CHAPTER IV

INDEPENDENCE

[Sidenote: Washington arrives in Cambridge]

On the 2d of July, 1775, after a journey of eleven days, General

Washington arrived in Cambridge from Philadelphia, and on the following

day, under the shade of the great elm-tree which still stands hard by

the Common, he took command of the Continental army, which as yet was

composed entirely of New Englanders. Of the 16,000 men engaged in the

siege of Boston, Massachusetts furnished 11,500, Connecticut 2,300, New

Hampshire 1,200, Rhode Island 1,000. These contingents were arrayed

under their local commanders, and under the local flags of their

respective commonwealths, though Artemas Ward of Massachusetts had by

courtesy exercised the chief command until the arrival of Washington.

During the month of July, Congress gave a more continental complexion

to the army by sending a reinforcement of 3,000 men from Pennsylvania,

Maryland, and Virginia, including the famous Daniel Morgan, with his

sturdy band of sharpshooters each man of whom, it was said, while

marching at double-quick, could cleave with his rifle-ball a squirrel at

a distance of three hundred yards. The summer of 1775 thus brought

together in Cambridge many officers whose names were soon to become

household words throughout the length and breadth of the land, and a

moment may be fitly spent in introducing them before we proceed with the

narrative of events.

[Sidenote: Daniel Morgan]

[Sidenote: Benedict Arnold]

Daniel Morgan, who had just arrived from Virginia with his riflemen, was

a native of New Jersey, of Welsh descent. Moving to Virginia at an early

age, he had won a great reputation for bravery and readiness of resource

in the wild campaigns of the Seven Years' War. He was a man of gigantic

stature and strength, and incredible powers of endurance. In his youth,

it is said, he had received five hundred lashes by order of a tyrannical

British officer, and had come away alive and defiant. On another

occasion, in a fierce woodland fight with the Indians, in which nearly

all his comrades were slain, Morgan was shot through the neck by a

musket-ball. Almost fainting from the wound, which he believed to be

fatal, Morgan was resolved, nevertheless, not to leave his scalp in the

hands of a dirty Indian; and falling forward, with his arms tightly

clasped about the neck of his stalwart horse, though mists were

gathering before his eyes, he spurred away through the forest paths,

until his foremost Indian pursuer, unable to come up with him, hurled

his tomahawk after him with a yell of baffled rage, and gave up the

chase. With this unconquerable tenacity, Morgan was a man of gentle and

unselfish nature; a genuine diamond, though a rough one; uneducated, but

clear and strong in intelligence and faithful in every fibre. At

Cambridge began his long comradeship with a very different character,

Benedict Arnold, a young man of romantic and generous impulses, and for

personal bravery unsurpassed, but vain and self-seeking, and lacking in

moral robustness; in some respects a more polished man than Morgan, but

of a nature at once coarser and weaker. We shall see these two men

associated in some of the most brilliant achievements of the war; and we

shall see them persecuted and insulted by political enemies, until the

weaker nature sinks and is ruined, while the stronger endures to the

end.

[Illustration: NATHANAEL GREENE]

[Illustration: SILHOUETTE OF JOHN STARK]

[Sidenote: John Sullivan]

[Sidenote: Nathanael Greene]

[Sidenote: Henry Knox]

Along with Morgan and Arnold there might have been seen on Cambridge

Common a man who was destined to play no less conspicuous a part in the

great campaign which was to end in the first decisive overthrow of the

British. For native shrewdness, rough simplicity, and dauntless courage,

John Stark was much like Morgan. What the one name was in the great

woods of the Virginia frontier, that was the other among the rugged

hills of northern New England,--a symbol of patriotism and a guarantee

of victory. Great as was Stark's personal following in New Hampshire, he

had not, however, the chief command of the troops of that colony. The

commander of the New Hampshire contingent was John Sullivan, a wealthy

lawyer of Durham, who had sat in the first Continental Congress.

Sullivan was a gentleman of culture and fair ability as a statesman. As

a general, he was brave, intelligent, and faithful, but in no wise

brilliant. Closely associated with Sullivan for the next three years we

shall find Nathanael Greene, now in command of the Rhode Island

contingent. For intellectual calibre all the other officers here

mentioned are dwarfed in comparison with Greene, who comes out at the

end of the war with a military reputation scarcely, if at all, inferior

to that of Washington. Nor was Greene less notable for the sweetness and

purity of his character than for the scope of his intelligence.[7] He

had that rare genius which readily assimilates all kinds of knowledge

through an inborn correctness of method. Whatever he touched, it was

with a master hand, and his weight of sense soon won general

recognition. Such a man was not unnaturally an eager book-buyer, and in

this way he had some time ago been brought into pleasant relations with

the genial and intelligent Henry Knox, who from his bookshop in Boston

had come to join the army as a colonel of artillery, and soon became one

of Washington's most trusty followers.

[Portrait: Knox]

[Sidenote: Older officers]

[Sidenote: Israel Putnam]

Of this group of officers, none have as yet reached very high rank in

the Continental army. Sullivan and Greene stand at the end of the list

of brigadier-generals; the rest are colonels. The senior major-general,

Artemas Ward, and the senior brigadiers, Pomeroy Heath, Thomas, Wooster,

and Spencer, will presently pass into the background, to make way for

these younger or more vigorous men. Major-General Israel Putnam, the

picturesque wolf-slayer, a brave and sterling patriot, but of slender

military capacity, will remain in the foreground for another year, and

will then become relegated mainly to garrison duty.

[Sidenote: Horatio Gates and Charles Lee]

With the exception of Morgan, all the officers here noticed are New

England men, as is natural, since the seat of war is in Massachusetts,

and an army really continental in complexion is still to be formed. The

Southern colonies have as yet contributed only Morgan and the

commander-in-chief. New York is represented in the Continental army by

two of the noblest of American heroes,--Major-General Philip Schuyler

and Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery; but these able men are now

watching over Ticonderoga and the Indian frontier of New York. But among

the group which in 1775 met for consultation on Cambridge Common, or in

the noble Tory mansion now hallowed alike by memories of Washington and

of Longfellow, there were yet two other generals, closely associated

with each other for a time in ephemeral reputation won by false

pretences, and afterwards in lasting ignominy. It is with pleasure that

one recalls the fact that these men were not Americans, though both

possessed estates in Virginia; it is with regret that one is forced to

own them as Englishmen. Of Horatio Gates and his career of imbecility

and intrigue, we shall by and by see more than enough. At this time he

was present in Cambridge as adjutant-general of the army. But his

friend, Charles Lee, was for the moment a far more conspicuous

personage; and this eccentric creature, whose career was for a long time

one of the difficult problems in American history, needs something more

than a passing word of introduction.

[Illustration: WASHINGTON'S HEADQUARTERS]

[Portrait: Charles Lee]

[Signature: Benja Church Junr.]

[Sidenote: Lee's personal peculiarities]

[Sidenote: Benjamin Church]

Although Major-General Charles Lee happened to have acquired an estate

in Virginia, he had nothing in common with the illustrious family of

Virginian Lees beyond the accidental identity of name. He was born in

England, and had risen in the British army to the rank of

lieutenant-colonel. He had served in America in the Seven Years' War,

and afterward, as a soldier of fortune, he had wandered about Europe,

obtaining at one time a place on the staff of the king of Poland. A

restless adventurer, he had come over again to America as soon as he saw

that a war was brewing here. There is nothing to show that he cared a

rush for the Americans, or for the cause in which they were fighting,

but he sought the opportunity of making a name for himself. He was

received with enthusiasm by the Americans. His loud, pompous manner and

enormous self-confidence at first imposed upon everybody. He was tall,

lank, and hollow-cheeked, with a discontented expression of face. In

dress he was extremely slovenly. He was fond of dogs, and always had

three or four at his heels, but toward men and women his demeanour was

morose and insulting. He had a sharp, cynical wit, and was always making

severe remarks in a harsh, rough voice. But the trustful American

imagination endowed this unpleasant person with the qualities of a great

soldier. His reputation was part of the unconscious tribute which the

provincial mind of our countrymen was long wont to pay to the men and

things of Europe; and for some time his worst actions found a lenient

interpretation as the mere eccentricities of a wayward genius. He had

hoped to be made commander-in-chief of the army, and had already begun

to nourish a bitter grudge against Washington, by whom he regarded

himself as supplanted. In the following year we shall see him

endeavouring to thwart the plans of Washington at the most critical

moment of the war, but for the present he showed no signs of

insincerity, except perhaps in an undue readiness to parley with the

British commanders. As soon as it became clear that a war was beginning,

the hope of winning glory by effecting an accommodation with the enemy

offered a dangerous temptation to men of weak virtue in eminent

positions. In October, 1775, the American camp was thrown into great

consternation by the discovery that Dr. Benjamin Church, one of the

most conspicuous of the Boston leaders, had engaged in a secret

correspondence with the enemy. Dr. Church was thrown into jail, but as

the evidence of treasonable intent was not absolutely complete, he was

set free in the following spring, and allowed to visit the West Indies

for his health. The ship in which he sailed was never heard from again.

This kind of temptation, to which Church succumbed at the first outbreak

of the war, beset Lee with fatal effect after the Declaration of

Independence, and wrought the ruin of Arnold after the conclusion of the

French alliance.

[Sidenote: Difficult work for Washington]

To such a man as Charles Lee, destitute of faith in the loftier human

virtues or in the strength of political ideas, it might easily have

seemed that more was to be hoped from negotiation than from an attempt

to resist Great Britain with such an army as that of which he now came

to command the left wing. It was fortunate that the British generals

were ignorant of the real state of things. Among the moral effects of

the battle of Bunker Hill there was one which proved for the moment to

be of inestimable value. It impressed upon General Howe, who now

succeeded to the chief command, the feeling that the Americans were more

formidable than had been supposed, and that much care and forethought

would be required for a successful attack upon them. In a man of his

easy-going disposition, such a feeling was enough to prevent decisive

action. It served to keep the British force idle in Boston for months,

and was thus of great service to the American cause. For in spite of the

zeal and valour it had shown, this army of New England minute-men was by

no means in a fit condition for carrying on such an arduous enterprise

as the siege of Boston. When Washington took command of the army on

Cambridge Common, he found that the first and most trying task before

him was out of this excellent but very raw material to create an army

upon which he could depend. The battle of Bunker Hill had just been

lost, under circumstances which were calculated to cheer the Americans

and make them hopeful of the future; but it would not do to risk another

battle, with an untrained staff and a scant supply of powder. All the

work of organizing an army was still to be done, and the circumstances

were not such as to make it an easy work. It was not merely that the

men, who were much better trained in the discipline of the town meeting

than in that of the camp, needed to be taught the all-important lesson

of military subordination: it was at first a serious question how they

were to be kept together at all. That the enthusiasm kindled on the day

of Lexington should have sufficed to bring together 16,000 men, and to

keep them for three months at their posts, was already remarkable; but

no army, however patriotic and self-sacrificing, can be supported on

enthusiasm alone. The army of which Washington took command was a motley

crowd, clad in every variety of rustic attire, armed with trusty muskets

and rifles, as their recent exploit had shown, but destitute of almost

everything else that belongs to a soldier's outfit. From the Common down

to the river, their rude tents were dotted about here and there, some

made of sail-cloth stretched over poles, some piled up of stones and

turf, some oddly wrought of twisted green boughs; while the more

fortunate ones found comparatively luxurious quarters in Massachusetts

Hall, or in the little Episcopal church, or in the houses of patriotic

citizens. These volunteers had enlisted for various periods, for the

most part short, under various contracts with various town or provincial

governments. It was not altogether clear how they were going to be paid,

nor was it easy to see how they were going to be fed. That this army

should have been already subsisted for three months, without any

commissariat, was in itself an extraordinary fact. Day by day the heavy

carts had rumbled into Cambridge, bringing from the highlands of

Berkshire and Worcester, and from the Merrimac and Connecticut valleys,

whatever could in any wise be spared of food, or clothing, or medicines,

for the patriot army; and the pleasant fields of Cambridge were a busy

scene of kindness and sympathy.

[Illustration:

A Westerly View of the Colledges in Cambridge New England

Holden Chapel Hollis Harvard Stoughton Massachusetts

]

[Sidenote: Absence of governmental organization]

[Sidenote: New government of Massachusetts, July, 1775]

Such means as these, however, could not long be efficient. If war was to

be successfully conducted, there must be a commissariat, there must be

ammunition, and there must be money. And here Washington found himself

confronted with the difficulty which never ceased to vex his noble soul

and disturb his best laid schemes until the day when he swooped down

upon Cornwallis at Yorktown. He had to keep making the army, with which

he was often expected to fight battles ere it was half made; and in this

arduous work he could get but little systematic help from any quarter.

At present the difficulty was that there was nowhere any organized

government competent to support an army. On Washington's arrival, the

force surrounding Boston owed allegiance, as we have seen, to four

distinct commonwealths, of which two, indeed,--Connecticut and Rhode

Island,--preserving their ancient charters, with governors elected by

themselves, were still in their normal condition. In New Hampshire, on

the other hand, the royal governor, John Wentworth, whose personal

popularity was deservedly great, kept his place until August, while

Stark and his men had gone to Cambridge in spite of him. In

Massachusetts the revolutionary Provincial Congress still survived, but

with uncertain power; even the Continental Congress which adopted the

Cambridge army in the name of the United Colonies was simply an advisory

body, without the power to raise taxes or to beat up recruits. From this

administrative chaos, through which all the colonies, save Connecticut

and Rhode Island, were forced to pass in these trying times,

Massachusetts was the first to emerge, in July, 1775, by reverting to

the provisions of its old charter, and forming a government in which the

king's authority was virtually disallowed. A representative assembly was

chosen by the people in their town meetings, according to time-honoured

precedent; and this new legislature itself elected an annual council of

twenty-eight members, to sit as an upper house. James Bowdoin, as

president of the council, became chief executive officer of the

commonwealth, and John Adams was made chief justice. Forty thousand

pounds were raised by a direct tax on polls and on real estate, and

bills of credit were issued for 1,000 more. The commonwealth adopted a

new seal, and a proclamation, issued somewhat later by Chief Justice

Adams, enjoining it upon all people to give loyal obedience to the new

government, closed with the significant invocation "God save the

people," instead of the customary "God save the king."

[Sidenote: Congress sends a petition to the king]

In taking this decisive step, Massachusetts was simply the first to act

upon the general recommendation of the Continental Congress, that the

several colonies should forthwith proceed to frame governments for

themselves, based upon the suffrages of the people. From such a

recommendation as this to a formal declaration of independence, the

distance to be traversed was not great. Samuel Adams urged that in

declaring the colonies independent Congress would be simply recognizing

a fact which in reality already existed, and that by thus looking facts

squarely in the face the inevitable war might be conducted with far

greater efficiency. But he was earnestly and ably opposed by John

Dickinson of Pennsylvania, whose arguments for the present prevailed in

the Congress. It was felt that the Congress, as a mere advisory body,

had no right to take a step of such supreme importance without first

receiving explicit instructions from every one of the colonies. Besides

this, the thought of separation was still a painful thought to most of

the delegates, and it was deemed well worth while to try the effect of

one more candid statement of grievances, to be set forth in a petition

to his majesty. For like reasons, the Congress did not venture to take

measures to increase its own authority; and when Franklin, still

thinking of union as he had been thinking for more than twenty years,

now brought forward a new scheme, somewhat similar to the Articles of

Confederation afterwards adopted, it was set aside as premature. The

king was known to be fiercely opposed to any dealings with the colonies

as a united body, and so considerate of his feelings were these honest

and peace-loving delegates that, after much discussion, they signed

their carefully worded petition severally, and not jointly. They signed

it as individuals speaking for the people of the American colonies, not

as members of an organic body representing the American people. To

emphasize still further their conciliatory mood, the delivery of the

petition was entrusted to Richard Penn, a descendant of the great Quaker

and joint-proprietary in the government of Pennsylvania, an excellent

man and an ardent loyalist. At the same time that this was done, an

issue of paper money was made, to be severally guaranteed by the

thirteen colonies, and half a million dollars were sent to Cambridge to

be used for the army.

Military operations, however, came for the time to a stand-still. While

Washington's energies were fully occupied in organizing and drilling his

troops, in providing them with powder and ball, in raising lines of

fortification, in making good the troublesome vacancies due to short

terms of enlistment, and above all in presenting unfailingly a bold

front to the enemy; while the encampments about Boston were the daily

scene of tedious works, without any immediate prospect of brilliant

achievement, the Congress and the people were patiently waiting to hear

the result of the last petition that was ever to be sent from these

colonies to the king of Great Britain.

[Illustration: THE KING'S PROCLAMATION

By the KING,

=A PROCLAMATION=.

For suppressing Rebellion and Sedition.

_GEORGE_ R.

Whereas many of Our Subjects in divers Parts of Our Colonies and

Plantations in _North America_, misled by dangerous and

ill-designing Men, and forgetting the Allegiance which they owe to

the Power that has protected and sustained them, after various

disorderly Acts committed in Disturbance of the Publick Peace, to

the Obstruction of lawful Commerce, and to the Oppression of Our

loyal Subjects carrying on the same, have at length proceeded to an

open and avowed Rebellion, by arraying themselves in hostile Manner

to withstand the Execution of the Law, and traitorously preparing,

ordering, and levying War against Us. And whereas there is Reason

to apprehend that such Rebellion hath been much promoted and

encouraged by the traitorous Correspondence, Counsels, and Comfort

of divers wicked and desperate Persons within this Realm: To the

End therefore that none of Our Subjects may neglect or violate

their Duty through Ignorance thereof, or through any Doubt of the

Protection which the Law will afford to their Loyalty and Zeal; We

have thought fit, by and with the Advice of Our Privy Council, to

issue this Our Royal Proclamation, hereby declaring that not only

all Our Officers Civil and Military are obliged to exert their

utmost Endeavours to suppress such Rebellion, and to bring the

Traitors to Justice; but that all Our Subjects of this Realm and

the Dominions thereunto belonging are bound by Law to be aiding and

assisting in the Suppression of such Rebellion, and to disclose and

make known all traitorous Conspiracies and Attempts against Us, Our

Crown and Dignity; And We do accordingly strictly charge and

command all Our Officers as well Civil as Military, and all other

Our obedient and loyal Subjects, to use their utmost Endeavours to

withstand and suppress such Rebellion, and to disclose and make

known all Treasons and traitorous Conspiracies which they shall

know to be against Us, Our Crown and Dignity; and for that Purpose,

that they transmit to One of Our Principal Secretaries of State, or

other proper Officer, due and full Information of all Persons who

shall be found carrying on Correspondence with, or in any Manner or

Degree aiding or abetting the Persons now in open Arms and

Rebellion against Our Government within any of Our Colonies and

Plantations in _North America_, in order to bring to condign

Punishment the Authors, Perpetrators, and Abettors of such

traitorous Designs.

Given at Our Court at _St. James's_, the Twenty-third day

of _August_, One thousand seven hundred and seventy-five,

in the Fifteenth Year of Our Reign.

God save the King.

LONDON:

Printed by _Charles Eyre_ and _William Strahan_, Printers to the

King's most Excellent Majesty. 1775.

]

[Sidenote: The king issues a proclamation, and tries to hire troops from

Russia]

[Sidenote: Catherine refuses]

[Sidenote: The king hires German troops]

[Sidenote: Indignation in Germany]

Penn made all possible haste, and arrived in London on the 14th of

August; but when he got there the king would neither see him nor receive

the petition in any way, directly or indirectly. The Congress was an

illegal assembly which had no business to send letters to him: if any

one of the colonies wanted to make terms for itself separately, he might

be willing to listen to it. But this idea of a united America was

something unknown either to law or to reason, something that could not

be too summarily frowned down. So while Penn waited about London, the

king issued a proclamation; setting forth that many of his subjects in

the colonies were in open and armed rebellion, and calling upon all

loyal subjects of the realm to assist in bringing to condign punishment

the authors and abettors of this foul treason. Having launched this

thunderbolt, George sent at once to Russia to see if he could hire

20,000 men to aid in giving it effect, for the "loyal subjects of the

realm" were slow in coming forward. A war against the Americans was not

yet popular in England. Lord Chatham withdrew his eldest son, Lord Pitt,

from the army, lest he should be called upon to serve against the men

who were defending the common liberties of Englishmen. There was,

moreover, in England as well as in America, a distrust of regular

armies. Recruiting was difficult, and conscription was something that

the people would not endure unless England should actually be threatened

with invasion. The king had already been obliged to raise a force of his

Hanoverian subjects to garrison Minorca and Gibraltar, thus setting free

the British defenders of these strongholds for service in America. He

had no further resource except in hiring troops from abroad. But his

attempt in Russia was not successful, for the Empress Catherine, with

all her faults, was not disposed to sell the blood of her subjects. She

improved the occasion--as sovereigns and others will sometimes do--by

asking George, sarcastically, if he thought it quite compatible with his

dignity to employ foreign troops against his own subjects; as for

Russian soldiers, she had none to spare for such a purpose. Foiled in

this quarter, the king applied to the Duke of Brunswick, the Landgrave

of Hesse-Cassel, the princes of Waldeck and Anhalt-Zerbst, the Margrave

of Anspach-Bayreuth, and the Count of Hesse-Hanau, and succeeded in

making a bargain for 20,000 of the finest infantry in Europe, with four

good generals,--Riedesel of Brunswick, and Knyphausen, Von Heister, and

Donop of Hesse. The hiring of these troops was bitterly condemned by

Lord John Cavendish in the House of Commons, and by Lords Camden and

Shelburne and the Duke of Richmond in the House of Lords; and Chatham's

indignant invectives at a somewhat later date are familiar to every one.

It is proper, however, that in such an affair as this we should take

care to affix our blame in the right place. The king might well argue

that in carrying on a war for what the majority of Parliament regarded

as a righteous object, it was no worse for him to hire men than to buy

cannon and ships. The German troops, on their part, might justly

complain of Lord Camden for stigmatizing them as "mercenaries," inasmuch

as they did not come to America for pay, but because there was no help

for it. It was indeed with a heavy heart that these honest men took up

their arms to go beyond sea and fight for a cause in which they felt no

sort of interest, and great was the mourning over their departure. The

persons who really deserved to bear the odium of this transaction were

the mercenary princes who thus shamelessly sold their subjects into

slavery. It was a striking instance of the demoralization which had

been wrought among the petty courts of Germany in the last days of the

old empire, and among the German people it excited profound indignation.

The popular feeling was well expressed by Schiller, in his "Cabale und

Liebe." Frederick the Great, in a letter to Voltaire, declared himself

beyond measure disgusted, and by way of thriftily expressing his

contempt for the transaction he gave orders to his custom house officers

that upon all such of these soldiers as should pass through Prussian

territory a toll should be levied, as upon "cattle exported for foreign

shambles."

[Sidenote: Burning of Portland, Oct 16, 1775]

When the American question was brought up in the autumn session of

Parliament, it was treated in the manner with which the Americans had by

this time become familiar. A few far-sighted men still urged the

reasonableness of the American claims, but there was now a great

majority against them. In spite of grave warning voices, both houses

decided to support the king; and in this they were upheld by the

university of Oxford, which a century ago had burned the works of John

Milton as "blasphemous," and which now, with equal felicity, in a formal

address to the king, described the Americans as "a people who had

forfeited their lives and their fortunes to the justice of the state."

At the same time the department of American affairs was taken from the

amiable Lord Dartmouth, and given to the truculent Lord George Germain.

These things were done in November, 1775, and in the preceding month

they had been heralded by an act of wanton barbarity on the part of a

British naval officer, albeit an unwarranted act, which the British

government as promptly as possible disowned. On the 16th of October,

Captain Mowatt had sailed with four small vessels into the harbour of

Portland (then called Falmouth), and with shells and grenades set fire

to the little town. St. Paul's Church, all the public buildings, and

three fourths of all the dwellings were burned to the ground, and a

thousand unoffending men, women, and children were thus turned

out-of-doors just as the sharp Maine winter was coming on to starve and

freeze them.

The news of the burning of Portland reached Philadelphia on the same day

(October 31) with the news that George III. was about to send foreign

mercenaries to fight against his American subjects; and now the wrath of

Congress was thoroughly kindled, and the party which advised further

temporizing was thrown into helpless minority.

[Illustration: A CONTEMPORARY SKETCH OF THE BURNING OF FALMOUTH]

[Sidenote: Effects upon Congress]

"Well, brother rebel," said a Southern member to Samuel Ward of Rhode

Island, "we have now got a sufficient answer to our petition: I want

nothing more, but am ready to declare ourselves independent." Congress

now advised New Hampshire, Virginia, and South Carolina to frame for

themselves new republican governments, as Massachusetts had already

done; it urged South Carolina to seize the British vessels in her

waters; it appointed a committee to correspond with foreign powers; and

above all, it adopted unreservedly the scheme, already partially carried

into operation, for the expulsion of the British from Canada.

[Portrait: Guy Carleton]

[Portrait: Rich^d. Montgomery]

[Sidenote: The Americans invade Canada, Sept., 1775]

At once upon the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington, the conquest of

Canada had been contemplated by the Northern leaders, who well

remembered how, in days gone by, the valley of the St. Lawrence had

furnished a base for attacks upon the province of New York, which was

then the strategic centre of the American world. It was deemed an act of

military prudence to secure this region at the outset. But so long as

the least hope of conciliation remained, Congress was unwilling to

adopt any measures save such as were purely defensive in character. As

we have seen, it was only with reluctance that it had sanctioned the

garrisoning of Ticonderoga by the Connecticut troops. But in the course

of the summer it was learned that the governor of Canada, Sir Guy

Carleton, was about to take steps to recover Ticonderoga; and it was

credibly reported that intrigues were going on with the Iroquois tribes,

to induce them to harry the New England frontier and the pleasant farms

on the Hudson: so that, under these circumstances, the invasion of

Canada was now authorized by Congress as a measure of self-defence. An

expedition down Lake Champlain, against Montreal, was at once set on

foot. As Schuyler, the commander of the northern department, was

disabled by ill health, the enterprise was confided to Richard

Montgomery, an officer who had served with distinction under Wolfe. Late

in August, Montgomery started from Ticonderoga, and on the 12th of

September, with a force of two thousand men, he laid siege to the

fortress of St. John's, which commanded the approach to Montreal.

