THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.
The old hall in Philadelphia, where the city fathers met, was filled with
a notable gathering, representing eleven colonies.
Those men constituted the Second Continental Congress.
The first had been held in October, 1765, and a resolution was adopted
declaring that the American colonists, as Englishmen, would not and could
not consent to be taxed but by their own representatives. This
resolution was called forth through the passage of the "Stamp Act."
The Second Congress assembled in Philadelphia in September, 1774, and
pledged the colonies to support Massachusetts in her conflict with the
English ministry, and after petitioning the king and the English people,
adjourned to meet, as it happened, on the very day that Ethan Allen
captured Ticonderoga.
The members of that Congress were all loyal to England. The time for
independence had not come.
But what a galaxy of men!
There were such giants among men as Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry,
Samuel and John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.
But among all those men there was not one whose ambition led him to place
self above country.
John Adams told the Congress that the time had come when the English
people must learn that it would be better to die fighting for liberty
than to live in perpetual slavery.
Not a man wanted war.
Washington had been a soldier with Braddock, and had won distinction, but
he was for peace. Jefferson demanded liberty, but he deprecated war.
Sam Adams startled the members by saying that if England persisted in a
policy of coercion it would be necessary to fight, yet even Adams
believed in peace.
John Adams made a strong speech, in which he asked why a tyrant ever
exercised tyranny, and he answered the question by saying it was because
the people were unable to resist.
"Let us be strong enough to enforce our demands," said he, "and the king
or his ministers will fall back and concede all we ask."
He waited to see the effect of his words.
There was silence.
"Yes, brothers, it is only the strong that obtain justice. The weak
petition and are spurned, the strong ask and they are listened to with
attention, and their demands granted.
"These colonies should be Great Britain's strength, they are her
weakness. Give us the right to make our own laws, to raise the taxation
as we please, to defend our coasts from external assaults and our land
from internal troubles, and we shall honor the king and prove that the
American Confederation of Colonies is the strength of that country. Let
us tell the king plainly what we want. Let our petition be backed by a
good army, and we shall win."
"What do you propose?" asked Jefferson.
"I propose that we organize an army, not of one colony, but of a
confederation of all colonies, and that we appoint a commander-in-chief,
a man who shall be able to organize the army and to lead it, ay, even if
it be necessary until we have entire independence."
"Where could we find such a man?" asked one of the Northern delegates.
"We have one here. The man who saved the wreck of Braddock's army is
just the one to build a nation. I nominate George Washington as the
commander-in-chief of the army of liberation!"
There was an outburst of cheering such as the Quaker City had but seldom
heard.
The delegates knew Washington.
He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, and had previously
made a name for himself with Braddock.
When his name was mentioned by Adams he left the hall.
He was afraid to remain for fear he should be called upon to accept.
He wanted time for deliberation.
The congress adjourned until the following Thursday.
The delegates talked the matter over, and when the Congress reassembled
George Washington was the unanimous choice of the delegates.
But before he was asked to give his answer, articles of confederation
were drawn up and signed, and the colonies became one for the purposes of
mutual defense.
"I fear that this day will mark the downfall of my reputation," said
Washington to Patrick Henry when he heard he was unanimously selected to
organize an army of twenty thousand men, who were undisciplined, without
weapons, without arms of any kind worth speaking of, and having no money
to pay for the food they would require, not mentioning arms.
The question of salary was next discussed, but Washington stopped it by
emphatically declaring that he would not touch one penny of salary, and
only asked that out-of-pocket expenses should be paid.
In the midst of the cheering which these words evoked, Ethan Allen
entered the hall.
"Who is that man?" asked John Hancock.
"Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga," answered Sam Adams.
The cheering broke out again, but this time it was for the Green Mountain
leader.
Again and again did the walls re-echo with the plaudits.
Then Sam Adams called Ethan Allen to the chairman's desk, and John
Hancock warmly congratulated the hero.
A resolution of thanks was passed, and Allen was asked to introduce his
friends.
Seth Warner and Remember Baker were welcomed as able coadjutors, and
Allen took care to say that they were typical of all the Mountain Boys,
and that what they had done was only a foretaste of what they would do if
necessary.
Eben Pike was called up, and the boy bashfully wriggled--no one could
call it walking--up to John Hancock's desk.
When Allen told of the bravery of the young scout and of the way in which
he had so recently saved his friends from falling into the hands of the
English, Hancock rose from his seat and called for three hearty cheers
for the young hero.
Then the Congress settled down to work and appointed officers to assist
Washington.
What a brave lot of men! Their names cannot be too often repeated.
The major-generals were Artemus Ward, Charles Lee, Phillip Schuyler and
Israel Putnam--the famous wolf-den Putnam. Then the brigadier-generals
comprised Richard Montgomery, Seth Pomeroy, David Wooster, William Heath,
Joseph Spencer, John Thomas and Nathaniel Greene. The adjutant-general
was Horatio Gates.
Allen overheard Gen. Schuyler speak of Canada and of its importance.
Allen made his acquaintance and asked him to allow him to tell of the
plan New York had rejected.
Schuyler was delighted, and thanked the Vermonter warmly.
"If ever you are in command of such an army of invasion," said Allen, "I
shall ask to be allowed to join as a volunteer."
"My dear Allen, there is not a man in all Philadelphia at the present
moment I would rather have," answered the general.
Alas! what suffering was to follow that conversation!