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Charters and

Constitutions

States.

conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents in particular, and of America in general." Among the first colonies to act under this suggestion was Virginia, which was at the moment governed by a convention elected Early state by the people. It adopted (June, 1776) a constitution constitutions. which consisted of three parts: a Bill of Rights by George Mason, a Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefof the United ferson, and a Frame of Government. The first of these contains an admirable exposition of the American theory of government, equaled in that respect only by the Declaration of Independence of July, 1776, and by the Bill of Rights drawn by John Adams and prefixed to the Massachusetts constitution of 1780. The clause in the Virginia Bill of Rights declaring for freedom of religion was the earliest enunciation on that subject during the Revolutionary era; it was probably the work of Madison and Patrick Henry. None of these early constitutions was submitted to the people for ratification, with the exception of that of Massachusetts (1780), which was also drafted by a body especially chosen by the people for that purpose. The South Carolina constitution, on the other hand, was merely an act of the legislative body. Connecticut and Rhode. Island proceeded under their seventeenth-century charters, with scarcely any changes at all.

Authority
of the

Continental
Congress.

146. Organization of a General Government. - Still another thing which turned the thoughts of the colonists in the direction of independence was the establishment of a general government. The First Continental Congress (1774) resembled the Stamp Act Congress (1765) in being simply an advisory body. The Second Continental Congress was at first an advisory body; but the march of events speedily compelled it to assume and exercise sovereign powers in June, 1775, it took charge of the general defense of the colonies, set on foot an army, and drew up regulations for its government; it established "a Committee of Correspondence with our friends abroad" (November, 1775), and from that time assumed the ex

1776] Organization of a General Government 179

clusive management of foreign affairs; it also issued paper money to provide for the payment of the soldiers and for supplying the army with provisions. In fine, it exercised in the colonies functions which, up to that time, had been performed by the British government.

Paine's

The attention of the people was especially directed Thomas toward the subject of independence by the arguments set writings.

THE

AMERICAN CRISIS,

NUMBER I.

BY THE AUTHOR OF COMMON SENSE.

T

HESE are the times that try men's fools: The
fummer foldier and the (uufhine patriot will; in this
crifis abrink from the service of his country: but he
that lands it now deferves the love and thanks of

(Reprinted in Old South Leaflets, IV, No. 4)

Revolution,
I, 173;

Froth

ingham's

forth by Thomas Paine in a remarkable pamphlet entitled Fiske's Common Sense. In this paper, he maintained in simple and convincing language that reason dictated independence, because it was improbable that foreign nations would intervene on the side of the colonists so long as they continued to acknowledge allegiance to the king of Great Britain. Many people were still lukewarm on this matter, when the temporaries, announcement reached America that the British govern

Republic, 471-476; Hart's Con

II, No. 186.

The
Hessians.
Winsor's
America,

VII, 18-24.

ment was preparing to employ foreign soldiers to crush resistance in the colonies.

-

147. The Hessians. In the long category of grievances which forms so striking a feature of the Declaration of Independence, is the "transporting [of] large armies of foreign mercenaries" to overwhelm the colonial forces. It was not exactly fair to call them mercenaries, as it was not the soldiers who sold their services to a foreign government, but their princely masters, for whom, indeed, the word "mercenary" is far too mild. These German veterans were hired by the British government from the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and other German princes. The terms of the contracts for the hiring of the men were peculiar, one of them making it more profitable for the soldiers to be killed in America than to be returned home. In all, they numbered about thirty thousand, eighteen thousand of whom arrived in 1776, mostly from Hesse-Cassel; for this reason they were generally known as Hessians. To the British authorities there seemed nothing peculiar in employing them: the British king was a German prince, although he himself had been born in England; in the continental wars in which Great Britain had borne a part in the preceding half century, it had always been customary to hire German troops. The only difference between the two cases was that there the soldiers were employed to fight against their own flesh and blood, sometimes soldiers from the same state being loaned to both sides; now, however, they were used by the British government to kill English people who happened to live beyond the ocean. This difference, however, was a great one and the opposition in Parliament endeavored to convince the government of the danger of employing them, but in vain: the acquisition of a body of splendid troops at a low rate was viewed by the mass of Englishmen with rejoicing. They were good soldiers, better suited perhaps to the cultivated lands of Europe than to the wilderness of America, but they rendered good service from a military point of view. From

1776]

The Declaration of Independence

181

a political point of view, however, their employment was a terrible blunder. Thousands of colonists who had hesitated about consenting to independence were now convinced of the necessity of that measure; tens of thousands were converted to the necessity of the policy which culminated in the French alliance: the king had called the Germans to his aid, why should not the colonists accept the help proffered by their ancient enemies, the French? In short, by June, 1776, the radical party in the colonies was prepared to advocate separation from the home land.

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148. The Declaration of Independence. The Virginia Lee's convention took the lead in this movement and (May, 1776) resolutions instructed its delegates in Congress to propose a declaration June, 1776. of independence. In compliance with these instructions, on June 7, Richard Henry Lee, the chairman of the Virginia delegation, moved three resolutions, of which the first is here given in full: "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." The other resolutions provided for the formation of a confederation between the new states and for the establishment of alliances with foreign powers.

Declaration of Inde

History,

Mean- ch. xi;

The first resolution was briefly debated at the time; but The it was plain that many members were not then willing to vote in favor of it, either because they had not made up pendence. their own minds on the subject, or because they did not Higginson's know how their constituents viewed the matter; its further Larger consideration was therefore postponed until July 1. time a committee, composed of Thomas Jefferson, Benja- Fiske's min Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert I, 191-197; R. Livingston, was appointed to draft a declaration for Schouler's consideration in case the resolution should be adopted. Jefferson; Jefferson's Summary View and Virginia Declaration of ingham's Independence clearly marked him out as the person most Republic, fitted to formulate the ideas which were then uppermost

Revolution,

*Froth

532-558.

self-evident,

We hold these truths to bed &andonadt

they are endowed by their creator with good that all men are created equal, &ondopendront; that [from that equal ram that equal creation they don among Lothron are

certain

rights, that

sights [inherent Finalienable.

rights

& the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these with th

life, liberty, & the

-vernments are inshhited

among

men

deriving

до

their just pousers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government Loull becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it's foundation such principles &organising it's powers in such form,

seem most

likely to effect their

safety

on

as to them shall

a

& happiness. predence indeed

will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for

The Declaration of Independence

Facsimile of Jefferson's original draft

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