Carleton, whose utmost exertions could bring together only some nine

hundred men, made heroic but fruitless efforts to stop his progress.

After a siege of fifty days, St. John's surrendered on the 3d of

November, and on the 12th Montgomery entered Montreal in triumph. The

people of Canada had thus far seemed favourably disposed toward the

American invaders, and Montgomery issued a proclamation urging them to

lose no time in choosing delegates to attend the Continental Congress.

[Sidenote: Arnold's march through the wilderness of Maine]

Meanwhile, in September, Washington had detached from the army at

Cambridge one thousand New England infantry, with two companies of

Pennsylvania riflemen and Morgan's famous Virginia sharpshooters, and

ordered them to advance upon Quebec through the forests of Maine and by

way of the rivers Kennebec and Chaudière. The expedition was commanded

by Colonel Benedict Arnold, who seems to have been one of the first, if

not the first, to suggest it. Such plans of invading an enemy's

territory, involving the march of independent forces upon convergent

lines from remote points, were much more in favour with military men a

century ago than to-day. The vice of such methods was often illustrated

during our Revolutionary War. The vast distances and total lack of

communication made effective coöperation between Montgomery and Arnold

impossible; while a surprise of Quebec by the latter, with force

sufficient to capture it unaided, was almost equally out of the

question. But the very difficulty of the scheme commended it to the

romantic and buoyant temper of Benedict Arnold. The enterprise was one

to call for all his persistent daring and fertile resource. It was an

amphibious journey, as his men now rowed their boats with difficulty

against the strong, swift current of the Kennebec, and now, carrying

boats and oars on their shoulders, forced their way through the tangled

undergrowth of the primeval forests. Often they had to wade across

perilous bogs, and presently their shoes were cut to pieces by sharp

stones, and their clothes torn to shreds by thorns and briers. Their

food gave out, and though some small game was shot, their hunger became

such that they devoured their dogs. When they reached the head of the

Chaudière, after this terrible march of thirty-three days, two hundred

of their number had succumbed to starvation, cold, and fatigue, while

two hundred more had given out and returned to Massachusetts, carrying

with them such of the sick and disabled as they could save. The descent

of the Chaudière in their boats afforded some chance for rest, and

presently they began to find cattle for food. At last, on the 13th of

November, the next day after Montgomery's capture of Montreal, they

crossed the broad St. Lawrence, and climbed the Heights of Abraham at

the very place where Wolfe had climbed to victory sixteen years ago.

There was splendid bravado in Arnold's advancing to the very gates with

his little, worn-out army, now reduced to seven hundred men, and

summoning the garrison either to come out and fight, or to surrender the

town. But the garrison very properly would neither surrender nor fight.

The town had been warned in time, and Arnold had no alternative but to

wait for Montgomery to join him.

[Sidenote: Assault upon Quebec, Dec. 31, 1775]

Six days afterward, Carleton, disguised as a farmer, and ferried down

stream in a little boat, found his way into Quebec; and on the 3d of

December, Montgomery made his appearance with a small force, which

raised the number of the Americans to twelve hundred men. As Carleton

persistently refused to come out of his defences, it was resolved to

carry the works by storm,--a chivalrous, nay, one might almost say, a

foolhardy decision, had it not been so nearly justified by the event. On

the last day of 1775, England came within an ace of losing Quebec. At

two o'clock in the morning, in a blinding snowstorm, Montgomery and

Arnold began each a furious attack, at opposite sides of the town; and

aided by the surprise, each came near carrying his point. Montgomery had

almost forced his way in when he fell dead, pierced by three bullets;

and this so chilled the enthusiasm of his men that they flagged, until

reinforcements drove them back. Arnold, on his side, was severely

wounded and carried from the field; but the indomitable Morgan took his

place, and his Virginia company stormed the battery opposed to them,

and fought their way far into the town. Had the attack on the other side

been kept up with equal vigour, as it might have been but for

Montgomery's death, Quebec must have fallen. As it was, Morgan's

triumphant advance only served to isolate him, and presently he and his

gallant company were surrounded and captured.

[Sidenote: Total failure of the attempt upon Canada]

With the failure of this desperate attack passed away the golden

opportunity for taking the citadel of Canada. Arnold remained throughout

the winter in the neighbourhood of Quebec, and in the spring the

enterprise was taken up by Wooster and Sullivan with fresh forces. But

by this time many Hessians had come over, and Carleton, reinforced until

his army numbered 13,000, was enabled to recapture Montreal and push

back the Americans, until in June, after a hazardous retreat, well

conducted by Sullivan, the remnant of their invading army found shelter

at Crown Point. Such was the disastrous ending of a campaign which at

the outset had promised a brilliant success, and which is deservedly

famous for the heroism and skill with which it was conducted. The

generalship of Montgomery received the warm approval of no less a critic

than Frederick the Great; and the chivalrous bravery of Arnold, both in

his march through the wilderness and in the military operations which

followed, was such that if a kind fate could then and there have cut the

thread of his life, he would have left behind him a sweet and shining

memory. As for the attempt to bring Canada into the American union, it

was one which had no hope of success save through a strong display of

military force. The sixteen years which had elapsed since the victory of

Wolfe had not transformed the Canadian of the old _régime_ into a

free-born Englishman. The question at present for him was only that of a

choice of allegiance, and while at first the invaders were favourably

received, it soon became apparent that between the Catholic and the

Puritan there could be but little real sympathy. The Quebec Act, which

legalized Catholic worship in Canada, had done much toward securing

England's hold upon this part of her American possessions. And although,

in the colourless political condition of this northern province, the

capture of Quebec might well have brought it into the American union,

where it would gradually have taken on a fresh life, as surely as it has

done under British guidance, yet nothing short of such a military

occupation could have had any effect in determining its languid

preferences.

[Illustration: THE HANCOCK HOUSE, BEACON HILL, BOSTON]

[Sidenote: The siege of Boston]

While Canada was thus freed from the presence of the Continental troops,

the British army, on the other hand, was driven from Boston, and New

England was cleared of the enemy. During the autumn and winter,

Washington had drawn his lines as closely as possible about the town,

while engaged in the work of organizing and equipping his army. The

hardest task was to collect a sufficient quantity of powder and ball,

and to bring together siege-guns. As the season wore on, the country

grew impatient, and Washington sometimes had to listen to criticisms

like those that were directed against McClellan in Virginia, at the

beginning of 1862, or against Grant before Vicksburg, in the spring of

1863. President Hancock, who owned a great deal of property in Boston,

urged him to set fire to the town and destroy it, if by so doing he

could drive the British to their ships. But Washington had planned much

more wisely. By the 1st of March a great quantity of cannon had been

brought in by Henry Knox, some of them dragged on sledges all the way

from Ticonderoga, and so at last Washington felt himself prepared to

seize upon Dorchester Heights. This position commanded the town and

harbour even more effectually than Bunker Hill, and why in all these

months General Howe had not occupied it one would find it hard to say.

He was bitterly attacked for his remissness by the British newspapers,

as was quite natural.

[Illustration: BOSTON, WITH ITS ENVIRONS, IN 1775 AND 1776]

[Illustration: MEDAL GRANTED TO WASHINGTON FOR HIS CAPTURE OF BOSTON]

[Sidenote: Washington seizes Dorchester Heights March 4, 1776]

[Sidenote: The British troops evacuate Boston March 17, 1776]

Washington chose for his decisive movement the night of the 4th of

March. Eight hundred men led the way, escorting the wagons laden with

spades and crowbars, hatchets, hammers, and nails; and after them

followed twelve hundred men, with three hundred ox-carts, carrying

timbers and bales of hay; while the rear was brought up by the heavy

siege-guns. From Somerville, East Cambridge, and Roxbury, a furious

cannonade was begun soon after sunset and kept up through the night,

completely absorbing the attention of the British, who kept up a lively

fire in return. The roar of the cannon drowned every other sound for

miles around, while all night long the two thousand Americans, having

done their short march in perfect secrecy, were busily digging and

building on Dorchester Heights, and dragging their siege-guns into

position. Early next morning, Howe saw with astonishment what had been

done, and began to realize his perilous situation. The commander of the

fleet sent word that unless the Americans could be forthwith

dislodged, he could not venture to keep his ships in the harbour. Most

of the day was consumed in deciding what should be done, until at last

Lord Percy was told to take three thousand men and storm the works. But

the slaughter of Bunker Hill had taught its lesson so well that neither

Percy nor his men had any stomach for such an enterprise. A violent

storm, coming up toward nightfall, persuaded them to delay the attack

till next day, and by that time it had become apparent to all that the

American works, continually growing, had become impregnable. Percy's

orders were accordingly countermanded, and it was decided to abandon the

town immediately. It was the sixth anniversary of the day on which

Hutchinson had yielded to the demand of the town meeting and withdrawn

the two British regiments from Boston. The work then begun was now

consummated by Washington, and from that time forth the deliverance of

Massachusetts was complete. Howe caused it at once to be known among

the citizens that he was about to evacuate Boston, but he threatened to

lay the town in ashes if his troops should be fired on. The selectmen

conveyed due information of all this to Washington, who accordingly,

secure in the achievement of his purpose, allowed the enemy to depart in

peace. By the 17th, the eight thousand troops were all on board their

ships, and, taking with them all the Tory citizens, some nine hundred in

number, they sailed away for Halifax. Their space did not permit them to

carry away their heavy arms, and their retreat, slow as it was, bore

marks of hurry and confusion. In taking possession of the town,

Washington captured more than two hundred serviceable cannon, ten times

more powder and ball than his army had ever seen before, and an immense

quantity of muskets, gun-carriages, and military stores of every sort.

