater conse 4 25

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ORATION. quence before them; that were chosen in a more honorable mannier, were better qualified for the high trust reposed in them, executed it in a more faithful, judicious, and effectual manner, or were more free and unanimous in their conclusions than this.” There remains the crowning action. This Association was ratified or adopted by every colony but Georgia and New York, and in these colonies by some of the parishes and towns. The Connecticut Assembly approved of the Association, and directed the towns to comply with the recommendations of the Congress. In Virginia the freeholders met in their several counties and voted that the Association should be their sole rule of conduct, and pledged themselves, ” by the sacred ties of honori, virtue, and love of country,” to observe it. Some of the towns of New Jersey instructed their committees “to follow the direction of the Association as much as if it were a law of the province.” The action was similar in all the colonies. It was to the point, as expressed in the resolves of one of the counties, that the Association ought to be considered as the rule of their conduct in all matters respecting their political engagements. This adoption of the Association virtually installed a new and independent authority,- a government through congresses and committees. In these proceedings the spirit exhibited in the municipalities was the same, whether they had grown up 26

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JULY 4, 1874. under charter, proprietary or royal forms of government, and whether the individual or denominational sympathies were Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, or Quaker. Underlying all were Christian brotherhood, sympathy in fundamental political ideas, and enthusiasm for the rights of human nature. The Association has been termed “A compact formed for the preservation of American rights;” “A league of the continent, which first expressed the sovereign will of a free nation in America,” and’The commencement of the American Union.” It was substantially the first enactment of a general law by the American people.

It was termed ” The Association of the United Colonies.” To Congress was then delegated the power to deal with Great Britain, so far as the matters of peace and war were concerned. This power may be said to have been renewed, rather than to have been revoked. The British administration, on several occasions, attempted to deal with the colonies separately by appealing to the assemblies; but, from this time down to the peace, in every case the advances were indignantly repelled. All propositions relating to national affairs were referred to the Continental Congress.

This year, therefore, is the centenary of the embodiment of mighty forces in our political system. The sentiment of union rose paramount over all provincialisms and antagonisms. It was made a 27

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ORATION. reality. It Was as much a fact as the connected land. Its behests were obeyed as though they were the law. On the flag of that day was the mnotto ” Union and Liberty.” It denoted forces working together. The feeling was union and liberty now and forever. That generation realized that there could be no union without liberty, and no genuine liberty without the power there is in union to protect it. There was also the dawn of our nationality. It appears everywhere in the political utterances. It imbues the great proceedings that united all hearts in the ties of a common fraternity. It is seen in the pledges of fidelity to fundamental political ideas. It culminated in the great determination to support the people of Massachusetts in resisting by force the overthrow of her liberties. The hour for the use of national power had come, and it found an American manhood prepared to meet the highest duties of the citizen.

Durinug a period often months there was a continuous stream of donations flowing into Boston for the relief of its poor. The spirit that dictated this action is seen in the letters that accompanied the gifts. They remained in manuscript more than three-quarters of a century. They show how deep the conviction of that generation was that American liberty should have the protection of American law. This record is as a window admitting a view of their inner life; reveal 28

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JULY 4, 1874. ing their thought, their hope, their faith, their passion, their love; showing how they felt as countrymen, and what they regarded as their country. Nothing could be more generous than the expression of admiration, or more tender than the offerings of sympathy, or more free from calculation than the enthusiasm for principle, olr more solemn than the pledge of fortune or life, or more reverent than the trust in Providence. The noble record portrays the brotherhood that constituted the real union of the colonies. It admits posterity into the heart of the Revolution. It is a Christian prologue grandly spoken on the entrance of the United Colonies into the family of nations. This constitutes the rarity of the spectacle. The love and tenderness and sympathy were as conspicuous as the political action was sublime. This was the Union, this was our country, as it came from the hand of God. Let all who would know our history pause long on this great year. Dr. Ramsay felt the luxury of the hour, and has described it simply and beautifully. He says that “A noble spirit spread from breast to breast, and from colony to colony, beyond the power of human calculation. The time having come for the people to pass from the control of the mother country, the Governor of the Universe, by a secret influence on their minds, disposed them to union.”

