Who has given us a most striking picture of this debating assembly? Who was then president of Congress? Of what town? Boston. What character is represented as being then on the floor? How does the objector commence ? ed not at independence. But there's a Divinity which shapes our ends. The injustice of England has driven us to arms; and blinded to her own interest for our good, she has obstinately persisted, till independence is now within our grasp. We have but to reach forth to it, and it is ours. Why then should we defer the declaration? Is any man so weak, as now to hope for a reconciliation with England, which shall leave either safety to the country and its liberties, or safety to his own life and his own honor? Are not you, Sir, who sit in that chair, is not he, our venerable colleague near you, are you not both already the proscribed and predestined objects of punishment and of vengeance? Cut off from all hope of Royal clemency, what are you, what can you be, while the power of England remains, but outlaws? If we postpone independence, do we mean to carry on, or to give up, the war? Do we mean to submit, to the measures of parliament, Boston Port Bill and all? Do we mean to submit, and consent, that we ourselves shall be ground to powder, and our country and its rights trodden down in the dust? I know we do not mean to submit. We never shall submit. Do we intend to violate that most solemn obligation ever entered into by men, that plighting before God, of our sacred honor to Washington, when putting him forth to incur the dan + Samuel Adams. What does he represent our con dition, if Britain should be suc cessful? What powers did we need to resist the arm of England? On whose constancy, did the ob jector think, they could not rely? Whose sympathy, was he afraid of losing, in case of declaring independence? gers of war, as well as the political hazards of the times, we promised to adhere to him, in every extremity, with our fortunes and our lives? I know, there is not a man here, who would not rather see a conflagration sweep over the land, or an earthquake sink it, than one jot or tittle of that plighted faith fall to the ground. For myself, having, 12 months ago, in this place, moved you, that George Washington be appointed commander of the forces, raised or to be raised, for defence of American liberty, may my right hand forget her cunning, and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I hesitate or waver, in the support I give him. The war, then, must go on. We must fight it through. And if the war must go on, why put off longer the Declaration of Independence? That measure will strengthen us. It will give us character abroad. The nations will then treat with us, which they never can do, while we acknowledge ourselves subjects, in arms against our sovereign. Nay, I maintain, that England herself, will sooner treat for peace with us on the footing of Independence, than consent by repealing her acts, to acknowledge, that her whole conduct towards us has been a course of injustice and oppression. Her pride will be less wounded, by submitting to that course of things, which now predestinates our independence, than by yielding the points in controversy to her rebellious subjects. The former she 1 What, was he afraid, would be established over posterity? What did he fear for the members of Congress? Who is represented as replying to these objections? First sentence of A.'s reply? Whose injustice drove us to arms ? What obligation did he caution them against violating? would regard as the result of fortune; the latter she would feel as her own deep disgrace. Why then, why then, Sir, do we not as soon as possible, change this from a civil to a national war? And since we must fight it through, why not put ourselves in a state to enjoy all the benefits of victory, if we gain the victory? 'If we fail, it can be no worse for us. But we shall not fail. The cause will raise up armies; the cause will create navies. The people, the people, if we are true to them, will carry us, and will carry themselves, gloriously through this struggle. I care not, how fickle other people have been found. I know the people of these colonies; and I know, that resistance to British aggression is deep and settled in their hearts, and cannot be eradicated. Every colony, indeed, has expressed its willingness to follow, if we but take the lead. Sir, the declaration will inspire the people with increased courage. Instead of a long and bloody war for restoration of privileges, for redress of grievances, for chartered communities, held under a British king, set before them the glorious object of entire independence, and it will breathe into them anew the breath of life. Read this declaration at the head of the army; every sword will be drawn from its scabbard, and the solemn vow uttered, to maintain it, or to perish on the bed of honor. Publish it from the pul Who had made the motion for Washington's appointment? What, did A. say, must go on? Why was independence thought desirable in relation to other ňations to England? What comfort did he draw, when he considered the possibility of failure? What more did he say of failure? pit; religion will approve it, and the love of religious liberty will cling round it, resolved to stand with it, or fall with it. Send it to the public halls; proclaim it there; let them hear it, who heard the first roar of the enemy's cannon; let them see it, who saw their brothers and their sons fall on the field of Bunker Hill, and in the streets of Lexington and Concord, and the very walls will cry out in its support. 'Sir, I know the uncertainty of human affairs; but I see, I see clearly, through this day's business. You and I, indeed, may rue it. We may not live to the time, when this declaration shall be made good. We may die; die colonists; die slaves; die, it may be, ignominiously, and on the scaffold. Be it so. Be it so. If it be the pleasure of Heaven, that my country shall require the poor offering of my life, the victim shall be ready, at the appointed hour of sacrifice, come when that hour may. But while I do live, let me have a country, or at least the hope of a country, and that a free country. 'But whatever may be our fate, be assured, be assured, that this declaration will stand. It may cost treasure; and it may cost blood; but it will stand; and it will richly compensate for both. Through the thick gloom of the present, I see the brightness of the future, as the sun in heaven. We shall make this a glorious, an immorta. day When we are in our graves, our children will honor it. They will celebrate it, with thanksgiving, with festivity, with bonfires, and illuminations. On its annual return, they will shed tears, copious, gushing tears, not of subjection and slavery, not of agony and distress, but of exultation, of gratitude, and of joy. Sir, before God, I believe the hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I hope, in this life, I am now ready here to stake upon it; and I leave off, as I begun, that live or die, survive or perish, I am for the declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God, it shall be my dying sentiment; independence, now; and INDE independence would be afterwards regarded? What was he willing to stake upon independence? How did he conclude? Of what, may these speeches be considered as exhibiting a specimen? Of the views and feelings of many others. What part of the people were then opposed to independence? the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station, to which the laws of nature and 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 separa tion. We hold these truths to be selfevident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien able rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed · and whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its founOn the 4th of July, the whole dation on such principles, and orDeclaration received the final ap-ganizing its powers in such form, probation and sanction of Congress. With this declaration, drawn by the pen of Mr. Jefferson, every American citizen should be familiarly acquainted. It is what Mr. Webster happily calls it, THE PENDENCE FOREVER.' TITLE-DEED OF THEIR LIBER TIES. Declaration of Independence. 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 as to them, shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence indeed will dictate, that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms, to which they are accustomed: but when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it Probably not more than one tenth. When did the Declaration of Independence receive the sanction of Congress? By whom was the Declaration drafted? What does Mr. Webster call it ? When colonies declare themselves independent, what requires them to publish the reasons? is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity, which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations; 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. He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation, till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other laws, for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the rights of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose, obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power. He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction, foreign to our constitution, and unacknowl What is the duty of a people, who have long suffered the abuses and usurpations of government? What had then been the history of George III. in relation to these colonies? To what kind of laws, had he refused his assent ? Why had he repeatedly dissolved representative Houses? On what, had he made judges dependent ? edged by our laws, giving his assent Why had he erected new offices and sent over many officers? How had he endangered our liberties in times of peace ? What power had he attempted to render superior to civil power? To what jurisdiction, had he combined with others, to subject us? With whom, had he combined? His ministers and parliament. Can you mention the objects of He is at this time, transporting to their pretended acts of legisla-large armies of foreign mercenaries, tion : For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders, which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states: For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: For imposing taxes on us without our consent: For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefit of trial by jury: For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarg ing its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies: For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments: For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated government nere, by declaring us out of his tection, and waging war against us. pro He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions. In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress, in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act, which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature, to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us; we have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement |