History of the Origin, Formation, and Adoption of the Constitution of the United States Volume I Part 5

[56] On the 24th of June, 1776, the Congress declared, by resolution, that "all persons abiding within any of the United Colonies, and deriving protection from the laws of the same, owed allegiance to the said laws, and were members of such colony; and that all persons pa.s.sing through or making a temporary stay in any of the colonies, being ent.i.tled to the protection of the laws, during the time of such pa.s.sage, visitation, or temporary stay, owed, during the same, allegiance thereto." Journals, II. 216.

[57] The t.i.tle of "The United States of America" was formally a.s.sumed in the Articles of Confederation, when they came to be adopted. But it was in use, without formal enactment, from the date of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. On the 9th of September, 1776, it was ordered that in all continental commissions and other instruments, where the words "United Colonies" had been used, the style should be altered to the "United States." Journals, II. 349.

[58] Journals, II. 263, 320; III. 123, 502, 513.

[59] From June 11, 1776, to November 17, 1777.

[60] Sparks's Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 20, note.

[61] Works, III. 20.

[62] Ibid. 46.

[63] Ibid. 47.

[64] Ibid. 55.

[65] Ibid. 56.

[66] Letters of General Was.h.i.+ngton to the President of Congress, September 21, 1775 (Works, III. 98); October 30, 1775 (Ibid. 137); November 8, 1775 (Ibid. 146).

[67] Letters of General Was.h.i.+ngton to Joseph Reed, November 8, 1775 (Works, III. 150); November 28, 1775 (Ibid. 177); and to the President of Congress, December 4, 1775 (Ibid. 184); to Governor Cooke of Connecticut, December 5, 1775 (Ibid. 188).

[68] Journals of Congress, II. 208, September 29, 1775.

[69] Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 123, note.

[70] February 9, 1776 (Works, III. 278).

[71] Mr. Jefferson once said to my kinsman, Mr. George Ticknor, that when they had any doubtful and difficult measure to carry in this Congress, they counted the four New England colonies, and Virginia, as _sure_; and then they looked round to see where they could get two more, to make the needful majority.

[72] The General a.s.sembly of New York met on the 10th of January, 1775, and by a small majority refused to approve of the non-importation a.s.sociation formed by the first Congress, and also declined to appoint delegates to the second Congress, which was to a.s.semble in May. They adopted, however, a list of grievances, which was substantially the same with that which had been put forth by the first Congress. Towards the close of the session, in the absence of some of the patriotic members, pet.i.tions to the King and to Parliament were adopted, which differed somewhat from the principles contained in their list of grievances, and in which they disapproved "of the violent measures that had been pursued in some of the colonies." But the people of New York generally conformed to the non-importation agreement; and on the 20th of April they met in convention and appointed delegates to the second Congress, "to concert and determine upon such matters as shall be judged most advisable for the preservation and reestablishment of American rights and privileges."

Pitkin's History of the United States, I. 324.

[73] "I do not mean," the orders continued, "that they should be kept in close confinement. If either of these bodies should incline to send them to any interior towns, upon their parole not to leave them until they are released, it will meet with my concurrence. For the present, I shall avoid giving you the like order in respect to the Tories in Portsmouth; but the day is not far off, when they will meet with this, or a worse fate, if there is not a considerable reformation in their conduct."

Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 158, 159.

[74] Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 230, note.

[75] Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 230, note. See also Marshall's Life of Was.h.i.+ngton, II. 285-287.

[76] Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 230.

[77] Ibid., note.

[78] Journals of Congress, II. 7-9. January 3, 1776. Congress had, on the 2d of January, pa.s.sed resolves, recommending to the different a.s.semblies, conventions, and committees or councils of safety, to restrain the Tories, and had declared that they ought to be disarmed, and the more dangerous of them kept in custody. For this purpose, the aid of the continental troops stationed in or near the respective colonies was tendered to the local authorities. Journals, II. 4, 5.

[79] The resolves of the Congress on this subject amounted to an outlawry of the persons against whom they were directed. They were introduced by a preamble, reciting the disaffection of a majority of the inhabitants of Queen's County, evinced by their refusal to elect deputies to the convention of the colony, by their public declaration of a design to remain inactive spectators of the contest, and their general want of public spirit; and declaring, that "those who refuse to defend their country should be excluded from its protection, and prevented from doing it injury." The first resolve then proceeded to declare that all the inhabitants of Queen's County named in a list of delinquents published by the Convention of New York be put out of the protection of the United Colonies, that all trade and intercourse with them cease, and that no inhabitant of that county be permitted to travel or abide in any part of the United Colonies, out of that county, without a certificate from the Convention or Committee of Safety of New York, setting forth that such inhabitant is a friend to the American cause, and not of the number of those who voted against sending deputies to the Convention; and that any inhabitant found out of the county, without such certificate, be apprehended and imprisoned three months. The second resolve declared that any attorney or lawyer who should commence, prosecute, or defend any action at law, for any inhabitant of Queen's County who voted against sending deputies to the Convention, ought to be treated as an enemy to the American cause. The fourth resolve directed that Colonel Nathaniel Heard, of Woodbridge, N. J., should march, with five or six hundred minute-men, to the western part of Queen's County, and that Colonel Waterbury, of Stamford, Connecticut, with the same number of minute-men, march to the eastern side; that they confer together and endeavor to enter the county on the same day, and that they proceed to disarm every person in the county who voted against sending deputies to the Convention, and cause them to deliver up their arms and ammunition on oath, and confine in safe custody, until further orders, all those who should refuse compliance. These resolves were pa.s.sed on the 3d of January, 1776, and were reported by a committee on the state of New York. On the 10th of January, on account of "the great distance from Colonel Heard to Colonel Waterbury, and the difficulty of cooperating with each other in their expedition into Queen's County,"

