Patriot of The American Revolution

October 21, 2010 [The Patriots of the American Revolution]
The Patriots
of the
American Revolution
Compiled and Edited by
Akm Fakhrul Islam

New York, USA
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Preface:
This is a research work
on the Patriots of the American Revolution.
If any mistakes on my research works as well
as compilations and editions,
have caught in the eyes of the excellent
scholars and readers of the USA
or all over the world,
are earnestly requested to feel free
to write me with any authentic information
so that I could be included them for the
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The Top Patriots for the Liberation of America
George Washington Lafayette Thomas Jefferson Samuel Adams
Benjamin Franklin John Hancock Joseph Warren Paul Revere
John Adams Alexander Hamilton Nathan Hale Nathaniel Bacon
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John Jay General John Sullivan

General Israel Putnam Nathanael Greene
Roger Sherman John Dickinson Robert Morris

John Rutledge
General St. Clair "Mad Anthony" Wayne Molly Pitcher Thomas Paine
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General Benjamin Thomas Sumter John Paul Jones Francis Marion

Lincoln
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Chapter 1
George Washington
The top most Patriot and The First President
of the United States of America
1. George Washington's Biography;

2. Pictures of George Washington;
3. George Washington Quotes;
4. George Washington's Early Years;
5. George Washington's First Inauguration;
6. George Washington's Second Inauguration;
7. George Washington's Letters to Churches;
8. George Washington's Legacy;
9. Washington's Letters on the Constitution
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Washington, GEORGE, "Father of His Country"; born on Pope's Creek, Westmoreland Co.,
Virginia, February 22, 1732; was descended from an old and titled English family; and was the
eldest child of his father's second wife, Mary Ball. Soon after Washington's birth, the family
moved to an estate in Stafford county. The plain farmhouse in which they lived overlooked the
Rappahannock River. There Washington's father died, when the former was about ten years of
age, leaving a plantation to each of his sons. The task of the education and guidance of the
future leader through the dangers of youthhood devolved upon his mother. So judicious was her
training that Washington, through life, remembered her affectionate care with profound
gratitude. He received a common English education, and upon that foundation his naturally
thoughtful and right-conditioned mind, with the cardinal virtues of truth, integrity, and justice,
was built the structure of his greatness. He was always beloved by his young companions, and
was invariably chosen the leader in their military plays.
He had a desire, at the age of fourteen years, to become a seaman, but was dissuaded from
embarking by his mother. When he was seventeen years of age he had become one of the
most accurate land surveyors in Virginia. He was appointed public surveyor at the age of
eighteen. In pursuit of his profession, he learned much of woodcraft and the topography of the
country; also of the habits of the Indians in the camp and on the warpath. These were useful
lessons, of great value to him later in life. At the age of nineteen, young Washington was
appointed an adjutant-general of the militia of a district, with the rank of major, but soon
afterwards resigned to accompany his invalid half-brother, Lawrence, to Barbadoes, where
George had the small-pox. His brother soon afterwards died, and by his will George became
heir to the fine estate of Mount Vernon.
In 1753 he was sent on a delicate mission, by the governor of Virginia, to the commander of the
French forces making encroachments on the English domain, and performed the duties with
great credit, for which he was thanked by the Virginia legislature. So highly were his character
and services valued, that when, in 1755,
General Braddock came to make war on the
French, Washington was chosen his principal
aide-de-camp. After the defeat of Braddock (see
BRADDOCK, EDWARD), he directed the retreat
of the vanquished troops with great skill. At the
age of twenty-seven he married the young
widow Custis (see WASHINGTON, MARTHA),
and they took up their abode at Mount Vernon,
where he pursued the business of a farmer until
1774, when he was chosen to a seat in the
Virginia legislature. He was also chosen a
delegate to the first Continental Congress, and
was a delegate the following year, when, in
June, he was appointed commander-in-chief of
the Continental armies. For eight years
Washington directed the feeble armies of the
revolted colonies in their struggle for
independence. At the return of peace he
surrendered his commission into the hands of
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Congress, who gave it to him, and retired to private life at Mount Vernon, at the close of 1783.
During all the national perplexities after the return of peace, incident to financial
embarrassments and an imperfect system of government, Washington was still regarded as the
public leader; and when the convention that formed the national Constitution assembly at
Philadelphia, in 1787, he was there, a delegate from Virginia, and was chosen to preside over
that body. When, under that Constitution, a President of the republic was to be chosen, all eyes
were turned towards him as the fittest man for the place, and he was elected by the unanimous
voice of the people. He presided over the affairs of the new nation eight years with great
wisdom and fidelity, and with great skill and sagacity assisted in laying the permanent
foundations of the republic. His administration embraced the most critical and eventful portion of
our history before the Civil War. A new government had to be organized, without any model to
follow, and to guide the ship of state through dangerous seas required a loftiness of character in
the pilot and commander seldom found, but Washington was equal to the requirements of his
position, and he retired from public life without the least stain of merited reproach upon his
intentions or his judgment. In the enjoyment of domestic happiness at Mount Vernon, for about
three years, he was regarded more and more as the great and good man. Suddenly, on
December 14, 1799, the nation was called upon to mourn his death, after an illness of about
twenty-four hours. his last words were, " It is well."
George Washington on his Death Bed
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The mother of Washington, Mary Ball, was the daughter of Colonel W. Ball, to whom his father
was married in March, 1730. George was their first-born of six children. With these she was left
a widow when her eldest child was little more than ten years of age. In the latter years of her life
she lived in Fredericksburg, in a modest house, on the northwest corner of Charles and Lewis
streets. There she died, and was buried a short distance from Fredericksburg, near a ledge of
rocks, to which she often resorted for meditation, and which she had selected as her burial-
place years before her death. Over the grave stands an unfinished monument of white marble.
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Mary Washington
The Mother of George Washington
Washington, MARY, mother of George Washington. She is believed to have been a
lineal descendant of John Ball, the mediaeval champion of the rights of man, who was
executed at Coventry in the
year 1381 for participating in
Wat Tyler's rebellion. Colonel
William Ball, a native of Kent,
came from England with his
family about the year 1650,
and settled in Lancaster
county, Virginia, where he died
in 1659, leaving two sons,
William and Joseph, and one
daughter, Hannah. William left
eight sons and one daughter,
Mary, who was born in the year
1706. Joseph Ball was a well-
to-do planter on the
Rappahannock River, a
vestryman of Christ Church in
Lancaster. He was
commissioned colonel by
Governor Alexander
Spottswoode, and was known
as Colonel Ball, of Lancaster,
to distinguish him from another
Colonel Ball, his cousin.
When Mary Ball was about

seventeen years of age she
wrote to her brother in England on family matters a letter which is still in existence, the
conclusion of which is as follows: "We have not had a school-master in our
neighborhood until now (January 14, 1728) in nearly four years. We have now a young
master living with us, who was educated at Oxford, took orders, and came over as
assistant to Reverend Kemp, of Gloucester. That parish is too poor to keep both, and he
teaches school for his board. He teaches sister Susie and me and Madam Carter's boy
and two other scholars. I am now learning pretty fast. Mamma, Susie, and I all send
love to you and Mary. This letter from your loving sister, Mary Ball."
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Mary Ball married Augustine Washington in 1730. Their first child was George
Washington, who, when seventeen years of age, wrote the following memorandum in
his mother's Bible: "George Washington, son to Augustine and Mary, his wife, was born
the eleventh day of February, 1731-32, about ten in the morning, and was baptized the
3d of April following. Mr. Beverley Whiting and Captain Christopher Brooks, god-fathers,
and Mrs. Mildred Gregory, god-mother."
Early in April, 1743, Augustine Washington rode several hours in a cold rain storm,
became chilled, and died of fever on the 12th of the month, aged forty-nine years,
leaving an ample estate for his widow and children; and directing that the proceeds of
all the property of Mrs. Washington's children should be at her disposal until they had
attained their majority. Mrs. Washington managed the estate with great judgment. The
marriage of George Washington to Mrs. Custis made his mother very happy. The social
position, the fortune, and the lovely character of his bride were extremely satisfactory to
her. The assurance that her eldest son was now settled for life not far from his mother,
where she might enjoy his society and consult with him about her affairs, was a great
comfort.
Mary Washington Monument at Fredericksburg, Virginia
At the outbreak of the French and Indian War, Washington persuaded his mother to
leave her exposed house on the Rappahannock, and remove to Fredericksburg, where
she continued to live until her death, August 25, 1789. In 1894, through the
instrumentality of the National Mary Washington Memorial Association, a monument
was erected in honor of her memory at Fredericksburg, Va. The shaft rises from a
pedestal 11 feet square, and carries the following inscription: " Mary, the Mother of
Washington. Erected by her Countrywomen."
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Martha Washington
The wife of George Washington
Washington, MARTHA, wife of George

Washington; born in New Kent county, Virginia,
in May, 1732. Her maiden name was Dandridge,
and at the age of seventeen years she married
Daniel Parke Custis, son of one of the King's
council for Virginia. At his death she was left
with two children and a large fortune, and dwelt
at his mansion, known as the White House, in
New Kent county, until her marriage with
Colonel Washington in January, 1759. Soon
after their marriage they took up their abode at
Mount Vernon, on the Potomac. She was a very
beautiful woman, a little below the medium size,
elegant in person, her eyes dark and expressive
of the most kindly goodnature, her complexion
fair, and her whole face beamed with
intelligence. Her temper, though quick, was
sweet and placable, and her manners were
extremely winning. She loved the society of her
friends, always dressed with scrupulous regard
to the requirements of the best fashions of the
day, and was in every respect a brilliant member
of the social circles which, before the
Revolution, composed the vice-regal court at the
old Virginia capital. During the Revolutionary
War she usually spent the winter months at the
headquarters of her husband; and after the war
she received with grace and dignity, as the head
of the household of the great patriot, the
numerous distinguished guests who thronged to
Mount Vernon. One of her two children died just
as she was blossoming into womanhood; the
other, a son, was aide-de-camp to Washington
during the war. He died in October, 1781,
leaving two children - a son and a daughter -
whom Washington adopted as his own.
On Dec. 11, 1775, Mrs. Washington arrived at

Cambridge, accompanied by her son, John
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Parke Custis, and his wife. She was very hospitably received and welcomed by the most
distinguished families in Massachusetts. The army hailed her presence on this, as on all other
occasions, with enthusiasm. She was urged to make the visit and spend some time at
headquarters by two motives - one, affection for her husband; and another, because of
apprehensions of danger at Mount Vernon on account of the operations of Lord Dunmore. She
remained in Cambridge until Howe evacuated Boston. Washington's headquarters there were in
the fine mansion that was for many years the residence of Longfellow, the poet.
The people showed affectionate regard for Mrs. Washington, as the wife of the first President,
when she journeyed from Mount Vernon to
New York to join her husband there after the
inauguration. She left Mount Vernon in her
chaise on May 19, 1789, with her two
grandchildren, George Washington Parke and
Eleanor Parke Custis. She was clothed tidily
in American textile manufactures. She lodged
at Baltimore on the first night of her journey.
When she approached that city she was met
by a cavalcade of gentlemen and escorted
into the town. Fireworks were displayed in her
honor, and a band of music serenaded her in
the evening. When she approached
Philadelphia she was met, 10 miles in the
suburbs, by the governor of the State, the
speaker of the Assembly, a troop of
dragoons, and a large cavalcade of citizens.
Some distance from the city she was
welcomed by a brilliant company of women in
carriages. She was escorted by these
gentlemen and ladies to Gray's Ferry, on the
Schuylkill, where they all partook of a
collation; and from that point to the city, Mrs.
Robert Morris occupied a seat by the side of
Mrs. Washington. When the procession entered the city the wife of the President was greeted
with a salute of thirteen guns. She journeyed on to New York. At Elizabethtown Point she was
received by her husband, Robert Morris, and several distinguished gentlemen, in the splendid
barge in which Washington had been conveyed from the same place to New York a month
before. It was manned by thirteen sailors. When the barge approached Whitehall, the landing-
place in New York, crowds of citizens were there assembled, who greeted Mrs. Washington with
cheers, and from the battery nearby the thunder of thirteen cannon gave her a welcome. In all
this there was nothing very extravagant, considering the circumstances. Yet there were sturdy
republicans who viewed the pageantry with suspicion, believing that they saw in this a
foreshowing of monarchical ceremonies. She died at Mount Vernon, Va., in May, 1802.
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The Continental Congress
Continental Congress Appointing George Washington Commander and Chief
Congress, CONTINENTAL. The first Continental Congress assembled in Carpenters'

Hall, Philadelphia, Pa., on Sept. 5, 1774, when eleven of the English-American colonies
were represented by forty-four delegates—namely, two from New Hampshire, four from
Massachusetts, two from Rhode Island, three from Connecticut, five from New York,
five from New Jersey, six from Pennsylvania, three from Delaware, three from
Maryland, six from Virginia, and five from South Carolina. Three deputies from North
Carolina appeared on the 14th. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was chosen president of
the Congress, and Charles Thomson, of Pennsylvania, was appointed secretary. Other
delegates appeared afterwards, making the whole number fifty - four. Each colony had
appointed representatives without any rule as to number, and the grave question at
once presented itself, How shall we vote? It was decided to vote by colonies, each
colony to have one vote, for as yet there were no means for determining the relative
population of each colony.
Patrick Henry, in a speech at the opening of the business of the Congress, struck the
key-note of union by saying, "British oppression has effaced the boundaries of the
several colonies; the distinction between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and New-
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Englanders is no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American." This was the text of
every speech afterwards. It was voted that the session of the Congress should be
opened every morning with prayer, and the Rev. Jacob Duche, of the Protestant
Episcopal Church, was employed as chaplain. There was much difference of opinion
concerning the duties and powers of the Congress, Henry contending that an entirely
new government must be founded ; Jay, that they had not assembled to form a new
government, but as a continental committee of conference, to try to correct abuses in
the old. The members were unanimous in their resolves to support Massachusetts in
resistance to the unconstitutional change in her charter. They appointed a committee to
state the rights of the colonists in general, the several instances in which those rights
had been violated or infringed, and to suggest means for their restoration. Other
committees for various duties were appointed, and at about the middle of September
the Congress was a theatre of warm debates, which took a wide range. On Sept. 20
they adopted a request for the colonies to abstain from commercial intercourse with
Great Britain. They tried to avoid the appearance of revolution while making bold
propositions. Some were radical, some conservative, and some very timid. The tyranny
of Gage in Boston produced much irritation in the Congress; and on Oct. 8, after a short
but spicy debate, it passed the most important resolution of the session, in response to
the Suffolk resolutions, as follows: "That this Congress approve the opposition of the
inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay to the execution of the late acts of Parliament; and if
the same shall be attempted to be carried into execution by force, in such case all
Americans ought to support them in their opposition." Thus the united colonies cast
down the gauntlet of defiance. On the 14th the Congress adopted a Declaration of
Colonial Rights. This was followed on the 20th by the adoption of The American
Association, or general non-importation league. An Address to the People of Great
Britain, written by John Jay, and a memorial To the Inhabitants of the Several British -
American Colonies, from the pen of Richard Henry Lee, were adopted on the 21st. On
the 26th—the last day of the session—a Petition to the King and an Address to the
Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec, or Canada, both drawn by John Dickinson, were
agreed to. A vote of thanks to the friends of the colonists in Parliament was sent to the
colonial agents, with the petition of the King. Having already recommended the holding
of another Continental Congress at Philadelphia on May 10, 1775, this Congress
adjourned in the afternoon of Oct. 26, 1774, and the next day the members started for
home, impressed with the belief that war was inevitable. The actual sessions of the
Congress occupied only thirty-one days. Their proceedings produced a profound
sensation in both hemispheres. The state papers they put forth commanded the
admiration of the leading statesmen of Europe. The King and his ministers were highly
offended, and early in January Lord Dartmouth issued a circular letter to all the royal
governors in America signifying his Majesty's pleasure that they should prevent the
appointment of deputies to another Continental Congress within their respective
governments, and exhort all persons to desist from such proceedings. The members of
the first Continental Congress were cautious concerning the assumption of direct
political authority. They had met as a continental committee of conference. Even the
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American Association, the nearest approach to it, was opposed by Galloway of

Pennsylvania, Duane of New York, and all the South Carolina delegation but two.
The Southern members of the first Continental Congress were disturbed by the clause
in the American Association, then adopted, by which they determined "wholly to
discontinue the slave-trade "; and the paragraph in the Declaration of Independence in
which Jefferson denounced the slave-trade and slavery was rejected by the Congress
of 1776, in deference to the people of South Carolina and Georgia. A few days after the
amended declaration was adopted, in the first debates on a plan for a confederation of
the States, there appeared much antagonism of feeling between the representatives of
the Northern and Southern States, had the immediate abolition of the slave-trade been
insisted upon. Soon after the arrival of Gerard, the first French minister, at Philadelphia,
he wrote (1778) to Vergennes : " The States of the South and of the North, under
existing subjects of estrangement and division, are two distinct parties, which, at
present, count but few deserters. The division is attributed to moral and philosophical
causes."
The sessions of the Continental Congress were opened at the following times and
places: Sept. 5, 1774, Philadelphia; May 10, 1775, ditto; Dec. 20, 1776, Baltimore;
March 4, 1777, Philadelphia; Sept. 27, 1777, Lancaster, Pa.; Sept. 30, 1777, York, Pa.;
July 2, 1778, Philadelphia; June 30, 1783, Princeton, N. J.; Nov. 26, 1783, Annapolis,
Md.; Nov. 1, 1784, Trenton, N. J.; Jan. 11, 1785, New York. This continued to be the
place of meeting from that time until the adoption of the Constitution of the United
States in 1788. From 1781 to 1788 Congress met annually on the first Monday in
November, which time was fixed by the ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION. The
presidents of the Continental Congress were:
Name. Where From. When Elected.

Peyton Randolph Virginia Sept. 5, 1774.
Henry Middleton South Carolina Oct. 2, 1774.
Peyton Randolph Virginia May 10, 1775.
John Hancock Massachusetts May 24, 1775.
Henry Laurens South Carolina Nov. 1, 1777.
John Jay New York Dec. 10, 1778.
Samuel Huntington Connecticut Sept. 28, 1779.
Thomas McKean Delaware July 10, 1781.
John Hanson Maryland Nov. 5, 1781.
Elias Boudinot New Jersey Nov. 4, 1782.
Thomas Mifflin Pennsylvania Nov. 3, 1783.
Richard Henry Lee Virginia Nov. 30, 1784.
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Nathan Gorham Massachusetts June 6, 1786.

Arthur St. Clair Pennsylvania Feb. 2, 1787.
Cyrus Griffin Virginia Jan. 22, 1788.
The colonists had been compelled to take up arms in self-defense. To justify this act,
Congress agreed to a manifesto (July 6, 1775), in which they set forth the causes and
necessity of their taking up arms. After a temperate but spirited preamble, presenting an
historical view of the origin, progress, and conduct of the colonies, and of the measures
of the British government towards them since 1763, they specified the various acts of
Parliaments which were oppressive to the colonies. Having reverted to their fruitless
petition to the throne and remonstrances to Parliament; to the unprovoked attack of
British troops on the inhabitants of Massachusetts at Lexington and Concord; to the
proclamation declaring the people of the colonies to be in a state of rebellion; to the
events at Breed's Hill and the burning of Charles-town, the manifesto proceeded: " Our
cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great, and, if necessary,
foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable." After acknowledging the evidence of
divine favor towards the colonists by not permitting them to be called into this
controversy until they had grown strong and disciplined by experience to defend
themselves, the manifesto most solemnly declared that the colonists, having been
compelled by their enemies to take up arms, they would, in defiance of every hazard, "
with unabating powers and perseverance, employ for the preservation of their liberties
all the means at their command, being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather
than live slaves." Disclaiming all intention of separating from Great Britain and
establishing independent States, they declared that having been forced to take up arms,
they should lay them down when hostilities should cease on the part of the aggressors,
and all danger of their being made slaves should disappear. In that manifesto the united
colonies cast at the feet of their blinded sovereign the gauntlet of defiance.
A petition to the King was adopted and signed by the members of the Congress present
July 8, 1775, in which, after allusion to the oppression the colonists had been subjected
to, they declared their loyalty to the throne. It was taken to England from Philadelphia by
Richard Penn, who delivered it to Lord Dart-mouth. Penn assured him the colonies had
no designs for independence. On the strength of that testimony the Duke of Richmond
moved in the House of Lords that the petition, which had been laid be-fore Parliament,
be made the basis of a conciliation with America. After a warm debate the motion was
rejected, and no further notice was taken of the petition.
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The Second Continental Congress

The second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia May 10, 1775. Peyton Randolph
was chosen president; Charles Thomson, secretary; Andrew McNeare, door-keeper,
and William Shed, messenger. To this Congress all eyes were anxiously turned.
Randolph was soon called to Virginia to attend a session of the Assembly as speaker,
when his seat was temporarily filled by Thomas Jefferson, and his place as president by
John Hancock. On May 25 Georgia was represented in the Continental Congress for
the first time, Lyman Hall having been elected special representative from the parish of
St. Johns and admitted to a seat, but without a vote.
In committee of the whole the Congress considered the state of the colonies. A full
account of recent events in Massachusetts was laid before them; also a letter from the
Congress of that province, asking advice as to the form of government to be adopted
there, and requesting the Continental Congress to assume control of the army at
Cambridge. This second Congress was regarded by the colonists as no longer a
committee of conference, but a provisional government. The first Congress claimed no
political power, though their signatures to the American Association implied as much.
The present Congress, strengthened by the public voice of the colonists, entered at
once upon the exercise of comprehensive authority, in which the functions of supreme
executive, legislative, and sometimes judicial powers were united. These powers had no
fixed limits of action nor formal sanction, except the ready obedience of a large majority
in all the colonies. The committee of the whole reported and the Congress resolved
(May 26) that war had been commenced by Great Britain.
The Congress denied any intention of casting off their allegiance, and expressed an
anxious desire for peace; at the same time voted that the colonies ought to be put in a
position of defense against any attempt to force them to submit to parliamentary
schemes of taxation. Another petition to the King was adopted; and it was resolved that
no provisions ought to be furnished by the colonists to the British army or navy; that no
bills of exchange drawn by British officers ought to be negotiated, and that no colonial
ships ought to be employed in the transportation of British troops. Committees were
appointed to prepare an address to the people of Great Britain and Ireland; also to the
Assembly of Jamaica, and an appeal to the "oppressed inhabitants of Canada." They
also issued a proclamation (June 9) for a day (July 20) of general solemn fasting and
prayer. They resolved that no obedience was due to the late act of Parliament for
subverting the charter of Massachusetts, and advised the Congress of that province to
organize a government in as near conformity to the charter as circumstances would
admit. The Congress adopted the army at Cambridge as a continental one; appointed a
commander-in-chief (June 15), with four major-generals and eight brigadiers; arranged
the rank and pay of officers, and perfected a preliminary organization of the army. They
worked industriously in perfecting a national civil organization and for support of the
military force, authorizing the issue of bills of credit to the amount of $2,000,000, at the
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same time taking pains not to give mortal offence to the British government. But the
inefficiency of the executive powers of Congress was continually apparent. The
sagacious Franklin, seeing the futility of attempting to carry on the inevitable war with
such a feeble instrument, submitted a basis of a form of confederation, similar in some
respects to the one he proposed in convention at ALBANY twenty-one years before. It
was a virtual declaration of independence, but it was not acted upon at that time. The
Congress also established a postal system (July 26, 1775) and appointed Dr. Franklin
postmaster-general. It also established a general hospital, with Dr. Benjamin Church as
chief director. The army before Boston and an expedition for the conquest of Canada
engaged much of the attention of the Congress for the rest of the year.
Late in December, 1776, the Congress, which had fled from Philadelphia and
reassembled at Baltimore, cast aside its hitherto temporizing policy. Up to this time the
Congress had left on their journal the suggestion that a reunion with Great Britain might
be the consequence of a delay in France to declare immediately and explicitly in their
favor. Now they voted to " assure foreign courts that the Congress and people of
America are determined to maintain their independence at all events." It was resolved to
offer treaties of commerce to Prussia, Austria, and Tuscany, and to ask for the
intervention of those powers to prevent Russian or German troops from serving against
the United States. They also drew up a sketch for an offensive alliance with France and
Spain against Great Britain. These measures delighted the more radical members in
Congress and, with the victory at Trenton which immediately followed, inspirited the
people.
The extent and intensity of the struggle of the Continental Congress during the fifteen
years of its existence to maintain its financial credit and carry on the war may never be
known. Enough is known to prove that it involved great personal sacrifices, much
financial ability, unwearied patriotism, and abounding faith in the cause and its ultimate
triumph. As that Congress approached its demise, it addressed itself to a final
settlement of its financial accounts. Since the adoption of the peace establishment,
commencing with 1784, the liabilities incurred by the general government, including two
installments of the French debt, amounted to a little more than $6,000,000, over one-
half of which had been met. Only $1,800,000 of the balance had been paid in by the
States; the remainder had been obtained by three Dutch loans, amounting in the whole
to $1,600,000, a fragment of which remained unexpended. The arrearage of nearly
$8,000,000 consisted of interest on the French debt, and two installments of over-dues.
This indebtedness was passed over to the new government. The accounts of the
quartermaster, commissary, clothing, marine, and hospital departments were either
settled or about to be settled. The accounts of many of the loan offices were unsettled.
There seems to have been much laxity in their management. The papers of the first
Virginia loan office were lost. In South Carolina and Georgia, the loan-office proceeds
had been appropriated to State uses, and from only five States had returns been made.
Out of more than $2,000,000 advanced to the secret committee for foreign affairs prior
to August, 1777, a considerable part remained unaccounted for. The expenditure of full
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one-third of the money borrowed abroad remained unexplained. The Congress was
barely kept alive, for several months before it expired, by the occasional attendance of
one or two members. Among the last entries in its journals by Charles Thomson, its
permanent secretary, was one under date of " Tuesday, Oct. 21, 1788," as follows: "
From the day above mentioned to the 1st of November there attended occasionally,
from New Hampshire, et cetera, many persons from different States. From Nov. 3 to
Jan. 1, 1789, only six persons attended altogether. On that day Reed, of Pennsylvania,
and Bramwell, of South Carolina, were present; and after that only one delegate was
present (each time a different one) on nine different days." The very last record was: "
Monday, March 2. Mr. Philip Pell, from New York." The history of that Congress has no
parallel. At first it was a spontaneous gathering of representative patriots from the
different English-American colonies to consult upon the public good. They boldly
snatched the scepter of political rule from their oppressors, and, assuming imperial
functions, created armies, issued bills of credit, declared the provinces to be
independent States, made treaties with foreign nations, founded an empire, and
compelled their king to acknowledge the States which they represented to be
independent of the British crown. The brilliant achievements of that Congress
astonished the world. Its career was as short as it was brilliant, and its de-cadence
began long before the war for in-dependence had closed. Its mighty efforts had
exhausted its strength. It was smitten with poverty, and made almost powerless by a
loss of its credit. Overwhelmed with debt, a pensioner on the bounty of France, unable
to fulfill treaties it had made, insulted by mutineers, bearded, encroached upon, and
scorned by the State authorities, the Continental Congress sank fast into decrepitude
and contempt. With ungrateful pride, the recipients of its benefits seem not to have felt a
pang of sorrow or uttered a word of regret when the once mighty and beneficent
Continental Congress expired.
20 | P a g e
The Continental Army
The Continental Army, 1776
Continental Army.—On the morning after the affair at Lexington and Concord (April 20,
1775), the Massachusetts Committee of Safety sent a circular letter to all the towns in
the province, saying: " We conjure you, by all that is dear, by all that is sacred; we beg
and entreat you, as you will answer it to your country, to your consciences, and, above
all, to God himself, that you will hasten and arrange, by all possible means, the
enlistment of men to form the army, and send them forward to headquarters at
Cambridge with that expedition which the vast importance and instant urgency of the
affair demands." This call was answered by many people before it reached them. It
21 | P a g e
arose spontaneously out of the depths of their own patriotic hearts. The field, the
workshop, the counter, the desk, and even the pulpit, yielded their' tenants, who hurried
towards Boston. Many did not wait to change their clothes. They took with them neither
money nor food, intent only upon having their firelocks in order. The women on the way
opened wide their doors and hearts for the refreshment and encouragement of the
patriotic volunteers, and very soon all New England was represented at Cambridge in a
motley host of full 20,000 men. On the afternoon of the 20th (April) General Artemas
Ward assumed the chief command of the gathering volunteers. The Provincial
Congress labored night and day to provide for their organization and support. The
second Continental Congress convened at Philadelphia (May 10), and on June 7, in a
resolution for a general fast, had spoken for the first time of " the twelve united
colonies." General Artemas Ward, of Massachusetts, the senior in command of the
provincial militia, assumed the chief command of the volunteers who gathered near
Boston after the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. He was good, but aged, and not
possessed of sufficient military ability or personal activity to make an energetic
commander of a large army.
The Provincial Congress of

