CHAPTER XI.

THE CONTINENT SUPPORTS MASSACHUSETTS,

SEPTEMBER, 1774.

CHAP. AMONG the members elected to the continental con

XI. gress, Galloway of Philadelphia was so thoroughly 1774. royalist that he acted as a volunteer spy for the

Sept. British government. To the delegates from other

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colonies, as they arrived, he insinuated that "commissioners with full powers should repair to the British court, after the example of the Roman, Grecian, and Macedonian colonies on occasions of the like nature; but his colleagues spurned the thought of sending envoys to dangle at the heels of a minister, and undergo the scorn of parliament. Yet there was great diversity of opinions respecting the proper modes of resisting the aggressions of the mother country, and conciliation was the ardent wish of all. The South Carolinians greeted the delegates of Massachusetts as the envoys of freedom herself; and the Virginians equalled or surpassed their colleagues in resoluteness and spirit; but all united in desiring to promote "the union of Great Britain and the colonies on a constitutional foundation."

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On Monday the fifth day of September, the mem- CHAP. bers of congress, meeting at Smith's tavern, moved in a body to select the place for their deliberations. Galloway, the speaker of Pennsylvania, would have had them use the State House, but the carpenters of Philadelphia offered their plain but spacious hall; and from respect for the mechanics, it was accepted by a great majority. The names of the members were then called over, and Patrick Henry, Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Jay, Gadsden, John Rutledge of South Carolina, the aged Hopkins of Rhode Island, and others, representing eleven colonies, answered to the call. Peyton Randolph, late speaker of the assembly of Virginia, was nominated president by Lynch of Carolina, and was unanimously chosen. The body then named itself “the congress," and its chairman "the president." Jay and Duane would have selected a secretary from among the members themselves, but they found no support; and on the motion of Lynch, Charles Thomson was appointed without further opposition. The measures that were to have divided America bound them closely together. Colonies differing in religious opinions and in commercial interests, in every thing dependent on climate and labor, in usages and manners, swayed by reciprocal preju dices, and frequently quarrelling with each other respecting boundaries, found themselves united in one representative body, and deriving from that union a power that was to be felt throughout the civilized world.

Then arose the question, as to the method of voting. There were fifty-five members; each colony

Sept.

CHAP. having sent as many as it pleased. Henry, a repreXI. sentative of the largest state, intimated that it would 1774. be unjust for a little colony to weigh as much in the councils of America as a great one. "A little colony," observed Sullivan of New Hampshire, "has its all at stake as well as a great one." John Adams admitted that the vote by colonies was unequal, yet that an opposite course would lead to perplexing controversy, for there were no authentic records of the numbers of the people, or the value of their trade. Reserving the subject for further consideration the congress adjourned.

The discussion led the members to exaggerate the population of their respective colonies; and the aggregate of the estimates was made to exceed three millions. Few of them possessed accurate materials; Virginia and the Carolinas had never enumerated the woodsmen among the mountains and beyond them. From returns which were but in part accessible to the congress, it appears that the whole number of white inhabitants in all the thirteen colonies was, in 1774, about two millions one hundred thousand; of blacks, about five hundred thousand; the total population very nearly two millions six hundred thousand.

At the opening of the next day's session, a long and deep silence prevailed. Every one feared the responsibility of a decision which was to influence permanently the relations of independent states. The voice of Virginia was waited for, and was heard through Patrick Henry.

Making a recital of the wrongs inflicted on the colonies by acts of parliament, he declared that all

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government was dissolved; that they were reduced CHAP. to a state of nature; that the congress then assembled was but the first in a never ending succession of 1774. congresses; that their present decision would form a precedent. Asserting the necessity of union and his own determination to submit to the opinion of the majority, he discussed the mischiefs of an unequal representation, the advantage of a system that should give each colony its just weight; and he breathed the "hope that future ages would quote their proceedings with applause." The democratical part of the constitution, he insisted, must be preserved in its purity. Without absolutely refusing some regard in the adjustment of representation to the opulence of a colony as marked by its exports and imports, he yet himself spoke for a representation of men. "Slaves," said he, "are to be thrown out of the question; if the freemen can be represented according to their numbers, I am satisfied." To the objection that such a representation would confer an undue preponderance on the more populous states, he replied, "British oppression has effaced the boundaries of the several colonies; the distinctions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American." "A compound of numbers and property," said Lynch, of South Carolina, "should determine the weight of the colonies." But he admitted that such a rule could not then be settled. In the same spirit spoke the elder Rutledge. "We have," said he, "no legal authority; and obedience to the measures we adopt will only follow their reasonableness, apparent utility, and necessity. We have no

CHAP. coercive authority. Our constituents are bound only XI. in honor to observe our determinations." "I cannot

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see any way of voting but by colonies," said Gadsden. "Every colony," insisted Ward, of Rhode Island, "should have an equal vote. The counties of Virginia are unequal in point of wealth and numbers, yet each has a right to send two members to its legislature. We come, if necessary, to make a sacrifice of our all, and by such a sacrifice the weakest will suffer as much as the greatest." Harrison, of Virginia, spoke strongly on the opposite side, and was "very apprehensive, that if such a disrespect should be put upon his countrymen, as that Virginia should have no greater weight than the smallest colony, they would never be seen at another convention." But his menace of disunion showed only how little he understood the heart of the Ancient Dominion; and he was at once rebuked by his colleagues. Though a representation equal to the importance of each colony, were ever so just," said Richard Henry Lee, "the delegates from the several colonies are unprepared with materials to settle that equality." Bland, of Virginia, saw no safety but in voting by colonies. "The question," he added, "is, whether the rights and liberties of America shall be contended for, or given up to arbitrary power." Pendleton acquiesced, yet wished the subject might be open for reconsideration, when proper materials should have been obtained.

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This opinion prevailed, and it was resolved that, in taking questions, each colony should have one voice; but the journal adds as the reason, that "the