Thus was New England set free by a single brilliant stroke, with very

slight injury to private property, and with a total loss of not more

than twenty lives.

[Illustration: EVOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES FLAG[8]]

[Sidenote: A provisional flag]

[Sidenote: Effect of the hiring of "myrmidons"]

The time was now fairly ripe for the colonies to declare themselves

independent of Great Britain. The idea of a separation from the

mother-country, which in the autumn had found but few supporters, grew

in favour day by day through the winter and spring. The incongruousness

of the present situation was typified by the flag that Washington flung

to the breeze on New Year's Day at Cambridge, which was made up of

thirteen stripes, to represent the United Colonies, but retained the

British crosses in the corner. Thus far, said Benjamin Harrison, they

had contrived to "hobble along under a fatal attachment to Great

Britain," but the time had come when one must consider the welfare of

one's own country first of all. As Samuel Adams said, their petitions

had not been heard, and yet had been answered by armies and fleets, and

by myrmidons hired from abroad. Nothing had made a greater impression

upon the American people than this hiring of German troops. It went

farther than any other single cause to ripen their minds for the

declaration of independence. Many now began to agree with the

Massachusetts statesman; and while public opinion was in this malleable

condition, there appeared a pamphlet which wrought a prodigious effect

upon the people, mainly because it gave terse and vigorous expression to

views which every one had already more than half formed for himself.

[Portrait: T. Paine]

[Sidenote: "Common Sense"]

Thomas Paine had come over to America in December, 1774, and through the

favour of Franklin had secured employment as editor of the "Pennsylvania

Magazine." He was by nature a dissenter and a revolutionist to the

marrow of his bones. Full of the generous though often blind enthusiasm

of the eighteenth century for the "rights of man," he was no respecter

of the established order, whether in church or state. To him the church

and its doctrines meant slavish superstition, and the state meant

tyranny. Of crude undisciplined mind, and little scholarship, yet

endowed with native acuteness and sagacity, and with no mean power of

expressing himself, Paine succeeded in making everybody read what he

wrote, and achieved a popular reputation out of all proportion to his

real merit. Among devout American families his name was for a long time

a name of horror and opprobrium, and uneducated free thinkers still

build lecture-halls in honour of his memory, and celebrate the

anniversary of his birthday, with speeches full of harmless but rather

dismal platitudes. The "Age of Reason," which was the cause of all this

blessing and banning, contains, amid much crude argument, some sound and

sensible criticism, such as is often far exceeded in boldness in the

books and sermons of Unitarian and Episcopalian divines of the present

day; but its tone is coarse and dull, and with the improvement of

popular education it is fast sinking into oblivion. There are times,

however, when such caustic pamphleteers as Thomas Paine have their uses.

There are times when they can bring about results which are not so

easily achieved by men of finer mould and more subtle intelligence. It

was at just such a time, in January, 1776, that Paine published his

pamphlet, "Common Sense," on the suggestion of Benjamin Rush, and with

the approval of Franklin and of Samuel Adams. The pamphlet contains some

irrelevant abuse of the English people, and resorts to such arguments as

the denial of the English origin of the Americans. Not one third of the

people, _even_ of Pennsylvania, are of English descent, argues Paine, as

if Pennsylvania had been preëminent among the colonies for its English

blood, and not, as in reality, one of the least English of all the

thirteen. But along with all this there was a sensible and striking

statement of the practical state of the case between Great Britain and

the colonies. The reasons were shrewdly and vividly set forth for

looking upon reconciliation as hopeless, and for seizing the present

moment to declare to the world what the logic of events was already fast

making an accomplished fact. Only thus, it was urged, could the States

of America pursue a coherent and well-defined policy, and preserve their

dignity in the eyes of the world.

[Illustration: A PAGE FROM "COMMON SENSE"

84 COMMON SENSE

The Sun never shined on a cause of greater worth. 'Tis not the

affair of a City, a County, a Province or a Kingdom; but of a

Continent--of at least one eight part of the habitable Globe. 'Tis

not the concern of a day, a year, or an age; posterity are

virtually involved in the contest, and will be more or less

affected even to the end of time by the proceedings now. Now Is the

seed-time of Continental union, faith and honor. The least fracture

now, will be like a name engraved with the point of a pin on the

tender rind of a young oak; the wound will enlarge with the tree,

and posterity read it in full grown characters.

By referring the matter from argument to arms, a new æra for

politics is struck--a new method of thinking hath arisen. All

plans, proposals, &c. prior to the 19th of April, _i. e._ to the

commencement of hostilities, are like the almanacks of the last

year; which tho' proper then, are superseded and useless now.

Whatever was advanced by the advocates on either side of the

question then, terminated in one and the same point, viz. a union

with Great-Britain; the only difference between the parties, was

the method of effecting it; the one proposing force, the other

friendship: but it hath so far happened that the first hath failed,

and the second hath withdrawn her influence.

As much hath been said of the advantages of reconciliation, which

like an agreeable dream, hath passed away, and left us as we were,

it is but right that we should examine the contrary side of the

argument, and enquire into some of the many material injuries which

these Colonies sustain, and always will sustain, by being connected

with, and dependant on Great-Britain.--To examine that connection

and dependance, on the principles of nature and common sense, to

see what we have to trust to if separated, and what we are to

expect if dependant.

]

[Sidenote: Fulminations and counter-fulminations]

It was difficult for the printers, with the clumsy presses of that day,

to bring out copies of "Common Sense" fast enough to meet the demand for

it. More than a hundred thousand copies were speedily sold, and it

carried conviction wherever it went. At the same time, Parliament did

its best to reinforce the argument by passing an act to close all

American ports, and authorize the confiscation of all American ships and

cargoes, as well as of such neutral vessels as might dare to trade with

this proscribed people. And, as if this were not quite enough, a clause

was added by which British commanders on the high seas were directed to

impress the crews of such American ships as they might meet, and to

compel them, under penalty of death, to enter the service against their

fellow-countrymen. In reply to this edict, Congress, in March, ordered

the ports of America to be thrown open to all nations; it issued letters

of marque, and it advised all the colonies to disarm such Tories as

should refuse to contribute to the common defence. These measures, as

Franklin said, were virtually a declaration of war against Great

Britain. But before taking the last irrevocable step, the prudent

Congress waited for instructions from every one of the colonies.

[Sidenote: The Scots in North Carolina]

[Sidenote: Clinton sails for the Carolinas]

[Sidenote: The fight at Moore's Creek, Feb. 27, 1776]

[Sidenote: North Carolina declares for independence]

The first colony to take decisive action in behalf of independence was

North Carolina, a commonwealth in which the king had supposed the

outlook to be especially favourable for the loyalist party. Recovered in

some measure from the turbulence of its earlier days, North Carolina was

fast becoming a prosperous community of small planters, and its

population had increased so rapidly that it now ranked fourth among the

colonies, immediately after Pennsylvania. Since the overthrow of the

Pretender at Culloden there had been a great immigration of sturdy Scots

from the western Highlands, in which the clans of Macdonald and Macleod

were especially represented. The celebrated Flora Macdonald herself, the

romantic woman who saved Charles Edward in 1746, had lately come over

here and settled at Kingsborough with Allan Macdonald, her husband.