Massachusetts apprehended the
melting-away of the army gathered at
Cambridge unless a more efficient
leader might be found, and, to avoid
giving offence, they asked the
Continental Congress to assume the
regulation and direction of that army.
Joseph Warren, in a private letter to
Samuel Adams, wrote that the
request was to be interpreted as a
desire for the appointment of a new
chief commander of all the troops
that might be raised. Just then the
news arrived of the approach of
reinforcements for Gage, under
Generals Clinton, Howe, and
Burgoyne, and Congress felt the
importance of acting promptly. At the
suggestion of John Adams, the army
was adopted as a continental one;
and, at the suggestion of the New
England delegation, Thomas Johnson, of Maryland, nominated George Washington, of
Virginia, for commander-in-chief of the armies of the inchoate republic. He was elected
(June 15, 17 75) by unanimous vote, and on the following morning John Hancock,
president of Congress, officially announced to Washington his appointment. The
Virginia colonel arose and, in a brief and modest speech, formally accepted the office.
22 | P a g e
After expressing doubts of his ability to perform the duties satisfactorily, he said, "As to
pay, sir, I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no pecuniary consideration could
have tempted me to accept the arduous employment at the expense of my domestic
ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact
account of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will discharge, and that is all I desire."
Washington was then a little past forty three years of age. He left Philadelphia for
Cambridge a week later, where he arrived on July 2; and at about nine o'clock on the
morning of the 3d, standing in the shade of an elm-tree in Cambridge, he formally
assumed, the command of the army, then numbering about 16,000 men, all New-
Englanders. The following were appointed his assistants: Artemas Ward, Charles Lee,
Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam, major-generals; and Seth Pomeroy, Richard
Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John
Sullivan, and Nathaniel Greene, brigadier-generals. Horatio Gates was appointed as
adjutant-general. The pay of a major-general was fixed at $166 a month; of a brigadier-
general, $125; of the adjutant-general, $125; commissary-general of stores and
provisions, $80; quartermaster-general, $80; deputy quartermaster-general, $40;
paymaster-general, $100; deputy paymaster-general, $50; chief - engineer, $60;
assistant engineer, $20; aide-de-camp, $33; secretary to the general, $66; secretary to
a major-general, $33; commissary of musters, $40. Washington found an undisciplined
force, and immediately took measures to bring order out of confusion. Congress had
provided for one adjutant-general, one quartermaster-general and a deputy, one
commissary-general, one paymaster-general and a deputy, one chief-engineer and two
assistants of the grand army, and an engineer and two assistants for the army in a
separate department; three aides-de-camp, a secretary to the general and to the major-
generals, and a commissary of
musters. Joseph Trumbull, son of the
governor of Connecticut, was
appointed commissary-general;
Thomas Mifflin, quarter-master
general; and Joseph Reed, of
Philadelphia, was chosen by
Washington to the important post of
secretary to the commander-in-chief.
Soon after Washington took

command of the army the legislature
of Massachusetts and the governor
of Connecticut applied to him for
detachments from the army for the
protection of points on their
respective sea-coasts exposed to
predatory attacks from British
cruisers. Washington, in a letter
dated July 31, 1775, answered these
23 | P a g e
appeals with a refusal, after giving satisfactory reasons for his decision. He pointed out
the danger to be apprehended by scattering the army in detachments. He said the
matter had been debated in Congress, and that they had come to the wise conclusion
that each province should defend itself from small and particular depredations. It was
then established as a rule, that attacks of the enemy at isolated points along the coast
"must be repelled by the militia in the vicinity," except when the Continental army was in
a condition to make detachments without jeoparding the common cause.
In October, 1775, a committee of Congress visited the camp at Cambridge, and, in

consultation with Washington and committees of the New England colonies, agreed
upon a plan for the reorganization of the besieging army. It was to consist of twenty-six
regiments, besides riflemen and artillery. Massachusetts was to furnish sixteen;
Connecticut, five; New Hampshire, three; and Rhode Island, two —in all about 20,000
men; the officers to be selected out of those already in the service. It was easier to plan
an army than to create one. According to a return submitted to Congress, the
Continental army, on the day when the Declaration of Independence was adopted,
consisted of 7,754 men present fit for duty, including one regiment of artillery. Their
arms were in a wretched condition. Of nearly 1,400 muskets, the firelocks were bad;
more than 800 had none at all; and 3,827 --more than half the whole number of
infantry—had no bayonets. Of the militia who had been called for, only 800 had joined
the camp. With this force Washington was expected to defend an extended line of
territory against an army of about 30,000 men.
During the encampment at Valley Forge a committee of Congress spent some time with
Washington in arranging a plan for the reorganization of the army. By it each battalion of
foot, officers included, was to consist of 582 men, arranged in nine companies; the
battalion of horse and artillery to be one-third smaller. This would have given the army
60,000 men; but, in reality, it never counted more than half that number. General
Greene was appointed quartermaster - general; Jeremiah Wadsworth, of Connecticut,
commissary-general; Colonel Scammel, of New Hampshire, adjutant-general; and
Baron de Steuben, a Prussian officer, inspector-general. To allay discontents in the
army because of the great arrearages of the soldiers' pay, auditors were appointed to
adjust all accounts; and each soldier who should serve until the end of the war was
promised a gratuity of $80. The officers were promised half-pay for seven years from
the conclusion of peace.
24 | P a g e
George Washington and the Revolutionary War Generals
In the spring of 1779, on the report of a committee of Congress, that body proceeded to
a new organization of the army. Four regiments of cavalry and artillery, hitherto
independent establishments raised at large, were now credited towards the quota of the
States in which they had been enlisted. The State quotas were reduced to eighty
battalions: Massachusetts to furnish fifteen; Virginia and Pennsylvania, eleven each;
Connecticut and Mary-land, eight each; the two Carolinas, six each; New York, five;
New Hampshire and New Jersey, three each; Rhode Island, two; and Delaware and
Georgia, one each. Congress allowed $200 bounty for each recruit, and the States
made large additional offers; but the real amount was small, for at that time the
Continental paper money had greatly depreciated. It was found necessary to replenish
the regiments by drafts from the militia. The whole force of the American army,
exclusive of a few troops in the Southern department, consisted, late in the spring of
1779, of only about 8,600 effective men. At that time the British had 11,000 at New York
and 4,000 or 5,000 at Newport, besides a considerable force in the South. In 1780 a
committee of Congress, of which General Schuyler was chairman, were long in camp,
maturing, with Washing-ton, a plan for another reorganization of the army. Congress
agreed to the plan. The remains of sixteen additional battalions were to be disbanded,
and the men distributed to the State lines. The army was to consist of fifty regiments of
25 | P a g e
foot, including Hazen's, four regiments of artillery, and one of artificers, with two partisan
corps under Annard and Lee. There were to be four other legionary corps, two-thirds
horse and one-third foot. All new enlistments were to be " for the war." The officers
thrown out by this new arrangement were to be entitled to half-pay for life. The same
was promised to all officers who should serve to the end of the war. The army, as so
arranged, would consist of 36.000 men; never half that number were in the field.
At the beginning of 1781 the sufferings of the Continental soldiers for want of food and
clothing was almost unbearable, and there were signs of a prevailing mutinous spirit.
Washington knew well their intense suffering and equally intense patriotism, and deeply
commiserated their condition. He knew they could be trusted to the last moment, and
deprecated the conduct of those who suspected a mutinous spirit in the whole army,
and manifested their distrust. When General Heath, with his suspicions alert, employed
spies to watch for and report mutinous expressions, Washington wrote to him: " To
seem to draw into question the fidelity and firmness of the soldiers, or even to express a
doubt of their obedience, may occasion such a relaxation of discipline as would not
otherwise exist." The condition of the army was most wretched. A committee of
Congress reported that it had been "unpaid for five months; that it seldom had more
than six days' provisions in advance, and was on several occasions, for sundry
successive days, without meat; that the medical department had neither sugar, coffee,
tea, chocolate, wine, nor spirituous liquors of any kind; and that every department of the
army was without money, and had not even the shadow of credit left." The clothing of
the soldiers was in tatters, and distress of mind and body prevailed everywhere in the
service. No wonder that some of the soldiers, who believed that their term of service
had expired, mutinied, and marched towards Philadelphia to demand redress from the
Congress.
It was expected that the immediate disbanding of the army would follow the
proclamation of peace. A definitive treaty had not yet been negotiated, and British
troops still held New York City. It would not be safe, under such circumstances, to
actually disband the army. The Congress therefore decided that the engagements of
men enlisted for the war were binding till the treaty of peace was definitely ratified on
the recommendation of Washington orders were issued for granting furloughs or
discharges at the discretion of the commander-in-chief. Greene was authorized to grant
furloughs for North Carolina troops; and the lines of Maryland and Pennsylvania serving
under him were ordered to march for their respective States. Three months' pay was to
be furnished the furloughed soldiers. They were also to keep their arms and
accoutrements as an extra allowance. The furloughs amounted to discharges. Few of
the recipients ever returned, and so a great portion of the army was gradually
disbanded before the definitive treaty was concluded in September. A remnant of the
Continental army remained at West Point under Knox until the British evacuated New
York (Nov. 25, 1783). After that event they all received their discharge.
26 | P a g e
The following shows the number of troops furnished by each State for the Continental
army:
New Hampshire 12,947

Massachusetts 67,907
Rhode Island 5,908
Connecticut 31,939
New York 17,781
New Jersey 10,726
Pennsylvania 25,678
Delaware 2,386
Maryland 13,912
Virginia 26,678
North Carolina 7,263
South Carolina 6,417
Georgia 2,679
Total 231,771
27 | P a g e
George Washington
Eulogy by Henry "Light
Horse Harry" Lee
George Washington.—On December 26, 1799, General Lee delivered the following
funeral oration on Washington before the two Houses of Congress:
In obedience to your will, I rise, your humble organ, with the hope of executing a part of
the system of public mourning which you have been pleased to adopt, commemorative
of the death of the most illustrious and most beloved personage this country has ever
produced; and which, while it transmits to posterity your sense of the awful event, faintly
represents your knowledge of the consummate excellence you so cordially honor.
Desperate, indeed, is any attempt on earth to meet correspondingly this dispensation of

Heaven; for, while with pious resignation we submit to the will of an all-gracious
Providence, we can never cease lamenting, in our 'finite view of Omnipotent Wisdom,
the heart-rending privation for which our nation weeps. When the civilized world shakes
to its centre; when every moment gives birth to strange and momentous changes; when
our peaceful quarter of the globe, exempt as it happily has been from any share in the
slaughter of the human race, may yet be compelled to abandon her pacific policy, and
to risk the doleful casualties of war; what limit is there to the extent of our loss? None
within the reach of my words to express; none which your feelings will not disavow.
The founder of our federate republic—our bulwark in war, our guide in peace, is no
more! Oh, that this were but questionable! Hope, the comforter of the wretched, would
pour into our agonizing hearts its balmy dew. But, alas! there is no hope for us; our
Washington is removed forever! Possessing the stoutest frame and purest mind, he had
passed nearly to his sixty-eighth year in the enjoyment of high health, when, habituated
by his care of us to neglect himself, a slight cold, disregarded, became inconvenient on
Friday, oppressive on Saturday, and, defying every medical interposition, before the
morning of Sunday put an end to the best of men. An end, did I say? His fame survives!
bounded only by the limits of the earth, and by the extent of the human mind. He
survives in our hearts-in the growing knowledge of our children-in the affection of the
good throughout the world. And when our monuments shall be done away; when
nations now existing shall be no more; when even our young and far-spreading empire
shall have perished; still will our Washington's glory unfaded shine, and die not, until
love of virtue cease on earth, or earth itself sinks into chaos!
28 | P a g e
How, my fellow-citizens, shall I single to your grateful hearts his pre-eminent worth?
Where shall I begin, in opening to your view a character throughout sublime? Shall I
speak of his warlike achievements, all springing from obedience to his country's will, all
directed to his country's good?
Will you go with me to the banks of the Monongahela, to see your youthful Washington
supporting, in the dismal hour of Indian victory, the ill-fated Braddock, and saving, by his
judgment and by his valor, the remains of a defeated army, pressed by the conquering
savage foe? or when, oppressed America nobly resolving to risk her all in defense of
her violated rights, he was elevated by the unanimous voice of Congress to the
command of her armies? Will you follow him to the high grounds of Boston, where, to an
undisciplined, courageous, and virtuous yeomanry, his presence gave the stability of
system, and infused the invincibility of love of country? Or shall I carry you to the painful
scenes of Long Island, Work Island, and New Jersey, when, combating superior and
gallant armies, aided by powerful fleets, and led by chiefs high in the roll of fame, he
stood the bulwark of our safety, undismayed by disaster, unchanged by change of
fortune? Or will you view him in the precarious fields of Trenton, where deep gloom,
unnerving every arm, reigned triumphant through our thinned, worn down, unaided
ranks-himself unmoved? Dreadful was the night. It was about this time of winter. The
storm raged. The Delaware, rolling furiously with floating ice, forbade the approach of
man. Washington, self collected, viewed the tremendous scene. His country called. Un-
appalled by surrounding dangers, he passed to the hostile shore; he fought; he
conquered. The morning sun cheered the American world. Our country rose on the
event; and her dauntless chief, pursuing his blow, completed in the lawns of Princeton
what his vast soul had conceived on the shores of Delaware.
Thence to the strong grounds of Morristown he led his small but gallant band; and
through an eventful winter, by the high efforts of his genius, whose matchless force was
measurable only by the growth of difficulties, he held in check formidable hostile
legions, conducted by a chief experienced in the art of war, and famed for his valor on
the ever memorable heights of Abraham, where fell Wolfe, Montcalm, and since, our
much lamented Montgomery; all covered with glory. In this fortunate interval, produced
by his masterly conduct, our fathers, ourselves, animated by his resistless example,
rallied around our country's standard, and continued to follow her beloved chief through
the various and trying scenes to which the destinies of our Union led.
Who is there that has forgotten the vales of Brandywine, the fields of Germantown, or
the plains of Monmouth? Everywhere present, wants of every kind obstructing,
numerous and valiant armies encountering, himself a host, he assuaged our sufferings,
limited our privations, and upheld our tottering republic. Shall I display to you the spread
of the fire of his soul, by rehearsing the praises of the hero of Saratoga, and his much
loved compeer of the Carolinas? No; our Washington wears not borrowed glory. To
Gates, to Greene, he gave without reserve the applause due to their eminent merit; and
29 | P a g e
long may the chiefs of Saratoga and of Eutaws receive the grateful respect of a grateful
people.
Moving in his own orbit, he imparted heat and light to his most distant satellites; and
combining the physical and moral force of all within his sphere, with irresistible weight
he took his course, commiserating folly, disdaining vice, dismaying treason, and
invigorating despondency; until the auspicious hour arrived, when, united with the
intrepid forces of a potent and magnanimous ally, he brought to submission the since
conqueror of India; thus finishing his long career of military glory with a lustre
corresponding to his great name, and, in this his last act of war, affixing the seal of fate
to our nation's birth.
To the horrid din of battle sweet peace succeeded; and our virtuous chief, mindful only
of the common good, in a moment tempting personal aggrandizement, hushed the
discontents of growing sedition, and, surrendering his power into the hands from which
he had received it, converted his sword into a ploughshare; teaching an admiring world
that to be truly great you must be truly good.
Were I to stop here, the picture would be incomplete, and the task imposed unfinished.
Great as was our Washington in war, and as much as did that greatness contribute to
produce the American republic, it is not in war alone his pre-eminence stands
conspicuous. His various talents, combining all the capacities of a statesman with those
of a soldier, fitted him alike to guide the councils and the armies of our nation. Scarcely
had he rested from his martial toils, while his invaluable parental advice was still
sounding in our ears, when he, who had been our shield and our sword, was called forth
to act a less splendid, but more important part.
Possessing a clear and penetrating mind, a strong and sound judgment, calmness and
temper for deliberation, with invincible firmness and perseverance in resolutions
maturely formed; drawing information from all; acting from himself, with incorruptible
integrity and unvarying patriotism; his own superiority and the public confidence alike
marked him as the man designed by Heaven to lead in the great political as well as
military events which have distinguished the era of his life.
The finger of an over-ruling Providence, pointing at Washington, was neither mistaken

or unobserved, when, to realize the vast hopes to which our revolution had given birth, a
change of political system became indispensable.
How novel, how grand the spectacle! Independent States stretched over an immense
territory, and known only by common difficulty, clinging to their union as the rock of their
safety; deciding, by frank comparison of their relative condition, to rear on that rock,
under the guidance of reason, a common government, through whose commanding
30 | P a g e
protection, liberty and order, with their long train of blessings, should be safe to
themselves, and the sure inheritance of their posterity.
This arduous task devolved on citizens selected by the people, from knowledge of their
wisdom and confidence in their virtue. In this august assembly of sages and of patriots,
Washington of course was found; and, as if acknowledged to be most wise where all
were wise, with one voice he was declared their chief. How well he merited this rare
distinction, how faithful were the labors of him-self and his compatriots, the work of their
hands, and our union, strength, and prosperity, the fruits of that work, best attest.
But to have essentially aided in presenting to his country this consummation of our
hopes, neither satisfied the claims of his fellow-citizens on his talents, nor those duties
which the possession of those talents imposed. Heaven had not infused into his mind
such an uncommon share of its ethereal spirit to remain unemployed, nor bestowed on
him his genius unaccompanied with the corresponding duty of devoting it to the
common good. To have framed a Constitution was showing only, without realizing, the
general happiness. This great work remained to be done; and America, steadfast in her
preference, with one voice summoned her beloved Washington, unpracticed as he was
in the duties of civil administration, to execute this last act in the completion of the
national felicity. Obedient to her call, he assumed the high office with that self-distrust
peculiar to his innate modesty, the constant attendant of pre-eminent virtue. What was
the burst of joy through our anxious land on this exhilarating event is known to us all.
The aged, the young, the brave, the fair, rivaled each other in demonstrations of their
gratitude: and this high-wrought, delightful scene was heightened in its effect by the
singular contest between the zeal of the bestowers and the avoidance of the receiver of
the honors bestowed.
Commencing his administration, what heart is not charmed with the recollection of the
pure and wise principles announced by himself, as the basis of his political life? He best
understood the in-dissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and
advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and
the solid rewards of public prosperity and individual felicity. Watching with an equal and
comprehensive eye over this great assemblage of communities and interests, he laid
the foundations of our national policy in the unerring, immutable principles of morality,
based on religion, exemplifying the pre-eminence of a free government by all the
attributes which win the affections of its citizens, or command the respect of the world.
" 0 fortunatos nimium, sua fl bona norint !"
Leading through the complicated difficulties produced by previous obligations and

conflicting interests, seconded by succeeding Houses of Congress, enlightened and
patriotic, he surmounted all original obstruction, and brightened the path of our national
felicity.
31 | P a g e
The Presidential term expiring, his solicitude to exchange exaltation for humility returned
with a force increased with increase of age; and he had prepared his Farewell Address
to his countrymen, proclaiming his intention, when the united interposition of all around
him, enforced by the eventful prospects of the epoch, produced a further sacrifice of
inclination to duty. The election of President followed; and Washington, by the
unanimous vote of the nation, was called to resume the chief magistracy. What a
wonderful fixture of confidence! Which attracts most our admiration, a people so correct,
or a citizen combining an assemblage of talents forbidding rivalry, and stifling even envy
itself? Such a nation ought to be happy; such a chief must be forever revered.
War, long menaced by the Indian tribes, now broke out; and the terrible conflict,
deluging Europe with blood, began to shed its baneful influence over our happy land. To
the first, outstretching his invincible arm, under the orders of the gallant Wayne, the
American eagle soared triumphant through distant forests. Peace followed victory; and
the melioration of the condition of the enemy followed peace. Godlike virtue! which
uplifts even the subdued savage.
To the second he opposed himself. New and delicate was the conjuncture, and great
was the stake. Soon did his penetrating mind discern and seize the only course,
continuing to us all the felicity enjoyed. He issued his proclamation of neutrality. This
index to his whole subsequent conduct was sanctioned by the approbation of both
Houses of Congress, and by the approving voice of the people.
To this sublime policy he inviolably adhered, unmoved by foreign intrusion, unshaken by

domestic turbulence.
" Justum et tenacem propositi virum, Non civium ardor prava jubentium, Non vultus
instantis tyranni,
Mente quatit solida."
Maintaining his pacific system at the expense of no duty, America, faithful to herself,
and unstained in her honor, continued to enjoy the delights of peace, while afflicted
Europe mourns in every quarter under the accumulated miseries of an unexampled war;
miseries in which our happy country must have shared, had not our pre-eminent
Washington been as firm in council as he was brave in the field.
Pursuing steadfastly his course, he held safe the public happiness, preventing foreign
war, and quelling internal discord, till the revolving period of a third election approached,
when he executed his interrupted, but inextinguishable desire of returning to the humble
walks of private life.
The promulgation of his fixed resolution stopped the anxious wishes of an affection-ate
people from adding a third unanimous testimonial of their unabated confidence in the
32 | P a g e
man so long enthroned in their hearts. When before was affection like this exhibited on
earth? Turn over the records of ancient Greece ; review the annals of mighty Rome ;
examine the volumes of modern Europe - you search in vain. America and her
Washington only afford the dignified exemplification.
The illustrious personage called by the national voice in succession to the arduous
office of guiding a free people had new difficulties to encounter. The amicable effort of
settling our difficulties with France, begun by Washington, and pursued by his
successor in virtue as in station, proving abortive, America took measures of
selfdefense. No sooner was the public mind roused by a prospect of danger, than every
eye was turned to the friend of all, though secluded from public view, and gray in public
service. The virtuous veteran, following his plough, received the unexpected summons
with mingled emotions of indignation at the unmerited ill treatment of his country, and of
a determination once more to risk his all in her defense.
The annunciation of these feelings in his affecting letter to the President, accepting the
command of the army, concludes his official conduct.
First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen, he was second to
none in the humble and endearing scenes of private life. Pious, just, humane,
temperate, and sincere; uniform, dignified, and commanding, his example was as
edifying to all around him as were the effects of that example lasting.
To his equals he was condescending, to his inferiors kind, and to the dear object of his
affections exemplarily tender. Correct throughout, vice shuddered in his presence, and
virtue always felt his fostering hand. The purity of his private character gave effulgence
to his public virtues.
His last scene comported with the whole tenor of his life. Although in extreme pain, not
a sigh, not a groan escaped him; and with undisturbed serenity he closed his well-spent
life. Such was the man America has lost! Such was the man for whom our nation
mourns.
Methinks I see his august image, and hear, falling from his venerable lips, these deep
sinking words:
"Cease, Sons of America, lamenting our separation. Go on, and confirm by your wisdom
the fruits of our joint councils, joint efforts, and common dangers. Reverence religion;
diffuse knowledge throughout your land; patronize the arts and sciences; let liberty and
order be inseparable companions; control party spirit, the bane of free government; ob
serve good faith to, and cultivate peace with all nations; shut up every avenue to foreign
influence; contract rather than extend national connection; rely on yourselves only: be
American in thought and deed. Thus will you give immortality to that union, which was
33 | P a g e
the constant object of my terrestrial labors; thus will you preserve undisturbed to the
latest posterity the felicity of a people to me most dear; and thus will you supply (if my
happiness is now aught to you) the only vacancy in the round of pure bliss high Heaven
bestows."
Pictures of
George Washington
George Washington the Farmer
George Washington on the Farm

This is a wonderful illustration showing George Washington as the Gentleman Farmer
on his estate at Mount Vernon. Washington is pictured among Black field hands, who
are bringing in a bountiful Hay harvest. Several young children are seen playing in the
foreground of the picture. The Mount Vernon home is pictured in the background. This
34 | P a g e
is a beautiful piece of artwork, and captures Washington in one of his quieter, more
peaceful moments.
We are pleased to be able to offer fine art prints of this historic lithograph. Each is hand
printed to capture the subtle details of the original. It will make a stunning display when
framed and placed in your office or study, creating a unique "Old World" ambiance.
George Washington in Mount Vernon Estate
George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate

This is a wonderful illustration showing George Washington's beloved Mount Vernon.
The Mount Vernon property had been in George's family for some four generations.
While it was no doubt a prized possession of this great man, he placed his love of
country above his love of the estate. During the Revolutionary War, George left the
property in charge of a manager. There came a point in the war that some British troops
were advancing towards Mount Vernon, presumably to burn it. The property manager
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was able to negotiate with the British to spare Mount Vernon, in exchange for much
needed supplies. When George Washington found out that the manager had provided
supplies to the British, in order to save Washington's beloved home, Washington issued
a very stern condemnation of his manager, insisting that it would have been better to
lose his home than aid the British.
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George Washington the Soldier

George Washington in Battle
George Washington's in Battle on Horseback

This is a wonderful illustration showing George Washington on horseback at the Battle
of Monongahela. He is surrounded by minutemen, and other soldiers fighting in
buckskin clothing. Washington stands firm amidst the confusion. This is a great
illustration of George Washington the Military Leader.
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framed and placed in your office or study, creating a unique "Revolutionary War"
ambiance.
General George Washington
General George Washington

This is a wonderful illustration showing General Washington standing with Johann De
Kalb, Baron von Steuben, Kazimierz Pulaski, Tadeusz Kościuszko, Lafayette, John
Muhlenberg, and other officers during the Revolutionary War. It is a historic print,
showing key figures of this important era of American History.
framed and placed in your office or study, creating a unique "Revolutionary War"
ambiance.
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George Washington's Prayer at Valley Forge
George Washington's Prayer at Valley Forge

This is a moving picture of George Washington Kneeling in Prayer at Valley Forge. It
has been reported that during the darkest days at Valley Forge, George Washington
could be found kneeling in earnest prayer for the near hopeless condition of the
beleaguered Continental Army. This lithograph captures such a moment.
framed and placed in your office or study, creating a unique and historic ambiance.
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George Washington at Valley Forge
Valley Forge. Washington's army encamped at Whitemarsh, in a beautiful valley about

14 miles from Philadelphia, where he remained until December 11, 1777, and
proceeded with his half-clad, half-barefooted soldiers to Valley Forge, about 20 miles
northward from Philadelphia. These numbered about 11,000 men, of whom not more
than 7,000 were fit for field duty. The place was chosen because it was farther from the
danger of sudden attacks from the foe, and where he might more easily afford
protection for the Congress sitting at York. Bloodstains, made by the lacerated feet of
his barefooted soldiers, marked the line of their march to Valley Forge. There, upon the
slopes of a narrow valley on the borders of the winding Schuylkill, they were encamped,
with no shelter but rude log huts which they built themselves. The winter that ensued
was severe. The soldiers shivered with cold and starved with hunger, and there their
genuine patriotism was fully tested. The British under Howe had full possession of
Philadelphia and of the Delaware below, and Pennsylvania was divided among its
people and in its legislature by political factions. General uneasiness prevailed; and
when Washington sought refuge at Valley Forge, the Pennsylvania legislature adopted
a remonstrance against that measure. To this cruel missive Washington replied, after
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censuring the quartermaster-general (Mifflin), a Pennsylvanian, for neglect of duty: "For

the want of a two-days supply of provisions, an opportunity scarcely ever offered of
taking an advantage of the enemy that has not been either totally obstructed or greatly
impeded. Men are confined in hospitals or in farmers' houses for want of shoes. We
have this day [December 23] no less than 2,873 men in camp unfit for duty because
they are barefooted and otherwise naked. Our whole strength in Continental troops
amounts to no more than 8,200 in camp fit for duty. Since the 4th inst., our numbers fit
for duty, from hardships and exposures, have decreased nearly 2,000 men. Numbers
are still obliged to sit all night by fires. Gentlemen reprobate going into winter-quarters
as much as if they thought the soldiers were made of sticks or stones. I can assure
those gentlemen that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to draw
remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside than to occupy a cold, bleak
hill, and sleep under frost and snow without clothes or blankets. However, although they
seem to have little feeling for the naked and distressed soldiers, I feel superabundantly
for them; and from my soul I pity those miseries which it is neither in my power to relieve
nor prevent."
At the same time the British army was made as weak by indulgence in the city as were
the American soldiers by physical privations, and Franklin was justified in saying, "
Howe did not take Philadelphia; Philadelphia took Howe." At Valley Forge Baron
Steuben entered upon his duties as inspector-general of the Continental army. There
the joyful news reached the American army of a treaty of alliance with France. It was
promulgated by Washington in general orders on May 6, 1778. He set apart the next
day as one of rejoicing and grateful acknowledgment of the divine goodness in raising
up a powerful friend "in one of the princes of the earth." It was celebrated with tokens of
delight. The several brigades were drawn up to hear discourses by their respective
chaplains. The men were placed in specified positions to fire a feu de joie with muskets
and cannon—three times three discharges of thirteen cannon. At the first the army
huzzaed, "Long live the King of France"; at the second, "Long live the friendly European
powers"; and at the third there was a shout, "The American States." Washington and his
wife, and other officers and their wives, attended the religious services of the New
Jersey brigade. Then the commander-in-chief dined in public with all the officers.
Patriotic toasts were given, and loud huzzas greeted Washington when he left the table.
As the season advanced comforts abounded at Valley Forge, the army increased, and
on June 18 the encampment broke up and the army began a chase of the British across
New Jersey when the latter had evacuated Philadelphia.
A patriotic movement has been started to have the site of the Valley Forge encampment
preserved as a public reservation, and on October 19, 1901, the Daughters of the
Revolution dedicated there a monument to the memory of the revolutionary soldiers
who died during the encampment. The monument is a handsome obelisk of granite, 50
feet high, and at its base appear two bronze panels, one containing the seal of the
society and the other representing a scene of camp-life at Valley Forge. Above these
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the original colonial flag with thirteen stars has been carved in the shaft. The inscription
reads: "To the Soldiers of Washington's Army who Sleep in Valley Forge, 1777-78."
Original 1777 Map of Valley Forge and Surrounding Vicinity
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Picture of the Battle of Trenton
George Washington at the Battle of Trenton

This is a stirring lithograph showing General George Washington at the Battle of
Trenton. He is shown on horseback, leading his men into battle. The conflict can be
seen raging on all sides of the General, but he stands firm.
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George Washington on Horseback
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George Washington on Horseback

This is a stirring lithograph showing General George Washington on Horseback. He is
pictured riding tall in the saddle with sword drawn. This is an inspiring image. The image
portrays him on the Battlefield at Trenton.
Battle of Trenton
George Washington at the Battle of Trenton
Trenton, BATTLE OF. Late in December, 1776, Washington's army, by much exertion,
had increased to nearly 6,000 men. Lee's division, under Sullivan, and some regiments
from Ticonderoga under Gates, joined him on the 21st. Contrary to Washington's
expectations, the British, content with having overrun the Jerseys, made no attempt to
pass the Delaware, but established themselves in a line of cantonments at Trenton,
Pennington, Bordentown, and Burlington. Other corps were quartered in the rear, at
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Princeton, New Brunswick, and Elizabethtown; and so sure was Howe that the back of
the "rebellion" was broken that he gave Cornwallis leave to return to England, and he
was preparing to sail when an unexpected event detained him. George Washington
knew that about 1,500 of the enemy, chiefly Hessians (Germans), were stationed at
Trenton under Colonel Rall, who, in his consciousness of security and contempt for the
Americans, had said, "What need of entrenchments? Let the rebels come; we will at
them with the bayonet." He had made the fatal mistake of not planting a single cannon.
Trenton Battle Map
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Washington felt strong enough to attack this force, and at twilight on Christmas night he
had about 2,000 men on the shore of the Delaware at McConkey's Ferry (afterwards
Taylorsville), a few miles above Trenton, preparing to cross the river. He rightly believed
that the Germans, after the usual carouse of the Christmas festival, would be peculiarly
exposed to a surprise, and he prepared to fall upon them before daylight on the morning
of the 26th.
With him were Generals Stirling, Greene, Sullivan, Mercer, Stephen, and Knox,
commanding the artillery. Arrangements were made for a similar movement against the
cantonments below Trenton, the command of which was assigned to General Gates;
but that officer, jealous of Washington, and in imitation of General Lee, with willful
disobedience refused the duty, and turning his back on Washington, rode on towards
Baltimore to intrigue among Congressmen against General PHILIP SCHUYLER.
Washington Crossing the Delaware on December 25, 1776
Ice was forming in the Delaware, and its surface was covered with floating pieces. The
current was swift, the night was dark, and towards midnight a storm of snow and sleet
set in. It was 4 A.M. before the troops in marching order stood on the New Jersey shore,
boats having been hurriedly provided for their passage. The army moved in two
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columns—one, led by Sullivan, along a road nearest the river; the other, led by
Washington and accompanied by the other generals, along a road a little distance to the
left. It was broad daylight when they reached Trenton, but they were undiscovered until
they reached the picket-line on the outskirts of the village. The firing that ensued
awakened Rall and his fellow-officers (Who had scarcely recovered from the night's
debauch) from their deep slumbers. The colonel was soon at the head of his men in
battle order. A sharp conflict ensued in the village, lasting only thirty-five minutes. The
Germans were defeated and dispersed, and Colonel Rall was mortally wounded, and
taken to his quarters, where he died. The main body, attempting to escape by the
Princeton road, were intercepted by Colonel hand and and made prisoners. Some
British light--horse and infantry at Trenton escaped to Bordentown. The victory was
complete. The spoils were about 1,000 prisoners, 1,200 small-arms, six brass field-
pieces, and all the German standards. The triumphant army recrossed the Delaware
with their prisoners (who were sent to Philadelphia), and went back to their
encampment. This bold stroke puzzled and annoyed the British. Cornwallis did not sail
for England, but was sent back into New Jersey. The Tories were alarmed, and the
dread of the mercenary Germans was dissipated. The faltering militia soon began to
flock to the standard of Washington, and many of the soldiers who were about to leave
the American army reenlisted. Some consider the Battle of Trenton to be an important
turning point in the Revolutionary War.
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Original 1777 Map of the Battle of Trenton
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General Washington at Trenton
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George Washington at Trenton

This is a stirring lithograph showing General George Washington on the Battlefield of
Trenton. He is pictured standing by his horse, with scenes of the battle in the
background. A boy is holding his horse.
George Washington the Statesman

Betsy Ross Presenting American Flag to George Washington
Betsy Ross and George Washington
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This is a wonderful illustration showing Betsy Ross and two girls presenting the first
American Flag to George Washington. This flag has 13 stripes, and 13 stars, arranged
in a circular pattern. This is a lovely image of this important point in American History.
framed and placed in your office or study, creating a unique and patriotic ambiance.
George Washington
in New York on Evacuation Day
George Washington's Triumphal Entry into New York

This is a wonderful illustration showing General George Washington as he enters New
York City. In 1783 George Washington, Governor Clinton, and Sir Guy Carleton held a
conference and made arrangements for the British troops to evacuate the city on
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November 25. On that morning the American troops encamped at Harlem, marched to
the "Bowery Lane," and halted at the present junction of Third Avenue and the Bowery.
There they remained until about 1 P.M., the British claiming the right of possession until
meridian. At that hour the British had embarked at Whitehall, and then the United States
formally took possession of the city. This lithograph captures that moment, showing
General George Washington proudly rides into the city on horseback.
Inauguration of George Washington

This is a wonderful picture of the Inauguration George Washington. It shows George
Washington delivering his inaugural address before members of the Congress.
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Washington delivered this inaugural address April 1789, in the old city hall, New York.
George Washington's
White House Reception
George Washington's White House Reception

This is a historic illustration of President George Washington at a White House Reception. The
picture shows a large group of people in attendance, and is a nice illustration of formal dress of
this era. The president is standing next to the First Lady, and they are entertaining guests.
We are pleased to be able to offer fine art prints of this historic lithograph. Each is hand printed
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to capture the subtle details of the original. It will make a stunning display when framed and
placed in your office or study, creating a unique and historic ambiance.
Rembrandt Peale Portrait

of George Washington
Portrait of George Washington

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This lithograph is based on the famous Rembrandt Peale illustration of George

Washington. The drawing was made from life, so this image is likely one of the most
authentic and accurate renditions of the President and Father of the Country available.
This is truly a historic piece of artwork, showing the subtle details of this famous general
and statesman.
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President George Washington
George Washington's White House Reception

This is a historic illustration of President George Washington. He is seated in a formal
pose, and is examining a map. This is an excellent portrait of the "Father of Our
Country."
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George Washington, the Family Man

Marriage of George Washington and Martha Custis
George Washington's Marriage to Martha Custis

This is a wonderful illustration showing George Washington in a more tender moment . .
. his marriage to Martha Custis. Martha was a young widow, who had been married to
Daniel Parke Custis, son of the King's Council for Virginia. She had two children, and a
considerable estate from her former husband. Upon marriage, the family moved to, and
remained at Mount Vernon.
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George Washington's
Mount Vernon Estate
George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate

This is a wonderful illustration showing George Washington's beloved Mount Vernon.
The Mount Vernon property had been in George's family for some four generations.
While it was no doubt a prized possession of this great man, he placed his love of
country above his love of the estate. During the Revolutionary War, George left the
property in charge of a manager. There came a point in the war that some British troops
were advancing towards Mount Vernon, presumably to burn it. The property manager
59 | P a g e
was able to negotiate with the British to spare Mount Vernon, in exchange for much
needed supplies. When George Washington found out that the manager had provided
supplies to the British, in order to save Washington's beloved home, Washington issued
a very stern condemnation of his manager, insisting that it would have been better to
lose his home than aid the British.
Family of George Washington
George Washington and Family

This is a wonderful illustration showing George Washington and his Family. The picture
shows the President seated, surrounded by his loved ones. His sword and hat are on a
nearby chair, and a servant is pictured in the background. The picture shows George
and Martha Washington sitting at a table with George Washington Parke Custis and
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Nelly Custis standing to the right and left of George, and a servant entering on the far
right. The children are the natural grand-children of Martha, and were raised by George
and Martha after the Children's father died. The boy, George Washington Parke Custis,
was the father of Mary Ann Randolph Custis, who married Robert E. Lee.
Portrait of George Washington Family
Portrait of George Washington and Family

This is a wonderful illustration showing the family of George Washington. George and
Martha are seated at a table. They are looking at a map. George's hat and sword are
nearby on the table. The natural grandchildren of Martha, who were raised by George
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and Martha are in the picture as well. Also in the picture is the African American servant
William Lee.
The Death of George Washington
George Washington's Death Bed

This is a touching illustration showing George Washington on his death bed, surrounded
by friends and family. On December 12, 1799, Washington spent several hours
inspecting his property on horseback. The weather was bad, with snow, hail and
freezing rain. He sat down to supper that evening without changing his wet clothes. The
next morning, he awoke with a bad cold, fever and a throat infection that turned into
acute laryngitis and pneumonia. Washington died on the evening of December 14,
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1799, at his home aged 67. It was recorded that the Last Words of George Washington
were, "It is Well".
George and Martha Washington
George and Martha Washington
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This is a touching portrait of George and Martha Washington. The President and First
Lady are pictured seated in their Mount Vernon Estate. Mr. Washington is shown with a
book in his hand, and Martha is knitting. The two grandchildren are pictured in the
background.
Picture of Martha Washington
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Quotes of George Washington
While I reiterate the professions of my dependence upon Heaven, as the source

of all public and private blessings, I will observe, that the general prevalence of
piety, philanthropy, honesty, industry, and economy seems, in the ordinary
course of human affairs, particularly necessary for advancing and confirming the
happiness of our country.
Letter from George Washington to the Presbyterian Church, 1789
I receive reproof when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to

accuse me, than I am to acknowledge an error, when I have committed it.
Report from George Washington to the Lieutenant Gov. of Virginia, 1757
No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which
conducts the affairs of men, more than the people of the United States. Every
step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation,
seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.
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George Washington's First Inaugural Address
I must assure you in particular that I take in the kindest part the promise you
make of presenting your prayers at the throne of grace for me.
Letter from George Washington to the Presbyterian Church, 1789
If such talents as I possess have been called into action by great events, and
those events have terminated happily for our country, the glory should be
ascribed to the manifest interposition of an overruling Providence.
Letter from George Washington to the Reformed Dutch Church, 1789
The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that

disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained
George Washington, First Inaugural Speech
America, under the smiles of Divine Providence, the protection of a good

government, the cultivation of manners; morals, and piety, can hardly fail of
attaining an uncommon degree of eminence in literature, commerce, agriculture,
improvements at home, and respectability abroad.
Letter from George Washington to the Catholic Church, 1789
I sincerely wish, gentlemen, that you may in your social and individual capacities
taste those blessings which a gracious God bestows upon the righteous.
Letter from George Washington to the Baltimore Church, 1793
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George Washington's Early Years

George Washington, the third son of
Augustine Washington, was born on the 22d
of February, 1732, near the banks of the
Potowmac, in the county of Westmoreland,
in Virginia. His father first married Miss
Butler, who died in 1728; leaving two sons,
Lawrence and Augustine. In 1730, he
married Miss Mary Ball. They had four sons,
George, John, Samuel and Charles; and one
daughter, Betty, who married Colonel
Fielding Lewis, of Fredericksburg.
His great grandfather, John Washington, a

gentleman of a respectable family, had
emigrated from the north of England about
the year 1657, and settled on the place
where Mr. Washington was born.
At the age of ten years he lost his father.

Deprived of one parent, he became an
object of more attention to the other; who
continued to impress those principles of religion and virtue on his tender mind, which
constituted the solid basis of a character that was maintained through all the challenges
of an eventful life. But his education was
limited to those subjects, in which alone the
sons of gentlemen, of moderate fortune,
were, at that time, generally instructed. It
was confined to learning strictly useful
topics.
George Washington Works as a

Surveyor in Virginia
In 1743, his oldest brother married the

daughter of the Honorable George William
Fairfax, then a member of the council. This
connection introduced Mr. Washington to
Lord Fairfax, the proprietor of the Northern
Neck of Virginia. Lord Fairfax then offered
George employment as a surveyor, in the
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western part of that territory. Washington was 18 years old. His means being somewhat
limited, this appointment was readily accepted. In the performance of these duties,
George acquired information respecting vacant lands, and formed opinions concerning
their future value, which afterwards contributed greatly to the increase of his private
fortune.
George Washington Joins the Military
George became interested in the Military at a young age. He tried to join the navy at
age 15. The arguments of his mother deferred the commencement, and changed the
direction of his military career. Four years afterwards, at a time when the militia were to
be trained for actual service, he was appointed one of the Adjutants General of Virginia,
with the rank of Major. The duties annexed to this office soon yielded to others of a
more interesting character.
France Begins Fortification of the Western Frontier
France was beginning to develop the vast plan of connecting her extensive dominions in
America, by uniting Canada with Louisiana. The troops of that nation had taken
possession of a tract of country claimed by Virginia, and had commenced a line of forts,
to be extended from the Lakes to the Ohio. The attention of Mr. Dinwiddie, Lieutenant
Governor of that Province, was attracted to these supposed encroachments; and he
deemed it his duty to demand, in the name of the King his master, that they should be
suspended.
This mission was difficult and dangerous. The Envoy would need to pass through a
large and almost unexplored wilderness, covered with rugged mountains and wide
rivers, and inhabited by fierce natives, who were either hostile to the English, or of
doubtful attachment. While the dangers and fatigues of this service deterred others from
undertaking it, they seem to have possessed attractions for Mr. Washington, and he
engaged in it with enthusiasm.
October 31 - George Washington's Mission to the French on the Ohio.
On receiving his orders, he left Williamsburg and arrived, on the 14th of November, at
Wills' creek, then the extreme frontier settlement of the English, where guides were
engaged to conduct him over the Alleghany mountains. After overcoming the barriers of
snow and high waters, he reached the mouth of Turtle creek, where he was informed
that the French General had died, and that the greater part of the army had retired into
winter quarters. Pursuing his route, he examined the country through which he passed
with a military eye, and selected the confluence of the Monongahela and Alleghany
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rivers, the place where fort Du Quesne was afterwards erected by the French, as an
advantageous position, which it would be wise to seize and begin fortification.
After employing a few days among the Indians in that neighborhood, and procuring
some of their chiefs to accompany him, whose fidelity he took the most judicious means
to secure, he ascended the Alleghany river. Passing one fort at the mouth of French
creek, he proceeded up the stream to a second, where he was received by Monsieur Le
Gardeur de St. Pierre, the commanding officer on the Ohio, to whom he delivered the
letter of Mr. Dinwiddie, and from whom he received an answer with which he returned to
Williamsburg. January 16.The exertions made by Mr. Washington on this occasion, the
perseverance with which he surmounted the difficulties of the journey, and the judgment
displayed in his conduct towards the Indians, raised him in the public opinion, as well as
in that of the Lieutenant Governor. His journal, [See George Washington's Journal]
drawn up for the inspection of Mr. Dinwiddie, was published, and impressed his
countrymen with very favorable sentiments of his understanding and fortitude.
George Washington Becomes Colonel of Regular Troops
The French responded that they had no intention of withdrawing from the region, so it
was determined that preparations for war should be made. The assembly of Virginia
authorized the executive to raise a regiment for the purpose of defending the interests
of the British Crown in that area. The regiment was to consist of three hundred men.
The command of this regiment was given to Mr. Fry, and Major Washington was
appointed Lieutenant Colonel. Anxious to be engaged in active service, he obtained
permission to advance with two companies to the Great Meadows in the Alleghany
mountains. By this movement he hoped to become more familiar with the country, to
gain some information about the intentions of the French, and to preserve the
friendships he had developed with the Indians. Soon after his arrival at that place, he
was visited by some friendly Indians, who informed him that the French were
themselves engaged in completing a fortification at the confluence of the Alleghany and
Monongahela rivers: a detachment from which place was then on its march towards his
camp. Open hostilities had not yet begun; but the country was considered as invaded:
and several circumstances were related, confirming the opinion that this party was
approaching with hostile intentions. Among others, it had withdrawn itself some distance
from the path, and had encamped for the night in a bottom, as if to hide. Confident that
these troops intended aggressive actions, Lieutenant Colonel Washington resolved to
not be caught off guard.
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George Washington Attacks the French
Availing himself of the offer made by the Indians to serve him as guides, he proceeded
through a dark and rainy night to the French camp, which he completely surrounded. At
daybreak, his men fired and rushed upon the party, and they immediately surrendered.
One man escaped, and Jumonville, the commanding officer, was killed.
While the regiment was on its march to join the detachment advanced in front, the
command devolved on Lieutenant Colonel Washington by the death of Colonel Fry.
Soon after its arrival, it was reinforced by two independent companies of regulars. After
erecting a small fortification at the Great Meadows, Colonel Washington began his
march towards fort Du Quesne, with the intention of removing the French from that
location. He had proceeded about thirteen miles, when he was met by some friendly
natives, who informed him that the French and their savage allies, "as numerous as the
pigeons in the woods," were quickly moving to meet him. Among those who brought this
information was a trusty chief, only two days from the fort on the Ohio, who had
observed the arrival of a considerable reinforcement at that place, and had heard their
intention of marching immediately to attack the English, with a corps composed of eight
hundred French and four hundred Indians. This intelligence was corroborated by
information previously received from deserters, who had reported that a reinforcement
was expected.
George Washington Faces Long Odds
The soldiers led by Colonel Washington were almost destitute of provisions; and the
ground he occupied was not well suited for military purposes. A road at some distance,
leading through the mountains, would enable the French to pass into his rear, intercept
his supplies, and starve him into a surrender, or fight him with a three to one advantage.
In this hazardous situation, a council of war unanimously advised a retreat to the fort at
the Great Meadows, now termed fort Necessity; where the two roads united, and where
the face of the country was such as not to permit an enemy to pass unperceived. At that
place, it was intended to remain, until reinforcements of men, and supplies of
provisions, should arrive.
July 2. Battle at Fort Necessity.
In pursuance of this plan, Colonel Washington returned to fort Necessity, and began a
ditch around the stockade. Before it was completed, the French, amounting to about
fifteen hundred men, commanded by Monsieur de Villier, appeared before the fort, and
immediately commenced a furious attack upon it. They were received with great
intrepidity by the Americans, who fought partly within the stockade, and partly in the
surrounding ditch, which was nearly filled with mud and water. Colonel Washington
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continued the whole day on the outside of the fort, encouraging the soldiers by his
bravery and steadfastness. The assailants fought under cover of the trees and high
grass, which covered the countryside. The engagement was continued with great
intensity from ten in the morning until dark; when Monsieur de Villier demanded a
parley, and offered terms of surrender.
The proposals first made were rejected; but, in the course of the night, articles were
signed, by which the fort was surrendered, on condition that its garrison should be
allowed the honors of war—should be permitted to retain their arms and baggage, and
be allowed to march without interference into the inhabited parts of Virginia. The
capitulation being in French—a language not understood by any person in the garrison,
and being drawn up hastily in the night, contains an expression which was inaccurately
translated at the time, and of which advantage has been since taken, by the enemies of
Mr. Washington, to imply an admission on his part, that Monsieur Jumonville was
assassinated. This assertion has been thoroughly discredited.
The loss of the Americans in this affair is not ascertained. From a return made on the
9th of July, at Wills' Creek, it appears that the killed and wounded, of the Virginia
regiment, amounted to fifty-eight; but the loss sustained by the two independent
companies is not stated. That of the assailants was supposed to be more considerable.
Great credit was given to Colonel Washington by his countrymen, for the courage
displayed on this occasion. The legislature evinced its satisfaction with the conduct of
the whole party, by passing a vote of thanks to him, and the officers under his
command; and by giving three hundred pistoles, to be distributed among the soldiers
engaged in the action.
The regiment returned to Winchester, to be recruited; soon after which it was joined by
a few companies from North Carolina and Maryland. On the arrival of this
reinforcement, the Lieutenant Governor, with the advice of council, regardless of the
condition or number of the forces, ordered them immediately to march over the
Alleghany mountains, and to expel the French from fort Du Quesne, or to build one in its
vicinity.
The little army in Virginia, which was placed under the command of Colonel Innes, from
North Carolina, did not, as now reinforced, exceed half the number of the enemy, and
was neither provided with the means of moving, nor with supplies for a winter campaign.
With as little consideration, directions had been given for the immediate completion of
the regiment, without furnishing a single shilling for the recruiting service. Although a
long peace may account for many errors at the commencement of war, some surprise
will be felt at such ill-considered and ill-judged measures.
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Colonel Washington remonstrated strongly against these orders, but prepared to

execute them. The assembly, however, having risen without making any provision for
the farther prosecution of the war, this wild expedition was laid aside, and the Virginia
regiment was reduced to independent companies.
Washington Resigns From the Military due to British Arrogance
In the course of the winter, orders were received "for settling the rank of the officers of
his majesty's forces when serving with the provincials in North America." These orders
directed "that all officers commissioned by the King, or by his General in North America,
should take rank of all officers commissioned by the Governors of the respective
provinces; and farther, that the general and field officers of the provincial troops should
have no rank when serving with the general and field officers commissioned by the
crown; but that all captains, and other inferior officers of the royal troops, should take
rank over provincial officers of the same grade, having senior commissions."
Strong as was his attachment to a military life, Colonel Washington was too proud to
submit to a degrading loss of rank. He indicated that he would gladly continue to serve,
if allowed to do so without the dishonor of a
loss of rank.
His eldest brother had lately died, and left

him a considerable estate on the Potowmac.
This gentleman had served in the expedition
against Carthagena; and, in compliment to
the admiral who commanded the fleet
engaged in that enterprise, had named his
seat Mount Vernon. To this delightful spot
Colonel Washington withdrew, resolving to
devote his future attention to the avocations
of private life. This, however, did not last for
long.
1755 George Washington Rejoins the Military as Aid-de-Camp to

General Braddock
General Braddock, being informed of his qualifications, his knowledge of the country
which was to be the scene of war, and his motives for retiring from the service, invited
him to enter his forces as a volunteer aid-de-camp.
Having determined to accept this invitation, he joined the commander-in-chief,

immediately after his departure from Alexandria, and proceeded with him to Wills'
Creek. The army, consisting of two European regiments and a few corps of provincials,
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was detained at that place until the 12th of June, by the difficulty of procuring wagons,
horses, and provisions. Colonel Washington, impatient under these delays, suggested
the propriety of using pack-horses instead of wagons, for conveying the baggage. The
commander-in-chief, although solicitous to hasten the expedition, was so attached to
the usages of regular war, that this wise advice was at first rejected; but, soon after the
commencement of the march, its value became too obvious to be ignored any longer.
On the third day after the army had moved from its ground, Colonel Washington was
seized with a violent fever, which disabled him from riding on horseback, and was
conveyed in a covered wagon. General Braddock, who found the difficulties of the
march greater than had been expected, continuing to consult him privately, he
strenuously urged that officer to leave his heavy artillery and baggage with the rear
division of the army; and with a chosen body of troops and some pieces of light artillery,
to press forward with the utmost expedition to fort Du Quesne. In support of this advice,
he stated that the French were then weak on the Ohio, but hourly expected
reinforcements. During the excessive drought which prevailed at that time, these could
not arrive; because the river Le Boeuf, on which their supplies must be brought to
Venango, did not then afford a sufficient quantity of water for the purpose. A rapid
movement therefore might enable him to carry the fort, before the arrival of the
expected aid; but if this measure should not be adopted, such were the delays attendant
on the march of the whole army, that rains sufficient to raise the waters might
reasonably be expected, and the whole force of the French would probably be collected
for their reception; a circumstance which would render the success of the expedition
doubtful.
This advice was heeded by the commander-in-chief, it was determined in a council of

war, held at the Little Meadows, that twelve hundred select men, to be commanded by
General Braddock in person, should advance with the utmost expedition against fort Du
Quesne. Colonel Dunbar was to remain with the residue of the two regiments, and all
the heavy baggage.
Although this select corps commenced its march with only thirty carriages, including
ammunition wagons, the hopes of a fast march were not realized. "I found," said
Colonel Washington, in a letter to his brother, written during the march, "that instead of
pushing on with vigour, without regarding a little rough road, they were halting to level
every mole-hill, and to erect bridges over every brook." It took them four days to cover
nineteen miles from the Little Meadows.
Colonel Washington was obliged to stop at that place;—the physician having declared
that his life would be endangered by continuing with the army. He obeyed, with
reluctance, the positive orders of the general to remain at this camp, under the
protection of a small guard, until the arrival of Colonel Dunbar; having first received a
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promise that means should be used to bring him up with the army before it reached fort
Du Quesne.
The day before the battle of the Monongahela he rejoined the general in a covered
wagon; and, though weak, entered on the duties of his station.
Battle of Monongahela
In a short time after the action had commenced, Colonel Washington was the only aid
remaining alive, and unwounded. The whole duty of carrying the orders of the
commander-in-chief, in an engagement with marksmen who selected officers, and
especially those on horseback, for their objects, devolved on him alone. Under these
difficult conditions, he demonstrated that coolness, that self-possession, that
fearlessness which ever distinguished him, and which are so necessary to the character
of a consummate soldier. Two horses were killed under him, and four balls passed
through his coat; but, to the astonishment of all, he escaped unhurt,—while every other
officer on horseback was either killed or wounded. "I expected every moment," says an
eye-witness, "to see him fall. His duty and situation exposed him to every danger.
Nothing but the superintending care of Providence could have saved him from the fate
of all around him."
After three hours of battle, General Braddock, under whom three horses had been
killed, received a mortal wound; and his troops fled in great disorder. Every effort to rally
them was useless until they had crossed the Monongahela, when, being no longer
pursued, they were again formed. The general was brought off in a small tumbril by
Colonel Washington, Captain Stewart of the guards, and his servant. The defeated
detachment retreated with the utmost precipitation to the rear division of the army; soon
after which, Braddock expired. In the first moments of alarm, all the stores were
destroyed, except those necessary for immediate use; and not long afterwards, Colonel
Dunbar marched the remaining European troops to Philadelphia, in order to place them
in, what he termed, winter quarters.
Colonel Washington was greatly disappointed and disgusted by the conduct of the
regular troops in this action. In his letter to Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie, giving an
account of it, he said, "They were struck with such an inconceivable panic, that nothing
but confusion and disobedience of orders prevailed among them. The officers in general
behaved with incomparable bravery, for which they greatly suffered; there being
upwards of sixty killed and wounded—a large proportion out of what we had.
"The Virginia companies behaved like men, and died like soldiers; for, I believe, out of
three companies on the ground that day, scarce thirty men were left alive. Captain
Peronny, and all his officers down to a corporal, were killed. Captain Poulson had
almost as hard a fate, for only one of his escaped. In short, the dastardly behaviour of
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the regular troops (so called,) exposed those who were inclined to do their duty, to
almost certain death; and, at length, in spite of every effort to the contrary, they broke,
and ran as sheep before hounds; leaving the artillery, ammunition, provisions, baggage,
and in short every thing, a prey to the enemy; and when we endeavoured to rally them,
in hopes of regaining the ground, and what we had left upon it, it was with as little
success as if we had attempted to have stopped the wild bears of the mountains, or the
rivulets with our feet: for they would break by, in spite of every effort to prevent it."*
*In another letter, he says, "We have been beaten, shamefully beaten—shamefully beaten by a handful of
men, who only intended to molest and disturb our march! Victory was their smallest expectation! But see
the wondrous works of Providence, the uncertainty of human things! We, but a few moments before,
believed our numbers almost equal to the force of Canada; they only expected to annoy us. Yet, contrary
to all expectation and human probability, and even to the common course of things, we were totally
defeated, and have sustained the loss of every thing."
This is from an etching made in idealization of the original house, situated on the banks
of the Potomac, 38 miles from Fredericksburg, in Westmoreland County, Virginia, where
our First President was born, February 22, 1732. The original house, which was built by
Washington's father, Augustine, was destroyed by fire more than 150 years ago, before
the Declaration of Independence was signed.
George Washington Appointed Commander and Chief
Colonel Washington had long been the most popular soldier of Virginia; and his
reputation grew with day. His conduct in this battle had been universally extolled;* and
the common opinion of his countrymen was, that, had his advice been pursued, the
disaster had been avoided. The assembly was in session, when intelligence was
received of this defeat, and of the abandonment of the colony by Colonel Dunbar. The
legislature, perceiving the necessity of levying troops for the defense of the province,
determined to raise a regiment, to consist of sixteen companies, the command of which
was offered to Colonel Washington; who was also designated, in his commission, as the
Commander-in-chief of all the forces raised and to be raised in the colony of Virginia.
The uncommon privilege of naming his Field Officers was added to this honorable
appointment.
*In a sermon preached not long after the defeat of General Braddock, the Rev. Mr.
Davies, speaking of that disaster, and of the preservation of Colonel Washington, said:
"I can not but hope that Providence has preserved that youth to be the saviour of this
country." These words were afterwards considered as prophetic; and were applied by
his countrymen to an event very opposite to that which was contemplated by the person
who uttered them.
Retaining still his desire of a military life, he cheerfully embraced this opportunity of
reentering the army. After making the necessary arrangements for the recruiting
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service, and visiting the posts on the frontiers, which he placed in the best state of
defense of which they were susceptible; he set out for the seat of government, where
objects of the first importance required his attention; but was overtaken below
Fredericksburg by an express, carrying the intelligence, that a large number of French
and Indians, divided into several parties, had broken up the frontier settlements; were
murdering and capturing men, women, and children; burning their houses, and
destroying their crops. The troops stationed among them for their protection, were
unequal to that duty; and, instead of being able to afford aid to the inhabitants, were
themselves hunkered down in their forts.
Colonel Washington hurried back to Winchester, where there was lots of confusion and
distress. His efforts to raise the militia were unsuccessful. Attentive only to individual
security, and regardless of the common danger, they could not be convinced to help.
Instead of assembling in arms, and obtaining safety by meeting their invaders, the
inhabitants fled into the lower country, and increased the general terror. In this state of
things, he endeavored to collect and arm the men who had abandoned their houses,
and to remove their wives and children to a distance from this scene of desolation and
carnage. Pressing orders were at the same time dispatched to the newly appointed
officers, to forward their recruits; and to the county lieutenants, east of the Blue Ridge,
to hasten their militia to Winchester: but before these orders could be executed, the
party which had done so much mischief, and excited such alarm, had re-crossed the
Alleghany mountains.
Early in the following spring, the enemy made another invasion, and caused much
damage. The number of troops on the regular establishment was insufficient to protect
the frontier, and the militia was not effective. The Indians, who were divided into small
parties, concealed themselves with so much dexterity, as seldom to be perceived until
the blow was struck. Their murders were frequently committed in the very neighborhood
of the forts; and the detachments from the garrisons either would not find the guilty
parties, or would be mercilessly attacked by them. In one of these skirmishes, the
Americans were routed, and Captain Mercer was killed. The people either abandoned
the country, or attempted to secure themselves in small stockade forts, where they were
in great distress for provisions, arms, and ammunition; were often surrounded, and
sometimes cut off. Colonel Washington was deeply affected by this state of things. "I
see their situation," said he, in a letter to the Lieutenant Governor, "I know their danger,
and participate their sufferings, without having it in my power to give them farther relief
than uncertain promises. In short, I see inevitable destruction in so clear a light, that
unless vigorous measures are taken by the assembly, and speedy assistance sent from
below, the poor inhabitants now in forts must unavoidably fall, while the remainder are
flying before the barbarous foe. In fine, the melancholy situation of the people; the little
prospect of assistance; the gross and scandalous abuses cast upon the officers in
general, which is reflecting upon me in particular for suffering misconduct of such
extraordinary kind; and the distant prospect, if any, of gaining reputation in the service,
cause me to lament the hour that gave me a commission, and would induce me, at any
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other time than this of imminent danger, to resign, without one hesitating moment, a
command from which I never expect to reap either honor or benefit; but, on the contrary,
have almost an absolute certainty of incurring displeasure below, while the murder of
helpless families may be laid to my account here."
Colonel Washington had been prevented from taking post at fort Cumberland by an
unfortunate and extraordinary difficulty, growing out of an obscurity in the royal orders,
respecting the relative rank of officers commissioned by the king, and those
commissioned by the governor. A Captain Dagworthy, who was at that place, and of the
former description, insisted on taking the command, although it had been committed to
Lieutenant Colonel Stevens; and, on the same principle, he contested the rank of
Colonel Washington also. This circumstance had retained that officer at Winchester,
where public stores to a considerable amount were deposited, with only about fifty men
to guard them. In the deep distress of the moment, a council of war was called, to
determine whether he should march this small body to some of the nearest forts, and,
uniting with their petty garrisons, risk an action; or wait until the militia could be raised.
The council unanimously advised a continuance at Winchester. Lord Fairfax, who
commanded the militia of that and the adjacent counties, had ordered them to his
assistance; but they were slow in assembling. The unremitting exertion of three days, in
the county of Frederick, could produce only twenty men.
The incompetency of the military force to the defense of the country having become
obvious, the assembly determined to augment the regiment to fifteen hundred men. In a
letter addressed to the house of burgesses, Colonel Washington urged the necessity of
increasing it still farther, to two thousand men; a less number than which could not
possibly, in his opinion, be sufficient to cover the extensive frontier of Virginia, should
the defensive system be continued. In support of this demand, he stated, in detail, the
forts which must be garrisoned; and observed, that, with the exception of a few
inhabitants in forts on the south branch of the Potowmac, the north mountain near
Winchester had become the frontier; and that, without effectual aid, the inhabitants
would even pass the Blue Ridge. He farther observed that the woods seemed "alive
with French and Indians;" and again described so feelingly the situation of the
inhabitants, that the assembly requested the governor to order half the militia of the
adjoining counties to their relief; and the attorney general, Mr. Peyton Randolph, formed
a company of one hundred gentlemen, who engaged to make the campaign, as
volunteers. Ten well trained woodsmen, or Indians, would have rendered more service.
The distress of the country increased. As had been foreseen, Winchester became
almost the only settlement west of the Blue Ridge, on the northern frontier; and fears
were entertained that the enemy would soon pass even that barrier, and ravage the
country below. Express after express was sent to hasten the militia, but sent in vain. At
length, about the last of April, the French and their savage allies, laden with plunder,
prisoners, and scalps, returned to fort Du Quesne.
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Some short time after their retreat, the militia appeared. This temporary increase of
strength was employed in searching the country for small parties of Indians, who
lingered behind the main body, and in making dispositions to repel another invasion. A
fort was commenced at Winchester, which, in honor of the general who had been
appointed to the command of the British troops in America, was called fort Loudoun;
and the perpetual remonstrance of Colonel Washington at length effected some
improvement in the laws for the government of the troops.
These errors of a government unused to war, though continually remarked by the officer
commanding the troops, were slowly perceived by those in power, and were never
entirely corrected.
Successive incursions continued to be made by small bands of French and Indians,

who kept up a perpetual alarm, and murdered the defenseless. In Pennsylvania, the
inhabitants were driven as far as Carlisle; and in Maryland, Fredericktown, on the
eastern side of the Blue Ridge, became a frontier. With the Virginia regiment, which did
not yet amount to one thousand men, aided occasionally by militia, Colonel Washington
was to defend a frontier of near four hundred miles in extent, and to complete a chain of
forts. He repeatedly urged the necessity and propriety of abandoning fort Cumberland,
which was too far in advance of the settlements, and too far north, to be useful, while it
required for its defense a larger portion of his force than could be spared with a proper
regard to the safety of other and more advantageous positions. The governor, however,
thought the abandonment of it improper, since it was a "king's fort;" and Lord Loudoun,
on being consulted, gave the same opinion.
A major problem for the commander of the Virginia troops, was the practice of
desertion. The daily pay of a soldier was only eight pence, out of which two pence were
stopped for his clothes. This pay was inferior to what was received in every other part of
the continent and this created resentment among the troops. The remonstrances of the
commanding officer, in some degree, corrected this mischief; and a full suit of
regimentals was allowed to each soldier, without deducting its price from his pay.
As soon as the main body of the enemy had withdrawn from the settlements, a tour was
made by Colonel Washington to the south-western frontier. There, as well as to the
north, continued incursions had been made; and there too, the principal defense of the
country was entrusted to an ill-regulated militia. The fatal consequences of this system
are thus stated by him, in a letter to the lieutenant governor: "The inhabitants are so
sensible of their danger, if left to the protection of these people, that not a man will stay
at his place. This I have from their own mouths, and the principal inhabitants of Augusta
county. The militia are under such bad order and discipline, that they will come and go,
when and where they please, without regarding time, their officers, or the safety of the
inhabitants, but consulting solely their own inclinations. There should be, according to
your honor's orders, one-third of the militia of these parts on duty at a time; instead of
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that, scarce one-thirtieth is out. They are to be relieved every month, and they are a
great part of that time marching to and from their stations; and they will not wait one day
longer than the limited time, whether relieved or not, however urgent the necessity for
their continuance may be." Some instances of this, and of gross misbehavior, were then
enumerated; after which, he pressed the necessity of increasing the number of regulars
to two thousand men.
After returning from this tour, to Winchester, he gave the Lieutenant Governor, in
curious detail, a statement of the situation in which he found the country, urging, but
urging in vain, arguments which will always be suggested by experience, against relying
chiefly on militia for defense.
Sensible of the impracticability of defending such an extensive frontier, Colonel

Washington continued to press the policy of enabling him to act on the offensive. The
people of Virginia, he thought, could be protected only by entering the country of the
enemy; giving him employment at home, and removing the source of all their calamities
by taking possession of fort Du Quesne.
"As defensive measures," he observed in a letter to the Lieutenant Governor, "are

evidently insufficient for the security and safety of the country, I hope no arguments are
necessary to evince the necessity of altering them to a vigorous offensive war, in order
to remove the cause." But in the event, that the assembly should still indulge their
favorite scheme of protecting the inhabitants by forts along the frontiers, he presented a
plan, which, in its execution, would require two thousand men—these were to be
distributed in twenty-two forts, extending from the river Mayo to the Potowmac, in a line
of three hundred and sixty miles. In a letter written about the same time to the speaker
of the assembly, he said, "The certainty of advantage, by an offensive scheme of action,
renders it, beyond any doubt, preferable to our defensive measures. Our scattered
force, so separated and dispersed in weak parties, avails little to stop the secret
incursions of the savages. We can only perhaps put them to flight, or frighten them to
some other part of the country, which answers not the end proposed. Whereas, had we
strength enough to invade their lands, we should restrain them from coming abroad,
and leaving their families unprotected. We should then remove the principal cause, and
have stronger probability of success; we should be free from the many alarms and
murders, that now attend us; we should inspirit the hearts of our few Indian friends, and
gain more esteem with them. In short, could Pennsylvania and Maryland be induced to
join us in an expedition of this nature, and to petition his Excellency Lord Loudoun for a
small train of artillery, with some engineers, we should then be able, in all human
probability, to subdue the terror of fort Du Quesne; retrieve our character with the
Indians; and restore peace to our unhappy frontiers."
His total inability to act offensively, or even to afford protection to the frontiers of
Virginia, was not the only distressing circumstance to which he was exposed. The
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Lieutenant Governor, to whose commands he was subjected in every minute particular,

and who seems to have been unequal to the difficulties of his station, frequently
deranged his system by orders which could not be executed without considerable
hazard and inconvenience. Colonel Washington could not always restrain his chagrin on
such occasions; and, on one of them, observed in a letter to an intimate friend, who
possessed great influence in the country, "whence it arises, or why, I am truly ignorant,
but my strongest representations of matters relative to the peace of the frontiers are
disregarded, as idle and frivolous; my propositions and measures, as partial and selfish;
and all my sincerest endeavors for the service of my country, perverted to the worst
purposes. My orders are dark, doubtful, and uncertain: today approved, tomorrow
condemned; left to act and proceed at hazard; accountable for the consequences, and
blamed without the benefit of defense. If you can think my situation capable of exciting
the smallest degree of envy, or of affording the least satisfaction, the truth is yet hid
from you, and you entertain notions very different from the reality of the case. However,
I am determined to bear up under all these embarrassments some time longer, in the
hope of better regulations under Lord Loudoun, to whom I look for the future fate of
Virginia."
Not long after this letter was written, Lord Loudoun arrived in Virginia. A comprehensive
statement of the situation of the colony and of the regiment in particular, was drawn up
and submitted to him by Colonel Washington. In this he described the errors which had
prevented the completion of his regiment, showed the insufficiency of the militia for any
military purpose, and demonstrated the superiority of an offensive system over that
which had been pursued.
This statement was probably presented by Colonel Washington in person, who was
permitted, during the winter, to visit Lord Loudoun in Philadelphia, where that nobleman
met the Governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina, and the Lieutenant
Governor of Virginia, in order to consult with them on the measures to be taken, in their
respective Provinces, for the ensuing campaign. He was, however, disappointed in his
favorite hope of being able to act offensively against the French on the Ohio. Lord
Loudoun had determined to direct all his efforts against Canada, and to leave only
twelve hundred men in the middle and southern colonies. Instead of receiving
assistance, Virginia was required to send four hundred men to South Carolina. Not
discouraged by these disappointments, Colonel Washington continued indefatigable in
his endeavors to impress on Mr. Dinwiddie the importance of reviving, and properly
modifying their military code, making a more effective militia law, and of increasing their
number of regular troops.
So far from succeeding on the last subject, he had to witness a measure which crushed
his hopes of an adequate regular force. Being unable to complete the regiment by
voluntary enlistment, the assembly changed its organization, and reduced it to ten
companies; each to consist of one hundred men. Yet his anxious wishes continued to
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be directed towards fort Du Quesne. In a letter written about this time to Colonel
Stanwix, who commanded in the middle colonies, he said, "You will excuse me, sir, for
saying, that I think there never was, and perhaps never again will be, so favorable an
opportunity as the present for reducing fort Du Quesne. Several prisoners have made
their escape from the Ohio this spring, and agree in their accounts, that there are but
three hundred men left in the garrison; and I do not conceive that the French are so
strong in Canada, as to reinforce this place, and defend themselves at home this
campaign: surely then this is too precious an opportunity to be lost."
Washington Continues to Argue for an "Offensive" War
Mr. Pitt did not yet direct the councils of Britain; and a spirit of enterprise and heroism
did not yet animate her generals. The campaign to the north was inglorious; and to the
west, nothing was even attempted, which might relieve the middle colonies.
Large bodies of natives, in the service of France, once more spread desolation and
murder over the whole country, west of the Blue Ridge. The regular troops were
inadequate to the protection of the inhabitants; and the incompetency of the defensive
system to their security became every day more apparent. "I exert every means," said
Colonel Washington, in a letter to Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie, "to protect a much
distressed country; but it is a task too arduous. To think of defending a frontier of more
than three hundred and fifty miles extent, as ours is, with only seven hundred men, is
vain and idle; especially when that frontier lies more contiguous to the enemy than any
other.
"I am, and for a long time have been, fully convinced, that if we continue to pursue a
defensive plan, the country must be inevitably lost."
In another letter he said, "The raising a company of rangers, or augmenting our strength
in some other manner, is so far necessary, that, without it, the remaining inhabitants of
this once fertile and populous valley will scarcely be detained at their dwellings until the
spring. And if there is no expedition to the westward then, nor a force more considerable
than Virginia can support, posted on our frontiers; if we still adhere, for the next
campaign, to our destructive defensive schemes, there will not, I dare affirm, be one
soul living on this side the Blue Ridge the ensuing autumn, if we except the troops in
garrison, and a few inhabitants of this town, who may shelter themselves under the
protection of this fort. This I know to be the immoveable determination of all the settlers
of this country." To the Speaker of the assembly he gave the same opinion; and added,
"I do not know on whom these miserable undone people are to rely for protection. If the
assembly are to give it to them, it is time that measures were at least concerting, and
not when they ought to be going into execution, as has always been the case. If they
are to seek it from the Commander-in-chief, it is time their condition was made known to
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him. For I can not forbear repeating again, that, while we pursue defensive measures,
we pursue inevitable ruin."
It was impossible for Colonel Washington, zealous in the service of his country, and
ambitious of military fame, to observe the errors committed in the conduct of the war,
without censuring them. These errors were not confined to the military affairs of the
colony. The Cherokee and Catawba Indians had hitherto remained faithful to the
English, and it was very desirable to engage the warriors of those tribes heartily in their
service; but so miserably was the intercourse with them conducted, that, though a
considerable expense was incurred, not much assistance was obtained, and great
disgust was excited among them. The freedom with which the Commander-in-chief of
the Virginia forces censured public measures, gave offence to the Lieutenant Governor,
who considered these censures as manifesting a want of respect for himself.
Sometimes he coarsely termed them impertinent; and at other times, charged him with
looseness in his information, and inattention to his duty. On one of these occasions,
Colonel Washington thus concluded a letter of detail, "Nothing remarkable has
happened, and therefore I have nothing to add. I must beg leave, however, before I
conclude, to observe, in justification of my own conduct, that it is with pleasure I receive
reproof when reproof is due, because no person can be readier to accuse me, than I am
to acknowledge an error, when I have committed it; nor more desirous of atoning for a
crime, when I am sensible of being guilty of one. But, on the other hand, it is with
concern I remark, that my best endeavors lose their reward; and that my conduct,
although I have uniformly studied to make it as unexceptionable as I could, does not
appear to you in a favorable point of light. Otherwise, your honor would not have
accused me of loose behavior, and remissness of duty, in matters where, I think, I have
rather exceeded than fallen short of it. This, I think, is evidently the case in speaking of
Indian affairs at all, after being instructed in very express terms, 'Not to have any
concern with, or management of Indian affairs.' This has induced me to forbear
mentioning the Indians in my letters to your honor of late, and to leave the
misunderstanding, which you speak of, between Mr. Aikin and them, to be related by
him."
In a letter, some short time after this, to the Lieutenant Governor, he said, "I do not
know that I ever gave your Honor cause to suspect me of ingratitude; a crime I detest,
and would most carefully avoid. If an open, disinterested behavior carries offence, I may
have offended; for I have all along laid it down as a maxim, to represent facts freely and
impartially, but not more so to others than to you, sir. If instances of my ungrateful
behavior had been particularized, I would have answered them. But I have been long
convinced that my actions and their motives have been maliciously aggravated." A
request that he might be permitted to come to Williamsburg for the settlement of some
accounts, which he was desirous of adjusting under the inspection of the Lieutenant
Governor, who proposed to leave the province in the following November, was refused
in abrupt and disobliging terms. In answer to the letter containing the refusal, Colonel
Washington, after stating the immoveable disposition of the inhabitants to leave the
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country unless more sufficiently protected, added, "To give a more succinct account of
their affairs than I could in writing, was the principal, among many other reasons, that
induced me to ask leave to come down. It was not to enjoy a party of pleasure that I
asked leave of absence. I have indulged with few of those, winter or summer."
Mr. Dinwiddie soon afterwards took leave of Virginia, and the government devolved on
Mr. Blair, the President of the Council. Between him and the commander of the colonial
troops the utmost cordiality existed.
Expedition against Fort Du Quesne.
Lord Loudoun then returned to England, and General Abercrombie succeeded to the
command of the army. The department of the middle and southern provinces was
committed to General Forbes, who, to the inexpressible gratification of Colonel
Washington, determined to undertake an expedition against fort Du Quesne.
He urged an early campaign, but he urged it ineffectually; and, before the troops were
assembled, a large body of French and Indians broke into the country, and renewed the
horrors of the tomahawk and scalping-knife. The county of Augusta was ravaged and
about sixty persons were murdered. The attempts made to intercept these natives were
unsuccessful; and they recrossed the Alleghany, with their plunder, prisoners, and
scalps.
Among other motives for an early campaign, Colonel Washington had urged the
impracticability of detaining the Indians. His fears were well founded. Before a junction
of the troops had been made, these natives became impatient to return to their homes;
and, finding that the expedition would yet be delayed a considerable time, they left the
army, with promises to rejoin it at the proper season.
In pursuance of the orders which had been received, the Virginia troops moved in
detachments from Winchester to fort Cumberland, where they assembled early in July:
after which, they were employed in opening a road to Raystown, where Colonel
Bouquet was stationed. As the English were continually harassed by small parties of
French and Indians, the general had contemplated advancing a strong detachment over
the Alleghany mountains, for the purpose of giving them employment at home. By the
advice of Colonel Washington this plan was relinquished. In support of his opinion, he
stated the probability that a large force was collected at fort Du Quesne, and the
impracticability of moving a strong detachment, without such a quantity of provisions, as
would expose it to the danger of being discovered and cut to pieces. He advised to
harass them with small parties, principally of Indians; and this advice was pursued.
Colonel Washington had expected that the army would march by Braddock's road: but,
late in July, he had the mortification to receive a letter from Colonel Bouquet, asking an
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interview with him, in order to consult on opening a new road from Raystown, and
requesting his opinion on that route. "I shall," says he, in answer to this letter, "most
cheerfully work on any road, pursue any route, or enter upon any service, that the
general or yourself may think me usefully employed in, or qualified for; and shall never
have a will of my own, when a duty is required of me. But since you desire me to speak
my sentiments freely, permit me to observe, that, after having conversed with all the
guides, and having been informed by others acquainted with the country, I am
convinced that a road, to be compared with General Braddock's, or indeed that will be fit
for transportation even by pack-horses, can not be made. I own I have no predilection
for the route you have in contemplation for me."
A few days after writing this letter, he had an interview with Colonel Bouquet, whom he
found decided in favor of opening the new road. After their separation, Colonel
Washington, with his permission, addressed to him a letter to be laid before General
Forbes, then indisposed at Carlisle, in which he stated his reasons against this
measure. He concluded his arguments against the new road: arguments which appear
to be unanswerable, by declaring his fears that, should the attempt be made, they would
be able to do nothing more than fortify some post on the other side of the Alleghany,
and prepare for another campaign. This he prayed Heaven to avert.
He was equally opposed to a scheme which had been suggested of marching by the
two different routes, and recommended an order of march by Braddock's road, which
would bring the whole army before fort Du Quesne in thirty-four days, with a supply of
provisions for eighty-six days.
In a letter of the same date addressed to Major Halket, aid of General Forbes, Colonel
Washington thus expressed his forebodings of the mischiefs to be apprehended from
the adoption of the proposed route. "I am just returned from a conference held with
Colonel Bouquet. I find him fixed—I think I may say unalterably fixed—to lead you a
new way to the Ohio, through a road, every inch of which is to be cut at this advanced
season, when we have scarcely time left to tread the beaten track, universally
confessed to be the best passage through the mountains.
"If Colonel Bouquet succeeds in this point with the general, all is lost! all is lost indeed!
our enterprise is ruined! and we shall be stopped at the Laurel hill this winter; but not to
gather laurels, except of the kind which cover the mountains. The southern Indians will
turn against us, and these colonies will be desolated by such an accession to the
enemy's strength. These must be the consequences of a miscarriage; and a
miscarriage, the almost necessary consequence of an attempt to march the army by
this route."
Colonel Washington's remonstrances and arguments were unavailing; and the new
route was adopted. His extreme chagrin at this measure, and at the delays resulting
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from it, was expressed in anxious letters to Mr. Fauquier, then governor of Virginia, and
to the speaker of the house of burgesses.
In a letter to the speaker, written while at fort Cumberland, he said: "We are still
encamped here; very sickly, and dispirited at the prospect before us. That appearance
of glory which we once had in view—that hope—that laudable ambition of serving our
country, and meriting its applause, are now no more: all is dwindled into ease, sloth,
and fatal inactivity. In a word, all is lost, if the ways of men in power, like certain ways of
Providence, are not inscrutable. But we who view the actions of great men at a distance
can only form conjectures agreeably to a limited perception; and, being ignorant of the
comprehensive schemes which may be in contemplation, might mistake egregiously in
judging of things from appearances, or by the lump. Yet every f—l will have his
notions—will prattle and talk away; and why may not I? We seem then, in my opinion, to
act under the guidance of an evil genius. The conduct of our leaders, if not actuated by
superior orders, is tempered with something—I do not care to give a name to. Nothing
now but a miracle can bring this campaign to a happy issue." He then recapitulated the
arguments he had urged against attempting a new road, and added, "But I spoke
unavailingly. The road was immediately begun; and since then, from one to two
thousand men have constantly wrought on it. By the last accounts I have received, they
had cut it to the foot of the Laurel hill, about thirty-five miles; and I suppose, by this time,
fifteen hundred men have taken post about ten miles further, at a placed called Loyal
Hanna, where our next fort is to be constructed.
"We have certain intelligence that the French strength at fort Du Quesne did not exceed
eight hundred men, the thirteenth ultimo; including about three or four hundred Indians.
See how our time has been misspent—behold how the golden opportunity is lost—
perhaps, never to be regained! How is it to be accounted for? Can General Forbes have
orders for this?—Impossible. Will then our injured country pass by such abuses? I hope
not. Rather let a full representation of the matter go to his majesty; let him know how
grossly his glory and interests, and the public money have been prostituted."
Defeat of Major Grant
Colonel Washington was soon afterwards ordered to Raystown. Major Grant had been
previously detached from the advanced post at Loyal Hanna, with a select corps of eight
hundred men, to reconnoitre the country about fort Du Quesne. In the night he reached
a hill near the fort, and sent forward a party for the purpose of discovery. They burnt a
log house, and returned. Next morning, Major Grant detached Major Lewis, of Colonel
Washington's regiment, with a baggage guard, two miles into his rear; and sent an
engineer, with a covering party, within full view of the fort, to take a plan of the works. In
the mean time he ordered the reveillée to be beaten in different places. An action soon
commenced, on which Major Lewis, leaving Captain Bullett, with about fifty Virginians to
guard the baggage, advanced with the utmost celerity to support Major Grant. The
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English were defeated with considerable loss; and both Major Grant and Major Lewis
were taken prisoners. In this action, the Virginians evidenced the spirit with which they
had been trained. Out of eight officers, five were killed, a sixth wounded, and a seventh
taken prisoner. Captain Bullett, who defended the baggage with great resolution, and
contributed to save the remnant of the detachment, was the only officer who escaped
unhurt. Of one hundred and sixty-two men, sixty-two were killed on the spot, and two
wounded. This conduct reflected high honor on the commanding officer of the regiment
as well as on the troops; and he received, on the occasion, the compliments of the
general. The total loss was two hundred and seventy-three killed, and forty-two
wounded.
It was at length determined that the main body of the army should move from Raystown;
and the general called on the colonels of regiments, to submit severally to his
consideration, a plan for his march. That proposed by Colonel Washington has been
preserved, and appears to have been judiciously formed.
They reached the camp at Loyal Hanna, through a road indescribably bad, about the
fifth of November; where, as had been predicted, a council of war determined that it was
unadvisable to proceed farther this campaign. It would have been almost impossible to
winter an army in that position. They must have retreated from the cold inhospitable
wilderness into which they had penetrated, or have suffered immensely; perhaps have
perished. Fortunately, some prisoners were taken, who informed them of the extreme
distress of the fort. Deriving no support from Canada, the garrison was weak; in great
want of provisions; and had been deserted by the Indians. These encouraging
circumstances changed the resolution which had been taken, and determined the
general to prosecute the expedition.
Fort Du Quesne Captured by the English
Colonel Washington was advanced in front; and, with immense labor, opened a way for
the main body of the army. The troops moved forward with slow and painful steps until
they reached fort Du Quesne, of which they took peaceable possession; the garrison
having on the preceding night, after evacuating and setting it on fire, proceeded down
the Ohio in boats.
To other causes than the vigour of the officer who conducted this enterprise, the capture
of this important place is to be ascribed. The naval armaments of Britain had intercepted
the reinforcements designed by France for her colonies; and the pressure on Canada
was such as to disable the governor of that province from detaching troops to fort Du
Quesne. Without the aid of these causes, the extraordinary and unaccountable delays
of the campaign must have defeated its object.
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The works were repaired, and the new fort received the name of the great minister,
who, with unparalleled vigour and talents, then governed the nation.
After furnishing two hundred men from his regiment as a garrison for fort Pitt, Colonel
Washington marched back to Winchester; whence he soon afterwards proceeded to
Williamsburg, to take his seat in the General Assembly, of which he had been elected a
member by the county of Frederick, while at fort Cumberland.
A cessation of Indian hostility being the consequence of expelling the French from the
Ohio, Virginia was relieved from the dangers with which she had been threatened; and
the object for which alone he had continued in the service, after perceiving that he
should not be placed on the permanent establishment, was accomplished. His health
was much impaired, and his domestic affairs required his attention.
Resignation and marriage of George Washington
Impelled by these and other motives of a private nature, he determined to withdraw from
a service, which he might now quit without dishonor; and, about the close of the year,
resigned his commission, as colonel of the first Virginia regiment, and commander-in-
chief of all the troops raised in the colony.
The officers whom he had commanded were greatly attached to him. They manifested
their esteem and their regret at parting, by a very affectionate address, [SEE A
TRIBUTE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, FROM HIS MEN] expressive of the high
opinion they entertained both of his military and private character.
This opinion was not confined to the officers of his regiment. It was common to Virginia;
and had been adopted by the British officers with whom he served. The duties he
performed, though not splendid, were arduous; and were executed with zeal, and with
judgment. The exact discipline he established in his regiment, when the temper of
Virginia was extremely hostile to discipline, does credit to his military character, and the
gallantry the troops displayed, whenever called into action, manifests the spirit infused
into them by their commander.
The difficulties of his situation, while unable to cover the frontier from the French and
Indians, who were spreading death and desolation in every quarter, were incalculably
great; and no better evidence of his exertions, under these distressing circumstances,
can be given, than the undiminished confidence still placed in him, by those whom he
was unable to protect.
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The efforts to which he incessantly

stimulated his country for the purpose of
obtaining possession of the Ohio; the
system for the conduct of the war which he
continually recommended; the vigorous and
active measures always urged upon those
by whom he was commanded; manifest an
ardent and enterprising mind, tempered by
judgment, and quickly improved by
experience.
Not long after his resignation, he was

married to Mrs. Custis; a young lady to
whom he had been for some time attached;
and who, to a large fortune and fine person,
added those amiable accomplishments
which ensure domestic happiness, and fill,
with silent but unceasing felicity, the quiet
scenes of private life.
[Has been taken From THE LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON, Volume II

by: John Marshall, edited for style, length, graphics and content]
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The First President of the
United States of America
Washington's Inaugurals. The first
inauguration took place on April 30, 1789. At
nine o'clock in the morning there were
religious services in all the churches, and
prayers put up for the blessing of Heaven on
the new government. At twelve o'clock the
city troops paraded before Washington's
door, and soon after the committees of
Congress and heads of departments came
in their carriages. At half-past twelve the
procession moved forward preceded by the
troops; next came the committees and
heads of departments in their carriages; then
Washington in a coach of state, his aide-de-
camp Colonel Humphreys, and his secretary
Mr. Lear in his own carriage. The foreign
ministers and a long train of citizens brought
up the rear.
About 200 yards before reaching the hall,

Washington and his suite alighted from their
carriages, and passed through the troops, who were drawn up on each side, into the
hall and Senate chamber, where the Vice-President, the Senate, and House of
Representatives were assembled. The Vice-President, John Adams, recently
inaugurated, advanced and conducted Washington to a chair of state at the upper end
of the room. A solemn silence prevailed when the Vice-President rose and informed him
that all things were prepared for him to take the oath of office required by the
Constitution.
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Federal Hall, New York, 1789- Scene of George Washington's First Inauguration
The oath was to be administered by the chancellor of the State of New York in a
balcony in front of the Senate chamber, and in full view of an immense multitude
occupying the street, the windows, and even roofs of the adjacent houses. The balcony
formed a kind of open recess, with lofty columns supporting the roof. In the center was a
table with a covering of crimson velvet, upon which lay a superbly bound Bible on a
crimson velvet cushion. This was all the paraphernalia that had been provided for this
august scene.
All eyes were fixed upon the balcony, when, at the appointed hour, Washington made
his appearance, accompanied by various public functionaries, and members of the
Senate and House of Representatives. He was clad in a full suit of dark-brown cloth, of
American manufacture, with a steel-hilted dress-sword, white silk stockings and silver
shoe-buckles. His hair was dressed and powdered in the fashion of the day, and worn in
a bag and solitaire.
His entrance on the balcony was hailed by universal shouts. He was evidently moved by
this demonstration of public affection. Advancing to the front of the balcony he laid his
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hand upon his heart, bowed several times, and then retreated to an armchair near the
table. The populace appeared to understand that the scene had overcome him, and
were hushed at once into profound silence.
After a few moments Washington rose and again came forward. John Adams, the Vice-
President, stood on his right; on his left the chancellor of the State, Robert R.
Livingston; somewhat in the rear were Roger Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, Generals
Knox, St. Clair, the Baron Steuben, and others.
The chancellor advanced to administer

the oath prescribed by the
Constitution, and Mr. Otis, the
secretary of the Senate, held up the
Bible on its crimson cushion. The oath
was read slowly and distinctly,
Washington at the same time laying
his hand on the open Bible. When it
was concluded, he replied, solemnly, "I
swear - so help me, God!" Mr. Otis
would have raised the Bible to his lips,
but he bowed down reverently and
kissed it.
The chancellor now stepped forward,

waved his hand, and exclaimed, "Long
live George Washington, President of
the United States!" At this moment a
flag was displayed on the cupola of the
hall; on which signal there was a
general discharge of artillery on the
battery. All the bells in the city rang out
a joyful peal, and the multitude rent the
air with acclamations.
Washington again bowed to the people

and returned into the Senate chamber,
where he delivered to both Houses of
Congress his inaugural address, characterized by his usual modesty, moderation, and
good sense, but uttered with a voice deep, slightly tremulous, and so low as to demand
close attention in the listeners. He then proceeded with the assemblage to St. Paul's
church, where prayers were read by Dr. Prevost, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal
Church in New York, who had been appointed by the Senate one of the chaplains of
Congress. So closed the ceremonies of the inauguration. — Irving's Life of Washington.
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George Washington's First Inaugural Address

INAUGURAL SPEECH TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, APRIL 30, 1789.
Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives, Among the vicissitudes

incident to life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties, than that of which
the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the
present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can
never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the
fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the
asylum of my declining years; a retreat which was rendered - every day more necessary
as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent
interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other
hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust, to which the voice of my country called
me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a
distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence
one who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of
civil administration, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this
conflict of emotions, all I dare aver is, that it has been my faithful study to collect my
duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I
dare hope is, that, if in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful
remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent
proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens; and have thence too little consulted my
incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me; my error
will be palliated by the motives which misled me, and its consequences be judged by
my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated. Such being the
impressions under which I have, in obedience to the public summons, repaired to the
present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit, in this first official act, my fervent
supplications to that Almighty Being, who rules over the universe, who presides in the
councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that
his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the
United States a government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and
may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the
functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the great Author of every
public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than
my own; nor those of my fellow-citizens at large, less than either. No people can be
bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the affairs of men,
more than the people of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to
the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some
token of providential agency. And, in the important revolution just accomplished in the
system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of
so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared
with the means by which most governments have been established, with-out some
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return of pious gratitude along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which
the past seems to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have
forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I
trust, in thinking that there are none, under the influence of which the proceedings of a
new and free government can more auspiciously commence.
By the article establishing the executive department, it is made the duty of the President
"to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and
expedient." The circumstances, under which I now meet you, will acquit me from
entering into that subject further than to refer you to the great constitutional charter
under which we are assembled; and which, in defining your powers, designates the
objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those
circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute,
in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the
talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism, which adorn the characters selected to devise
and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges, that as,
on one side, no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views or party animosities,
will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye, which ought to watch over this great
assemblage of communities and interests; so, on another, that the foundations of our
national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and
the pre-eminence of a free government be exemplified by all the attributes, which can
win the affections of its citizens, and command the respect of the world.
I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can
inspire; since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the
economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness,
between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and
magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we
ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be
expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven
itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the
destiny of the republican model of government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps
as finally staked on the experiment in trusted to the hands of the American people.
Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to
decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the
Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections
which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has
given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject,
in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again
give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for
I assure myself that, whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger
the benefits of a united and effective government, or which ought to await the future
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lessons of experience; a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen, and a regard
for the public harmony, will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question, how
far the former can be more impregnably fortified, or the latter be safely and
advantageously promoted.
To the preceding observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed
to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as
possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the
eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty
required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I
have in no instance departed. And being still under the impressions which produced it, I
must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments, which
may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department;
and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am
placed may, during my continuance in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the
public good may be thought to require.
Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the
occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without
resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in humble supplication,
that, since he has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for
deliberating in perfect tranquility, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled
unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement
of their happiness; so his divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged
views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this
government must depend.
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Second Inauguration
of George Washington
Washington took the oath of office for his second term on March 4, 1793. The address
which is here printed as his second inaugural is the address delivered upon the
assembling of Congress in December following. In the time of Washington's
administration, it was customary for the President, at the opening of each session of
Congress, to meet the two Houses in person and deliver a written speech. Each House
returned an answer to this speech some days afterwards, by a committee, who waited
on him for the purpose, and he at the same time made a brief reply. All of Washington's
speeches to Congress, and all his replies to the answers of the two Houses, are given
in vol. xii. of Sparks's edition of the Writings of Washington.
George Washington's Second Inaugural Address

SPEECH TO BOTH HOUSES OF CONGRESS, DEC. 3, 1793.
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Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives; Since the commencement

of the term, for which I have been again called into office, no fit occasion has arisen for
expressing to my fellow-citizens at large, the deep and respectful sense, which I feel, of
the renewed testimony of public approbation. While, on the one hand, it awakened my
gratitude for all those instances of affectionate partiality, with which I have been
honored by my country; on the other, it could not prevent an earnest wish for that
retirement, from which no private consideration should ever have torn me. But
influenced by the belief that my conduct would be estimated according to its real
motives, and that the people, and the authorities derived from them, would support
exertions having nothing personal for their object, I have obeyed the suffrage, which
commanded me to resume the executive power; and I humbly implore that Being, on
whose will the fate of nations depends, to crown with success our mutual endeavors for
the general happiness.
As soon as the war in Europe had embraced those powers, with whom the United
States have the most extensive relations, there was reason to apprehend, that our
intercourse with them might be interrupted, and our disposition for peace drawn into
question, by the suspicions too often entertained by belligerent nations. It seemed,
therefore, to be my duty to admonish our citizens of the consequences of a contraband
trade, and of hostile acts to any of the parties; and to obtain, by a declaration of the
existing legal state of things, an easier admission of our right to the immunities
belonging to our situation. Under these impressions, the Proclamation, which will be laid
before you, was issued.
In this posture of affairs, both new and delicate, I resolved to adopt general rules, which
should conform to the treaties and assert the privileges of the United States. These
were reduced into a system, which will be communicated to you. Although I have not
thought myself at liberty to forbid the sale of the prizes, permitted by our treaty of
commerce with France to be brought into our ports, I have not refused to cause them to
be restored, when they were taken within the protection of our territory, or by vessels
commissioned or equipped in a warlike form within the limits of the United States.
It rests with the wisdom of Congress to correct, improve, or enforce this plan of
procedure; and it will probably be found expedient to extend the legal code, and the
jurisdiction of the courts of the United States, to many cases which, though dependent
on principles already recognized, demand some further provisions.
Where individuals shall within the United States array themselves in hostility against any
of the powers at war; or enter upon military expeditions or enterprises within the
jurisdiction of the United States; or usurp and exercise judicial authority within the
United States; or where the penalties on violations of the law of nations may have been
indistinctly marked, or are inadequate; these offences cannot receive too early and
close an attention, and require prompt and decisive remedies.
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Whatsoever those remedies may be, they will be well administered by the judiciary, who
possess a long-established course of investigation, effectual process, and officers in the
habit of executing it. In like manner, as several of the courts have doubted, under
particular circumstances, their power to liberate the vessels of a nation at peace, and
even of a citizen of the United States, although seized under a false color of being
hostile property; and have denied their power to liberate certain captures within the
protection of our territory; it would seem proper to regulate their jurisdiction in these
points. But if the executive is to be the resort in either of the two last-mentioned cases, it
is hoped that he will be authorized by law to have facts ascertained by the courts, when,
for his own information, he shall request it.
I cannot recommend to your notice measures for the fulfillment of our duties to the rest
of the world, without again pressing upon you the necessity of placing ourselves in a
condition of complete defense, and of exacting from them the fulfillment of their duties
towards us. The United States ought not to indulge a persuasion, that, contrary to the
order of human events, they will for ever keep at a distance those painful appeals to
arms, with which the history of every other nation abounds. There is a rank due to the
United States among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the
reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we
desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it
must be known that we are at all times ready for war.
The documents, which will be presented to you, will show the amount and kinds of arms
and military stores now in our magazines and arsenals; and yet an addition even to
these supplies cannot with prudence be neglected, as it would leave nothing to the
uncertainty of procuring a warlike apparatus in the moment of public danger. Nor can
such arrangements, with such objects, be exposed to the censure or jealousy of the
warmest friends of republican government. They are incapable of abuse in the hands of
the militia, who ought to possess a pride in being the depository of the force of the
republic, and may be trained to a degree of energy, equal to every military exigency of
the United States. But it is an inquiry, which cannot be too solemnly pursued, whether
the act "more effectually to provide for the national defense by establishing a uniform
militia throughout the United States," has organized them so as to produce their full
effect; whether your own experience in the several States has not detected some
imperfections in the scheme; and whether a material feature, in an improvement of it,
ought not to be to afford an opportunity for the study of those branches of the military
art, which can scarcely ever be attained by practice alone.
The connexion of the United States with Europe has become extremely interesting. The
occurrences, which relate to it, and have passed under the knowledge of the executive,
will be exhibited to Congress in a subsequent communication.
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When we contemplate the war on our frontiers, it may be truly affirmed that every
reasonable effort has been made to adjust the causes of dissension with the Indians
north of the Ohio. The instructions given to the commissioners evince a moderation and
equity proceeding from a sincere love of peace, and a liberality having no restriction but
the essential interests and dignity of the United States. The attempt, however, of an
amicable negotiation having been frustrated, the troops have marched to act
offensively. Although the proposed treaty did not arrest the progress of military
preparation, it is doubtful how far the advance of the season, before good faith justified
active movements, may retard them, during the remainder of the year. From the papers
and intelligence, which relate to this important subject, you will determine, whether the
deficiency in the number of troops, granted by law, shall be compensated by succours
of militia; or additional encouragements shall be proposed to recruits. An anxiety has
been also demonstrated by the executive for peace with the Creeks and the Cherokees.
The former have been relieved with corn and with clothing, and offensive measures
against them prohibited, during the recess of Congress. To satisfy the complaints of the
latter, prosecutions have been instituted for the violences committed upon them. But the
papers, which will be delivered to you, disclose the critical footing on which we stand in
regard to both those tribes; and it is with Congress to pronounce what shall be done.
After they shall have provided for the present emergency, it will merit their most serious
labors, to render tranquility with the savages permanent by creating ties of interest. Next
to a rigorous execution of justice on the violators of peace, the establishment of
commerce with the Indian nations on behalf of the United States is most likely to
conciliate their attachment. But it ought to be conducted without fraud, without extortion,
with constant and plentiful supplies, with a ready market for the commodities of the
Indians, and a stated price for what they give in payment, and receive in exchange.
Individuals will not pursue such a traffic unless they be allured by the hope of profit; but
it will be enough for the United States to be reimbursed only. Should this
recommendation accord with the opinion of Congress, they will recollect that it cannot
be accomplished by any means yet in the hands of the executive.
Gentlemen of the House o Representatives, - The commissioners, harged with the

settlement of accounts between the United and individual States, concluded their
important functions within the time limited by law; and the balances, struck in their
report, which will be laid before Congress, have been placed on the books of the
treasury.
On the first day of June last, an installment of one million of florins became payable on
the loans of the United States in Holland. This was adjusted by a prolongation of the
period of reimbursement, in the nature of a new loan, at interest at five per cent. for the
term of ten years; and the expenses of this operation were a commission of three per
cent.
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The first installment of the loan of two millions of dollars from the bank of the United
States has been paid, as was directed by law. For the second, it is necessary that
provision should be made.
No pecuniary consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption and discharge
of the public debt; on none can delay be more injurious, or an economy of time more
valuable.
The productiveness of the public revenues hitherto has continued to equal the
anticipations which were formed of it; but it is not expected to prove commensurate with
all the objects which have been suggested. Some auxiliary provisions will, therefore, it is
presumed, be requisite; and it is hoped that these may be made, consistently with a due
regard to the convenience of our citizens, who cannot but be sensible of the true
wisdom of encountering a small present addition to their contributions, to obviate a
future accumulation of burdens.
But here I cannot forbear to recommend a repeal of the tax on the transportation of
public prints. There is no resource so firm for the government of the United States, as
the affections of the people, guided by an enlightened policy; and to this primary good,
nothing can conduce more than a faithful representation of public proceedings, diffused
without restraint throughout the United States.
An estimate of the appropriations necessary for the current service of the ensuing year,
and a statement of a purchase of arms and military stores made during the recess, will
be presented to Congress.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Representatives, The several subjects, to which
I have now referred, open a wide range to your deliberations, and involve some of the
choicest interests of our common country. Permit me to bring to your remembrance the
magnitude of your task. Without an unprejudiced coolness, the welfare of the
government may be hazarded; without harmony, as far as consists with freedom of
sentiment, its dignity may be lost. But as the legislative proceedings of the United States
will never, I trust, be reproached for the want of temper or candor; so shall not the public
happiness languish from the want of my strenuous and warmest co-operations.
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George Washington's
Letters to Churches
Washington's Addresses to the Churches. - Washington's addresses to the
American churches, in reply to their congratulations upon his election to the Presidency,
constitute one of the most interesting divisions of his writings, and illustrate one of the
noblest and most salutary features of his life and influence. The governors and
legislatures of many of the States, the mayors and aldermen of leading cities, the
presidents and trustees of colleges, and the representatives of organizations of various
character sent formal addresses to him, expressing their satisfaction in his inauguration,
and his replies to all were full of dignity and wisdom; but his replies to the churches,
which, as they met in general convention or otherwise during the months succeeding his
election, successively addressed him, are especially memorable for their revelations of
his broad spirit of toleration and sympathy and their inculcation of the duty of fraternity
and mutual respect which should always govern the various religious bodies living
together in the free republic.
It has been well said that all lines of our national policy seem to lead back to George
Washington as all roads lead to Rome. If party spirit becomes extravagant and
dangerous, we turn to him for the best words with which to rebuke it. If reckless
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politicians would postpone the public peace and embroil the nation for their own selfish
purposes, his word and great example are their shame and the people's refuge; and,
whenever bigotry and intolerance raise their heads, and men would stir up the animosity
of one part of the people against another in the name of religion, Washington's
addresses to the churches will still be appealed to by good citizens. Such will remember
how he wrote to the Lutheran, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, the Baptist, the
Episcopalian, the Quaker, the Universalist, the Swedenborgian, the Roman Catholic,
and the Jew, reminding all of their common duties as citizens, and assuring all of the
common protection of the national government, which knows no differences of creeds,
but holds all creeds alike before the law.
The student is referred to the valuable essay on Washington's Religious Opinions, in