The same influence impelled them all to march on 29

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ORATION. one way, and to give to this Union the strength of law. In the stern resolves of the people before the Congress met, in the Association it matured, and in the ratification of it by the people, ideas and principles were marshalled into political order. It was made certain that the construction of a new foundation for Liberty and Law would go side by side with the dissolution of old ties. Anarchy was rendered impossible. It is not easy to overrate the importance of this result. It is safe to say that it influenced the whole future course of American history. The Congress shrunk from the question of Sovereig,nty. The hour to deal with this profound question had not come, and this body stood in the attitude of loyal subjects petitioning the crown for a redress of grievances. Six months of war passed, when the king by procclamation declared the parties in arms to be in rebellion. This forced on the popular leaders the question of Sovereignty. It was held to reside in king, loids, and commons. To question this, was the unpardonable offence. The definition of sovereignty by the jurists of the Old World was colored by customs, ideas, and prejudices which time had rendered venerable. It had sometimes been viewed as a star, which eluded our investigation by its immeasurable height; sometimes it-had been considered as a sun, that could not be distinctly seen by reason of its in 30

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JUI,Y 4, 1874. sufferable splendor.” It was regarded as something more than human, and held in mysterious and profound awe. As such, it had been the dispenser of political rights, and especially when a nation, however diversified as to race, was regarded as one community, and was ruled from a single central point. It was the tory theory, that the colonies, as bodies politic, held their privileges as a special grace firom the sovereign. This view was substantially questioned ill the discussions during the period from 1764 to 1776, and the ” happy effects” of independence callnot be accounted for without taking into account these discussions. By them the people became familiar with the greatest questions in politics. In this way the public mind reached certain convictions as to what should be made fundamentals ill an Amierican system. Then there was the triaining, in the municipality and in the general assembly, of the exercise of self-government. In this way, the people became qualified for the practical solution of the problem of Sovereignty. WVhen they were obliged to grapple with it, -to trace the dread and redoubtable Sovereignl to his ultimate and genuine source, - he was found, as he ought to have been found, in the Free and Independent Man.” Sovereignty is in the people. In them are “those inherent powers of society, which no climate, no time, no constitution, no contract, can ever destroy or diminish.” In them, as the 31

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ORATION. supreme power, resides the right of command, or the rightto institute organic law, -to establish public authority, and to compel obedience to it. On this foundation rose the American superstructure of government. The architects of this superstructure, however, did not feel themselves called upon to cut loose from the past, or to deal with man according to any untried theory of natural rights; but, regarding him as a political being, they dealt with him as he stood related, by the cumulative law of ages, to the institutions of family and society, and as related to the commonwealth by a polity which he had moul(led. They regarded him as thus entitled to a great inheritance of order, but subject to correlative obligations of duty. Hence, instead of yielding to the demands of amiable enthusiasts, or of confident theorists, or of merciless iconoclasts, and trying to cast society into a new mould, on the flattering but deceitful promise that in the process every wrong should disappear, they dealt with man on the basis of existing facts. They concentrated their efforts to preserve what had been gained, in the faith that time would bring whatever was wrong in existing law nearer to that justice which is the only true sovereign and supreme majesty on earth.”

Thus, throughout their work, the founders of the republic recognized the fact that the people had not 32

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JULY 4, 1874. been ruled from a single central point, but were divided into communities, or bodies politic, each of which had exercised a share of political power. Each community occupied a territory of definite boundaries; each had a regullar government and a distinct code of laws; each was a unit. In changing the base of the sovereignty, or in effecting a revolution, they used, in each, so far as it was practicable, existing forms of law. Hence the political action which brought about this change was determined by those qualified under the law to vote in elections. They were summoned to act on test questions through the regular forms of proceeding in the municipalities, and transmitted their views by representation to the larger bodies, expressing the voice of the unit, called the Colony or State. The will of the majority, collected and declared in this manner, was’ held to be binding as the law, whether it related to the domestic concerns of the Colony or State, or to the general welfare of the Colonies or States in union, or the Nation. This fidelity to a vital principle in republics - submission to the regularly collected will of the majority - may be traced through all the confusion and turmoil unavoidable in the transition from the old to the new, during which influence had necessarily to supply the place of established public authority. The period of transition was brief in the case of the local governments, which, in each community, were developments 5 33

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ORATION. gradually adjusted to their circumstances and wants; but to adjust the powers of a general government adequate to the needs of a nation composed of independent States, required the experience and deliberations of several years. The basis of both governments was the same,- the people. The qualified voters, it was assumed, expressed the will of the whole people. This will was embodied in written constitutions, or organic laws. These were acts by which the Sovereignty prescribed the spheres and degrees of the power which officers chosen periodically should exercise in the unit of the State, or of the States in union, or United States, -in other words, the rules that should govern the conduct of the executive, legislative, and judicial agencies in the functions of government. The formative process was termed taking up, ordaining, instituting, government. In doing this, the qualified voters were, practically, the sovereigns. The result which they reached - a republican government-was a solution, practically, of the profound question of Sovereignty; and the infant nation was saved from being offered up by enthusiasts as a sacrifice on the unsettled shrine of political ideas. In this way the founders of the republic wrought out the American system of government. In their creative acts, the people simply exercised the sovereign power. They limited their own action, as well 34

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JULY 4, 1874. as the action of their agents, State and National, in the discharge of political duties.’ The constitutions were by no mneans finalities. They were not ends, but means devised to promote the public good and to preserve the public life. They were “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” They are sacred obligations upon all, but they are valuable only as they contribute to this object.

When they no longer embody the results of progress, the power that made them has the power of altering them; for the sovereignty remains intact, and has the right to exercise its power whenever society demands it. This Republican Government is the original political contribution of the American Revolution to mankind. Of all who have written on this system, perhaps no one has been better qualified to pronounce a judgment upon it than the late Lord Brougham. In his work reviewing the governments of the world, he dwells long on that of the United States. He examines the method devised of keeping the action of the local and national legislatures within the spheres of power allotted to them,- the authority vested in the courts of the States and of the nation, to declare void acts violative of the organic law; and pronounces the means devised “the very greatest refinement of social polity to which any state of 35

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ORATION. circumstances has given rise, or to which any age has given birth.” The criticism on the founders of the republic has been most severe, because, in setting up a general government, they did not interfere with the domestic policy of the several States to such an extent as to abolish and prohibit slavery. How different is the judgment of that noble fiend of our country, John Bright! His words are: “Colonial weakness, when face to face with British strength, made it impossible to put an end to slavery, or establish a republic free firom slavery. To meet England, it was necessary to be united; and to be united, it was necessary to tolerate slavery. The American people dreaded the destruction of their country even more than they hated the evil of slavery.” Fortunately the founders of the republic did not attempt an impossibility and fail. Now that party heat on this question is gone, let justice be done to these founders. They did as well as they could. They did not admit the word slave into the Constitution. They left the responsibility for the continuance of slavery entirely with the States. One State after another, after the Constitution was ordained and established, abolished slavery; and had every State followed their example, there would have been no obligation left in the Constitution in relation to it. But how different it is with the permanent things in our system, - with trial by 36

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JULY 4, 1874. jury, the habeas corpus, freedom in religion, freedom of the press, and the rich cluster of sister liberties! These know neither race, nor color, nor time, nor fiontiers; all these are provided for. Indeed, all are comprehended ill the great guaranty securing to the people of each State a republican form of government. They were the living forces that prepared the Americans for their great work. They are the things that have grown with our growth, and strengthened with our strength. They moulded the glorious Old Thirteen. They moulded the great States that grew up, entered into the inheritance of the fathers, and adorn our land. They are the living forces to-day. They will continue to mould fiuture commonwealths. All honor to the founders of the republic for casting over them the mighty shield of this supreme law. In doing this they did all they could to transmit these priceless blessings to posterity. It was for these great things that the battles of the Revolution were fought, and to secure them that the Republican Government was instituted. The decision in the late awful appeal, in the only tribunal having full jurisdiction between nations and fragments of nations, gives full significance to the preamble under which this government acts. It reads: - ” We, the people of the United States, in order to 37

