Founding America: Documents from the Revolution to the Bill of Rights

by Jack N. Rakove (editor)

  Still, well into the spring of 1776 many American moderates continued to hope that the British government would come to its senses and send commissioners empowered to negotiate in good faith. Only in April and May did this hope finally begin to fade. Numerous communities began approving resolutions calling for a declaration of independence, and soon the provincial conventions followed suit. Acting on instructions from the Virginia provincial convention, Richard Henry Lee presented Congress with resolutions calling for the appointment of separate committees to draft a declaration of independence, articles of confederation, and a plan for negotiating treaties with potential foreign allies.

  The best summary of these debates within Congress was compiled by Thomas Jefferson, the young Virginian with the quick pen who found himself tasked with being the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. If he’d had his druthers, Jefferson would have been back in Virginia, working on the state constitution. Instead, his fellow committeemen—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and John Jay—decided he was the best man to draft the Declaration. Like any author, he was disappointed with the changes Congress made in his text. But many commentators believe these changes were for the better.

  The critical decision that Congress faced, however, involved the simple fact of independence, not the wording of the Declaration. That was why John Adams, perhaps the leading advocate of independence within Congress, thought July 2 (when Congress approved independence in principle) would be remembered as the great day. Down to the end, a few delegates continued to believe that the formal decision could wait. The leading opponent of independence was John Dickinson. Since 1775, he had been the most important moderate in Congress, and though never wavering in his support of American rights, he remained committed to the idea of reconciliation. Thus even while Dickinson chaired the committee drafting articles of confederation, he hoped to persuade Congress to defer a decision. Failing to do so, he left Congress, sacrificing much of the reputation he had earned as a leading advocate of American rights since the 1760s.

  —Thomas Jefferson—

  NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS

  JUNE 7-28,1776

  IN CONGRESS. [JUNE 7-28, 1776]

  FRIDAY JUNE 7. 1776. The Delegates from Virginia moved in obedience to instructions from their constituents that the Congress should declare that these United colonies are & of right ought to be free & independant 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 & ought to be totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be formed to bind the colonies more closely together.

  The house being obliged to attend at that time to some other business, the proposition was referred to the next day when the members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o’clock.

  Saturday June 8. They proceeded to take it into consideration and referred it to a committee of the whole, into which they immediately resolved themselves, and passed that day & Monday the 10th in debating on the subject.

  It was argued by Wilson, Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutlege, Dickinson and others

  That tho’ they were friends to the measures themselves, and saw the impossibility that we should ever again be united with Gr. Britain, yet they were against adopting them at this time:

  That the conduct we had formerly observed was wise & proper now, of deferring to take any capital step till the voice of the people drove us into it:

  That they were our power, & without them our declarations could not be carried into effect:

  That the people of the middle colonies (Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylva., the Jersies & N. York) were not yet ripe for bidding adieu to British connection but that they were fast ripening & in a short time would join in the general voice of America:

  That the resolution entered into by this house on the 15th of May for suppressing the exercise of all powers derived from the crown, had shewn, by the ferment into which it had thrown these middle colonies, that they had not yet accomodated their minds to a separation from the mother country:

  That some of them had expressly forbidden their delegates to consent to such a declaration, and others had given no instructions, & consequently no powers to give such consent:

  That if the delegates of any particular colony had no power to declare such colony independant, certain they were the others could not declare it for them; the colonies being as yet perfectly independant of each other:

  That the assembly of Pennsylvania was now sitting above stairs, their convention would sit within a few days, the convention of New York was now sitting, & those of the Jersies & Delaware counties would meet on the Monday following & it was probable these bodies would take up the question of Independance & would declare to their delegates the voice of their state:

  That if such a declaration should now be agreed to, these delegates mustretire & possibly their colonies might secede from the Union:

  That such a secession would weaken us more than could be compensated by any foreign alliance:

  That in the event of such a division, foreign powers would either refuse to join themselves to our fortunes, or having us so much in their power as that desperate declaration would place us, they would insist on terms proportionably more hard & prejudicial:

  That we had little reason to expect an alliance with those to whom alone as yet we had cast our eyes:

  That France & Spain had reason to be jealous of that rising power which would one day certainly strip them of all their American possessions :

  That it was more likely they should form a connection with the British court, who, if they should find themselves unable otherwise to extricate themselves from their difficulties, would agree to a partition of our territories, restoring Canada to France, & the Floridas to Spain, to accomplish for themselves a recovery of these colonies:

