In September 1774, Congress met in Philadelphia and dispatched a petition to the king asking a return to the political status of 1763, which the colonists felt to be the true constitutional division of imperial and provincial power. It also urged that the colonists abide by the rules of the proposed association, whose provisions forbade the importation of British goods. A Declaration of Rights and Grievances, an ultimatum stating the American position, was also drafted. Finally, after providing for another Congress the following year, the members adjourned.
Within the year, however, war had been precipitated. William Pitt and Edmund Burke in Parliament had urged conciliation, but the majority in England felt that the revolutionary movement in America was led by radicals who were really asking for a return to non-enforcement of law; hence they supported the king, who urged General Thomas Gage (leader of the British Army in America and Governor of Massachusetts) to be firm.
When Gage tried to seize Samuel Adams and John Hancock as rebel ringleaders and to destroy colonial military stores, the quarrel broke into open conflict, and the “shots heard ’round the world” were fired on Lexington Green and Concord Bridge. Thereupon, militia from New England flocked to Boston, and , although driven from one height in the Battle of Bunker Hill, they harried the British and threatened their hold on Boston by fortifying the surrounding hills. The die was cast. About one-third of the colonists had forced the war. Another third hoped for conciliation. The remaining third was indifferent to the controversy before the war, and stayed aloof during the actual fighting.
The Second Continental Congress met on May 10, 1775. It recognized that a state of war existed by appointing George Washington commander in chief of the colonial army, and by issuing a “Declaration of Causes for Taking up Arms.”
Conservative Groups in America were slow to support any movement toward separation. Such a step meant severing the sentimental ties to the mother-country, and economic interests dictated hesitation. Not only would commercial privileges within the empire be lost, but there was a danger that the resulting revolution might bring on anarchy or military rule, more to be feared than parliamentary taxation. The Whigs in England tended to support the liberal demands of the colonies and to aid them in reducing the royal power. However, patriotism and the whole background of the mercantile system, which would keep the colonies subservient to England, influenced the majority of Parliament (perhaps as much as royal patronage) to vote support for the war. Lagging enlistments forced the English government to adopt the common practice of purchasing the services of soldiers from other countries; the ruler of the German principality of Hesse supplied England with mercenaries.
In the colonies, resentment against this hiring of Hessians, as well as the reputed incitement of Indians on the frontier, added fuel to the revolutionary propaganda being poured out. Press and pulpit recited tales of British spoliation of American territory. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense and John Dickinson’s Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer were two of the more influential pamphlets published.
By July 1, 1776, representatives of nine states in Congress were ready to support a resolution of independence. Later the vote was unanimous, and on July 4th a formal declaration was adopted. Thomas Jefferson prepared the document which asserted the principle earlier developed by John Locke–that men have certain inalienable rights. This was followed by a list of acts of the king in opposition to these rights. Finally appeared the statement that hence “these colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”
Happy Independence Day!
John Trumbull’s Declaration of Independence
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