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ORATION. form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Amendments to the Constitution prohibiting slavery are by the side of the prohibition of any title of nobility. There is now all over this land fealty to the common bond. The seats of our national halls, that were vacant for years which seemed ages, are now filled. Thus all constitutional duties are performed. The expressions of fidelity to the old flag have been such as to warrant the remark, that, should there be war between this country and a foreign nation, none would be more prompt to maintain our cause than those who fought in the Confederate ranks. That there is not real peace between all the sections, or even fraternity, is not owing to the soldiers who fought North or South. They wished the war to end when the war was over. If the spirit which they have manifested had been the spirit of the whole country, we all should be now not merely countrymen, but friends. There is a fresh illustration of this fact. We had hardly ceased to admire the generous and lofty strain of eulogy ol the lamented Charles Sumner, by the gifted General Lamar, of Mississippi, when he but yesterday thrilled 38

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JULY 4, 1874. the national halls and the country with the words, ” The doctrine of secession, the right of withdrawing from the Union, is extinct. The institution of slavery, with all its incidents, is dead, extinguished, and sunk in that sea which never gives up its dead. The enlightened people of the South would not, if they could, identify the interests of the country with an institution which stood utterly antagonistic to all the elements and living forces in modern civilization.

They regard the three last amendments of the Constitution as inviolable and sacred as the articles that were written by their fathers.” Among all the wonderful things of the last hundred years, - the extension of knowledge, the discoveries in the arts and sciences, the triumphs of enterprise, the marvels of the telegraph, the wars, the changes in the fate’of kingdoms, - there is nothing more wonderful than the preservation of this Republican Government. It is a triumph for the whole of our country. This government stands to-day stronger than ever. The party is not larger than an omnibus could hold who would go back to a monarchy or an order of nobility, or who would exchange this government for any other that the sun shines upon. It is the strongest government upon the face of the earth, because, at the call of the law, millions stand ready to fly to the standard of the law, 39

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ORATION. and to meet invasions of public order as their personal concern.

And never, if we may credit European thinkers, was the moral influence of the republic on the nations so great as it is to-day. One says, “Next to the Christian religion, the American government and Constitution is the most precious possession which the world holds, or which the future can inherit.” Another writes “Republican government, with all its noble associations and inherited advantages, is, as I believe, the last word in human political institutions. Without any need for impatience, Europe is moving towards it.” Testimonials like these speak powerfully to this people of their responsibility and their duties. They have the noblest inheritance ever bequeathed to a generation; it is their duty to adorn it and transmit it to posterity. In what way can they better do this than by giving full effect to the great ideas of the Revolution? When in all is seen fidelity to the common bond, it is a high duty to cultivate harmony in the nation. In the colonial age there were fierce feuds on account of boundary lines. Wars between some of the colonies were so bitter that the peril of the revolutionary hour did not bring peace. And when a long-existing controversy was settled under the Confederation, a distinguished statesman predicted that ” the day will 40

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JULY 4, 1874. come when all disputes in the great Republic of Europe will be tried in the same way, and America be quoted to exemplify the wisdom of the measure.” The House of Representatives have just adopted a resolution in favor of international arbitration, declaring that “the people of the United States are devoted to the policy of peace.” Peace is the normal condition of this republic; and the duty of promoting peace on earth is the high injunction of Christianity. The great result of the Geneva arbitration is acknowledged universally as one of the triumphs of the age.

With what force do all the considerations in favor of peace, as between our country and foreign nations, apply to the promotion of peace in this union of free commonwealths! There are few who do not admit that in the recent past, while working for the preservation of the national government, the sphere of the local rights of the States has been encroached upon, and that now there is a tendency to a centralization of power. No one can desire to see the civic privileges that this Commonwealth enjoys abridged, or a just right abrogated. All will cheerfully accord to other States the same rights that are enjoyed here.

Our country needs first the correction of enormous wrongs. It needs a recognition of the idea that intelligence should guide the destinies of great commonwealths. They have a community in each other’s 6 41

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ORATION. interests. The Union between them ought to be ” a partnership in all science, a partnership in art, a partnership in every virtue and in all perfection; a partnership not only in those who are living, but between those who are dead.” It is manifestly in the order of Providence that the people in this Union are to live in the relation of countrymen; it should be the desire and aim of all to live in the relation of friends.