Sparks's edition of Washington's Writings, vol. xii., appendix, p. 399. Two expressions
of Washington, quoted in this essay, should be given here as well supplementing the
addresses printed in the leaflet. To Lafayette Washington wrote, Aug. 15, 1787, alluding
to the proceedings of the Assembly of Notables: "I am not less ardent in my wish that
you may succeed in your plan of toleration in religious matters. Being no bigot myself, I
am disposed to indulge the professors of Christianity in the church with that road to
heaven which to them shall seem the most direct, plainest, easiest, and least liable to
exception." Again, in a letter to Sir Edward Newenham, Oct. 20, 1792: "Of all the
animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference
of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought
most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy which has
marked the present age would at least have reconciled Christians of every
denomination so far that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to
such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society."
The George Washington Letters to Churches

01. George Washington's Letter to the German Lutheran Church
02. George Washington's Letter to the Presbyterian Church
03. George Washington's Letter to the Methodist Church
04. George Washington's Letter to the Baptist Church
05. George Washington's Letter to the German Reformed Church
06. George Washington's Letter to the United Brethren
07. George Washington's Letter to the Episcopal Church
08. George Washington's Letter to the Reformed Dutch Church
09. George Washington's Letter to the Quakers
10. George Washington's Letter to the Catholic Church
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11. George Washington's Letter to the Jews

12. George Washington's Letter to the Universal Church
13. George Washington's Letter to the Congregational Church
01. George Washington's

Letter to the Lutheran Church
To the Ministers, Church-wardens, and
Vestrymen of the German Lutheran
Congregation, in and near the City of
Philadelphia.
April 20th, 1789.
While I request you to accept my thanks for your kind address, I must profess myself
highly gratified by the sentiments of esteem and consideration contained in it. The
approbation my past conduct has received from so worthy a body of citizens as that,
whose joy for my appointment you announce, is a proof of the indulgence with which my
future transactions will be judged by them.
I could not, however, avoid apprehending, that the partiality of my countrymen in favor
of the measures now pursued, had led them to expect too much from the present
government, did not the same Providence, which has been visible in every stage of our
progress to this interesting crisis, from a combination of circumstances, give us cause to
hope for the accomplishment of all our reasonable desires.
Thus partaking with you in the pleasing anticipation of the blessings of a wise and
efficient government, I flatter myself that opportunities will not be wanting for me to
show my disposition to encourage the domestic and public virtues of industry, economy,
patriotism, philanthropy, and that righteousness which exalteth a nation.
I rejoice in having so suitable an occasion to testify the reciprocity of my esteem for the
numerous people whom you represent. From the excellent character for diligence,
sobriety, and virtue, which the Germans in general, who are settled in America, have
ever maintained, I cannot forbear felicitating myself on receiving from so respectable a
number of them such strong assurances of their affection for my person, confidence in
my integrity, and zeal to support me in my endeavors for promoting the welfare of our
common country. So long as my conduct shall merit the approbation of the wise and the
good I hope to hold the same place in your affections, which your friendly declarations
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induce me to believe I possess at present; and, amidst all the vicissitudes, that may
await me in this mutable existence, I shall earnestly desire the continuation of an
interest in your intercession at the throne of grace.
George Washington

Letter to the Presbyterian Church
To the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church
in the United States. May, 1789.
I receive with great sensibility the testimonial given by the general assembly of the
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, of the lively and unfeigned
pleasure experienced by them on my appointment to the first office in the nation.
Although it will be my endeavor to avoid being elated by the too favorable opinion,
which your kindness for me may have induced you to express of the importance of my
former conduct and the effect of my future services, yet, conscious of the
disinterestedness of my motives, it is not necessary for me to conceal the satisfaction I
have felt upon finding that my compliance with the call of my country, and my
dependence on the assistance of Heaven to support me in my arduous undertakings,
have, so far as I can learn, met the universal approbation of my countrymen.
While I reiterate the professions of my dependence upon Heaven, as the source of all
public and private blessings, I will observe, that the general prevalence of piety,
philanthropy, honesty, industry, and economy seems, in the ordinary course of human
affairs, particularly necessary for advancing and confirming the happiness of our
country. While all men within our territories are protected in worshipping the Deity
according to the dictates of their consciences, it is rationally to be expected from them in
return, that they will all be emulous of evincing the sanctity of their professions by the
innocence of their lives and the beneficence of their actions; for no man, who is
profligate in his morals, or a bad member of the civil community, can possibly be a true
Christian, or a credit to his own religious society.
I desire you to accept my acknowledgments for your laudable endeavors to render men
sober, honest, and good citizens, and the obedient subjects of a lawful government, as
well as for your prayers to Almighty God for his blessing on our common country, and
the humble instrument, which he has been pleased to make use of in the administration
of its government.
George Washington
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Letter to the Methodist Church
To the Bishops of the Methodist,

Episcopal Church in the United States.
May, 1789.
I return to you individually, and, through you, to your society collectively in the United
States, my thanks for the demonstrations of affection and the expressions of joy, offered
in their behalf, on my late appointment. It shall still be my Endeavour to manifest, by
overt acts, the purity of my inclinations for promoting the happiness of mankind, as well
as the sincerity of my desires to contribute whatever may be in my power towards the
preservation of the civil and religious liberties of the American people. In pursuing this
line of conduct, I hope, by the assistance of Divine Providence, not altogether to
disappoint the confidence which you have been pleased to repose in me.
It always affords me satisfaction, when I find a concurrence in sentiment and practice

between all conscientious men in acknowledgments of homage to the great Governor of
the Universe, and in professions of support to a just civil government. After mentioning
that I trust the people of every denomination, who demean themselves as good citizens,
will have occasion to be convinced that I shall always strive to prove a faithful and
impartial patron of genuine, vital religion, I must assure you in particular that I take in the
kindest part the promise you make of presenting your prayers at the throne of grace for
me, and that I likewise implore the divine benediction on yourselves and your religious
community.
George Washington
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Letter to the Baptist Church
To the General Committee,
Representing the United Baptist Churches in Virginia.
May, 1789.
I request that you will accept my best acknowledgments for your congratulation on my
appointment to the first office in the nation. The kind manner in which you mention my
past conduct equally claims the expression of my gratitude.
After we had, by the smiles of Heaven on our exertions, obtained the object for which
we contended, I retired, at the conclusion of the war, with an idea that my country could
have no further occasion for my services, and with the intention of never entering again
into public life; but, when the exigencies of my country seemed to require me once more
to engage in public affairs, an honest conviction of duty superseded my former
resolution, and became my apology for deviating from the happy plan which I had
adopted.
If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the constitution framed in the
convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious
rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to
it; and, if I could now conceive that the general government might ever be so
administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be
persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual
barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious
persecution. For you doubtless remember, that I have often expressed my sentiments,
that every man, conducting himself as a good citizen, and being accountable to God
alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according
to the dictates of his own conscience.
While I recollect with satisfaction, that the religious society of which you are members
have been, throughout America, uniformly and almost unanimously the firm friends to
civil liberty, and the persevering promoters of our glorious revolution, I cannot hesitate
to believe, that they will be the faithful supporters of a free, yet efficient general
government. Under this pleasing expectation I rejoice to assure them, that they may rely
on my best wishes and endeavors to advance their prosperity.
In the mean time be assured, gentlemen, that I entertain a proper sense of your fervent
supplications to God for my temporal and eternal happiness.
George Washington
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Letter to the Reformed Church
To the Ministers and Elders of the German Reformed Congregations in the United
States.
June, 1789.
I am happy in concurring with you in the sentiments of gratitude and piety towards
Almighty God, which are expressed with such fervency of devotion in your address; and
in believing that I shall always find in you, and the German Reformed Congregations in
the United States, a conduct correspondent to such worthy and pious expressions.
At the same time, I return you my thanks for the manifestation of your firm purpose to
support in your persons a government founded in justice and equity, and for the
promise, that it will be your constant study to impress the minds of the people entrusted
to your care with a due sense of the necessity of uniting reverence to such a
government, and obedience to its laws, with the duties and exercises of religion.
Be assured, gentlemen, it is by such conduct very much in the power of the virtuous
members of the community to alleviate the burden of the important office which I have
accepted, and to give me occasion to rejoice, in this world, for having followed therein
the dictates of my conscience.
Be pleased, also, to accept my acknowledgments for the interest you so kindly take in
the prosperity of my person, family, and administration. May your devotions before the
throne of grace be prevalent in calling down the blessings of Heaven upon yourselves
and your country.
George Washington
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Letter to the United Brethren
To the Directors of the Society
of the United Brethren for Propagating the
Gospel Among the Heathen.
July, 1789.
I receive with satisfaction the congratulations of your society, and of the Brethren's
congregations in the United States of America. For you may be persuaded, that the
approbation and good wishes of such a peaceable and virtuous community cannot be
indifferent to me.
You will also be pleased to accept my thanks for the treatise you presented, and be
assured of my patronage in your laudable undertakings. In proportion as the general
government of the United States shall acquire strength by duration, it is probable they
may have it in their power to extend a salutary influence to the aborigines in the
extremities of their territory. In the mean time, it will be a desirable thing, for the
protection of the Union, to cooperate, as far as the circumstances may conveniently
admit, with the disinterested endeavors of your society to civilize and christianize the
savages of the wilderness.
Under these impressions, I pray Almighty God to have you always in his holy keeping.
George Washington
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Letter to the Episcopal Church
To the Bishops, Clergy, and Laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church in

the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
and North Carolina, in General Convention Assembled.
August 19, 1789.
I sincerely thank you for your affectionate congratulations on my election to the chief
magistracy of the United States. After having received from my fellow-citizens in general
the most liberal treatment, after having found them disposed to contemplate, in the most
flattering point of view, the performance of my military services, and the manner of my
retirement at the close of the war, I feel that I have a right to console myself in my
present arduous undertakings with a hope that they will still be inclined to put the most
favorable construction on the motives, which may influence me in my future public
transactions.
The satisfaction arising from the indulgent opinion entertained by the American people
of my conduct will, I trust, be some security for preventing me from doing anything,
which might justly incur the forfeiture of that opinion. And the consideration, that human
happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected, will always continue to prompt me
to promote the progress of the former by inculcating the practice of the latter.
On this occasion, it would ill become me to conceal the joy I have felt in perceiving the
fraternal affection, which appears to increase every day among the friends of genuine
religion. It affords edifying prospects, indeed, to see Christians of different
denominations dwell together in more charity, and conduct themselves in respect to
each other with a more Christian-like spirit, than ever they have done in any former age,
or in any other nation.
I receive with the greater satisfaction your congratulations on the establishment of the
new constitution of government, because I believe its mild yet efficient operations will
tend to remove every remaining apprehension of those, with whose opinions it may not
entirely coincide, as well as to confirm the hopes of its numerous friends; and because
the moderation, patriotism, and wisdom of the present federal legislature seem to
promise the restoration of order and our ancient virtues, the extension of genuine
religion, and the consequent advancement of our respectability abroad, and of our
substantial happiness at home.
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I request, most reverend and respected gentlemen, that you will accept my cordial
thanks for your devout supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe in behalf of
me. May you, and the people whom you represent, be the happy subjects of the divine
benedictions both here and hereafter.
George Washington

Letter to the Reformed Dutch Church
To the Synod of the Reformed Dutch. Church in North America.
October, 1789.
I receive with a grateful heart your pious and affectionate address, and with truth
declare to you that no circumstance of my life has affected me more sensibly, or
produced more pleasing emotions, than the friendly congratulations, and strong
assurances of support, which I have received from my fellow-citizens of all descriptions
upon my election to the Presidency of these United States.
I fear, gentlemen, your goodness has led you to form too exalted an opinion of my
virtues and merits. If such talents as I possess have been called into action by great
events, and those events have terminated happily for our country, the glory should be
ascribed to the manifest interposition of an overruling Providence. My military services
have been abundantly recompensed by the flattering approbation of a grateful people;
and if a faithful discharge of my civil duties can insure a like reward, I shall feel myself
richly compensated for any personal sacrifice I may have made by engaging again in
public life.
The citizens of the United States of America have given as signal a proof of their
wisdom and virtue, in framing and adopting a constitution of government without
bloodshed or the intervention of force, as they, upon a former occasion, exhibited to the
world, of their valour, fortitude, and perseverance; and it must be a pleasing
circumstance to every friend of good order and social happiness to find that our new
government is gaining strength and respectability among the citizens of this country, in
proportion as its operations are known and its effects felt.
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You, gentlemen, act the part of pious Christians and good citizens by your prayers and
exertions to preserve that harmony and good will towards men, which must be the basis
of every political establishment; and I readily join with you, that, "while just government
protects all in their religious rights, true religion affords to government its surest
support."
I am deeply impressed with your good wishes for my present and future happiness, and
I beseech the Almighty to take you and yours under his special care.
George Washington

Letter to the Quakers
To the Religious Society called Quakers, at their Yearly Meeting for Pennsylvania,
New Jersey, Delaware, and the Western Part of Maryland and Virginia.
8 October, 1789.
I receive with pleasure your affectionate address, and thank you for the friendly
sentiments and good wishes, which you express for the success of my administration
and for my personal happiness.
We have reason to rejoice in the prospect that the present national government which,
by the favor of Divine Providence, was formed by the common counsels and peaceably
established with the common consent of the people, will prove a blessing to every
denomination of them. To render it such, my best endeavors shall not be wanting.
Government being, among other purposes, instituted to protect the persons and
consciences of men from oppression, it certainly is the duty of rulers, not only to abstain
from it themselves, but, according to their stations, to prevent it in others.
The liberty enjoyed by the people of these States, of worshipping Almighty God
agreeably to their consciences, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but
also of their rights. While men perform their social duties faithfully, they do all that
society or the state can with propriety demand or expect; and remain responsible only to
their Maker for the religion, or modes of faith, which they may prefer or profess.
Your principles and conduct are well known to me; and it is doing the people called
Quakers no more than justice to say, that (except their declining to share with others the
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burden of the common defence) there is no denomination among us who are more
exemplary and useful citizens.
I assure you very explicitly that in my opinion the conscientious scruples of all men
should be treated with great delicacy and tenderness; and it is my wish and desire that
the laws may always be as extensively accommodated to them as a due regard to the
protection and essential interests of the nation may justify and permit.
George Washington

Letter to the Catholics
To the Roman Catholics in the United States. December, 1789.
While I now receive with much satisfaction your congratulations on my being called by a
unanimous vote to the first station in my country, I cannot but duly notice your
politeness in offering an apology for the unavoidable delay. As that delay has given you
an opportunity of realizing, instead of anticipating, the benefits of the general
government, you will do me the justice to believe that your testimony to the increase of
the public prosperity enhances the pleasure which I should otherwise have experienced
from your affectionate address.
I feel that my conduct in war and in peace has met with more general approbation, than
could reasonably have been expected; and I find myself disposed to consider that
fortunate circumstance, in a great degree, resulting from the able support and
extraordinary candor of my fellow-citizens of all denominations.
The prospect of national prosperity now before us is truly animating, and ought to excite
the exertions of all good men to establish and secure the happiness of their country, in
the permanent duration of its freedom and independence. America, under the smiles of
Divine Providence, the protection of a good government, the cultivation of manners;
morals, and piety, can hardly fail of attaining an uncommon degree of eminence in
literature, commerce, agriculture, improvements at home, and respectability abroad.
As mankind become more liberal, they will be more apt to allow that all those, who
conduct themselves as worthy members of the community, are equally entitled to the
protection of civil government. I hope ever to see America among the foremost nations
in examples of justice and liberality. And I presume, that your fellow-citizens will not
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forget the patriotic part, which you took in the accomplishment of their revolution and the
establishment of their government, or the important assistance, which they received
from a nation in which the Roman Catholic religion is professed.
I thank you, gentlemen, for your kind concern for me. While my life and my health shall
continue, in whatever situation I may be, it shall be my constant endeavor to justify the
favorable sentiments you are pleased to express of my conduct. And may the members
of your society in America, animated alone by the pure spirit of Christianity, and still
conducting themselves as the faithful subjects of our free government, enjoy every
temporal and spiritual felicity.
George Washington

Letter to the Jews
To the Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah.
May, 1790.
I thank you, with great sincerity, for your congratulations on my appointment to the office
which I have the honor to hold by the unanimous choice of my fellow-citizens; and
especially for the expressions, which you are pleased to use in testifying the confidence
that is reposed in me by your congregation.
As the delay, which has naturally intervened between my election and your address,
has afforded an opportunity for appreciating the merits of the federal government, and
for communicating your sentiments of its administration, I have rather to express my
satisfaction, than regret, at a circumstance, which demonstrates (upon experiment) your
attachment to the former, as well as approbation of the latter.
I rejoice, that a spirit of liberality and philanthropy is much more prevalent than it
formerly was among the enlightened nations of the earth, and that your brethren will
benefit thereby in proportion as it shall become still more extensive. Happily, the people
of the United States of America have, in many instances, exhibited examples worthy of
imitation, the salutary influence of which will doubtless extend much farther, if, gratefully
enjoying those blessings of peace, which, under the favor of Heaven, have been
obtained by fortitude in war, they shall conduct themselves with reverence to the Deity,
and charity towards their fellow-creatures.
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May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their
Egyptian oppressors, and planted them in the promised land, whose providential
agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an
independent nation, still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven, and to make
the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings
of that people whose God is Jehovah.
George Washington

Letter to the Universal Church
To the Convention of the Universal Church

Lately Assembled in Philadelphia. 1790.
I thank you cordially for the congratulations, which you offer on my appointment to the
office I have the honor to hold in the government of the United States.
It gives me the most sensible pleasure to find, that, in our nation, however different are
the sentiments of citizens on religious doctrines, they generally concur in one thing; for
their political professions and practices are almost universally friendly to the order and
happiness of our civil institutions. I am also happy in finding this disposition particularly
evinced by your society. It is, moreover, my earnest desire that all the members of every
association or community, throughout the United States may make such use of the
auspicious years of peace, liberty, and free inquiry with which they are now favored, as
they shall hereafter find occasion to rejoice for having done.
With great satisfaction I embrace this opportunity to express my acknowledgments for

the interest my affectionate fellow-citizens have taken in my recovery from a late
dangerous indisposition; and I assure you, gentlemen, that, in mentioning my
obligations for the effusions of your benevolent wishes in my behalf, I feel animated with
new zeal, that my conduct may ever be worthy of your favorable opinion, as well as
such as shall, in every respect, best comport with the character of an intelligent and
accountable being.
George Washington
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Letter to the Congregational Church
To the Congregational Church and Society at Medway, Formerly St. John's
Parish, in the State of Georgia. May, 1791.
I learn, with gratitude proportioned to the occasion, your attachment to my person, and
the pleasure you express on my election to the Presidency of the United States. Your
sentiments on the happy influence of our equal government impress me with the most
sensible satisfaction. They vindicate the great interests of humanity; they reflect honor
on the liberal minds that entertain them; and they promise the continuance and
improvement of that tranquility, which is essential to the welfare of nations and the
happiness of men. America has derived her independence. To their industry, and the
natural advantages of the country, she is indebted for her prosperous situation. From
their virtue she may expect long to share the protection of a free and equal government,
which their wisdom has established, and which experience justifies, as admirably
adapted to our social wants and individual felicity.
Continue, my fellow-citizens, to cultivate the peace and harmony which now subsist
between you and your Indian neighbors. The happy consequence is immediate. The
reflection, which arises on justice and benevolence, will be lastingly grateful. A
knowledge of your happiness will lighten the cares of my station, and be among the
most pleasing of their rewards.
George Washington
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George Washington's Legacy
Washington's Legacy: Washington's

circular letter addressed to the governors of
all the States on disbanding the army was
felt by him to be so important that,
supposing himself at the time to be finally
retiring from public life, he spoke of it as his
legacy. The feelings with which it was
written, as well as its own contents and
character, naturally prompt a comparison of
it with the farewell address of 1796. The
occasion of the letter was a much more
critical occasion than that of the farewell
address. It was the time, as Washington well
said, of the "political probation" of the
American people. " This is the moment," he
said, "when the eyes of the whole world are
turned upon them; this is the moment to
establish or ruin their national character
forever. . . . With this conviction of the
importance of the present crisis, silence in
me would be a crime." He then proceeds to
the discussion of those things which he
considered essential to the well-being and to
the existence of the United States as an independent power. The effect of the letter
upon the country, in the disordered condition of the time, was important. The
legislatures that were then in session passed resolves in honor of the commander-in-
chief; and the governors of the States wrote letters expressing the public gratitude for
his great services.
For the conditions under which this address appeared, see Irving's Life of Washington,
iv., 426. For an account of the discontents in the army just previous, which for a time
threatened such serious dangers, see Irving, iv., 406; Marshall, iv., 585; and Sparks,
viii., appendix xii., on The Newburg Addresses. See in this general collection
Washington's letters to the president of Congress, March 19, and April 18, 1783; to
Benjamin Harrison, governor of Virginia, March 18, 1783; to Lafayette, April 5, 1783,
and his farewell address to the armies, Nov. 2, 1783 (Sparks, viii., 396, 403, 411, 421,
491). Washington's deep sense of the obligations of the country to the officers and
soldiers of the army, which finds such strong expression in this circular letter, may be
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further studied in The Life, Journal, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, vol.
i., chap. iv.; in Cone's Life of Gen. Rufus Putnam; and in the St. Clair Papers.
The following is the text of the address:

HEADQUARTERS, NEWBURG, June 8, 1783.
Sir. - The great object, for which I had the honor to hold an appointment in the service of
my country, being accomplished, I am now preparing to resign it into the hands of
Congress, and to return to that domestic retirement which, it is well known, I left with the
greatest reluctance; a retirement for which I have never ceased to sigh, through a long
and painful absence, and in which (remote from the noise and trouble of the world) I
meditate to pass the remainder of life, in a state of undisturbed repose. But before I
carry this resolution into effect, I think it a duty incumbent on me to make this my last
official communication; to congratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has
been pleased to produce in our favor; to offer my sentiments respecting some important
subjects, which appear to me to be intimately connected with the tranquility of the
United States; to take my leave of your Excellency as a public character; and to give my
final blessing to that country in whose service I have spent the prime of my life, for
whose sake I have consumed so many anxious days and watchful nights, and whose
happiness, being extremely dear to me, will always constitute no inconsiderable part of
my own.
Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on this pleasing occasion, I will claim the
indulgence of dilating the more copiously oil the subjects of our mutual felicitation. When
we consider the magnitude of the prize we contended for, the doubtful nature of the
contest, and the favorable manner in which it has terminated, we shall find the greatest
possible reason for gratitude and rejoicing. This is a theme that will afford infinite delight
to every benevolent and liberal mind, whether the event in contemplation be considered
as the source of present enjoyment or the parent of future happiness; and we shall have
equal occasion to felicitate ourselves on the lot which Providence has assigned us,
whether we view it in a natural, a political, or moral point of light.
The citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sole lords and
proprietors of a vast tract of continent, comprehending all the various soils and climates
of the world, and abounding with all the necessaries and conveniences of life, are now,
by the late satisfactory pacification, acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom
and independency. They are, from this period, to be considered as the actors on a most
conspicuous theatre, which seems to be peculiarly designated by Providence for the
display of human greatness and felicity. Here they are not only surrounded with
everything which can contribute to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment;
but Heaven has crowned all its other blessings, by giving a fairer opportunity for political
happiness than any other nation has ever been favored with. Nothing can illustrate
these observations more forcibly than a recollection of the happy conjuncture of times
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and circumstances, under which our republic assumed its rank among the nations. The
foundation of our empire was not laid in the gloomy age of ignorance and superstition;
but at an epocha when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly
defined than at any former period. The researches of the human mind after social
happiness have been carried to a great extent; the treasures of knowledge, acquired by
the labors of philosophers, sages, and legislators, through a long succession of years,
are laid open for our use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the
establishment of our forms of government. The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded
extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of
sentiment, and, above all, the pure and benign light of Revelation, have had a
meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. At this
auspicious period the United States came into existence as a nation; and, if their
citizens should not be completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own.
Such is our situation, and such are our prospects; but, notwithstanding the cup of
blessing is thus reached out to us; notwithstanding happiness is ours, if we have a
disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own; yet it appears to me there is an
option still left to the United States of America, that it is in their choice, and depends
upon their conduct, whether they will be respectable and prosperous, or contemptible
and miserable, as a nation. This is the time of their political probation; this is the
moment when the eyes of the whole world are turned upon them; this is the moment to
establish or ruin their national character for ever; this is the favorable moment to give
such a tone to our federal government, as will enable it to answer the ends of its
institution, or this may be the illfated moment for relaxing the powers of the Union,
annihilating the cement of the confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of
European politics, which may play one State against another, to prevent their growing
importance, and to serve their own interested purposes. For, according to the system of
policy the States shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their
confirmation or lapse it is yet to be decided, whether the revolution must ultimately be
considered as a blessing or a curse; a blessing or a curse, not to the present age alone,
for with our fate will the destiny of unborn millions be involved.
With this conviction of the importance of the present crisis, silence in me would be a
crime. I will therefore speak to your Excellency the language of freedom and of sincerity
without disguise. I am aware, however, that those who differ from me in political
sentiment may perhaps remark that I am stepping out of the proper line of my duty, and
may possibly ascribe to arrogance or ostentation what I know is alone the result of the
purest intention. But the rectitude of my own heart, which disdains such unworthy
motives; the part I have hitherto acted in life; the determination I have formed, of not
taking any share in public business hereafter; the ardent desire I feel, and shall continue
to manifest, of quietly enjoying, in private life, after all the toils of war, the benefits of a
wise and liberal government, will, I flatter myself, sooner or later convince my
countrymen that I could have no sinister views in delivering, with so little reserve, the
opinions contained in this address. There are four things which, I humbly conceive, are
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essential to the well-being, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United
States, as an independent power
First. An indissoluble union of the States under one federal head.
Second. A sacred regard to public justice.
Third. The adoption of a proper peace establishment; and,
Fourth. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the
United States which will induce them to forget their local prejudices and policies; to
make those mutual concessions, which are requisite to the general prosperity; and, in
some instances, to sacrifice their individual advantages to the interest of the community.
These are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our independency and national
character must be supported. Liberty is the basis; and whoever would dare to sap the
foundation, or overturn the structure, under whatever specious pretext he may attempt
it, will merit the bitterest execration and the severest punishment which can be inflicted
by his injured country.
On the three first articles I will make a few observations, leaving the last to the good
sense and serious consideration of those immediately concerned.
Under the first head, although it may not be necessary or proper for me, in this place, to
enter into a particular disquisition on the principles of the Union, and to take up the great
question which has been frequently agitated, whether it be expedient and requisite for
the States to delegate a larger proportion of power to Congress, or not; yet it will be a
part of my duty, and that of every true patriot, to assert without reserve, and to insist
upon, the following positions. That, unless the States will suffer Congress to exercise
those prerogatives they are undoubtedly invested with by the Constitution, everything
must very rapidly tend to anarchy and confusion. That it is indispensable to the
happiness of the individual States that there should be lodged somewhere a supreme
power to regulate and govern the general concerns of the confederated republic,
without which the Union cannot be of long duration. That there must be a faithful and
pointed compliance, on the part of every State, with the late proposals and demands of
Congress, or the most fatal consequences will ensue. That whatever measures have a
tendency to dissolve the Union, or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign
authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and independency of America,
and the authors of them treated accordingly. And lastly, that unless we can be enabled,
by the concurrence of the States, to participate of the fruits of the revolution; and enjoy
the essential benefits of civil society, under a form of government so free and
uncorrupted, so happily guarded against the danger of oppression, as has been devised
and adopted by the Articles of Confederation, it will be a subject of regret that so much
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blood and treasure have been lavished for no purpose, that so many sufferings have
been encountered without a compensation, and that so many sacrifices have been
made n vain.
Many other considerations might here be adduced to prove that, without an entire
conformity to the spirit of the Union, we cannot exist as an independent power. It will be
sufficient for my purpose to mention but one or two, which seem to me of the greatest
importance. It is only in our united character, as an empire, that our independence is
acknowledged, that our power can be regarded, or our credit supported among foreign
nations. The treaties of the European powers with the United States of America will
have no validity on a dissolution of the Union. We shall be left nearly in a state of
nature; or we may find, by our own unhappy experience, that there is a natural and
necessary progression from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny, and that
arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty, abused to
licentiousness.
As to the second article, which respects the performance of public justice, Congress
have, in their late address to the United States, almost exhausted the subject; they have
explained their ideas so fully, and have enforced the obligations the States are under, to
render complete justice to all the public creditors, with so much dignity and energy that,
in my opinion, no real friend of the honor and independency of America can hesitate a
single moment, respecting the propriety of complying with the just and honorable
measures proposed. If their arguments do not produce conviction, I know of nothing that
will have greater influence; especially when we recollect that the system referred to,
being the result of the collected wisdom of the continent, must be esteemed, if not
perfect, certainly the least objectionable of any that could be devised; and that, if it shall
not be carried into immediate execution, a national bankruptcy, with all its deplorable
con-sequences, will take place, before any different plan can possibly be proposed and
adopted. So pressing are the present circumstances, and such is the alternative now
offered to the States.
The ability of the country to discharge the debts, which have been incurred in its
defense, is not to be doubted; and inclination, I flatter myself, will not be wanting. The
path of our duty is plain before us; honesty will be found, on every experiment, to be the
best and only true policy. Let us then, as a nation, be just; let us fulfill the public
contracts, which Congress had undoubtedly a right to make for the purpose of carrying
on the war, with the same good faith we suppose our-selves bound to perform our
private engagements. In the mean time, let an attention to the cheerful performance of
their proper business, as individuals and as members of society, be earnestly inculcated
on the citizens of America; then will they strengthen the hands of government, and be
happy under its protection; everyone will reap the fruit of his labors, everyone will enjoy
his own acquisitions, without molestation and without danger.
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In this state of absolute freedom and perfect security, who will grudge to yield a very
little of his property to support the common interest of society, and insure the protection
of government? Who does not remember the frequent declarations, at the
commencement of the war, that we should be completely satisfied if, at the expense of
one-half, we could defend the remainder of our possessions? Where is the man to be
found who wishes to remain indebted for the defense of his own person and property to
the exertions, the bravery, and the blood of others, without making one generous effort
to repay the debt of honor and gratitude? In what part of the continent shall we find any
man, or body of men, who would not blush to stand up and propose measures,
purposely calculated to rob the soldier of his stipend, and the public creditor of his clue?
And were it possible that such a flagrant instance of injustice could ever happen, would
it not excite the general indignation, and tend to bring down upon the authors of such
measures the aggravated vengeance of Heaven? If, after all, a spirit of disunion, or a
temper of obstinacy and perverseness should manifest itself in any of the States; if such
an ungracious disposition should attempt to frustrate all the happy effects that might be
expected to flow from the Union; if there should be a refusal to comply with the
requisitions for funds to discharge the annual interest of the public debts; and if that
refusal should revive again all those jealousies and produce all those evils which are
now happily removed, Congress, who have, in all their trans-actions, shown a great
degree of magnanimity and justice, will stand justified in the sight of God and man; and
that State alone, which puts itself in opposition to the aggregate wisdom of the
continent, and follows such mistaken and pernicious counsels, will be responsible for all
the consequences.
For my own part, conscious of having acted, while a servant of the public, in the manner
I conceived best suited to promote the real interests of my country; having, in
consequence of my fixed belief, in some measure pledged myself to the army, that their
country would finally do them complete and ample justice; and not wishing to conceal
any instance of my official conduct from the eyes of the world, I have thought proper to
transmit to your Excellency the enclosed collection of papers, relative to the half-pay
and commutation granted by Congress to the officers of the army. From these
communications, my decided sentiments will be .clearly comprehended, together with
the conclusive reasons which induced me, at an early period, to recommend the
adoption of the measure, in the most earnest and serious manner. As the proceedings
of Congress, the army, and myself, are open to all, and contain, in my opinion, sufficient
information to remove the prejudices and errors, which may have been entertained by
any, I think it unnecessary to say anything more than just to observe, that the
resolutions of Congress, now alluded to, are undoubtedly as absolutely binding upon
the United States as the most solemn acts of confederation or legislation.
As to the idea which, I am informed, has in some instances prevailed, that the half-pay
and commutation are to be regarded merely in the odious light of a pension, it ought to
be exploded forever. That provision should be viewed, as it really was, a reasonable
compensation offered by Congress, at a time when they had nothing else to give to the
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officers of the army for services then to be performed. It was the only means to prevent
a total dereliction of the service. It was a part of their hire. I may be allowed to say, it
was the price of their blood, and of your independency; it is therefore more than a
common debt, it is a debt of honor; it can never be considered as a pension or gratuity,
nor be cancelled until it is fairly discharged.
With regard to a distinction between officers and soldiers, it is sufficient that the uniform
experience of every nation of the world, combined with our own, proves the utility and
propriety of the discrimination. Rewards, in proportion to the aids which the public
derives from them, are unquestionably due to all its servants. In some lines, the soldiers
have perhaps generally had as ample compensation for their services, by the large
bounties which have been paid to them, as their officers will receive in the proposed
commutation; in others, if, besides the donation of lands, the payment of arrearages of
clothing and wages (in which articles all the component parts of the army must be put
upon the same footing), we take into the estimate the bounties many of the soldiers
have received, and the gratuity of one year's full pay, which is promised to all, possibly
their situation (every circumstance being duly considered) will not be deemed less
eligible than that of the officers. Should a further reward, however, be judged equitable,
I will venture to assert, no one will enjoy greater satisfaction than myself, on seeing an
exemption from taxes for a limited time (which has been petitioned for in some
instances), or any other adequate immunity or compensation granted to the brave
defenders of their country's cause; but neither the adoption nor rejection of this
proposition will in any manner affect, much less militate against, the act of Congress, by
which they have offered five years' full pay, in lieu of the half-pay for life, which had
been before promised to the officers of the army.
Before I conclude the subject of public justice, I cannot omit to mention the obligations
this country is under to that meritorious class of veteran non-commissioned officers and
privates who have been discharged for inability, in consequence of the resolution of
Congress of the 23d of April, 1782, on an annual pension for life. Their peculiar
sufferings, their singular merits, and claims to that provision, need only be known, to
interest all the feelings of humanity in their behalf. Nothing but a punctual payment of
their annual allowance can rescue them from the most complicated misery; and nothing
could be a more melancholy and distressing sight than to behold those, who have shed
their blood or lost their limbs in the service of their country, without a shelter, without a
friend, and without the means of obtaining any of the necessaries or comforts of life,
compelled to beg their daily bread from door to door. Suffer me to recommend those of
this description, belonging to your State, to the warmest patronage of your Excellency
and your legislature.
It is necessary to say but a few words on the third topic which was proposed, and which
regards particularly the defenses of the republic; as there can be little doubt that
Congress will recommend a proper peace establishment for the United States, in which
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a due attention will be paid to the importance of placing the militia of the Union upon a
regular and respectable footing. If this should be the case, I would beg leave to urge the
great advantage of it in the strongest terms. The militia of this country must be
considered as the palladium of our security, and the first effectual resort in case of
hostility. It is essential, therefore, that the same system should pervade the whole; that
the formation and discipline of the militia of the continent should be absolutely uniform,
and that the same species of arms, accoutrements, and military apparatus, should be
introduced in every part of the United States. No one, who has not learned it from
experience, can conceive the difficulty, expense, and confusion, which result from a
contrary system, or the vague arrangements which have hitherto prevailed.
If, in treating of political points, a greater latitude than usual has been taken in the
course of this address, the importance of the crisis, and the magnitude of the objects in
discussion, must be my apology. It is, however, neither my wish nor expectation, that
the preceding observations should claim any regard, except so far as they shall appear
to be dictated by a good intention, consonant to the immutable rules of justice,
calculated to produce a liberal system of policy, and founded on whatever experience
may have been acquired by a long and close attention to public business. Here I might
speak with the more confidence, from my actual observations; and, if it would not swell
this letter (already too prolix) beyond the bounds I had prescribed to myself, I could
demonstrate, to every mind open to conviction, that in less time, and with much less
expense, than has been incurred, the war might have been brought to the same happy
conclusion, if the re-sources of the continent could have been properly drawn forth; that
the distresses and disappointments, which have very often occurred, have, in too many
in-stances, resulted more from a want of energy in the Continental government, than a
deficiency of means in the particular States; that the inefficacy of measures arising from
the want of an adequate authority in the supreme power, from a partial compliance with
the requisitions of Congress in some of the States, and from a failure of punctuality in
others, while it tended to damp the zeal of those, who were more willing to exert
themselves, served also to accumulate the expenses of the war, and to frustrate the
best concerted plans; and that the discouragement occasioned by the complicated
difficulties and embarrassments, in which our affairs were by this means involved, would
have long ago produced the dissolution of any army, less patient, less virtuous, and less
persevering, than that which I have had the honor to command. But, while I mention
these things, which are notorious facts, as the defects of our federal constitution,
particularly in the prosecution of a war, I beg it may be understood, that, as I have ever
taken a pleasure in gratefully acknowledging the assistance and support I have derived
from every class of citizens, so shall I always be happy to do justice to the unparalleled
exertions of the individual States on many interesting occasions.
I have thus freely disclosed what I wished to make known, before I surrendered up my
public trust to those who committed it to me. The task is now accomplished. I now bid
adieu to your Excellency as the chief magistrate of your State, at the same time I bid a
last farewell to the cares of office, and all the employments of public life.
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It remains, then, to be my final and only request, that your Excellency will communicate
these sentiments to your legislature at their next meeting, and that they may be
considered as the legacy of one, who has ardently wished, on all occasions, to be
useful to his country, and who, even in the shade of retirement, will not fail to implore
the Divine benediction upon it.
I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which
you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to
cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly
affection and love for one another, for their fellow-citizens of the United States at large,
and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field; and finally, that he would
most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean
ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the
characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble
imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.
I have the honor to be, with much esteem and respect, sir, your Excellency's most
obedient and most humble servant,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
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George Washington's
Constitutional Letters
Washington's Letters on the Constitution.—The personal influence of Washington in
securing the meeting of the constitutional convention, in directing its deliberations, and
in commending the new Constitution to the people, was the greatest and the
determining influence in that critical period. The accompanying selections from his large
correspondence upon this important subject while it was pending will indicate the
character of that influence and of Washington's sentiments concerning the new national
government. The student is referred to vol. xi. of Ford's edition of the writings of
Washington for the complete collection of his letters during this period. He will also find
in that volume Washington's diary during the constitutional convention, which, although
but a skeleton, will give him an insight into Washington's life in Philadelphia from May to
September, 1787. In the various Lives of Washington, in the last volume of Bancroft's
History of the United States, in Fiske's Critical Period of American History, and in other
American histories, are good accounts of the disorders following the Revolution, and of
the successful measures, so largely directed by Washington, which gradually brought
order out of chaos. In the series of Old South Leaflets are many which will be of use in
this connection. Among these are Washington's Circular 'Letter to the governors of the
States in 1783 (No. 15), Washington's Letter to Benjamin Harrison in 1784 (No. 16),
Selections from the Debates in the Constitutional Convention (No. 70), Selections. from
the Federalist (No. 12), and Washington's Inaugural (No. 10).
The Constitutional
Letters of George Washington
01. George Washington's Letter to John Jay
02. George Washington's Letter to James Madison
03. George Washington's Letter to Henry Knox
04. Washington's Second Letter to Knox
05. Washington's Second Letter to Madison
06. George Washington's Letter to Patrick Henry
07. Washington's Third Letter to Knox
08. George Washington's Letter to Bushrod Washington
09. George Washington's Letter to David Stuart
10. George Washington Letter to Edmund Randolph
11. George Washington's Letter to Marquis de Chastellux
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12. George Washington's Letter to Thomas Jefferson