  That it would not be long before we should receive certain information of the disposition of the French court, from the agent whom we had sent to Paris for that purpose:

  That if this disposition should be favourable, by waiting the event of the present campaign, which we all hoped would be succesful, we should have reason to expect an alliance on better terms:

  That this would in fact work no delay of any effectual aid from such ally, as, from the advance of the season & distance of our situation, it was impossible we could receive any assistance during this campaign:

  That it was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on which we would form alliance, before we declared we would form one at all events:

  And that if these were agreed on & our Declaration of Independance ready by the time our Ambassadour should be prepared to sail, it would be as well, as to go into that Declaration at this day.

  On the other side it was urged by J. Adams, Lee, Wythe and others

  That no gentleman had argued against the policy or the right of separation from Britain, nor had supposed it possible we should ever renew our connection: that they had only opposed it’s being now declared:

  That the question was not whether, by a declaration of independance, we should make ourselves what we are not; but whether we should declare a fact which already exists:

  That as to the people or parliament of England, we had alwais been independant of them, their restraints on our trade deriving ef ficacy from our acquiescence only & not from any rights they possessed of imposing them, & that so far our connection had been federal only, & was now dissolved by the commencement of hostilities :

  That as to the king, we had been bound to him by allegiance, but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the late act of parliament, by which he declares us out of his protection, and by his levying war on us, a fact which had long ago proved us out of his protection; it being a certain position in law that allegiance & protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is withdrawn:

  That James the IId never de
clared the people of England out of his protection yet his actions proved it & the parliament declared it:

  No delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of declaring an existent truth:

  That the delegates from the Delaware counties having declared their constituents ready to join, there are only two colonies Pennsylvania & Maryland whose delegates are absolutely tied up, and that these had by their instructions only reserved a right of confirming or rejecting the measure:

  That the instructions from Pennsylvania might be accounted for from the times in which they were drawn, near a twelvemonth ago, since which the face of affairs has totally changed:

  That within that time it had become apparent that Britain was determined to accept nothing less than a carte blanche, and that the king’s answer to the Lord Mayor, Aldermen & common council of London, which had come to hand four days ago, must have satisfied every one of this point:

  That the people wait for us to lead the way

  That they are in favour of the measure, tho’ the instructions given by some of their representatives are not:

  That the voice of the representatives is not alwais consonant with the voice of the people, and that this is remarkeably the case in these middle colonies:

  That the effect of the resolution of the 15th of May has proved this, which, raising the murmurs of some in the colonies of Pennsylvania & Maryland, called forth the opposing voice of the freer part of the people, & proved them to be the majority, even in these colonies:

  That the backwardness of these two colonies might be ascribed partly to the influence of proprietary power & connections, & partly to their having not yet been attacked by the enemy:

  That these causes were not likely to be soon removed, as there seemed no probability that the enemy would make either of these the seat of this summer’s war:

  That it would be vain to wait either weeks or months for perfect unanimity, since it was impossible that all men should ever become of one sentiment on any question:

  That the conduct of some colonies from the beginning of this contest, had given reason to suspect it was their settled policy to keep in the rear of the confederacy, that their particular prospect might be better even in the worst event:

  That therefore it was necessary for those colonies who had thrown themselves forward & hazarded all from the beginning, to come forward now also, and put all again to their own hazard:

  That the history of the Dutch revolution, of whom three states only confederated at first proved that a secession of some colonies would not be so dangerous as some apprehended:

  That a declaration of Independance alone could render it consistent with European delicacy for European powers to treat with us, or even to receive an Ambassador from us:

  That till this they would not receive our vessels into their ports, nor acknowlege the adjudications of our courts of Admiralty to be legitimate, in cases of capture of British vessels:

  That tho’ France & Spain may be jealous of our rising power, they must think it will be much more formidable with the addition of Great Britain; and will therefore see it their interest to prevent a coalition ; but should they refuse, we shall be but where we are; whereas without trying we shall never know whether they will aid us or not:

  That the present campaign may be unsuccessful, & therefore we had better propose an alliance while our affairs wear a hopeful aspect :

  That to wait the event of this campaign will certainly work delay, because during this summer France may assist us effectually by cutting off those supplies of provisions from England & Ireland on which the enemy’s armies here are to depend; or by setting in motion the great power they have collected in the West Indies, & calling our enemy to the defence of the possessions they have there:

  That it would be idle to lose time in settling the terms of alliance, till we had first determined we would enter into alliance:

  That it is necessary to lose no time in opening a trade for our people, who will want clothes, and will want money too for the paiment of taxes:

  And that the only misfortune is that we did not enter into alliance with France six months sooner, as besides opening their ports for the vent of our last year’s produce, they might have marched an army into Germany and prevented the petty princes there from selling their unhappy subjects to subdue us.