Welcome in behalf of the Union everything just, that promises to restore the old fraternity! Welcome the words of President Grant, “Let us have peace!” Welcome the Executive Proclamation of General Amnesty! Welcome the Proclamation commending to the people, in the interests of peace and civilization, the international exposition at Philadelphia on the centenary of the birth of the nation! Fitting is it that Philadelphia should he designated as the place for such an exhibition. Here is Carpenter’s Hall, having in it the generous inscription, ” Within these walls Henry, Hancock, and Adams inspired the delegates of the colonies with nerve and sinew for the toils of war, resulting in national independence.” Here is Independence Hall, rich in memorials of the illustrious men who matured the Declaration. All over the city are grateful memorials of the Englishman, Penn, the benign influence of whose religion made it the City of Brotherly Love,” and of Franklin, the great Bostonian. Here 42

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JULY 4, 1874. the representatives of every community, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, may fitly assemble around the old altar, and express allegiance to one country as the common mother of all. It would be well if there is also a celebration of the great centenary by the political units in our system, -the towns, cities, counties, and States. The presentation of the feelings and principles of the Revolution, the happy effects that will forever flow from their triumph and the responsibilities of the hour, would be the natural theme. Such celebrations could not fail to imbue ingenuous youth with the desire to know our noble history. It would bring before them the venerable forms of the founders of the republic, and tend to rouse the spirit of Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-Four. This would be reconciliation, peace, reconstruction, civilization. In the Meg Merrilies of the stage, the crone suddenly confronts the travellers. One trembles and shrinks out of fear; the young laird stares in astonishment, if not in dread. The crone bends forward and repeats the strain which she sung to the heir in his childhood. There was power in those words. They revived old memories. The heart of the laird was touched, and he yielded himself up to the spell. The great centenary will revive memories of the days when the people of thirteen colonies, under the lead of great ideas, marched one way. Union 43

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ORATION. was ever before them as their cloud by day, and their pillar of fire by night. What a galaxy of sages and heroes bore this banner on!

There were Gadsden, and the Pinckneys, of South Carolina; the Adamses, and Hawley, and Hancock, and Warren, of Massachusetts; the noble band in Pennsylvania, with Franklin at their head; Patrick Henry, and Jefferson, and Wythe, the Lees, and Madison, and Washington, of Virginia, and a host of others. They all spoke and acted as Americans. They were for one country, one Constitution, and one flag. Their ideas and aims were comprehensive enough for this day, for filture days, for all time. They prompted “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” There is power in them. Let these memories toueh the heart, as they did in the infitncy of the nation, and they cannot fail to do something to revive the old fraternity. Should this be the result of the celebration of the great-centenary, it will be worth all it may cost. Wonderful as it will be to see what a hundred years have done in the line of material prosperity, this will pale before a revival of the springs of the national life firom the fountain-head. This would be a reconstruction on the right basis. This would be the best guaranty of the perpetuity of the republic, and that this great government will continue to shield the priceless blessings of Liberty and Law along the line of the generations. 44

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A P P E NDIX.

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THE ACTION OF BOSTON, CHARLESTOWN, DOR CHESTER AND ROXBURY ON THE QUESTION

OF INDEPENDENCE. In Massachusetts, both branches of the Legislature, onl the 1st of May, 1776, agreed to anl Act providing that all civil processes, instead of being issued in the name of the king, and bearing the date of a reign, should be issued in the name of the government and people of Massachusetts, and bear the date of the year of the Christian era; the act to continue in force until a recommendation of” Congress or act of a general American Legislature, or the local legislature, should otherwise prescribe.” On the 10th of May the lower branch adopted the follow ing resolve: IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, May 10, 1776.

Resolved, as the opinion of this House, that the inhabitants of each town in this Colony ought, in full meeting warned for that purpose, to advise the person or persons who shall be chosen to represent them in the next General Court, whether that, if the honorable Congress should, for the safety of said colonies, declare them independent of the kingdom of Great Britain, they, the said inhabitants, will solemnly engage, with their lives and fortunes, to support them in the measure. SAMUEL FREEMAN, Speaker. Attest, WILLIAM STORY, Clerk pro tern. The following proceedings constituted the response to this vote by the towowns now Boston: BOSTON.