13. George Washington's Letter to Henry Lee
14. George Washington's Letter to Alexander Hamilton
01. George Washington's Letter to John Jay

Aug. 1, 1786. To John Jay.
Your sentiments, that our affairs are drawing rapidly to a crisis, accord with my own.
What the event will be, is also beyond the reach of my foresight. We have errors to
correct. We have probably had too good an opinion of human nature in forming our
confederation. Experience has taught us that man will not adopt and carry into
execution measures the best calculated for their own good, without the intervention of a
coercive power. I do not conceive we can exist long as a nation without having lodged
somewhere a power which will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as
the authority of the State governments extends over the several States.
To be fearful of investing Congress, constituted as that body is, with ample authorities
for national purposes, appears to me the very climax of popular absurdity and madness.
Could Congress exert them for the detriment of the public without injuring themselves in
an equal or greater proportion? Are not their interests inseparably connected with those
of their constituents? By the rotation of appointment, must they not mingle frequently
with the mass of citizens? Is it not rather to be apprehended, if they were possessed of
the powers before described, that the individual members would be induced to use
them, on many occasions, very timidly and efficaciously for fear of losing their popularity
and future election? We must take human nature as we find it. Perfection falls not to the
share of mortals. Many are of opinion that Congress have too frequently made use of
the suppliant, humble tone of requisition in applications to the States, when they had a
right to assert their imperial dignity and command obedience. Be that as it may,
requisitions are a perfect nullity where thirteen sovereign, independent, disunited States
are in the habit of discussing and refusing compliance with them at their option.
Requisitions are actually little better than a jest and a byword throughout the land. If you
tell the legislatures they have violated the treaty of peace, and invaded the prerogatives
of the confederacy, they will laugh in your face. What then is to be done? Things cannot
go on in the same train forever. It is much to be feared, as you observe, that the better
kind of people, being disgusted with the circumstances, will have their minds prepared
for any revolution whatever. We are apt to run from one extreme to another. To
anticipate and prevent disastrous contingencies would be the part of wisdom and
patriotism.
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What astonishing changes a few years are capable of producing. I am told that even
respectable characters speak of a monarchical form of government without horror. From
thinking proceeds speaking; thence to acting is often but a single step. But how
irrevocable and tremendous! What a triumph for our enemies to verify their predictions!
What a triumph for the advocates of despotism to find that we are incapable of
governing ourselves, and that systems founded on the basis of equal liberty are merely
ideal and fallacious! Would to God, that wise measures may be taken in time to avert
the consequences we have but too much reason to apprehend.
Retired as I am from the world, I frankly acknowledge I cannot feel myself an

unconcerned spectator. Yet, having happily assisted in bringing the ship into port, and
having been fairly discharged, it is not my business to embark again on a sea of
troubles. Nor could it be expected that my sentiments and opinions would have much
weight on the minds of my countrymen. They have been neglected, though given as a
last legacy, in the most solemn manner. I had then perhaps some claims to public
attention. I consider myself as having none at present.

Letter to James Madison
Nov. 5, 1786. To James Madison.
Fain would I hope that the great and most important of all subjects, the federal
government, may be considered with that calm and deliberate attention which the
magnitude of it so critically and loudly calls for at this critical moment. Let prejudices,
unreasonable jealousies, and local interests yield to reason and liberality. Let us look to
our national character, and to things beyond the present moment. No morn ever
dawned more favorably than ours did; and no day was ever more clouded than the
present. Wisdom and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political
machine from the impending storm. Virginia has now an opportunity to set the latter,
and has enough of the former, I hope, to take the lead in promoting this great and
arduous work. Without an alteration in our political creed, the superstructure we have
been seven years in raising, at the expense of so much treasure and blood, must fall.
We are fast verging to anarchy and confusion.
By a letter which I have received from General Knox, who had just returned from
Massachusetts, whither he had been sent by Congress consequent of the commotions
in that State, is replete with melancholy accounts of the temper and designs of a
considerable part of that people. Among other things he says:
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"Their creed is, that the property of the United States has been protected from the
confiscation of Britain by the joint exertions of all; and therefore ought to be the common
property of all; and he that attempts opposition to this creed is an enemy to equity and
justice, and ought to be swept from off the face of the earth." Again: "They are
determined to annihilate all debts, public and private, and have agrarian laws, which are
easily effected by the means of unfunded paper money, which shall be a tender in all
cases whatever." He adds: "The number of these people amount in Massachusetts to
about one-fifth part of several populous counties, and to them may be collected people
of similar sentiments from the States of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New
Hampshire, so as to constitute a body of about twelve or fifteen thousand desperate and
unprincipled men. They are chiefly of the young and active part of the community."
How melancholy is the reflection that in so short a space we should have made such
large strides towards fulfilling the predictions of our transatlantic foes! "Leave them to
themselves, and their government will soon dissolve." Will not the wise and good strive
hard to avert this evil? Or will their supineness suffer ignorance and the arts of self-
interested, designing, disaffected, and desperate characters to involve this great country
in wretchedness and contempt? What stronger evidence can be given of the want of
energy in our government than these disorders? If there is not a power in it to check
them, what security has a man for life, liberty, or property? To you I am sure I need not
add aught on this subject. The consequences of a lax or inefficient government are too
obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereignties pulling against each other, and all
tugging at the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole; whereas a liberal and
energetic constitution, well guarded and closely watched to prevent encroachments,
might restore us to that degree of respectability and consequences, to which we had a
fair claim and the brightest prospect of attaining.
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Letter to Henry Knox
Nov. 5, 1786. To James Madison.
Fain would I hope that the great and most important of all subjects, the federal
government, may be considered with that calm and deliberate attention which the
magnitude of it so critically and loudly calls for at this critical moment. Let prejudices,
unreasonable jealousies, and local interests yield to reason and liberality. Let us look to
our national character, and to things beyond the present moment. No morn ever
dawned more favorably than ours did; and no day was ever more clouded than the
present. Wisdom and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political
machine from the impending storm. Virginia has now an opportunity to set the latter,
and has enough of the former, I hope, to take the lead in promoting this great and
arduous work. Without an alteration in our political creed, the superstructure we have
been seven years in raising, at the expense of so much treasure and blood, must fall.
We are fast verging to anarchy and confusion.
By a letter which I have received from General Knox, who had just returned from
Massachusetts, whither he had been sent by Congress consequent of the commotions
in that State, is replete with melancholy accounts of the temper and designs of a
considerable part of that people. Among other things he says:
"Their creed is, that the property of the United States has been protected from the
confiscation of Britain by the joint exertions of all; and therefore ought to be the common
property of all; and he that attempts opposition to this creed is an enemy to equity and
justice, and ought to be swept from off the face of the earth." Again: "They are
determined to annihilate all debts, public and private, and have agrarian laws, which are
easily effected by the means of unfunded paper money, which shall be a tender in all
cases whatever." He adds: "The number of these people amount in Massachusetts to
about one-fifth part of several populous counties, and to them may be collected people
of similar sentiments from the States of Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New
Hampshire, so as to constitute a body of about twelve or fifteen thousand desperate and
unprincipled men. They are chiefly of the young and active part of the community."
How melancholy is the reflection that in so short a space we should have made such
large strides towards fulfilling the predictions of our transatlantic foes! "Leave them to
themselves, and their government will soon dissolve." Will not the wise and good strive
hard to avert this evil? Or will their supineness suffer ignorance and the arts of self-
interested, designing, disaffected, and desperate characters to involve this great country
in wretchedness and contempt? What stronger evidence can be given of the want of
energy in our government than these disorders? If there is not a power in it to check
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them, what security has a man for life, liberty, or property? To you I am sure I need not
add aught on this subject. The consequences of a lax or inefficient government are too
obvious to be dwelt upon. Thirteen sovereignties pulling against each other, and all
tugging at the federal head, will soon bring ruin on the whole; whereas a liberal and
energetic constitution, well guarded and closely watched to prevent encroachments,
might restore us to that degree of respectability and consequences, to which we had a
fair claim and the brightest prospect of attaining.
04. Washington's Second Letter to Knox

February 3, 1787. To Henry Knox.
In your letter of the 14th you express a wish to be informed of my intention, respecting
the convention proposed to be held in Philadelphia May next. In confidence I inform
you, that it is not, at this time, my intention to attend it. When this matter was first moved
in the Assembly of this State, some of the principal characters of it wrote to me,
requesting they might be permitted to put my name in the delegation. To this I objected.
They again pressed, and I again refused, assigning among other reasons my having
declined meeting the Society of the Cincinnati at that place about the same time, and
that I thought it would be disrespectful to that body, to whom I owe much, to be there on
any other occasion. Notwithstanding these intimations, my name was inserted in the
act; and an official communication thereof made by the executive to me, to whom, at the
same time that I expressed my sense for the confidence reposed in me, I declared that,
as I saw no prospect of my attending, it was my wish that my name might not remain in
the delegation to the exclusion of another. To this I have been requested in emphatical
terms not to decide absolutely, as no inconvenience would result from the new
appointment of another, at least for some time yet.
Thus the matter stands, which is the reason of my saying to you in confidence, that at
present I retain my first intention not to go. In the mean while, as I have the fullest
conviction of your friendship for and attachment to me, know your abilities to judge, and
your means of information, I shall receive any communications from you on this subject
with thankfulness. My first wish is to do for the best, and to act with propriety. You know
me too well to believe that reserve or concealment of any opinion or circumstance
would be at all agreeable to me. The legality of this convention I do not mean to
discuss, nor how problematical the issue of it may be. That powers are wanting none
can deny. Through what medium they are to be derived will, like other matters engage
the attention of the wise. That which takes the shortest course to obtain them, in my
opinion will under present circumstances, be found best; otherwise, like a house on fire,
whilst the most regular mode of extinguishing the flames is contended for, the building is
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reduced to ashes. My opinions of the energetic wants of the federal government are
well known. My public annunciations and private declarations have uniformly expressed
these sentiments; and, however constitutional it may be for Congress to point out the
defects of the federal system, I am strongly inclined to believe that it would not be found
the most efficacious channel for the recommendations, more especially the alterations,
to flow, for reasons too obvious to enumerate.*
* To Mr. Jay he wrote, touching upon the same subject, more than a month later: "I
would fain try what the wisdom of the proposed convention will suggest, and what can
be effected by their counsels. It may be the last peaceable mode of essaying the
practicability of the present form, without a greater lapse of time, that the exigency of
our affairs will allow. In strict propriety, a convention so holden may not be legal.
Congress, however. may give it a colon ring by recommendation, which would fit it more
to the taste, without proceeding to a definition of the powers. This, however
constitutionally it might he done, would not in my opinion be expedient."-March 10th
The system on which you seem disposed to build a national government is certainly
more energetic, and I dare say in every point of view more desirable than the present,
which from experience we find is not only slow, debilitated, and liable to be thwarted by
every breath, but is defective in that secrecy which, for the accomplishment of many of
the most important national objects, is indispensably necessary; and besides, having
the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments concentred, is exceptionable. But,
at the same time that I gave this opinion, I believe the political machine will yet be much
tumbled and tossed, and possibly be wrecked altogether, before that or anything like it
will be adopted. The darling sovereignties of each State, the governors elected and
elect, the legislators, with a long tribe of et ceteras, whose political importance will be
lessened, if not annihilated, would give their weight of opposition to such a revolution.
But I may be speaking without book; for, scarcely ever going off my own farms, I see
few people, who do not call upon rile, and am very little acquainted with the sentiments
of the great public. Indeed, after what I have seen, or rather after what I have heard, I
shall be surprised at nothing; for, if three years since any person had told me that there
would have been such a formidable rebellion as exists at this day against the laws and
Constitution of our own making, I should have thought him a bedlamite, a fit subject for
a mad-house.
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05. Washington's Second Letter to Madison

March 31, 1787. To James Madison.
I am glad to find that Congress have recommended to the States to appear in the
convention proposed to be holden in Philadelphia next May. I think the reasons in favor
have the preponderancy over those against it. It is idle in my opinion to suppose that the
sovereign can be insensible to the inadequacy of the powers under which they act, and
that, seeing it, they should not recommend a revision of the federal system; especially
when it is considered by many as the only constitutional mode by which the defects can
be remedied. Had Congress proceeded to a delineation of the powers, it might have
sounded an alarm; but, as the case is, I do not conceive that it will have that effect.*
* The commissioners, who had met at Annapolis in September, 1786, sent a letter to
Congress, accompanied by their address to the several States, proposing a convention
at Philadelphia on the second Monday of May. These papers were taken up by
Congress and referred to a committee, consisting of one member from each State, who
reported in favor of recommending to the several legislatures to send delegates.
. . . I am fully of opinion that those who lean to a monarchical government have either
not consulted the public mind, or that they live in a region which (the levelling principles
in which they were bred being entirely eradicated) is much more productive of
monarchical ideas than are to be found in the Southern States, where, from the habitual
distinctions which have always existed among the people, one would have expected the
first generation and the most rapid growth of them. I am also clear that, even admitting
the utility, nay, necessity of the form, yet that the period is not arrived for adopting the
change without shaking the peace of this country to its foundation. That a thorough
reform of the present system is indispensable, none, who have capacities to judge, will
deny; and with hand [and heart] I hope the business will be essayed in a full convention.
After which, if more powers and more decision is not found in the existing form, if it still
wants energy and that secrecy and dispatch (either from the non-attendance or the local
views of its members) which is characteristic of good government, and if it shall be
found (the contrary of which, however, I have always been more afraid of than of the
abuse of them), that Congress will, upon all proper occasions, exert the powers which
are given, with a firm and steady hand, instead of frittering them back to the States,
where the members, in place of viewing themselves in their national character, are too
apt to be looking--I say, after this essay is made, if the system proves inefficient,
conviction of the necessity of a change will be disseminated among all classes of the
people. Then, and not till then, in my opinion, can it be attempted without involving all
the evils of civil discord.
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I confess, however, that my opinion of public virtue is so far changed that I have my
doubts whether any system, without the means of coercion in the sovereign, will enforce
due obedience to the ordinances of a general government; without which everything
else fails. Laws or ordinances unobserved, or partially attended to, had better never
have been made; because the first is a mere nihil, and the second is productive of much
jealousy and discontent. But what kind of coercion, you may ask. This indeed will
require thought, though the noncompliance of the States with the late requisition is an
evidence of the necessity. It is somewhat singular that a State (New York), which used
to be foremost in all federal measures, should now turn her face against them in almost
every instance. . . .
It gives me great pleasure to hear that there is a probability of a full representation of

the States in convention; but if the delegates come to it under fetters, the salutary ends
proposed will, in my opinion, be greatly embarrassed and retarded, if not altogether
defeated. I am desirous of knowing how this matter is, as my wish is that the convention
may adopt no temporizing expedients, but probe the defects of the constitution to the
bottom, and provide a radical cure, whether they are agreed to or not. A conduct of this
kind will stamp wisdom and dignity on their proceedings and hold up a light which
sooner or later will have its influence.
06. George Washington's Letter to Patrick Henry

September 24, 1787. To Patrick Henry.
In the first moment after my return, I take the liberty of sending you a copy of the
Constitution, which the federal convention has submitted to the people of these States. I
accompany it with no observations. Your own judgment will at once discover the good
and the exceptionable parts of it; and your experience of the difficulties, which have
ever arisen when attempts have been made to reconcile such variety of interests and
local prejudices as pervade the several States will render explanation unnecessary. I
wish the Constitution, which is offered, had been made more perfect; but I sincerely
believe it is the best that could be obtained at this time. And, as a constitutional door is
open for amendment hereafter, the adoption of it, under the present circumstances of
the Union, is in my opinion desirable.
From a variety of concurring accounts it appears to me that the political concerns of this
country are in a manner suspended by a thread, and that the convention has been
looked up to, by the reflecting part of the community, with a solicitude which is hardly to
be conceived; and, if nothing had been agreed on by that body, anarchy would soon
have ensued, the seeds being deeply sown in every soil.
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07. Washington's Third Letter to Knox

October, 1787. To Henry Knox.
The Constitution is now before the judgment-seat. It has, as was expected, its
adversaries and supporters. Which will preponderate is yet to be decided. The former
more than probably will be most active, as a major part of them will, it is to be feared, be
governed by sinister and self-important motives, to which everything in their breasts
must yield. The opposition from another class of them may perhaps (if they should be
men of reflection, candour, and information), subside in the solution of the following
simple questions: I. Is the Constitution, which is submitted by the convention, preferable
to the government (if it can be called one) under which we now live? 2. Is it probable
that more confidence would at the time be placed in another convention, provided the
experiment should be tried, than was placed in the last one, and is it likely that a better
agreement would take place therein? What would be the consequences if these should
not happen, or even from the delay which must inevitably follow such an experiment? Is
there not a constitutional door open for alterations or amendments? and is it not likely
that real defects will be as readily discovered after as before trial? and will not our
successors be as ready to apply the remedy as ourselves, if occasion should require it?
To think otherwise will, in my judgment, be ascribing more of the amor patrice, more
wisdom and more virtue to ourselves, than I think we deserve.
It is highly probable that the refusal of our governor and Colonel Mason to subscribe to
the proceedings of the convention will have a bad effect in this State; for, as you well
observe, they must not only assign reasons for the justification of their own conduct, but
it is highly probable that these reasons will be clothed in most terrific array for the
purpose of alarming. Some things are already addressed to the fears of the people, and
will no doubt have their effect. As far, however, as the sense of this part of the country
has been taken, it is strongly in favor of the proposed Constitution. Further I cannot
speak with precision. If a powerful opposition is given to it, the weight thereof will, I
apprehend, come from the south side of James River, and from the western counties.
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08. George Washington's Letter to Bushrod

Washington
November 10, 1787. To Bushrod Washington.
That the Assembly would afford the people an opportunity of deciding on the proposed
Constitution, I had scarcely a doubt. The only question with me was whether it would go
forth under favorable auspices, or receive the stamp of disapprobation. The opponents I
expected (for it ever has been that the adversaries to a measure are more active than
its friends) would endeavor to stamp it with unfavorable impressions, in order to bias the
judgment that is ultimately to decide on it. This is evidently the case with the writers in
opposition, whose objections are better calculated to alarm the fears than to convince
the judgment of their readers. They build their objections upon principles that do not
exist, which the Constitution does not support them in, and the existence of which has
been, by an appeal to the Constitution itself, flatly denied; and then, as if they were
unanswerable, draw all the dreadful consequences that are necessary to alarm the
apprehensions of the ignorant or unthinking. It is not the interest of the major part of
those characters to be convinced; nor will their local views yield to arguments which do
not accord with their present or future prospects.
A candid solution of a single question, to which the plainest understanding is competent,

does, in my opinion, decide the dispute; namely, Is it best for the States to unite or not
to unite? If there are men who prefer the latter, then unquestionably the Constitution
which is offered must, in their estimation, be wrong from the words, "We the people," to
the signature, inclusively; but those who think differently, and yet object to parts of it,
would do well to consider that it does not lie with any one State, or the minority of the
States, to superstruct a constitution for the whole. The separate interests, as far as it is
practicable, must be consolidated; and local views must be attended to, as far as the
nature of the case will admit. Hence it is that every State has some objection to the
present form, and these objections are directed to different points. That which is most
pleasing to one is obnoxious to another, and so vice versa. If then the union of the
whole is a desirable object, the component parts must yield a little in order to
accomplish it. With-out the latter, the form is unattainable; for again I repeat it, that not a
single State, nor the minority of the States, can force a constitution on the majority. But,
admitting the power, it will surely be granted that it cannot be done without involving
scenes of civil commotion of a very serious nature.
Let the opponents of the proposed Constitution in this State be asked, and it is a
question they certainly ought to have asked themselves, what line of conduct they
would advise to adopt, if nine other States, of which I think there is little doubt, should
accede to the Constitution. Would they recommend that it should stand single? Will they
connect it with Rhode Island? Or even with two others checkerwise, and remain with
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them, as outcasts from the society, to shift for themselves? Or will they return to their
dependence on Great Britain? Or, lastly, have the mortification to come in when they
will be allowed no credit for doing so?
The warmest friends and the best sup-porters the Constitution has, do not con-tend that
it is free from imperfections: but they found them unavoidable, and are sensible, if evil is
likely to arise therefrom, the remedy must come here-after; for in the present moment it
is not to be obtained; and, as there is a constitutional door open for it, I think the people
(for it is with them to judge) can, as they will have the advantage of experience on their
side, decide with as much propriety on the alterations and amendments which are
necessary, as ourselves. I do not think we are more inspired, have more wisdom, or
possess more virtue, than those who will come after us.
The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain
defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own
choosing; and, whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to
their wishes, their servants can and undoubtedly will be recalled. It is agreed on all
hands that no government can be well administered without powers; yet the instant
these are delegated, although those who are in-trusted with the administration are no
more than the creatures of the people, act as it were but for a day, and are amenable
for every false step they take, they are, from the moment they receive it, set down as
tyrants; their natures, they would conceive from this, immediately changed, and that
they can have no other disposition but to oppress. Of these things, in a government
constituted and guarded as ours is, I have no idea; and do firmly believe that, whilst
many ostensible reasons are assigned to prevent the adoption of it, the real ones are
concealed behind the curtains, because they are not of a nature to appear in open day.
I believe further, supposing them pure, that as great evils result from too great jealousy
as from the want of it. We need look, I think, no further for proof of this, than to the
constitution of some, if not all, of these States. No man is a warmer advocate for proper
restraints and wholesome checks in every department of government than I am; but I
have never yet been able to discover the propriety of placing it absolutely out of the
power of men to render essential services because a possibility remains of their doing
ill.
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09. George Washington's Letter to David Stuart

November 30, 1787. To David Stuart.
I have seen no publication yet that ought, in my judgment, to shake the proposed
Constitution in the mind of an impartial and candid public. In fine, I have hardly seen
one that is not addressed to the passions of the people, and obviously calculated to
alarm their fears. Every attempt to amend the Constitution at this time is in my opinion
idle and vain. If there are characters, who prefer disunion, or separate confederacies, to
the general government, which is offered to them, their opposition may, for aught I
know, proceed from principle; but as nothing, according to my conception of the matter,
is more to be deprecated than a disunion of these distinct confederacies, as far as my
voice can go it shall be offered in favor of the latter. That there are some writers, and
others perhaps who may not have written, that wish to see this Union divided into
several confederacies, is pretty evident. As an antidote to these opinions, and in order
to investigate the ground of objections to the Constitution which is submitted, the
Federalist, under the signature of PUBLIUS, is written. The numbers which have been
published, I send you. If there is a printer in Richmond who is really well disposed to
support the new Constitution, he would do well to give them a place in his paper. They
are, I think I may venture to say, written by able men; and before they are finished will,
or I am mistaken, place matters in a true point of light. Although I am acquainted with
the writers, who have a hand in this work, I am not at liberty to mention names, nor
would I have it known that they are sent by me to you for promulgation.
10. George Washington

Letter to Edmund Randolph
Jan. 8, 1788. To Edmund Randolph.
The diversity of sentiments upon the important matter, which has been submitted to the
people, was as much expected as it is regretted by me. The various passions and
motives, by which men are influenced, are concomitants of fallibility, engrafted into our
nature for the purposes of unerring wisdom; but had I entertained a latent hope (at the
time you moved to have the Constitution submitted to a second convention) that a more
perfect form would be agreed to, in a word, that any constitution would be adopted
under the impressions and instructions of the members, the publications which have
taken place since would have eradicated every form of it. How do the sentiments of the
influential characters in this State, who are opposed to the Constitution, and have
favored the public with their opinions, quadrate with each other? Are they not at
variance on some of the most important points? If the opponents in the same State
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cannot agree in their principles, what prospect is there of a coalescence with the
advocates of the measure, when the different views and jarring interests of so wide and
extended an empire are to be brought forward and combated?
To my judgment it is more clear than ever that an attempt to amend the Constitution,
which is submitted, would be productive of more heat and greater confusion than can
well be conceived. There are some things in the new form, I will readily acknowledge,
which never did, and I am persuaded never will, obtain my cordial approbation; but I
then did conceive, and do now most firmly believe, that in the aggregate it is the best
Constitution that can be obtained at this epoch, and that this, or a dissolution of the
Union, awaits our choice, and are the only alternatives before us. Thus believing, I had
not, nor have I now, any hesitation in deciding on which to lean.
11. George Washington's Letter to Marquis de

Chastellux
April 25, 1788. To the Marquis de Chastellux.
The Constitution which was proposed by the federal convention has been adopted by
the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and
Georgia. No State has rejected it. The convention of Maryland is now sitting, and will
probably adopt it; as that of South Carolina is expected to do in May. The other
conventions will assemble early in the summer. Hitherto there has been much greeter
unanimity in favor of the proposed government than could have reasonably been
expected. Should it be adopted (and I think it will be), America will left up her head
again, and in a few years become respectable among the nations. It is a flattering and
consolatory reflection that our rising republics have the good wishes of all the
philosophers, patriots, and virtuous men in all nations; and that they look upon them as
a kind of asylum for mankind. God grant that we may not disappoint their honest
expectations by our folly or perverseness. . . .
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12. George Washington's Letter to Thomas