These Scottish immigrants also helped to colonize the upland regions of

South Carolina and Georgia, and they have considerably affected the

race composition of the Southern people, forming an ancestry of which

their descendants may well be proud. Though these Highland clansmen had

taken part in the Stuart insurrection, they had become loyal enough to

the government of George III., and it was now hoped that with their aid

the colony might be firmly secured, and its neighbours on either side

overawed. To this end, in January, Sir Henry Clinton, taking with him

2,000 troops, left Boston and sailed for the Cape Fear river, while a

force of seven regiments and ten ships-of-war, under Sir Peter Parker,

was ordered from Ireland to coöperate with him. At the same time, Josiah

Martin, the royal governor, who for safety had retired on board a

British ship, carried on negotiations with the Highlanders, until a

force of 1,600 men was raised, and, under command of Donald Macdonald,

marched down toward the coast to welcome the arrival of Clinton. But

North Carolina had its minute-men as well as Massachusetts, and no

sooner was this movement perceived than Colonel Richard Caswell, with

1,000 militia, took up a strong position at the bridge over Moore's

Creek, which Macdonald was about to pass on his way to the coast. After

a sharp fight of a half hour's duration the Scots were seized with

panic, and were utterly routed. Nine hundred prisoners, 2,000 stand of

arms, and £15,000 in gold were the trophies of Caswell's victory. The

Scottish commander and his kinsman, the husband of Flora Macdonald, were

taken and lodged in jail, and thus ended the sway of George III. over

North Carolina. The effect of the victory was as contagious as that of

Lexington had been in New England. Within ten days 10,000 militia were

ready to withstand the enemy, so that Clinton, on his arrival, decided

not to land, and stayed cruising about Albemarle Sound, waiting for the

fleet under Parker, which did not appear on the scene until May. A

provincial congress was forthwith assembled, and instructions were sent

to the North Carolina delegates in the Continental Congress, empowering

them "to concur with the delegates in the other colonies in declaring

independency and forming foreign alliances, reserving to the colony the

sole and exclusive right of forming a constitution and laws for it."

[Sidenote: Action of South Carolina and Georgia]

At the same time that these things were taking place, the colony of

South Carolina was framing for itself a new government, and on the 23d

of March, without directly alluding to independence, it empowered its

delegates to concur in any measure which might be deemed essential to

the welfare of America. In Georgia the provincial congress, in choosing

a new set of delegates to Philadelphia, authorized them to "join in any

measure which they might think calculated for the common good."

[Illustration: Dunmore]

[Sidenote: Virginia: Lord Dunmore's proclamation]

[Sidenote: Skirmish at the Great Bridge; and burning of Norfolk]

In Virginia the party in favour of independence had been in the

minority, until, in November, 1775, the royal governor, Lord Dunmore,

had issued a proclamation, offering freedom to all such negroes and

indented white servants as might enlist for the purpose of "reducing the

colony to a proper sense of its duty." This measure Lord Dunmore hoped

would "oblige the rebels to disperse, in order to take care of their

families and property." But the object was not attained. The relations

between master and slave in Virginia were so pleasant that the offer of

freedom fell upon dull, uninterested ears. With light work and generous

fare, the condition of the Virginia negro was a happy one. The time had

not yet come when he was liable to be torn from wife and children, to

die of hardship in the cotton-fields and rice-swamps of the far South.

He was proud of his connection with his master's estate and family, and

had nothing to gain by rebellion. As for the indented white servants,

the governor's proposal to them was of about as much consequence as a

proclamation of Napoleon's would have been if, in 1805, he had offered

to set free the prisoners in Newgate on condition of their helping him

to invade England. But, impotent as this measure of Lord Dunmore's was,

it served to enrage the people of Virginia, setting their minds

irretrievably against the king and his cause. During the month of

November, hearing that a party of "rebels" were on their way from North

Carolina to take possession of Norfolk, Lord Dunmore built a rude fort

at the Great Bridge over Elizabeth river, which commanded the southern

approach to the town. At that time, Norfolk, with about 9,000

inhabitants, was the principal town in Virginia, and the commercial

centre of the colony. The loyalist party, represented chiefly by

Scottish merchants, was so strong there and so violent that many of the

native Virginia families, finding it uncomfortable to stay in their

homes, had gone away into the country. The patriots, roused to anger by

Dunmore's proclamation, now resolved to capture Norfolk, and a party of

sharpshooters, with whom the illustrious John Marshall served as

lieutenant, occupied the bank of Elizabeth river, opposite Dunmore's

fort. On the 9th of December, after a sharp fight of fifteen minutes, in

which Dunmore's regulars lost sixty-one men, while not a single

Virginian was slain, the fort was hastily abandoned, and the road to

Norfolk was laid open for the patriots. A few days later the Virginians

took possession of their town, while Dunmore sought refuge in the

Liverpool, ship-of-the-line, which had just sailed into the harbour. On

New Year's Day the governor vindictively set fire to the town, which he

had been unable to hold against its rightful owners. The conflagration,

kindled by shells from the harbour, raged for three days and nights,

until the whole town was laid in ashes, and the people were driven to

seek such sorry shelter as might save them from the frosts of midwinter.

[Sidenote: Virginia declares for independence]

This event went far toward determining the attitude of Virginia. In

November the colony had not felt ready to comply with the recommendation

of Congress, and frame for herself a new government. The people were not

yet ready to sever the links which bound them to Great Britain. But

bombardment of their principal town was an argument of which every one

could appreciate the force and the meaning. During the winter and spring

the revolutionary feeling waxed in strength daily. On the 6th of May,

1776, a convention was chosen to consider the question of independence.

Mason, Henry, Pendleton, and the illustrious Madison took part in the

discussion, and on the 14th it was unanimously voted to instruct the

Virginia delegates in Congress "to propose to that respectable body to

declare the United Colonies free and independent States," and to "give

the assent of the colony to measures to form foreign alliances and a

confederation, provided the power of forming government for the internal

regulations of each colony be left to the colonial legislatures." At the

same time, it was voted that the people of Virginia should establish a

new government for their commonwealth. In the evening, when these

decisions had been made known to the people of Williamsburgh, their

exultation knew no bounds. While the air was musical with the ringing of

church-bells, guns were fired, the British flag was hauled down at the

State House, and the crosses and stripes hoisted in its place.

[Sidenote: Action of Rhode Island and Massachusetts]

This decisive movement of the largest of the colonies was hailed

throughout the country with eager delight; and from other colonies which

had not yet committed themselves responses came quickly. Rhode Island,

which had never parted with its original charter, did not need to form a

new government, but it had already, on the 4th of May, omitted the

king's name from its public documents and sheriff's writs, and had

agreed to concur with any measures which Congress might see fit to adopt

regarding the relations between England and America. In the course of

the month of May town meetings were held throughout Massachusetts and

it was everywhere unanimously voted to uphold Congress in the

declaration of independence which it was now expected to make.

[Illustration: INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA]

[Sidenote: Resolution of May 15]

[Sidenote: Instructions from Boston]

On the 15th of May, Congress adopted a resolution recommending to all

the colonies to form for themselves independent governments, and in a

preamble, written by John Adams, it was declared that the American

people could no longer conscientiously take oath to support any

government deriving its authority from the Crown; all such governments

must now be suppressed, since the king had withdrawn his protection from

the inhabitants of the United Colonies. Like the famous preamble to

Townshend's bill of 1767, this Adams preamble contained within itself

the gist of the whole matter. To adopt it was virtually to cross the

Rubicon, and it gave rise to a hot debate. James Duane of New York

admitted that if the facts stated in the preamble should turn out to be

true, there would not be a single voice against independence; but he

could not yet believe that the American petitions were not destined to

receive a favourable answer. "Why," therefore, "all this haste? Why this

urging? Why this driving?" James Wilson of Pennsylvania, one of the

ablest of all the delegates in the revolutionary body, urged that

Congress had not yet received sufficient authority from the people to

justify it in taking so bold a step. The resolution was adopted,

however, preamble and all; and now the affair came quickly to maturity.

"The Gordian knot is cut at last!" exclaimed John Adams. In town meeting

the people of Boston thus instructed their delegates: "The whole United

Colonies are upon the verge of a glorious revolution. We have seen the

petitions to the king rejected with disdain. For the prayer of peace he

has tendered the sword; for liberty, chains; for safety, death. Loyalty

to him is now treason to our country. We 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 state. Placing, however, unbounded confidence in the supreme council

of the Congress, we are determined to wait, most patiently wait, till

their wisdom shall dictate the necessity of making a declaration of

independence. In case the Congress should think it necessary for the

safety of the United Colonies to declare them independent of Great

Britain, the inhabitants, with their lives and the remnant of their

fortunes, will most cheerfully support them in the measure."

[Sidenote: Lee's motion in Congress]

This dignified and temperate expression of public opinion was published

in a Philadelphia evening paper, on the 8th of June. On the preceding

day in accordance with the instructions which had come from Virginia,

the following motion had been submitted to Congress by Richard Henry

Lee:--

"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.

"That it is expedient forthwith to take the most effectual measures for

forming foreign alliances.

"That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted to the

respective colonies, for their consideration and approbation."