BOSTON, SS: TO THIE CONSTABLE OF THE TowN OF BOSTON EACH AND EVERY OF

THEM-GREETING: - -In the name of the Government and People of the MIassachulsetts Bay, you are required forthwith to warn all the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston (within your respective

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APPENDIX. Precincts) that have an estate of forty shillings p annum in Freehold in Land within this Province or Territory at the least, or other Estate to the value of Fifty Pound, Sterling, to Convene at Dr. Chauncy’s Meeting House on Thursday the 23d Day of May Instant at 10 O’Clock Fore Noon, then and there to Elect & Depute one or more Persons (being Freeholders & Resident in the Town) according to the number set and limitted by an Act of the General Assemby to serve for and Represent them in the Great & General Court or Assembly appointed to be convened, held and kept for the Government’s Service at the Meeting House in Watertown, upon Wednesday the 29th Day of May instant, and so De Die in Diem during their Session or Sessions, according to a Precept under the Hand and Seal of William Greenleaff, Esq. Sheriff of the County of Suffolk bearing date the 29th Day of April in the year of our Lord One thousand Seven hundred and seventy six. You are alike required to Warn all the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of said Town qualified as the law directs to meet at the same time and place: To consider whether they will in conformity to a Resolve of the late Honble House of Representatives, for this Colony, advise our Representatives, ”’ That if the Honbie Continental Congress should for the safety of the Colonies, declare them Ildependant of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they the said Inhabitants will solemnly engage with their Lives and Fortunes to support them in the measure “- as also what farther Instructions may be necessary for the Representatives that may be chosen,- Whether any measures shall be taken for the borrowing a Sum of Money to answer the present necessities of the Town: To choose such officers as may be wanting, and to act upon all those matters and things that stand referred over to said Meeting. Hereof fail not and make return of this Warrant with your doings therein’unto myself one Day at least before the said time of Meeting: Dated at Boston the 20th Day of May, Anno que Domini 1776. By order of the Selectmen, WILLIAM COOPER, Town Clerk. 48

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APPENDIX. BOSTON, May 22d 1776. Pursuant to the within Warrant we the Constables of the Town of Boston have notified the Freeholders and other Inhabitants within our respective wards, to meet at the Time and Place mentioned in said Warrant for the purposes therein expressed. JOHN WELLS

Wards 1, 2, 5. GEORGE THOMAS 3, } 4. SAMUEL GREENLEAF 6, 10, 11. ). JOHN

FOYE 7, 1 8. JOHN BENNETT 9, } 12. At a Meeting of the Freeholders & other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, duely qualified & legally warned, in public Town Meeting assembled, at The Old Brick Meeting House, on Thursday, the 23d day of May, Anno Domini 1776. That Article in the Warrant, Vizl ” To consider whether the Town will, in Conformity to a Resolve of the late HIonble House of Representatives for this Colony, advise their Representatives ” That if the Honble Continental Congress should, for the Safety of the Colonies, declare them Iadependent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, they, the Inhabitants, will solemnly engage, with their Lives and Fortunes to support them in the Measure “- was read &
duely considered, & the Question being accordingly put -Passed in the Affirmative unanimously. That Article in the Warrant, viz.: “To consider what farther Instructions may be necessary for the Representatives that may be chosen “- was read - whereupon, Voted that Mr. William Davis, Joseph Greenleaff, Esq., Perez Morton, Esq., Mr. Benjamin Hitchburne, Dr.

Charles Jarvis, be a Coiiittee to prepare a Draught of Instructions for the Representatives chosen, and to make Report as soon as may be. 7 49

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APPENDIX. Monday, May 30th. Met according to adjournment. The Coffrittee on Instructions reported the following Draught, viz.: - Instructions to the Representatives of the Town of Boston: GENTLEMEN, - At a time when, in all Probability, the whole United Colonies of America are upon the Verge of a glorious Revolution, & when, consequently, the most important Questions that ever were agitated by the Representative Body of this Colony, touching its internal Police, will demand your attention; your Constituents think it necessary to instruct you, in several Matters, what Part to act, that the Path of your Duty may be plain before you. We have seen the humble Petitions of these Colonies to the King of Great Britain repeatedly rejected with Disdain. For the Prayer of Peace he has tendered the Sword;  for Liberty, Chains; -for Safety, Death! He has liceneed the Instruments of his hostile Oppressions to rob us of our Property, to burn our Houses, & to spill out Blood. He has invited every barbarous Nation, whom he could hope to influence, to assist him in prosecuting these inhuman Purposes. The Prince, therefore, in support of whose Crown and Dignity, not many, many years since, we would most cheerfully have expended both Life and Fortune, we are now constrained to consider as the worst of Tyrants; Loyalty to him is now Treason to our Country. We have seen his venal Parliament so basely prostituted to his Designs, that they have not hesitated to enforce his arbitrary Requisitions with the most sanguinary Laws. We have seen the People of Great Britain so lost to every sense of Virtue and Honor, as to pass over the most pathetic and earnest appeals to their Justice with an unfeeling Indifference. The Hopes we placed on their Exertions have long since failed. In short, we are convinced that it is the fixt & settled Determination of the King, Ministry, & Parliament of that Island to conquer & subjugate the Colonies, & that the People there have no Disposition to oppose them. 50

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APPENDIX. A Reconciliation with them appears to us to be as dangerous as it is absurd. A Spirit of Resentment once roused it is not easy to ap pease. The Recollection of past Injuries will perpetually keep alive the Flame of Jealousy, which will stimulate to new Imposi tions on the one side, & consequent Resistance on the other; & the whole Body politic will be constantly subject to civil Fermentations & Commotions. We therefore think it absolutely impracticable for these Colonies to be ever again subject to, or dependent upon Great Britain, without endangering the very Existence of the States. Placing, however, unbounded Confidence in the Supreme Council of the Congress, we are determined to wait, most patiently to wait,‘till their Wisdom shall dictate the necessity of making a Declaration of Independency. Nor should we have ventured to express our Sentiments upon this subject, but from the Presumption, that the Congress would choose to feel themselves supported by the People of each Colony, before they adopt a Resolution so interesting to the whole. The Inhabitants of this Town therefore, unanimously instruct & direct you, that, at the Approaching Session of the General Assembly, you use your endeavors, that the Delegates of this Colony, at the Congress, be advised, that in Case the Congress should think it necessary for the Safety of the United Colonies, to declare them independent of Great Britain, the Inhabitants of this Colony, with their Lives & the Remnant of their Fortunes, will most cheerfully support them in the Measure. Touching the internal Police of this Colony, it is essentially necessary, in Order to preserve Harmony among ourselves, that the constituent Body be satisfied, that they are fully & fairly represented. The Right to legislate is originally in every member of the Coriunity; which Right is always exercised in the infancy of a State; But when the Inhabitants are become numerous,‘tis not only inconvenient, but impracticable for all to meet in One Assembly; & hence arose the necessity & Practice of legislating by a few, freely chosen by the many. When this Choice is free, & the Representation equal,‘tis the Peoples Fault if they are not happy; We therefore entreat you to devise some means to obtain an equal Representation of the People of this Colony in the Legislature. 51

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APPENDIX. But care should be taken, that the Assembly be not unweildy; for this would be an approach to the Evil meant to be cured by Representation.

The largest Bodies of menii do not always dispatch Business with the greatest Expedition, nor conduct it in the wisest manner. It is essential to Liberty, that the legislative, judicial and executive Powers of Government be, as nearly as possible, indepenldent of, & separate from each other; for where they are united in the same person or number of persons, there will be wanting that mutual Check, which is the principal Security against the enacting of arbitary Laws, and a wanton Exercise of Power in the Execultion of them. It is also of the highest Importance that every Person in a Judiciary Department, employ the greatest Part of his Time & attention to the Duties of his Office. We therefore farther instruct you, to procure the making such Law or Laws, as shall make it incompatible for the same Person to hold a Seat in the legislative &
executive Departments of Government at one & the same time; That shall render the Judges in every Judicatory thro’ the Colony, dependent, not on the uncertain Tenure of Caprice or Pleasure, but on an unimpeachable Deportment in the important Duties of their Station, for their continuance in Office; and to prevent the multiplicity of Offices in the same Person that such Salaries be settled upon them, as Will place them above the necessity of stooping to any indirect or collateral means for Subsistence.

We wish to avoid a Profusion of the public Monies on the one hand, & the Danger of Sacrificing our Liberties to a Spirit of Parsimony on the other.