Jefferson
August 31, 1788. To Thomas Jefferson,
The merits and defects of the proposed Constitution have been largely and ably
discussed. For myself, I was ready to have embraced any tolerable compromise that
was competent to save us from impending ruin; and I can say there are scarcely any of
the amendments, which have been suggested, to which I have much objection, except
that which goes to the prevention of direct taxation. And that, I presume, will be more
strenuously advocated and insisted upon hereafter than any other. I had indulged the
expectation that the new government would enable those entrusted with its
administration to do justice to the public creditors, and retrieve the national character.
But, if no means are to be employed but requisitions, that expectation was vain, and we
may as well recur to the old confederation. If the system can be put in operation, without
touching much the pockets of the people, perhaps it may be done; but, in my judgment,
infinite circumspection and prudence are yet necessary in the experiment. It is nearly
impossible for anybody who has not been on the spot (from any description) to conceive
what the delicacy and danger of our situation have been. Though the peril is not past
entirely, thank God the prospect is somewhat brightening.
You will probably have heard, before the receipt of this letter, that the general
government has been adopted by eleven States, and that the actual Congress have
been prevented from issuing their ordinance for carrying it into execution, in
consequence of a dispute about the place at which the future Congress shall meet. It is
probable that Philadelphia or New York will soon be agreed upon.
I will just touch on the bright side of our national state before I conclude; and we may
perhaps rejoice that the people have been ripened by misfortune for the reception of a
good government. They are emerging from the gulf of dissipation and debt, into which
they had precipitated themselves at the close of the war. Economy and industry are
evidently gaining ground. Not only agriculture, but even manufactures are much more
attended to than formerly. Notwithstanding the shackles under which our trade in
general labors, commerce to the East Indies is prosecuted with considerable success.
Salted provisions and other produce (particularly from Massachusetts) have found an
advantageous market there. The voyages are so much shorter, and the vessels are
navigated at so much less expense, that we may hope to rival and supply (at least
through the West Indies) some part of Europe with commodities from thence. This year
the exports from Massachusetts have amounted to a great deal more than their imports.
I wish this was the case everywhere. . . .
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13. George Washington's Letter to Henry Lee

September 22, 1788. To Henry Lee.
Your observations on the solemnity of the crisis, and its application to myself, bring
before me subjects of the most momentous and interesting nature. In our endeavors to
establish a new general government, the contest, nationally considered, seems not to
have been so much for glory as existence. It was for a long time doubtful whether we
were to survive as an independent republic, or decline from our federal dignity into
insignificant and wretched fragments of an empire. The adoption of the Constitution so
extensively, and with so liberal an acquiescence on the part of the minorities in general,
promised the former; until lately the circular letter of New York carried, in my
apprehension, an unfavorable if not an insidious tendency to a contrary policy. I still
hope for the best; but, before you mentioned it, I could not help fearing it would serve as
a standard to which the disaffected might resort. It is now evidently the part of all honest
men, who are friends to the new Constitution, to endeavor to give it a chance to disclose
its merits and defects, by carrying it fairly into effect in the first instance. For it is to be
apprehended that, by an attempt to obtain amendments before the experiment has
been candidly made, "more is meant than meets the ear," that an intention is concealed
to accomplish slyly what could not have been done openly, to undo all that has been
done.
If the fact so exists, that a kind of combination is forming to stifle the government in
embryo, it is a happy circumstance that the design has become suspected.
Preparations should be the sure attendant upon forewarning. Probably prudence,
wisdom, and patriotism were never more essentially necessary than at the present
moment; and so far as it can be done in an irreproachably direct manner, no effort ought
to be left unessayed to procure the election of the best possible characters to the new
Congress. On their harmony, deliberation, and decision everything will depend. I heartily
wish Mr. Madison was in our Assembly, as I think with you it is of unspeakable
importance Virginia should set out with her federal measures under right auspices.
The principal topic of your letter is to me a point of great delicacy indeed, insomuch that
I can scarcely without some impropriety touch upon it. In the first place, the event to
which you allude may never happen; among other reasons, because, if the partiality of
my fellow-citizens conceive it to be a means by which the sinews of the new
government would be strengthened, it will of consequence be obnoxious to those who
are in opposition to it, many of whom unquestionably will be placed among the electors.
This consideration alone would supersede the expediency of announcing any definite
and irrevocable resolution. You are among the small number of those who know my
invincible attachment to domestic life, and that my- sincerest wish is to continue in the
enjoyment of it solely until my final hour. But the world would be neither so well
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instructed, nor so candidly disposed, as to believe me uninfluenced by sinister motives,

in case any circumstance should render a deviation from the line of conduct I have
prescribed to myself indispensable.
Should the contingency you suggest take place, and ( for argument's sake alone let are
say it) should my unfeigned reluctance to accept the office be overcome by a deference
for the reasons and opinions of my friends, might I not, after the declarations I have
made (and Heaven knows they were made in the sincerity of my heart), in the judgment
of the impartial world and of posterity, be chargeable with levity and inconsistency, if not
with rashness and ambition? Nay, further, would there not even be some apparent
foundation for the two former charges? Now justice to myself and tranquillity of
conscience require that I should act a part, if not above imputation, at least capable of
vindication. Nor will you conceive me to be too solicitous for reputation. Though I prize
as I ought the good opinion of my fellow-citizens, yet, if I know myself, I would not seek
or retain popularity at the expense of one social duty or moral virtue.
While doing what my conscience informed me was right, as it respected my God, my

country, and myself, I could despise all the party clamour and unjust censure, which
must be expected from some whose personal enmity might be occasioned by their
hostility to the government. I am conscious that I fear alone to give any real occasion for
obloquy, and that I do not dread to meet with unmerited reproach. And certain I am,
whensoever I shall be convinced the good of my country requires my reputation to be
put in risk, regard for my own fame will not come in competition with an object of so
much magnitude. If I declined the task, it would lie upon quite another principle.
Notwithstanding my advanced season of life, my increasing fondness for agricultural
amusements, and my growing love of retirement, augment and confirm my decided
predilection for the character of a private citizen, yet it would be no one of these
motives, nor the hazard to which my former reputation might be exposed, nor the terror
of encountering new fatigues and troubles, that would deter me from an acceptance; but
a belief that some other person, who had less pretence and less inclination to be
excused, could execute all the duties fully as satisfactorily as myself. To say more
would be indiscreet, as a disclosure of a refusal beforehand might incur the application
of the fable in which the fox is represented as undervaluing the grapes he could not
reach. You will perceive, my dear sir, by what is here observed (and which you will be
pleased to consider in the light of a confidential communication), that my inclinations will
dispose and decide me to remain as I am, unless a clear and insurmountable conviction
should be impressed on my mind that some very disagreeable consequences must, in
all human probability, result from the indulgence of my wishes.
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14. George Washington's Letter to Alexander

Hamilton
Oct. 3, 1788. To Alexander Hamilton.*
Although I could not help observing, from several publications and letters, that my name
had been sometimes spoken of, and that it was possible the contingency which is the
subject of your letter might happen, yet I thought it best to maintain a guarded silence,
and to lack the counsel of my best friends (which I certainly hold in the highest
estimation), rather than to hazard an imputation unfriendly to the delicacy of my
feelings. For, situated as I am, I could hardly bring the question into the slightest
discussion, or ask an opinion even in the most confidential manner, without betraying, in
my judgment, some impropriety of conduct, or without feeling an apprehension, that a
premature display of anxiety might be construed into a vainglorious desire of pushing
myself into notice as a candidate. Now, if I am not grossly deceived in myself, I should
unfeignedly rejoice in case the electors, by giving their votes in favor of some other
person, would save me from the dreaded dilemma of being forced to accept or refuse.
* See Hamilton's letter upon the importance of Washington serving as first President of
the United States under the Constitution, in Ford's edition of Washington, xi. 329. " On
your acceptance of the office of President," Hamilton wrote, " the success of the new
government in its commencement may materially depend."
If that may not be, I am in the next place earnestly desirous of searching out the truth,
and of knowing whether there does not exist a probability that the government would be
just as happily and effectually carried into execution without my aid as with it. I am truly
solicitous to obtain all the previous information which the circumstances will afford, and
to determine (when the determination can with propriety be no longer postponed)
according to the principles of right reason and the dictates of a clear conscience,
without too great a reference to the unforeseen consequences which may affect my
person or reputation. Until that period, I may fairly hold myself open to conviction,
though I allow your sentiments to have weight in them; and I shall not pass by your
arguments without giving them as dispassionate a consideration as I can possibly
bestow upon them.
In taking a survey of the subject, in whatever point of light I have been able to place it, I
will not suppress the acknowledgment, my dear sir, that I have always felt a kind of
gloom upon my mind, as often as I have been taught to expect I might, and perhaps
must, ere long, be called to make a decision. You will, I am well assured, believe the
assertion (though I have little expectation it would gain credit from those who are less
acquainted with me), that, if I should receive the appointment, and if I should be
prevailed upon to accept it, the acceptance would be attended with more diffidence and
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reluctance than I ever experienced before in my life. It would be, however, with a fixed
and sole determination of lending whatever assistance might be in my power to promote
the public weal, in hopes that at a convenient and early period my services might be
dispensed with, and that I might be permitted once more to retire, to pass an unclouded
evening after the stormy day of life, in the bosom of domestic tranquility.
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Chapter 2
General Marquis de
Lafayette
Lafayette, MARIE JEAN PAUL
ROCH YVES GILBERT MOTIER,
MARQUIS DE, patriot; born in
Cavanac, Auvergne, France,
September 6, 1757. Left an heir to
an immense estate at the age of
thirteen years, he received the best
education that could be obtained,
and at sixteen married a grand-
daughter of the Duke de Noailles.
He entered the army as a captain
of dragoons, and in the summer of
1776 he heard of the struggles of
the English-American colonies. He
immediately resolved to aid them.
When he and other French officers
were ready to embark for America
(1777), he was informed that the
credit of the Continental Congress
was so low that it could not furnish
them a transport. The young
enthusiast replied, "Then I will
purchase one myself." He bought
and secretly freighted a vessel,
named the Victory, to carry himself,
the veteran Baron de Kalb, and ten
or twelve other French officers across the Atlantic. While the vessel was in preparation
for sailing, he made a visit to England, where he was invited to visit the navy-yards. Too
honorable to inspect the armaments of a people whose armies he was about to fight
against, he declined, but thought it a good joke to be introduced to their King. He was
then only nineteen years of age. The Victory sailed first to a Spanish port, where
Lafayette received orders from the King to give up his expedition; but he disobeyed, and
sailed for America. The women of Paris applauded his heroism; the Queen gave him
tokens of her admiration; the people extolled him for his strong enthusiasm in a good
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cause; and to his young wife, who was about to become a mother a second time, he
wrote from the Victory: "From love to me, become a good American; the welfare of
America is closely bound up with the welfare of mankind."
Lafayette Arrives in South Carolina, Joins the Continental Army
The party landed near Georgetown, South

Carolina, April 19, 1777. They traveled by land
to Philadelphia, where Lafayette immediately
addressed a letter to Congress, asking leave to
serve as a volunteer in the Continental army
without pay. In consideration of his zeal and
illustrious family and connections, that body
gave him the commission of major-general,
July 31, and George Washington invited him to
become a member of his military family. He
joined the Continental army near a house on
Neshaininy Creek in August. At that time he
was less than twenty years of age. From that
time until the close of the Revolution he was
the trusted friend of the commander-in-chief
and the untiring and effective champion of the
patriot cause in the field and at the Court of his
native country. He was ever ready to defend
the honor of the Americans.
Howe Tries to Capture Lafayette
To restrain British foragers and marauders,

who were plundering the country for some distance around Philadelphia in the spring of
1778, Washington sent him out from Valley Forge, with about 2,100 men and five
pieces of artillery, to cut off all communication between Philadelphia and the country,
and to obtain information concerning a rumored intention of the British to evacuate that
city. Lafayette crossed the Schuylkill, and took post at Barren Hill, about half-way
between Valley Forge and Philadelphia, occupying the Lutheran church there as
headquarters. General Howe sent General Grant to make a secret night march to gain
the rear of the marquis (May 20), and the next morning Howe marched with about 6,000
men, commanded by Clinton and Knyphausen, to capture the young Frenchman and
send him to England. The marquis outgeneralled the British, though they surprised him,
and escaped across the Schuylkill. Howe was disappointed, for he was about to depart
for England under a partial cloud of ministerial displeasure, and he hoped to close his
career in America by some brilliant act.
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Lafayette Secures French Support for the American Revolution
After a short winter passage from Boston to Brest, in February, 1779, Lafayette joined
his family and friends in his native land. His offence in sailing for America in defiance of
the King's command was atoned for by a week's exile to Paris, and confinement in the
house of his father-in-law. He was then received at Versailles, when the King gently
reprimanded him, while the Queen eagerly sought information concerning America from
his own lips. His fame made him the admired of Court society as well as of the populace
of the French capital. The young marquis observed with alarm that everybody was
talking of peace, while America was struggling with armed champions of royalty, and he
felt that the independence of the colonies was in peril. With great earnestness he
pleaded for aid for the Americans, and was successful.
Lafayette Imprisoned in France
In 1784 he again visited the United States, and was everywhere received with tokens of
affection and respect. He became a member of the Notables at Paris in 1787, when he
boldly demanded the convocation of the States-General, consisting of three orders—
namely, the clergy, nobility, and commons—representatives of the whole nation. They
had not met since 1614, a period of 173 years. The King (Louis XVI.) convened them on
May 6, 1789. There were 308 ecclesiastics, 285 nobles, and 621 deputies of the third
estate, or the "common people." In July Lafayette was appointed commander-in-chief of
the National Guard. When the abolition of titles was decreed, he dropped his, and was
known only as General Lafayette. He resigned his command in 1790, and in 1792
commanded one of the armies sent to guard the frontiers of France against the forces of
monarchs alarmed by the republican demonstrations in France. When the fierce
Jacobins seized power the conservative Lafayette was denounced and his arrest
decreed. He crossed the frontier, intending to take refuge in Holland. The Austrians
seized him, and confined him in a dungeon five years. For a long time no intelligence of
him reached his friends. Meanwhile his wife had been imprisoned at Paris during the
"Reign of Terror," but had been set at liberty on the downfall of Robespierre. She
hastened to Vienna, obtained a personal interview with the Emperor, and gained
permission to share the captivity of her husband. Great exertions were made in Europe
and America to obtain his release, but in vain, until Bonaparte, at the head of an army,
demanded his release. He was set at liberty Aug. 25, 1797. Towards the end of 1799 he
returned to his estate of La Grange, 40 miles from Paris. Bonaparte tried to bribe him
with offered honors to enter public life again as senator. He refused with disdain; and
when the vote for making Bonaparte first consul for life was taken, Lafayette voted no,
and told the ambitious general so in a letter, which ended their intercourse. When
Bonaparte became Emperor, Lafayette took a seat in the Chamber of Deputies; and this
stanch champion of constitutional government refused the offered bauble of a peerage.
After the battle of Waterloo, touched with sympathy for the fallen monarch, he offered
him facilities for escaping to America; but the Emperor, who could not forgive
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Lafayette's former opposition, refused to accept the offer, and became a prisoner on St.
Helena. In the French legislature Lafayette's voice was always in favor of liberal
measures. In 1824 the Congress of the United States requested President Monroe to
invite Lafayette to America as a guest of the republic. He came, but declined the offer of
a ship. With his son and a private secretary he landed in New York, August 15, 1824,
visited in succession the whole twenty-four States, and was everywhere received with
demonstrations of love and respect. Between Washington and Lafayette there had
grown up a strong mutual affection during their intercourse in the scenes of the old war
for independence. When at the seat of government in October, 1824, while on his visit
to the United States, the marquis was conducted to Mount Vernon by George
Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of Washington, with whom George W.
Lafayette had lived in the mansion of the great patriot while Lafayette was an exile from
France and in a prison. He was conveyed from the capital in a barge, accompanied by
his son; John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, and Mr. Custis; and at the shore at Mount
Vernon he was received by Lawrence Lewis, Washington's favorite nephew, and the
family of Judge Bushrod Washington, who was then absent on official business. After
visiting the mansion, where, forty years before, he took his last leave of the beloved
patriot, the company proceeded to the tomb (the old one, on the brow of the hill), where
Custis presented the marquis with a ring containing a lock of Washington's hair. He
received it with emotion. The door of the vault was opened, and there were displayed
the leaden caskets which contained the coffins of Washington and his wife, decorated
with flowers. Lafayette entered, kissed the casket, and reverently retired. Lafayette
spent fourteen months in America. He visited Andrew Jackson at the "Hermitage," and
on his return to Washington his sixty-eighth birthday was celebrated at the White
House. He sailed for Europe September 7, 1825, in the frigate Brandywine.
Death of Lafayette
During the revolution of 1830, that drove Charles X. from the throne, Lafayette was
made commander-in-chief of the National Guard. He sacrificed his own republican
preferences for the sake of peace and order, and placed Louis Philippe on the throne.
He died the acknowledged chief of the constitutional party on the continent of Europe,
May 20, 1834. He received a magnificent public funeral, when his remains were
conveyed to their resting-place in the cemetery of Piepus. The monument is about 8
feet square, with appropriate inscriptions in French. The cross seen in the picture
stands over the grave of another.
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Lafayette in the American Revolution

The American Revolution.-The following is Lafayette's narrative of his
service with the American army during the Revolutionary War, from
his Memoirs:
You ask me at what period I first experienced

my ardent love of liberty and glory? I recollect
no time of my life anterior to my enthusiasm for
anecdotes of glorious deeds, and to my
projects of traveling over the world to acquire
fame. At eight years of age, my heart beat
when I heard of an hyena that had done some
injury, and caused still more alarm, in our
neighborhood, and the hope of meeting it was
the object of all my walks. When I arrived at
college, nothing ever interrupted my studies,
except my ardent wish of studying without
restraint. I never deserved to be chastised, but,
in spite of my usual gentleness, it would have
been dangerous to have attempted to do so;
and I recollect with pleasure that, when I was
to describe in rhetoric a perfect courser, I
sacrificed the hope of obtaining a premium,
and described the one who, on perceiving the
whip, threw down his rider. Republican
anecdotes always delighted me; and, when my
new connections wished to obtain for me a
place at Court, I did not hesitate displeasing
them to preserve my independence. I was in that frame of mind when I first learned the
troubles in America: they only became thoroughly known in Europe in 1776, and the
memorable declaration of the 4th of July reached France at the close of that same year.
The American Revolution: The last Struggle of Liberty
After having crowned herself with laurels and enriched herself with conquests, after
having become mistress of all seas, and after having insulted all nations, England had
turned her pride against her own colonies. North America had long been displeasing to
her: she wished to add new vexations to former injuries, and to destroy the most sacred
privileges. The Americans, attached to the mother-country, contented themselves at first
with merely uttering complaints. They only accused the ministry, and the whole nation
rose up against them. They were termed insolent and rebellious, and at length declared
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the enemies of their country: thus did the obstinacy of the King, the violence of the
ministers, and the arrogance of the English nation oblige thirteen of their colonies to
render themselves independent. Such a glorious cause had never before attracted the
attention of mankind: it was the last struggle of Liberty; and had she then been
vanquished, neither hope nor asylum would have remained for her. The oppressors and
op-pressed were to receive a powerful lesson; the great work was to be accomplished,
or the rights of humanity were to fall beneath its ruin. The destiny of France and that of
her rival were to be decided at the same moment: England was to lose, with the new
States, an important commerce, of which she derived the sole advantage, one-quarter
of her subjects, who were constantly augmenting by a rapid increase of population and
by emigration from all parts of Europe - in a word, more than half of the most beautiful
portion of the British territory. But, if she retained possession of her thirteen colonies, all
was ended for our West Indies, our possessions in Asia and Africa, our maritime
commerce, and consequently our navy and our political existence.
Lafayette to Aid the Patriot Cause
(1776.) When I first learned the subject of this quarrel, my heart espoused warmly the
cause of liberty, and I thought of nothing but of adding also the aid of my banner. Some
circumstances, which it would be needless to relate, had taught me to expect only
obstacles in this case from my own family: I depended, therefore, solely upon myself;
and I ventured to adopt for a device on my arms these words, "Cur non?" that they
might equally serve as an encouragement to myself, and as a reply to others. Silas
Deane was then at Paris; but the ministers feared to receive him, and his voice was
overpowered by the louder accents of Lord Stormont. He dispatched privately to
America some oldarms, which were of little use, and some young officers, who did but
little good, the whole directed by M. de Beaumarchais; and, when the English
ambassador spoke to our Court, it denied having sent any cargoes, ordered those that
were preparing to be discharged, and dismissed from our ports all American privateers.
While wishing to address myself in a direct manner to Mr. Deane, I became the friend of
Kalb, a German in our employ, who was applying for service with the insurgents (the
expression in use at the time), and who became my interpreter. He was the person sent
by M. de Choiseul to examine the English colonies; and on his return he received some
money, but never succeeded in obtaining an audience, so little did that minister in reality
think of the revolution whose retrograde movements some persons have inscribed to
him! When I presented to Mr. Deane my boyish face (for I was scarcely nineteen years
of age), I spoke more of my ardor in the cause than of my experience; but I dwelt much
upon the effect my departure would excite in France, and he signed our mutual
agreement. The secrecy with which this negotiation and my preparations were made
appears almost a miracle: family, friends, ministers, French spies and English spies, all
were kept completely in the dark as to my intentions. Among my discreet confidants, I
owe much to M. du Boismartin, secretary of the Count de Broglie, and to the Count de
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Broglie himself, whose affectionate heart, when all his efforts to turn me from this
project had proved in vain, entered into my views with even paternal tenderness.
Lafayette to Pay for his Expedition to the Colonies
Preparations were making to send a vessel to America, when very bad tidings arrived
from thence. New York, Long Island, White Plains, Fort Washington, and the Jerseys
had seen the American forces successively destroyed by 33,000 Englishmen or
Germans. Three thousand Americans alone remained in arms, and these were closely
pursued by General Howe. From that moment all the credit of the insurgents vanished:
to obtain a vessel for them was impossible. The envoys themselves thought it right to
express to me their own discouragement, and persuade me to abandon my project. I
called upon Mr. Deane, and I thanked him for his frankness. "Until now, sir," said I, "you
have only seen my ardor in your cause, and that may not prove at present wholly
useless. I shall purchase a ship to carry out your officers. We must feel confidence in
the future, and it is especially in the hour of danger that I wish to share your fortune." My
project was received with approbation; but it was necessary afterwards to find money,
and to purchase and arm a vessel secretly: all this was accomplished with the greatest
dispatch.
The period was, however, approaching, which had been long fixed, for my taking a
journey to England. I could not refuse to go without risking the discovery of my secret,
and by consenting to take this journey I knew I could better conceal my preparations for
a greater one. This last measure was also thought most expedient by MM. Franklin and
Deane, for the doctor himself was then in France; and, although I did not venture to go
to his home, for fear of being seen, I corresponded with him through M. Carmichael, an
American less generally known. I arrived in London with M. de Poix; and I first paid my
respects to Bancroft, the American, and afterwards to his British Majesty. A youth of
nineteen maybe, perhaps too fond of playing a trick upon the King he is going to fight
with, of dancing at the house of Lord Germain, minister for the English colonies, and at
the house of Lord Rawdon, who had just returned from New York, and of seeing at the
opera that Clinton whom he was afterwards to meet at Monmouth. But, while I
concealed my intentions, I openly avowed my sentiments. I often defended the
Americans; I rejoiced at their success at Trenton; and my spirit of opposition obtained
for me an invitation to breakfast with Lord Shelbourne. I refused the offers made me to
visit the seaports, the vessels fitting out against the rebels, and everything that might be
construed into an abuse of confidence. At the end of three weeks, when it became
necessary for me to return home, while refusing my uncle, the ambassador, to
accompany him to Court, I confided to him my strong desire to take a trip to Paris. He
proposed saying that I was ill during my absence. I should not have made use of this
stratagem myself, but I did not object to his doing so.
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After having suffered dreadfully in the channel, and being reminded, as a consolation,
how very short the voyage would be, I arrived at M. de Kalb's house in Paris, concealed
myself three days at Chaillot, saw a few of my friends and some Americans, and set out
for Bordeaux, where I was for some time unexpectedly delayed. I took advantage of that
delay to send to Paris, from whence the intelligence I received was by no means
encouraging; but, as my messenger was followed on the road by one from the
government, I lost not a moment in setting sail, and the orders of my sovereign were
only able to overtake me at Passage, a Spanish port, at which we stopped on our way.
The letters from my own family were extremely violent, and those from the government
were peremptory. I was forbidden to proceed to the American continent under the
penalty of disobedience; I was enjoined to repair instantly to Marseilles, and await there
further orders.* A sufficient number of commentaries were not wanting upon the
consequences of such an anathema, the laws of the state, and the power and
displeasure of the government; but the grief of his wife, who was pregnant, and the
thoughts of his family and friends, had far more effect upon M. de Lafayette. As his
vessel could no longer be stopped, he returned to Bordeaux to enter into a justification
of his own conduct; and, in a declaration to M. de Fumel, he took upon himself all the
consequences of his present evasion. As the Court did not deign to relax in its
determination, he wrote to M. de Maurepas that that silence was a tacit consent, and his
own departure took place soon after that joking dispatch. After having set out on the
road to Marseilles, he retraced his steps, and, disguised as a courier, he had almost
escaped all danger, when, at Saint Jean de Luz, a young girl recognized him; but a sign
from him silenced her, and her adroit fidelity turned away all suspicion. It was thus that
M. de Lafayette rejoined his ship, April 26, 1777; and on that same day, after six
months' anxiety and labor, he set sail for the American continent.
* Lafayette here changes his narrative from the first to the third person.
(1777) As soon as M. de Lafayette had recovered from the effects of sea-sickness, he

studied the language and trade he was adopting. A heavy ship, two bad cannon, and
some guns could not have escaped from the smallest privateer. In his present situation,
he resolved rather to blow up the vessel than to surrender. He concerted measures to
achieve this end with a brave Dutchman named Bedaulx, whose sole alternative, if
taken, would have been the gibbet. The captain insisted upon stopping at the islands;
but government orders would have been found there, and he followed a direct course,
less from choice than from compulsion. At 40 leagues from shore they were met by a
small vessel. The captain turned pale, but the crew were attached to M. de Lafayette,
and the officers were numerous: they made a show of resistance. It turned out,
fortunately, to be an American ship, whom they vainly endeavored to keep up with; but
scarcely had the former lost sight of M. de Lafayette's vessel, when it fell in with two
English frigates - and this is not the only time when the elements seemed bent on
opposing M. de Lafayette, as if with the intention of saving him. After having
encountered for seven weeks various perils and chances, he arrived at Georgetown, in
Carolina. Ascending the river in a canoe, his foot touched at length the American soil;
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and he swore that he would conquer or perish in that cause. Landing at midnight at
Major Huger's house, he found a vessel sailing for France, which appeared only waiting
for his letters. Several of the officers landed, others remained on board, and all
hastened to proceed to Charlestown.
Lafayette Travels to Philadelphia
This beautiful city is worthy of its inhabitants; and everything there announced not only
comfort, but even luxury. Without knowing much of M. de Lafayette, the Generals Howe,
Moultrie, and Gulden received him with the utmost kindness and attention. The new
works were shown him, and also that battery which Moultrie afterwards defended so
extremely well, and which the English appear, we must acknowledge, to have seized
the only possible means of destroying. Several adventurers, the refuse of the islands,
endeavored vainly to unite themselves to M. de Lafayette, and to infuse into his mind
their own feelings and prejudices. Having procured horses, he set out with six officers
for Philadelphia. His vessel had arrived; but it was no longer protected by fortune, and
on its return home it was lost on the bar of Charlestown. To repair to the Congress of
the United States, M. de Lafayette rode nearly 900 miles on horseback. Before reaching
the capital of Pennsylvania, he was obliged to travel through the two Carolinas, Virginia,
Maryland, and Delaware. While studying the language and customs of the inhabitants,
he observed also new productions of nature and new methods of cultivation. Vast
forests and immense rivers combine to give to that country an appearance of youth and
majesty. After a fatiguing journey of one month he beheld at length that Philadelphia so
well known in the present day, and whose future grandeur Penn appeared to designate
when he laid the first stone of its foundation.
After having accomplished his noble manoeuvres at Trenton and Princeton, General
Washington had remained in his camp at Middlebrook. The English, finding themselves
frustrated in their first hopes, combined to make a decisive campaign. Burgoyne was
already advancing with 10,000 men, preceded by his proclamation and his savages.
Ticonderoga, a famous stand of arms, was abandoned by Saint-Clair. He drew upon
himself much public odium by this deed, but he saved the only corps whom the militia
could rally round. While the generals were busied assembling that militia, the Congress
recalled them, sent Gates in their place, and used all possible means to support him. At
that same time the great English army, of about 18,000 men, had sailed from New York,
and the two Howes were uniting their forces for a secret enterprise. Rhode Island was
occupied by an hostile corps; and General Clinton, who had remained at New York, was
there preparing for an expedition. To be able to withstand so many various blows,
General Washington, leaving Putnam on the North River, crossed over the Delaware,
and encamped, with 11,000 men, within reach of Philadelphia.
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Lafayette Joins the Continental Army
It was under these circumstances that M. de Lafayette first arrived in America; but the
moment, although important to the common cause, was peculiarly unfavorable to
strangers. The Americans were displeased with the pretensions, and disgusted with the
conduct, of many Frenchmen. The imprudent selections they had in some cases made,
the extreme boldness of some foreign adventurers, the jealousy of the army, and strong
national prejudices, all contributed to confound disinterested zeal with private ambition,
and talents with quackery. Supported by the promises which had been given by Mr.
Deane, a numerous band of foreigners besieged the Congress. Their chief was a clever
but very imprudent man; and, although a good officer, his excessive vanity amounted
almost to madness. With M. de Lafayette, Mr. Deane had sent out a fresh detachment;
and every day such crowds arrived that the Congress had finally adopted the plan of not
listening to any stranger. The coldness with which M. de Lafayette was received might
have been taken as a dismissal; but, without appearing disconcerted by the manner in
which the deputies addressed him, he entreated them to return to Congress, and read
the following note:
"After the sacrifices I have made, I have the right to exact two favors: one is, to serve at
my own expense; the other is, to serve at first as volunteer."
The style, to which they were so little accustomed, awakened their attention: the
despatches from the envoys were read over; and, in a very flattering resolution, the rank
of major-general was granted to M. de Lafayette. Among the various officers who
accompanied him, several were strangers to him. He was interested, however, for them
all; and to those whose services were not accepted an indemnity for their trouble was
granted. Some months afterwards M. drowned himself in the Schuylkill, and the loss of
that impetuous and imprudent man was perhaps a fortunate circumstance.
Lafayette Meets George Washington
The two Howes having appeared before the capes of the Delaware, General
Washington came to Philadelphia, and M. de Lafayette beheld for the first time that
great man. Although he was surrounded by officers and citizens, it was impossible to
mistake for a moment his majestic figure and deportment; nor was he less distinguished
by the noble affability of his manner. M. de Lafayette accompanied him in his
examination of the fortifications. Invited by the general to establish himself in his house,
he looked upon it from that moment as his own: with this perfect ease and simplicity
was formed the tie that united two friends, whose confidence and attachments were to
be cemented by the strongest interests of humanity.
The American army, stationed some miles from Philadelphia, was waiting until the
movements of the hostile army should be decided: the general himself reviewed the
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troops. M. de Lafayette arrived there the same day. About 11,000 men, ill armed, and
still worse clothed, presented a strange spectacle to the eye of the young Frenchman.
Their clothes were party colored, and many of them were almost naked. The best clad
wore hunting shirts, large gray linen coats which were much used in Carolina. As to
their military tactics, it will be sufficient to say that, for a regiment ranged in order of
battle to move forward on the right of its line, it was necessary for the left to make a
continued countermarch. They were always arranged in two lines, the smallest men in
the first line: no other distinction as to height was ever observed. In spite of these
disadvantages, the soldiers were fine, and the officers zealous; virtue stood in place of
science, and each day added both to experience and discipline. Lord Stirling, more
courageous than judicious, another general, who was often intoxicated, and Greene,
whose talents were only then known to his immediate friends, commanded as majors-
general. General Knox, who had changed the profession of bookseller to that of artillery
officer, was there also, and had himself formed other officers, and created an artillery.
"We must feel embarrassed," said General Washington, on his arrival, "to exhibit
ourselves before an officer who has just quitted French troops." " It is to learn, and not
to teach, that I come hither," replied M. de Lafayette; and that modest tone, which was
not common in Europeans, produced a very good effect.
Wilmington
After having menaced the Delaware, the English fleet again disappeared, and during
some days the Americans amused themselves by making jokes at its expense. These
jokes, however, ceased when it reappeared in the Chesapeake; and, in order to
approach it more closely during the disembarkation, the patriot army crossed through
the town. Their heads covered with green branches, and marching to the sound of
drums and fifes, these soldiers, in spite of their state of nudity, offered an agreeable
spectacle to the eyes of all the citizens. General Washington was marching at their
head, and M. de Lafayette was by his side. The army stationed itself upon the heights of
Wilmington, and that of the enemy landed in the Elk River, at the bottom of Chesapeake
Bay. The very day they landed, General Washington exposed himself to danger in the
most imprudent manner. After having reconnoitered for a long time the enemy's
position, he was overtaken by a storm during a very dark night, entered a farm-house
close to the hostile army, and, from a reluctance to change his own opinion, remained
there with General Greene, M. de Lafayette, and their aide-de-camp; but, when at
daybreak he quitted the farm, he acknowledged that any one traitor might have caused
his ruin. Some days later Sullivan's division joined the army, which augmented it in all to
13,000 men. This Major-General Sullivan made a good beginning, but a bad ending, in
an intended surprise on Staten Island.
If, by making too extensive a plan of attack, the English committed a great error, it must
also be acknowledged that the Americans were not irreproachable in their manner of
defense. Burgoyne, leading his army, with their heads bent upon the ground, into woods
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from whence he could not extricate them, dragged on, upon a single road, his numerous
cannon and rich military equipages. Certain of not being attacked from behind, the
Americans could dispute every step they took; this kind of warfare attracted the militia,
and Gates improved each day in strength. Every tree sheltered a skilful rifleman; and
the resources offered by military tactics, and the talents even of their chiefs, had
become useless to the English. The corps left in New York could, it is true, laugh at the
corps of Putnam, but it was too feeble to succor Burgoyne; and, instead of being able to
secure his triumph, its own fate was even dependent upon his. During that time Howe
was only thinking of Philadelphia, and it was at the expense of the northern expedition
that he was repairing thither by an enormous circuit. But, on the other side, why were
the English permitted to land so tranquilly? Why was the moment allowed to pass when
their army was divided by the river Elk? Why in the South were so many false
movements and so much hesitation displayed? Because the Americans had hitherto
had combats, but not battles; because, instead of harassing an army and disputing
hollows, they were obliged to protect an open city, and maneuver in a plain, close to an
hostile army, who, by attacking them from behind, might completely ruin them. General
Washington, had he followed the advice of the people, would have enclosed his army in
a city, and thus have in trusted to one hazard the fate of America; but, while refusing to
commit such an act of folly, he was obliged to make some sacrifice, and gratify the
nation by a battle. Europe even expected it; and, although he had been created a
dictator for six months, the general thought he ought to submit everything to the orders
of Congress and to the deliberations of a council of war.
Brandywine
After having advanced as far as Wilmington, the general had detached 1,000 men
under Maxwell, the most ancient brigadier in the army. At the first march of the English,
he was beaten by their advance guard near Christiana Bridge. During that time the army
took but an indifferent station at Newport. They then removed a little south, waited two
days for the enemy, and at the moment when these were marching upon their right
wing, a nocturnal council of war decided that the army was to proceed to the
Brandywine. The stream bearing that name covered its front. The ford called Chad's
Ford, placed nearly in the centre, was defended by batteries. It was in that hardly
examined station that, in obedience to a letter from Congress, the Americans awaited
the battle. The evening of September 10 Howe advanced in two columns, and, by a
very fine movement, the left column (about 8,000 men under Lord Cornwallis, with the
grenadiers and guards) directed themselves towards the fords of Birmingham, 3 miles
on our right: the other column continued its road, and about nine o'clock in the morning
it appeared on the other side of the stream. The enemy was so near the skirts of the
wood that it was impossible to judge of his force: some time was lost in a mutual
cannonading. General Washington walked along his two lines, and was received with
acclamations which seemed to promise him success. The intelligence that was received
of the movements of Cornwallis was both confused and contradictory. Owing to the
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conformity of name between two roads that were of equal length and parallel to each
other, the best officers were mistaken in their reports. The only musket-shots that had
been fired were from Maxwell, who killed several of the enemy, but was driven back
upon the left of the American army, across a ford by which he had before advanced.
Three thousand militia had been added to the army, but they were placed in the rear to
guard some still more distant militia, and took no part themselves in the action. Such
was the situation of the troops when they learned the march of Lord Cornwallis towards
the scarcely known fords of Birmingham: they then detached three divisions, forming
about 5,000 men, under the Generals Sullivan, Stirling, and Stephen. M. de Lafayette,
as volunteer, had always accompanied the general. The left wing remaining in a state of
tranquility, and the right appearing fated to receive all the heavy blows, he obtained
permission to join Sullivan. At his arrival, which seemed to inspirit the troops, he found
that, the enemy having crossed the ford, the corps of Sullivan had scarcely had time to
form itself on a line in front of a thinly wooded forest. A few moments after, Lord
Cornwallis formed in the finest order. Advancing across the plain, his first line opened a
brisk fire of musketry and artillery. The Americans returned the fire, and did much injury
to the enemy; but, their right and left wings having given way, the generals and several
officers joined the central division, in which were M. de Lafayette and Stirling, and of
which 800 men were commanded in a most brilliant manner by Conway, an Irishman, in
the service of France. By separating that division from its two wings, and advancing
through an open plain, in which they lost many men, the enemy united all his fire upon
the centre: the confusion became extreme; and it was while M. de Lafayette was rallying
the troops that a ball passed through his leg. At that moment all those remaining on the
field gave way. M. de Lafayette was indebted to Gimat, his aide-de-camp, for the
happiness of getting upon his horse. General Washington arrived from a distance with
fresh troops. M. de Lafayette was preparing to join him, when loss of blood obliged him
to stop and have his wound bandaged: he was even very near being taken. Fugitives,
cannon, and baggage now crowded without order into the road leading to Chester. The
general employed the remaining daylight in checking the enemy: some regiments
behaved extremely well, but the disorder was complete. During that time the ford of
Chad was forced, the cannon taken, and the Chester road became the common retreat
of the whole army. In the midst of that dreadful confusion, and during the darkness of
the night, it was impossible to recover; but at Chester, 12 miles from the field of battle,
they met with a bridge which it was necessary to cross. M. de Lafayette occupied
himself in arresting the fugitives. Some degree of order was re-established; the generals
and the commander-in-chief arrived; and he had leisure to have his wound dressed.
It was thus, at 26 miles from Philadelphia, that the fate of that town was decided (11th
September, 1777). The inhabitants had heard every cannon that was fired there. The
two parties, assembled in two distinct bands in all the squares and public places, had
awaited the event in silence. The last courier at length arrived, and the friends of liberty
were thrown into consternation. The Americans had lost from 1,000 to 1,200 men.
Howe's army was composed of about 12,000 men. Their losses had been so
considerable that their surgeons, and those in the country, were found insufficient; and
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they requested the American army to supply them with some for their prisoners. If the
enemy had marched to Derby, the army would have been cut up and destroyed. They
lost an all - important night; and this was perhaps their greatest fault during a war in
which they committed so many errors.
M. de Lafayette, having been conveyed by water to Philadelphia, was carefully attended