[Portrait: Richard Henry Lee]

[Sidenote: Debate on Lee's motion]

In these trying times the two greatest colonies, Virginia and

Massachusetts, had been wont to go hand in hand; and the motion of

Richard Henry Lee was now promptly seconded by John Adams. It was

resisted by Dickinson and Wilson of Pennsylvania, and by Robert

Livingston of New York, on the ground that public opinion in the middle

colonies was not yet ripe for supporting such a measure; at the same

time these cautious members freely acknowledged that the lingering hope

of an amicable settlement with Great Britain had come to be quite

chimerical. The prospect of securing European alliances was freely

discussed. The supporters of the motion urged that a declaration of

independence would be nothing more than the acknowledgment of a fact

which existed already; and until this fact should be formally

acknowledged, it was not to be supposed that diplomatic courtesy would

allow such powers as France and Spain to treat with the Americans. On

the other hand, the opponents of the motion argued that France and Spain

were not likely to look with favour upon the rise of a great Protestant

power in the western hemisphere, and that nothing would be easier than

for these nations to make a bargain with England, whereby Canada might

be restored to France and Florida to Spain, in return for military aid

in putting down the rebellious colonies. The result of the whole

discussion was decidedly in favour of a declaration of independence; but

to avoid all appearance of undue haste, it was decided, on the motion of

Edward Rutledge of South Carolina, to postpone the question for three

weeks, and invite the judgment of those colonies which had not yet

declared themselves.

[Sidenote: Connecticut and New Hampshire]

Under these circumstances, the several colonies acted with a promptness

that outstripped the expectations of Congress. Connecticut had no need

of a new government, for, like Rhode Island, she had always kept the

charter obtained from Lord Clarendon in 1662, she had always chosen her

own governor, and had always been virtually independent of Great

Britain. Nothing now was necessary but to omit the king's name from

legal documents and commercial papers, and to instruct her delegates in

Congress to support Lee's motion; and these things were done by the

Connecticut legislature on the 14th of June. The very next day, New

Hampshire, which had formed a new government as long ago as January,

joined Connecticut in declaring for independence.

[Sidenote: New Jersey]

In New Jersey there was a sharp dispute. The royal governor, William

Franklin, had a strong party in the colony; the assembly had lately

instructed its delegates to vote against independence, and had resolved

to send a separate petition to the king. Against so rash and dangerous a

step, Dickinson, Jay, and Wythe were sent by Congress to remonstrate;

and as the result of their intercession, the assembly, which yielded,

was summarily prorogued by the governor. A provincial congress was at

once chosen in its stead. On the 16th of June, the governor was arrested

and sent to Connecticut for safe-keeping; on the 21st, it was voted to

frame a new government; and on the 22d, a new set of delegates were

elected to Congress, with instructions to support the declaration of

independence.

[Portrait: Samuel Chase]

[Sidenote: Pennsylvania and Delaware]

In Pennsylvania there was hot discussion, for the whole strength of the

proprietary government was thrown into the scale against independence.

Among the Quakers, too, there was a strong disposition to avoid an armed

conflict on any terms. A little while before, they had held a

convention, in which it was resolved that "the setting up and putting

down kings and governments is God's peculiar prerogative, for causes

best known to himself, and that it is not our business to have any hand

or contrivance therein; nor to be busybodies above our station, much

less to plot and contrive the ruin or overturn of any of them, but to

pray for the king and safety of our nation and good of all men; that we

may lead a peaceable and quiet life in all goodness and honesty, under

the government which God is pleased to set over us. May we, therefore,

firmly unite in the abhorrence of all such writings and measures as

evidence a desire and design to break off a happy connection we have

hitherto enjoyed with the kingdom of Great Britain, and our just and

necessary subordination to the king and those who are lawfully placed in

authority under him." This view of the case soon met with a pithy

rejoinder from Samuel Adams, who, with a quaint use of historical

examples, proved that, as the rise of kings and empires is part of God's

special prerogative, the time had now come, in the course of divine

providence, for the setting up of an independent empire in the western

hemisphere. Six months ago, the provincial assembly had instructed its

delegates to oppose independence; but on the 20th of May a great meeting

was held at the State House, at which more than seven thousand people

were present, and it was unanimously resolved that this act of the

assembly "had the dangerous tendency to withdraw this province from that

happy union with the other colonies which we consider both our glory and

our protection." The effect of this resolution was so great that on the

18th of June a convention was held to decide on the question of

independence; and after six days of discussion, it was voted that a

separation from Great Britain was desirable, provided only that, under

the new federal government, each state should be left to regulate its

own internal affairs. On the 14th of June, a similar action had been

taken by Delaware.

[Portrait: Charles Carroll]

[Sidenote: Maryland]

In Maryland there was little reason why the people should wish for a

change of government, save through their honourable sympathy with the

general interests of the United Colonies. Not only was the proprietary

government deeply rooted in the affections of the people, but Robert

Eden, the governor holding office at this particular time, was greatly

loved and respected. Maryland had not been insulted by the presence of

troops. She had not seen her citizens shot down in cold blood like

Massachusetts, or her chief city laid in ashes like Virginia; nor had

she been threatened with invasion and forced to fight in her own defence

like North Carolina. Her direct grievances were few and light, and even

so late as the 21st of May, she had protested against any action which

might lead to the separation of the colonies from England. But when, in

June, her great leaders, Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll of Carrollton,

determined to "take the sense of the people," a series of county

meetings were held, and it was unanimously voted that "the true

interests and substantial happiness of the United Colonies in general,

and this in particular, are inseparably interwoven and linked together."

As soon as the colony had taken its stand upon this broad and generous

principle, the governor embarked on a British man-of-war before

Annapolis, bearing with him the kindly regrets and adieus of the people,

and on the 28th of June the delegates in Congress were duly authorized

to concur in a declaration of independence.

[Sidenote: The situation in New York]

Peaceful Maryland was thus the twelfth colony which formally committed

itself to the cause of independence, as turbulent North Carolina, under

the stimulus of civil war and threatened invasion, had been the first.

Accordingly on the 1st of July, the day when the motion of Richard Henry

Lee was to be taken up in Congress, unanimous instructions in favour of

independence had been received from every one of the colonies, except

New York. In approaching this momentous question New York was beset by

peculiar difficulties. Not only was the Tory party unusually strong

there, for reasons already stated, but the risks involved in a

revolutionary policy were greater than anywhere else. From its

commanding military position, it was clear that the British would direct

their main efforts toward the conquest of this central colony; and while

on the one hand the broad, deep waters about Manhattan Island afforded

an easy entrance for their resistless fleet, on the other hand the

failure of the Canadian expedition had laid the whole country open to

invasion from the north, and the bloodthirsty warriors of the Long House

were not likely to let slip so fair an opportunity for gathering scalps

from the exposed settlements on the frontier. Not only was it probable,

for these reasons, that New York would suffer more than any other colony

from the worst horrors of war, but as a commercial state with only a

single seaport, the very sources of her life would be threatened should

the British once gain a foothold upon Manhattan Island. The fleet of

Lord Howe was daily expected in the harbour, and it was known that the

army which had been ousted from Boston, now largely reinforced, was on

its way from Halifax to undertake the capture of the city of New York.

To guard against this expected danger, Washington had some weeks since

moved his army thither from Boston; but his whole effective force did

not exceed eight thousand men, and with these he was obliged to garrison

points so far apart as King's Bridge, Paulus Hook, Governor's Island,

and Brooklyn Heights. The position was far less secure than it had been

about Boston, for British ships could here come up the Hudson and East

rivers, and interpose between these isolated detachments. As for Staten

Island, Washington had not troops enough to occupy it at all, so that

when General Howe arrived, on the 28th of June, he was allowed to land

there without opposition. It was a bitter thing for Washington to be

obliged to permit this, but there was no help for it. Not only in

numbers, but in equipment, Washington's force was utterly inadequate to

the important task assigned it, and Congress had done nothing to

increase its efficiency beyond ordering a levy of twenty-five thousand

militia from New England and the middle colonies, to serve for six

months only.

[Sidenote: The Tryon plot, June, 1779]

Under these circumstances, the military outlook, in case the war were to

go on, was certainly not encouraging, and the people of New York might

well be excused for some tardiness in committing themselves irrevocably

on the question of independence, especially as it was generally

understood that Lord Howe was coming armed with plenary authority to

negotiate with the American people. To all the other dangers of the

situation there was added that of treachery in the camp. Governor Tryon,

like so many of the royal governors that year, had taken refuge on

shipboard, whence he schemed and plotted with his friends on shore. A

plan was devised for blowing up the magazines and seizing Washington,

who was either to be murdered or carried on board ship to be tried for

treason, according as the occasion might suggest. The conspiracy was

discovered in good time; the mayor of New York, convicted of

correspondence with Tryon, was thrown into jail, and one of Washington's

own guard, who had been bribed to aid the nefarious scheme, was

summarily hanged in a field near the Bowery. Such a discovery as this

served to throw discredit upon the Tory party. The patriots took a

bolder stand than ever, but when the 1st of July came it found the

discussion still going on, and the New York delegates in Congress were

still without instructions.