  It appearing in the course of these debates that the colonies of N. York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland & South Carolina were not yet matured for falling from the parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state, it was thought most prudent to wait a while for them, and to postpone the final decision to July 1. but that this might occasion as little delay as possible, a committee was appointed to prepare a declaration of independance. the Commee. were J. Adams, Dr. Franklin, Roger Sherman, Robert R. Livingston & myself. committees were also appointed at the same time to prepare a plan of confederation for the colonies, and to state the terms proper to be proposed for foreign alliance. the committee for drawing the Declaration of Independance desired me to do it.it was accordingly done and being approved by them, I reported it to the house on Friday the 28th of June when it was read and ordered to lie on the table.

  —Thomas Jefferson—

  NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS

  [INCLUDING JEFFERSON’S DRAFT OF THE

  DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE WITH DELETIONS

  AND ADDITIONS INDICATED]

  JULY 1_4 1776

  [JULY 1-4, 1776]

  ON MONDAY THE 1ST of july the house resolved itself into a commee. of the whole & resumed the consideration of the original motion made by the delegates of Virginia, which being again debated through the day, was carried in the affirmative by the votes of N. Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusets, Rhode island, N. Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, N. Carolina, & Georgia. S. Carolina and Pennsylvania voted against it. Delaware having but two members present, they were divided: the delegates for New York declared they were for it themselves, & were assured their constituents were for it, but that their instructions having been drawn near a twelve-month before, when reconciliation was still the general object, they were enjoined by them to do nothing which should impede that object. They therefore thought themselves not justifiable in voting on either side, and asked leave to withdraw from the question, which was given them. The Commee. rose & reported their resolution to the house. Mr. Rutlege of S. Carolina then requested the determination might be put off to the next day, as he believed his collegues, tho’ they disapproved of the resolution, would then join in it for the sake of unanimity. The ultimate question whether the house would agree to the resolution of the committee was accordingly postponed to the next day, when it was again moved and S. Carolina concurred in voting for it. In the mean time a third member had come post from the Delaware counties and turned the vote of that colony in favour of the resolution. Members of a different sentiment attending that morning from Pennsylvania also, their vote was changed, so that the whole 12 colonies, who were authorized to vote at all, gave their voices for it; and within a few days the convention of N. York approved of it and thus supplied the void occasioned by the withdrawing of their delegates from the vote.

  Congress proceeded the same day to consider the declaration of Independance, which had been reported & laid on the table the Friday preceding, and on Monday referred to a commee. of the whole. The pusillanimous idea that we had friends in England worth keeping terms with, still haunted the minds of many. For this reason those passages which conveyed censures on the people of England were struck out, lest they should give them offence. The clause too, reprobating the enslaving the inhabitants of Africa, was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina & Georgia, who had never attempted to restrain the importation of slaves, and who on the contrary still wished to continue it. Our Northern brethren also I believe felt a little tender under those censures; for tho’ their people have very few slaves themselves yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others. The debates h
aving taken up the greater parts of the 2d 3d & 4th days of July were, in the evening of the last closed. The declaration was reported by the commee., agreed to by the house, and signed by every member present except Mr. Dickinson. As the sentiments of men are known not only by what they receive, but what they reject also, I will state the form of the declaration as originally reported. The parts struck out by Congress shall be distinguished by a black line drawn under them; & those inserted by them shall be placed in the margin or in a concurrent column.

  A Declaration by the representatives of the United States of America, in12 Congress assembled

  When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate & equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

  We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with [certain]13 cnt and inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness: that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, & to institute new government, laying it’s foundation on such principles, & organising it’s powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety & happiness. Prudence indeed will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light & transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are suf ferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses & usurpations begun at a distinguished period and pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government, & to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; & such is now the necessity which constrains them to [alter] age their former systems of government. the history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of [repeated] unremitting injuries & usurpations, among[all having] in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. to prove this let facts be submitted to a candid world for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.