Not doubting of your Zeal & Abilities in the common Cause of our County, we leave your Discretion to prompt such Exertions, in promoting any military Operations, as the Exigency of our public affairs may require; And in the same Confidence in your Fervor & Attachment to the public Weal, we readily submit all other matters of public Moment, that may require your Consideration to your own Wisdom & Discretion.’ 1 This paper will be found very nearly word for word in the Pennsylvania ” Evening Post,” of Saturday, June 8, 1776. On the 7th, Richard Henry Lee submitted resolutions respecting Independence. They were debated on the 8th and on the 10th, when the resolution on independence was postponed until the first day of July. 52

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APPENDIX. The foregoing Draught of Instructions to our Representatives, having been read & considered, the Question was put‘“Whether the same shall be accepted & given to our Representatives, as their Instructions.”

Passed in the affirmative unanimously. CHARLESTOWN. WARRANT FOR TOWN

MEETING IN CHARLESTOWN, 1776. To THE CONSTABLES OF THE TowN OF CHARLESTOWN

OR TO EITHER OF THEM, GREETING: - In the Name of the Government and People of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay -You are hereby requir’d forthwith to Warn the Inhabitants of Charlestown aforesaid to assemble & meet together at the House of Mr. Jeremiah Snow, Inholder in said Town, on Tuesday, the 28th of this month of May, at 2 o’clock, afternoon. Then &
there to act upon the following articles. 1. To know the mind of the Town whither they will in conformity to a Resolve of the Hon. House of Representatives at a meeting call’d for that purpose, ADVISE our Representatives, That if the Hon!’ Continental Congress shou’d (for the safety of the Colonies) declare them INDEPENDANT of the Kingdom of Great Britain, They the said Inhabitants will solemnly Engage with their Lives &

Fortunes to Support them in the measure. 2. To choose a Committee or Committees (if they think proper) to transact any matter or thing that may be judged necessary for the Benefit of the Town or advantageous to the publick. 3. To hear the Report of any Committee that may be offered, & to act thereon as shall be thought proper. Hereoffail not and make Return of this Warrant with your Doings therein to the Select Men or Town Clerk of Charlestown aforesaid one hour at least before the time prefix’d. Dated in said Town May 16th 1776. By order of the Select Men, SETH SWEETSER., Town Clerk. … I I. w A.g. 53

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APPENDIX. CHIIARLESTOWN, May 28th. 1776. By virtue of the within Warrant I have Warnd as many of the Inhabitants as I coud find to appear at the Time & place & for the purposes within mention’d ISAAC MUNRO, Constable. N. B.

- The Meeting has been advertis’d in the public Prints. Town Meeting, May 28th, 1776. Warrant Read. Capt. Nathan Adams Voted Moderator, but refusing to Serve, Mr. Nathaniel Frothingham was chosen.. Voted unanimously That it is the Mind of the Inhabitants That our Representatives be advis’d - That if the Continental Congress should (for the safety of the Colonies) Declare them INDEPENDENT on the Kingdom of Great Britain, They will in that case solemnly Engage with their Lives & Fortunes to Support them in that mneasure. Voted unanimously, That the Town Clerk serve our Representatives with a Copy of this Vote for their Direction. Voted Not to act at present upon the Second Article in the Warrant, g. v. Then the Moderator dissolv’d the Meeting. SETHI SWEETSER, Town Clerk. ROXBURY. MAY
the 22d 1776. At a Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Town of Roxbury, Duly Warned, Doct. Jonathan, Davis: M. Aaron, Davis: and MIr Increase, Sumner: were chosen by the Maj. part of the Electors Present, to Represent this Town, In a Great and General Court to be Convened held and kept, for the Governments Service, at the Meeting House In Watertown, upon Wednesday the twenty Ninth Day of May, Instant, at Nine O’Clock in the Morning and So During their Session and Sessions. Also To Know the Minds of the Inhabitants of this Town whither they will Instruct and Advise the Persons chosen to Represent them in the Great and General Court, if the Honourable Congress Should for the Safety of the said Colonys, Declare them Independant of the Kingdom of Great Brittan, they the said In .” “

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APPENDIX. habitants, will Solemnly Engage, with their lives and fortunes to Support them in the measures. Voted and Pasd. in the affirmative.

DORCHESTER. Att a Meeting of the Freeholders & other Inhabitants of the Town of Dorchester, Qualified as the Law directs for Voting in Town affairs, May Twenty-Third, Anno Domini, 1776, Legally Warned, Voted, That if the Continental Congress should think it best to declare an Independency with Great Britain, we will Support them with our Lives and Fortunes. 55

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