[Sidenote: Final debate on Lee's motion]

On the 1st of July Congress resolved itself into a committee of the

whole, to "take into consideration the resolution respecting

independency." As Richard Henry Lee was absent, John Adams, who had

seconded the motion, was called upon to defend it, which he did in a

powerful speech. He was ably opposed by John Dickinson, who urged that

the country ought not to be rashly committed to a position, to recede

from which would be infamous, while to persist in it might entail

certain ruin. A declaration of independence would not strengthen the

resources of the country by a single regiment or a single cask of

powder, while it would shut the door upon all hope of accommodation with

Great Britain. And as to the prospect of an alliance with France and

Spain, would it not be well to obtain some definite assurances from

these powers before proceeding to extremities? Besides all this, argued

Dickinson, the terms of confederation among the colonies were still

unsettled, and any declaration of independence, to have due weight with

the world, ought to be preceded by the establishment of a federal

government. The boundaries of the several colonies ought first to be

fixed, and their respective rights mutually guaranteed; and the public

lands ought also to be solemnly appropriated for the common benefit.

Then, the orator concluded, "when things shall have been thus

deliberately rendered firm at home and favourable abroad,--then let

America, _attollens humeris famam et fata nepotum_, bearing up her glory

and the destiny of her descendants, advance with majestic steps, and

assume her station among the sovereigns of the world."

That there was great weight in some of these considerations was shown

only too plainly by subsequent events. But the argument as a whole was

open to the fatal objection that if the American people were to wait for

all these great questions to be settled before taking a decisive step,

they would never be able to take a decisive step at all. The wise

statesman regards half a loaf as better than no bread.

[Portrait: Edward Rutledge]

[Sidenote: Vote on Lee's motion]

Independent action on the part of all the colonies except New York had

now become an accomplished fact. All were really in rebellion, and their

cause could not fail to gain in dignity and strength by announcing

itself to the world in its true character. Such was now the general

feeling of the committee. When the question was put to vote, the New

York delegates were excused, as they had no sufficient instructions. Of

the three delegates from Delaware, one was absent, one voted yea, and

one nay, so that the vote of the colony was lost. Pennsylvania declared

in the negative by four votes against three. South Carolina also

declared in the negative, but with the intimation from Edward Rutledge

that it might not unlikely reverse its vote, in deference to the

majority. The other nine colonies all voted in the affirmative, and the

resolution was reported as agreed to by a two thirds vote. On the next

day, when the vote was formally taken in regular session of Congress,

the Delaware members were all present, and the affirmative vote of that

colony was secured; Dickinson and Morris stayed away, thus reversing the

vote of Pennsylvania; and the South Carolina members changed for the

sake of unanimity.

[Sidenote: Thomas Jefferson]

Thus was the Declaration of Independence at last resolved upon, by the

unanimous vote of twelve colonies, on the 2d of July, 1776; and this

work having been done, Congress at once went into committee of the

whole, to consider the form of declaration which should be adopted. That

no time might be lost in disposing of this important matter, a committee

had already been selected three weeks before, at the time of Lee's

motion, to draw up a paper which might be worthy of this great and

solemn occasion. Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger

Sherman, and Robert Livingston were the members of the committee, and

Jefferson, as representing the colony which had introduced the

resolution of independence, was chosen to be the author of the

Declaration. Jefferson, then but thirty-three years of age, was one of

the youngest delegates in Congress; but of all the men of that time,

there was, perhaps, none of wider culture or keener political instincts.

Inheriting a comfortable fortune, he had chosen the law as his

profession, but he had always been passionately fond of study for its

own sake, and to a wide reading in history and in ancient and modern

literature he added no mean proficiency in mathematics and in physical

science. He was skilled in horsemanship and other manly exercises, and

in the management of rural affairs; while at the same time he was

sensitively and delicately organized, playing the violin like a master,

and giving other evidences of rare musical talent. His temper was

exceedingly placid, and his disposition was sweet and sympathetic. He

was deeply interested in all the generous theories of the eighteenth

century concerning the rights of man and the perfectibility of human

nature; and, like most of the contemporary philosophers whom he admired,

he was a sturdy foe to intolerance and priestcraft. He was in his way a

much more profound thinker than Hamilton, though he had not such a

constructive genius as the latter; as a political leader he was superior

to any other man of his age; and his warm sympathies, his almost

feminine tact, his mastery of the dominant political ideas of the time,

and, above all, his unbounded faith in the common-sense of the people

and in their essential rectitude of purpose served to give him one of

the greatest and most commanding positions ever held by any personage in

American history.

[Sidenote: Independence declared, July 4, 1776]

On the evening of the 4th of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence

was unanimously adopted by twelve colonies, the delegation from New York

still remaining unable to act. But the acquiescence of that colony was

so generally counted upon that there was no drawback to the exultation

of the people. All over the country the Declaration was received with

bonfires, with the ringing of bells and the firing of guns, and with

torchlight processions. Now that the great question was settled there

was a general feeling of relief. "The people," said Samuel Adams, "seem

to recognize this resolution as though it were a decree promulgated from

heaven." On the 9th of July it was formally adopted by New York, and the

soldiers there celebrated the occasion by throwing down the leaden

statue of George III. on the Bowling Green, and casting it into bullets.

[Illustration: BATTERY AND BOWLING GREEN IN 1776]

[Sidenote: The Declaration was a deliberate expression of the sober

thought of the American people]

Thus, after eleven years of irritation, and after such temperate

discussion as befitted a free people, the Americans had at last entered

upon the only course that could preserve their self-respect, and

guarantee them in the great part which they had to play in the drama of

civilization. For the dignity, patience, and moderation with which they

had borne themselves throughout these trying times, history had as yet

scarcely afforded a parallel. So extreme had been their forbearance, so

great their unwillingness to appeal to brute force while there yet

remained the slightest hope of a peaceful solution, that some British

historians have gone quite astray in interpreting their conduct. Because

statesmen like Dickinson and communities like Maryland were slow in

believing that the right moment for a declaration of independence had

come, the preposterous theory has been suggested that the American

Revolution was the work of an unscrupulous and desperate minority,

which, through intrigue mingled with violence, succeeded in forcing the

reluctant majority to sanction its measures. Such a misconception has

its root in an utter failure to comprehend the peculiar character of

American political life, like the kindred misconception which ascribes

the rebellion of the colonies to a sordid unwillingness to bear their

due share of the expenses of the British Empire. It is like the

misunderstanding which saw an angry mob in every town meeting of the

people of Boston, and characterized as a "riot" every deliberate

expression of public opinion. No one who is familiar with the essential

features of American political life can for a moment suppose that the

Declaration of Independence was brought about by any less weighty force

than the settled conviction of the people that the priceless treasure of

self-government could be preserved by no other means. It was but slowly

that this unwelcome conviction grew upon the people; and owing to local

differences of circumstances it grew more slowly in some places than in

others. Prescient leaders, too, like the Adamses and Franklin and Lee,

made up their minds sooner than other people. Even those conservatives

who resisted to the last, even such men as John Dickinson and Robert

Morris, were fully agreed with their opponents as to the principle at

issue between Great Britain and America, and nothing would have

satisfied them short of the total abandonment by Great Britain of her

pretensions to impose taxes and revoke charters. Upon this fundamental

point there was very little difference of opinion in America. As to the

related question of independence, the decision, when once reached, was

everywhere alike the reasonable result of free and open discussion; and

the best possible illustration of this is the fact that not even in the

darkest days of the war already begun did any state deliberately propose

to reconsider its action in the matter. The hand once put to the plough,

there was no turning back. As Judge Drayton of South Carolina said from

the bench, "A decree is now gone forth not to be recalled, and thus has

suddenly risen in the world a new empire, styled the United States of

America."

FOOTNOTES:

[7] [Of a family always prominent in Rhode Island, he had early

come to be the most admired and respected citizen of the

colony. His father, a narrow-minded Quaker, though rich in

lands, mills, and iron forges, was adverse to education, and

kept his son at work in the forges. But the son had an intense

thirst for knowledge, and, without neglecting his duties, he

bought books and became well versed in history, philosophy,

and general literature.]

[8] The first stage was the change from the solid red of the British

ensign to the alternate red and white stripes, as seen in the

flag on the right, which typified the thirteen confederated

colonies. After allegiance to the British crown had been thrown

off, the union of red St. George and white St. Andrew crosses

upon the blue corner became inappropriate, and in June, 1777,

Congress substituted the circle of thirteen white stars on a

blue ground, to signify the rise of a new constellation of

states.