Congress directed Lord Stirling to furnish Colonel Heard with three companies from his command, who were to join Colonel Heard with his minute-men, and proceed immediately on the expedition; and also directed Heard to inform Waterbury that his services would not be required.

Journals, II. 21.

[80] He received this impression from General Lee, who wrote on the 16th of January and informed him that Colonel Waterbury had "received orders to disband his regiment, and the Tories are to remain unmolested till they are joined by the King's a.s.sa.s.sins." Sparks's Life of Gouverneur Morris, I. 75.

[81] Letter to General Lee, January 23, 1776. Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 255.

[82] Marshall's Life of Was.h.i.+ngton, II., Appendix, xvii.

[83] Letter to General Lee, January 31, 1776. Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 275.

[84] February 6, 1776. Journals, II. 51.

[85] Sparks's Life of Gouverneur Morris, I. 75, 76. They wished to "save appearances with the [enemy's] s.h.i.+ps of war, till at least the month of March."

[86] January 26, 1776. Journals, II. 39.

[87] January 30.

[88] March 14, 1776. Journals, II. 91.

[89] Letter of General Was.h.i.+ngton to the President of Congress.

[90] Resolve pa.s.sed October 5, 1775. Journals of Congress, II. 197.

[91] These vessels were fitted out from the ports of Salem, Beverly, Marblehead, and Plymouth. They were officered and manned chiefly by sea-captains and sailors who happened to be at that time in the army.

They sailed under instructions from General Was.h.i.+ngton, to take and seize all vessels in the ministerial service, bound into or out of Boston, having soldiers, arms and ammunition, or provisions on board, and to send them into the nearest port, under a careful prize-master, to wait his further directions. The first person commissioned in this way by the Commander-in-chief was Captain Nicholas Broughton of Marblehead, who sailed in the schooner Hannah, fitted out at Beverly; and in his instructions he was described as "a captain in the army of the United Colonies of North America," and was directed to take the command of "a detachment of said army, and proceed on board the schooner Hannah, lately fitted out, &c. at the continental expense." Another of these vessels, called the Lee, was commanded by Captain John Manly. The names of three others of them were the Harrison, the Was.h.i.+ngton, and the Lynch. The name of the sixth vessel is not known, but the names of the four other captains were Selman, Martindale, Coit, and Adams. (Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 516.) When Was.h.i.+ngton received directions from the President of Congress to send two vessels to the mouth of the St.

Lawrence, he wrote, on the 12th of October, that one of these vessels was then out, and that two of them would be despatched as directed, immediately. (Ibid., III. 124.) In the course of a few weeks, they were all out.

[92] Letter to the President of Congress, November 11, 1775. Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 154.

[93] Journals, I. 260.

[94] On the 4th of December, he repeated his former recommendation to the President of Congress. (Writings of Was.h.i.+ngton, III. 184.) On the 26th of December, he wrote to Richard Henry Lee, in Congress, begging him to use his influence in having a court of admiralty or some power appointed to hear and determine all matters relative to captures; saying, "You cannot conceive how I am plagued on this head, and how impossible it is for me to hear and determine upon matters of this sort, when the facts, perhaps, are only to be ascertained at ports forty, fifty, or more miles distant, without bringing the parties here [Cambridge] at great trouble and expense. At any rate, my time will not allow me to be a competent judge of this business." Ibid., III. 217.

[95] Letter to the President of Congress, February 9, 1776. Ibid., III.

282. Letter to Joseph Reed, February 10, 1776. Ibid., III. 284.

[96] Ibid., III. 370.

[97] This was the emission ordered on the 23d of June, 1775. There were _forty-nine thousand_ bills of each denomination from one dollar to eight dollars, inclusive, and _eleven thousand eight hundred_ bills of the denomination of twenty dollars. The form of the bills was as follows (Journals, I. 126):--

CONTINENTAL CURRENCY.

No. ________________ Dollars.

This Bill ent.i.tles the Bearer to receive ________________ Spanish milled Dollars, or the value thereof in Gold or Silver, according to the Resolutions of the Congress, held at Philadelphia on the 10th day of May, A. D. 1775.

[98] Journals, I. 177.

[99] Journals, I. 126, 177. The signers of the bills were allowed a commission of one dollar and one third of a dollar on each thousand of the bills signed by them. Ibid.