to by the citizens, who were all interested in his situation and extreme youth. That same
evening the Congress determined to quit the city. A vast number of the inhabitants
deserted their own hearths. Whole families, abandoning their possessions, and
uncertain of the future, took refuge in the mountains. M. de Lafayette was carried to
Bristol in a boat; he there saw the fugitive Congress, who only assembled again on the
other side of the Susquehanna. He was himself conducted to Bethlehem, a Moravian
establishment, where the mild religion of the brotherhood, the community of fortune,
education, and interests, amongst that large and simple family, formed a striking
contrast to scenes of blood and the convulsions occasioned by a civil war.
After the Brandywine defeat the two armies maneuvered along the banks of the
Schuylkill. General Washington still remained on a height above the enemy, and
completely out of his reach; nor had they again an opportunity of cutting him off. Waine,
an American brigadier, was detached to observe the English; but, being surprised
during the night, near the White Horse, by General Grey, he lost there the greatest part
of his corps. At length Howe crossed the Schuylkill at Swede's Ford, and Lord
Cornwallis entered Philadelphia.
In spite of the declaration of independence of the new States, everything there bore the
appearance of a civil war. The names of Whig and Tory distinguished the republicans
and royalists; the English army was still called the regular troops; the British sovereign
was always designated by the name of the King. Provinces, towns, and families were
divided by the violence of party spirit: brothers, officers in the two opposing armies,
meeting by chance in their father's house, have seized their arms to fight with each
other. Whilst, in all the rancor of their pride, the English committed horrible acts of
license and cruelty, whilst discipline dragged in her train those venal Germans who
knew only how to kill, burn, and pillage, in that same army were seen regiments of
Americans, who, trampling under foot their brethren, assisted in enslaving their wasted
country. Each canton contained a still greater number whose sole object was to injure
the friends of liberty and give information to those of despotism. To these inveterate
Tories must be added the number of those whom fear, private interest, or religion,
rendered adverse to the war. If the Presbyterians, the children of Cromwell and Fairfax,
detested royalty, the Lutherans, who had sprung from it, were divided among
themselves. The Quakers hated slaughter, but served willingly as guides to the royal
troops. Insurrections were by no means uncommon: near the enemy's stations, farmers
often shot each other; robbers were even encouraged. The republican chiefs were
exposed to great dangers when they travelled through the country. It was always
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necessary for them to declare that they should pass the night in one house, then take
possession of another, barricade themselves in it, and only sleep with their arms by
their side. In the midst of these troubles, M. de Lafayette was no longer considered as a
stranger: never was any adoption more complete than his own; and whilst, in the
councils of war, he trembled when he considered that his voice (at twenty years of age)
might decide the fate of two worlds, he was also initiated in those deliberations in which,
by reassuring the Whigs, intimidating the Tories, supporting an ideal money, and
redoubling their firmness in the hour of adversity, the American chiefs conducted that
revolution through so many obstacles.
[Here follow accounts of Lafayette's convalescence at Bethlehem and his success at

Gloucester, of Gates's campaign, in the north, and the establishment of the melancholy
headquarters at Valley Forge.]
Notwithstanding the success in the north, the situation of the Americans had never been
more critical than at the present moment. A paper money, without any certain
foundation, and unmixed with any specie, was both counterfeited by the enemy and
discredited by their partisans. They feared to establish taxes, and had still less the
power of levying them. The people, who had risen against the taxation of England, were
astonished at paying still heavier taxes now; and the government was without any
power to enforce them. On the other side, New York and Philadelphia were overstocked
with gold and various merchandises: the threatened penalty of death could not stop a
communication that was but too easy. To refuse the payment of taxes, to depreciate the
paper currency, and feed the enemy, was a certain method of attaining wealth:
privations and misery were only experienced by good citizens. Each proclamation of the
English was supported by their seductions, their riches, and the intrigues of the Tories.
Whilst a numerous garrison lived sumptuously at New York, some hundreds of men, ill-
clothed and ill-fed, wandered upon the shores of the Hudson. The army of Philadelphia,
freshly recruited from Europe, abundantly supplied with everything they could require,
consisted of 18,000 men: that of Valley Forge was successively reduced to 5,000 men;
and two marches on the fine Lancaster road (on which road also was a chain of
magazines), by establishing the English in the rear of their right flank, would have
rendered their position untenable, from which, however, they had no means of retiring.
The unfortunate soldiers were in want of everything. They had neither coats, hats,
shirts, nor shoes: their feet and legs froze till they became black, and it was often
necessary to amputate them. From want of money, they could neither obtain provisions
nor any means of transport: the colonels were often reduced to two rations, and
sometimes even to one. The army frequently remained whole days without provisions,
and the patient endurance of both soldiers and officers was a miracle which each
moment served to renew. But the sight of their misery prevented new engagements: it
was almost impossible to levy recruits; it was easy to desert into the interior of the
country. The sacred fire of liberty was not extinguished, it is true, and the majority of the
citizens detested British tyranny; but the triumph of the north and the tranquility of the
south had lulled to sleep two-thirds of the continent. The remaining part was harassed
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by two armies; and throughout this revolution the greatest difficulty was that, in order to
conceal misfortunes from the enemy, it was necessary to conceal them from the nation
also; that, by awakening the one, information was likewise given to the other; and that
fatal blows would have been struck upon the weakest points before democratic
tardiness could have been roused to support them. It was from this cause that during
the whole war the real force of the army was always kept a profound secret. Even
Congress was not apprised of it, and the generals were often themselves deceived.
General Washington never placed unlimited confidence in any person, except in M. de
Lafayette, because for him alone, perhaps, confidence sprung from warm affection. As
the situation grew more critical, discipline became more necessary. In the course of his
nocturnal rounds, in the midst of heavy snows, M. de Lafayette was obliged to break
some negligent officers. He adopted in every respect the American dress, habits, and
food. He wished to be more simple, frugal, and austere than the Americans themselves.
Brought up in the lap of luxury, he suddenly changed his whole manner of living; and his
constitution bent itself to privation as well as to fatigue. He always took the liberty of
freely writing his ideas to Congress, or, in imitation of the prudence of the general, he
gave his opinion to some members of a corps or State Assembly, that, being adopted
by them, it might be brought forward in the deliberations of Congress.
Winter at Valley Forge
In addition to the difficulties which lasted during the whole of the war the winter of Valley
Forge recalls others still more painful. At Yorktown, behind the Susquehanna,
Congress was divided into two factions, which, in spite of their distinction of south and
east, did not the less occasion a separation between members of the same State. The
deputies substituted their private intrigues for the wishes of the nation. Several impartial
men had retired: several States had but one Representative, and in some cases not
even one. Party spirit was so strong that three years afterwards Congress still felt the
effects of it. Any great event, however, would awaken their patriotism; and, when
Burgoyne declared that his treaty had been broken, means were found to stop the
departure of his troops, which everything, even the few provisions for the transports,
had foolishly betrayed. But all these divisions failed to produce the greatest of calamities
- the loss of the only man capable of conducting the revolution.
Gates was at Yorktown, where he inspired respect by his manners, promises, and
European acquirements. Amongst the deputies who united themselves to him may be
numbered the Lees, Virginians, enemies of Washington, and the two Adamses. Mifflin,
quartermaster-general, aided him with his talents and brilliant eloquence. They required
a name to bring forward in the plot, and they selected Conway, who fancied himself the
chief of a party. To praise Gates, with a certain portion of the continent and the troops,
was a pretext for speaking of themselves. The people attach themselves to prosperous
generals, and the commander-in-chief had been unsuccessful. His own character
inspired respect and affection; but Greene, Hamilton, Knox, his best friends, were sadly
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defamed. The Tories fomented these dissensions. The presidency of the war office,
which had been created for Gates, restricted the power of the general. This was not the
only inconvenience. A committee from Congress arrived at the camp, and the attack of
Philadelphia was daringly proposed. The most shrewd people did not believe that Gates
was the real object of this intrigue. Though a good officer, he had not the power to
assert himself. He would have given place to the famous General Lee, then a prisoner
of the English, whose first care would have been to have made over to them his friends
and all America. (SEE CONWAY CABAL)
Attached to the general, and still more so to the cause, M. de Lafayette did not hesitate
for a moment; and, in spite of the caresses of one party, he remained faithful to the
other whose ruin seemed then impending. He saw and corresponded frequently with the
general, and often discussed with him his own private situation, and the effect that
various meliorations in the army might produce. Having sent for his wife to the camp,
the general preserved in his deportment the noble composure which belongs to a strong
and virtuous mind. "I have not sought for this place," said he to M. de Lafayette: "if I am
displeasing to the nation, I will retire; but until then I will oppose all intrigues."
Expedition to Canada
(1778.) The 22d of January Congress resolved that Canada should be entered, and the
choice fell upon M. de Lafayette.
The generals Conway and Stark were placed under him. Hoping to intoxicate and
govern so young a commander, the war office, without consulting the commander-in-
chief, wrote to him to go and await his further instructions at Albany. But, after having
won over by his arguments the committee which Congress had sent to the camp, M. de
Lafayette hastened to Yorktown, and declared there "that he required circumstantial
orders, a statement of the means to be employed, the certainty of not deceiving the
Canadians, an augmentation of generals, and rank for several Frenchmen, fully
impressed," he added, " with the various duties and advantages they derived from their
name; but the first condition he demanded was not to be made, like Gates, independent
of General Washington." At Gates's own house he braved the whole party, and threw
them into confusion by making them drink the health of their general.*
* After having thus declared himself, he wrote to Congress that "he could only accept
the command on condition of remaining subordinate to General Washington, of being
but considered as an officer detached from him, and of addressing all his letters to him,
of which those received by Congress would be but duplicates." These requests and all
the others he made were granted.
[Here follow accounts of Lafayette's expedition to Albany, and the Mohawk, and his return in the
spring to Philadelphia, where a short time after Silas Deane arrived with the treaty between France
and the United States.]
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By quitting France in so public a manner, M. de Lafayette had served the cause of the
Revolution. One portion of society was anxious for his success; and the attention of the
other had become, to say the least, somewhat occupied in the struggle. If a spirit of
emulation made those connected with the Court desirous of war, the rest of the nation
supported the young rebel, and followed with interest all his movements; and it is well
known that the rupture that ensued was truly a national one. Some circumstances
relating to his departure having displeased the Court of London, M. de Lafayette omitted
nothing that could draw more closely together the nations whose union he so ardently
desired. The incredible prejudices of the Americans had been augmented by the
conduct of the first Frenchmen who had joined them. These men gradually disappeared,
and all those who remained were remarkable for talents, or at least for probity. They
became the friends of M. de Lafayette, who sincerely sought out all the national
prejudices of the Americans against his countrymen for the purpose of overcoming
them. Love and respect for the name of Frenchmen animated his letters and speeches,
and he wished the affection that was granted to him individually to become completely
national. On the other side, when writing to Europe, he denied the reports made by
discontented adventurers, by good officers who were piqued at not having been
employed, and by those men who, serving themselves in the army, wished to be witty or
amusing by the political contrasts they described in their letters. But, without giving a
circumstantial account of what private influence achieved, it is certain that enthusiasm
for the cause, and esteem for its defenders, had electrified all France, and that the affair
of Saratoga decided the ministerial commotion. Bills of conciliation passed in the
English House of Parliament, the five commissioners were sent to offer far more than
had been demanded until then. No longer waiting to see how things would turn out, M.
de Maurepas yielded to the public wish, and what his luminous mind had projected the
more unchanging disposition of M. de Vergennes put in execution. A treaty was
generously entered into with Franklin, Deane, and Arthur Lee, and that treaty was
announced with more confidence than had been for some time displayed. But the war
was not sufficiently foreseen, or at least sufficient preparations were not made. The
most singular fact is that, at the very period when the firm resistance of the Court of
France had guided the conduct of two courts, America had fallen herself into such a
state of weakness that she was on the very brink of ruin. The 2d of May the army made
a bonfire; and M. de Lafayette, ornamented with a white scarf, proceeded to the spot,
accompanied by all the French. Since the arrival of the conciliatory bills he had never
ceased writing against the commission, and against every commissioner. The advances
of these men were ill-received by Congress; and, foreseeing a French co-operation, the
enemy began to think of quitting Philadelphia.
[Here follows the account of the battle of Monmouth, after which Lafayette and Washington "
passed the night lying on the same mantle, talking over the conduct of Lee"; and the account of
the Rhode Island campaign.]
Soon afterwards, during M. de Lafayette's residence at Philadelphia, the commission

received its death-blow. Whilst he was breakfasting with the members of Congress, the
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different measures proper to be pursued were frankly and cheerfully discussed. The
correspondence which took place at that time is generally known. The Congress
remained ever noble, firm, and faithful to its allies. Secretary Thomson, in his last letter
to Sir Henry Clinton, informs him that " the Congress does not answer impertinent
letters." To conceal nothing from the people, all the proposals were invariably printed;
but able writers were employed in pointing out the errors they contained. In that happy
country, where each man understood and attended to public affairs, the newspapers
became powerful instruments to aid the revolution. The same spirit was also breathed
from the pulpit, for the Bible in many places favors republicanism. M. de Lafayette,
having once reproached an Anglican minister with speaking only of heaven, went to
hear him preach the following Sunday, and the words the execrable house of Hanover
proved the docility of the minister.
M. de Lafayette addressed a polite letter to the French minister, and wrote also to the
Congress that, " whilst he believed himself free, he had supported the cause under the
American banner; that his country was now at war, and that his services were first due
to her; that he hoped to return; and that he should always retain his zealous interest for
the United States." The Congress not only granted him an unlimited leave of absence,
but added to it the most flattering expressions of gratitude. It was resolved that a sword,
covered with emblems, should be presented to him, in the name of the United States,
by their minister in France: they wrote to the King; and the Alliance, of thirty-six guns,
their finest ship, was chosen to carry him back to Europe. M. de Lafayette would neither
receive from them anything farther, nor allow them to ask any favor for him at the Court
of France. But the Congress, when proposing a co-operation in Canada, expressed its
wish of seeing the arrangement of the affair confided to him. This project was
afterwards deferred from the general's not entertaining hopes of its ultimate success;
but, although old prejudices were much softened—although the conduct of the admiral
and the squadron had excited universal approbation—the Congress, the general, and,
in short, every one, told M. de Lafayette that, in the whole circuit of the thirteen States,
vessels only were required, and that the appearance of a French corps would alarm the
nation. As M. de Lafayette was obliged to embark at Boston, he set out again on this
journey of 400 miles. He hoped, also, that he should be able to take leave of M.
d'Estaing, who had offered to accompany him to the islands, and whose friendship and
misfortunes affected him as deeply as his active genius and patriotic courage excited
his admiration.
Heated by fatiguing journeys and overexertion, and still more by the grief he had
experienced at Rhode Island, and having afterwards labored hard, drunk freely, and
passed several sleepless nights at Philadelphia, M. de Lafayette proceeded on
horseback, in a high state of fever, and during a pelting autumnal rain. Fetes were given
in compliment to him through-out his journey, and he endeavored to strengthen himself
with wine, tea, and rum; but at Fishkill, 8 miles from head-quarters, he was obliged to
yield to the violence of an inflammatory fever. He was soon reduced to the last
extremity, and the report of his approaching death distressed the army, by whom he
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was called the soldier's friend; and the whole nation were unanimous in expressing their
good wishes and regrets for the marquis, the name by which he was exclusively
designated. From the first moment, Cockran, director of the hospitals, left all his other
occupations to attend to him alone. General Washington came every day to inquire after
his friend; but, fearing to agitate him, he only conversed with the physician, and returned
house with tearful eyes, and a heart oppressed with grief. Suffering acutely from a
raging fever and violent headache, M. de Lafayette felt convinced that he was dying, but
did not lose for a moment the clearness of his understanding. Having taken measures to
be apprised of the approach of death, he regretted that he could not hope again to see
his country and the dearest objects of his affection. Far from foreseeing the happy fate
that awaited him, he would willingly have exchanged his future chance of life, in spite of
his one-and-twenty years, for the certainty of living but for three months, on the
condition of again seeing his friends and witnessing the happy termination of the
American war. Put to the assistance of medical art and the assiduous care of Dr.
Cockran nature added the alarming, though salutary, remedy of an hemorrhage.
At the expiration of three months, M. de Lafayette's life was no longer in danger: he was
at length allowed to see the general, and think of public affairs. After having spent some
days together, and spoken of their past labors, present situations, and future projects,
General Washington and he took a tender and painful leave of each other. At the same
time that the enemies of this great man have accused him of insensibility, they have
acknowledged his tenderness for M. de Lafayette; and how is it possible that he should
not have been warmly cherished by his disciple, he who, uniting all that is good to all
that is great, is even more sublime from his virtues than from his talents? find he been a
common soldier, he would have been the bravest in the ranks; had he been an obscure
citizen, all his neighbors would have respected him. With a heart and mind equally
correctly formed, he judged both of himself and circumstances with strict impartiality.
Nature, whilst creating him expressly for that revolution, conferred an honor upon
herself; and, to show her work to the greatest possible advantage, she constituted it in
such a peculiar manner that each distinct quality would have failed in producing the end
required, had it not been sustained by all the others.
In spite of his extreme debility, M. de Lafayette, accompanied by his physician, repaired

on horseback to Boston, where Madeira wine effectually restored his health. The crew
of the Alliance was not complete, and the council offered to institute a press; but M. de
Lafayette would not consent to this method of obtaining sailors, and it was at length
resolved to make up the required number by embarking some English deserters,
together with some volunteers from among the prisoners. After he had written to
Canada, and sent some necklaces to a few of the savage tribes, Brice and Nevil, his
aides-de-camp, bore his farewell addresses to the Congress, the general, and his
friends. The inhabitants of Boston, who had given him so many proofs of their kindness
and attention, renewed their marks of affection at his departure; and the Alliance sailed
on the 11th of January. . . .
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When I saw the port of Brest receive and salute the banner which floated on my frigate,
I recalled to mind the state of my country and of America, and my peculiar situation
when I quitted France.
[Here follows the account of his warm welcome at Paris.]
Amidst the various tumultuous scenes that occupied my mind, I did not forget our
revolution, of which the ultimate success still appeared uncertain. Accustomed to see
great interests supported by slender means, I often said to myself that the expense of
one fete would have organized the army of the United States; and, to clothe that army, I
would willingly, according to the expression of M. de Maurepas, have unfurnished the
palace of Versailles.
Eulogy for Marquis Lafayette
Eulogy by John Quincy Adams.— On Dec. 31, 1834, ex-President Adams delivered
the following oration on the life and services to America of Lafayette, in Washington, D.
C.:
On the 6th of September, 1757, Lafayette was born. The kings of France and Britain
were seated upon their thrones by virtue of the principle of hereditary succession,
variously modified and blended with different forms of religious faith, and they were
waging war against each other, and exhausting the blood and treasure of their people
for causes in which neither of the nations had any beneficial or lawful interest.
In this war the father of Lafayette fell in the cause of his King, but not of his country. He
was an officer of an invading army, the instrument of his sovereign's wanton ambition
and lust of conquest. The people of the electorate of Hanover had done no wrong to him
or to his country. When his son came to an age capable of understanding the
irreparable loss that he had suffered, and to reflect upon the causes of his father's fate,
there was no drop of consolation mingled in the cup, from the consideration that he had
died for his country. And when the youthful mind was awakened to meditation upon the
rights of mankind, the principles of freedom, and theories of government, it cannot be
difficult to perceive, in the illustrations of his own family records, the source of that
aversion to hereditary rule, perhaps the most distinguishing feature of his political
opinions, and to which he adhered through all the vicissitudes of his life.
In the same war, and at the same time, George Washington was armed, a loyal subject,
in support of his King; but to him that was also the cause of his country. His commission
was not in the army of George II., but issued under the authority of the colony of
Virginia, the province in which he received his birth. On the borders of that province, the
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war in its most horrid forms was waged—not a war of mercy, and of courtesy, like that
of the civilized embattled legions of Europe—but war to the knife; the war of Indian
savages, terrible to man, but more terrible to the tender sex, and most terrible to
helpless infancy. In defense of his country against the ravages of such a war,
Washington, in the dawn of manhood, had drawn his sword, as if Providence, with
deliberate purpose, had sanctified for him the practice of war, all detestable and
unhallowed as it is, that he might, in a cause, virtuous and exalted by its motive and its
end, be trained and fitted in a congenial school to march in after times the leader of
heroes in the war of his country's independence.
At the time of the birth of Lafayette, this war, which was to make him a fatherless child,
and in which Washington was laying broad and deep, in the defense and protection of
his native land, the foundations of his unrivalled renown, was but in its early stage. It
was to continue five years longer, and was to close with the total extinguishment of the
colonial dominion of France on the continent of North America. The deep humiliation of
France, and the triumphant ascendency on this continent of her rival, were the first
results of this great national conflict. The complete expulsion of France from North
America seemed to the superficial vision of men to fix the British power over these
extensive regions on foundations immovable as the everlasting hills.
Let us pass in imagination a period of only twenty years, and alight upon the borders of
the River Brandywine. Washington is commander-in-chief of the armies of the United
States of America; war is again raging in the heart of his native land; hostile armies of
one and the same name, blood, and language, are arrayed for battle on the banks of
the stream; and Philadelphia, where the United States are in Congress assembled, and
whence their decree of independence has gone forth, is the destined prize to the conflict
of the day. Who is that tall, slender youth, of foreign air and aspect, scarcely emerged
from the years of boyhood, and fresh from the walls of a college; fighting, a volunteer, at
the side of Washington, bleeding, unconsciously to himself, and rallying his men to
secure the retreat of the scattered American ranks? It is Gilbert Motier de Lafayette, the
son of the victim of Minden; and he is bleeding in the cause of North American
independence and of freedom.
We pause one moment to inquire what was this cause of North American
independence, and what were the motives and inducements to the youthful stranger to
devote himself, his life, and fortune to it.
The people of the British colonies in North America, after a controversy of ten years
duration with their sovereign beyond the seas, upon an attempt by him and his
Parliament to tax them without their consent, had been constrained by necessity to
declare themselves independent—to dissolve the tie of their allegiance to him—to
renounce their right to his protection, and to assume their station among the
independent civilized nations of the earth. This had been done with a deliberation and
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solemnity unexampled in the history of the world; done in the midst of a civil war,
differing in character from any of those which for centuries before had desolated
Europe. The war had arisen upon a question between the rights of the people and the
powers of their government. The discussions, in the progress of the controversy, had
opened to the contemplations of men the first foundations of civil society and of
government. The war of independence began by litigation upon a petty stamp on paper,
and a tax of three pence a pound upon tea; but these broke up the fountains of the
great deep, and the deluge ensued. Had the British Parliament the right to tax the
people of the colonies in another hemisphere, not represented in the imperial
legislature? They affirmed they had; the people of the colonies insisted they had not.
There were ten years of pleading before they came to an issue; and all the legitimate
sources of power, and all the primitive elements of freedom, were scrutinized, debated,
analyzed, and elucidated before the lighting of the torch of Ate, and her cry of havoc
upon letting slip the dogs of war.
When the day of conflict came, the issue of the contest was necessarily changed. The
people of the colonies had maintained the contest on the principle of resisting the
invasion of chartered rights—first by argument and remonstrance, and finally, by appeal
to the sword. But with the war came the necessary exercise of sovereign powers. The
Declaration of Independence justified itself as the only possible remedy for insufferable
wrongs. It seated itself upon the first foundations of the law of nature, and the
incontestable doctrine of human rights. There was no longer any question of the
constitutional powers of the British Parliament, or of violated colonial charters.
Thenceforward the American nation supported its existence by war; and the British
nation, by war, was contending for conquest. As, between the two parties, the single
question at issue was independence—but in the confederate existence of the North
American Union, Liberty—not only their own liberty, but the vital principle of liberty to the
whole race of civilized man, was involved.
It was at this stage of the conflict, and immediately after the Declaration of
Independence, that it drew the attention, and called into action the moral sensibilities
and the intellectual faculties of Lafayette, then in the nineteenth year of his age.
The war was revolutionary. It began by the dissolution of the British government in the
colonies; the people of which were, by that operation left without any government
whatever. They were then at one and the same time maintaining their independent
national existence by war, and forming new social compacts for their own government
thenceforward. The construction of civil society; the extent and the limitations of
organized power; the establishment of a system of government combining the greatest
enlargement of individual liberty with the most perfect preservation of public order, were
the continual occupations of every mind. The consequences of this state of things to the
history of mankind, and especially of Europe, were foreseen by none. Europe saw
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nothing but the war; a people struggling for liberty, and against oppression; and the
people in every part of Europe sympathized with the people of the American colonies.
With their governments it was not so. The people of the American colonies were
insurgents; all governments abhor insurrection. They were revolted colonists; the great
maritime powers of Europe had colonies of their own, to which the example of
resistance against oppression might be contagious. The American colonists were
stigmatized in all the official acts of the British government as rebels; and rebellion to
the governing part of mankind is as the sin of witchcraft. The governments of Europe,
therefore, were at heart, on the side of the British government in this war, and the
people of Europe were on the side of the American people.
Lafayette, by his position and condition in life, was one of those who, governed by the
ordinary impulses which influence and control the conduct of men, would have sided in
sentiment with the royal cause.
Lafayette was born a subject of the most absolute and most splendid monarchy of
Europe; and in the highest rank of her proud and chivalrous nobility. He had been
educated at the college of the University of Paris, founded by the royal munificence of
Louis XIV., or Cardinal Richelieu. Left an orphan in early childhood, with the inheritance
of a princely fortune, he had been married at sixteen years of age to a daughter of the
house of Noailles, the most distinguished family of the kingdom, scarcely deemed in
public consideration inferior to that which wore the crown. He came into active life, at
the change from boy to man, a husband and a father, in the full enjoyment of everything
that avarice could covet, with a certain prospect before him of all that ambition could
crave. Happy in his domestic affections, incapable, from the benignity of his nature, of
envy, hatred, or revenge, a life of "ignoble ease and indolent repose" seemed to be that
which nature and fortune had combined to prepare before him. To men of ordinary
mould this condition would have led to a life of luxurious apathy and sensual
indulgence. Such was the life into which, from the operation of the same causes, Louis
XV. had sunk, with his household and Court, while Lafayette was rising to manhood
surrounded by the contamination of their example. Had his natural endowments been
even of the higher and nobler order of such as adhere to virtue even in the lap of
prosperity and in the bosom of temptation, he might have lived and died a pattern of the
nobility of France, to be classed, in after times, with the Turennes and the Montausiers
of the age of Louis XIV., or with the Villars or the Lamoignons of the age immediately
preceding his own.
But, as in the firmament of heaven that rolls over our heads there is, among the stars of
the first magnitude, one so preeminent in splendor as, in the opinion of astronomers, to
constitute a class by itself, so in the 1,400 years of the French monarchy, among the
multitudes of great and mighty men which it has evolved, the name of Lafayette stands
unrivalled in the solitude of glory.
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In entering upon the threshold of life a career was to open before him. He had the
option of the court and the camp. An office was tendered to him in the household of the
King's brother, the Count de Provence, since successively a royal exile and a reinstated
King. The servitude and inaction of a court had no charms for him; he preferred a
commission in the army, and at the time of the Declaration of Independence was a
captain of dragoons in garrison at Metz.
There, at an entertainment given by his relative, the Marechal de Broglie, the

commandant of the place, to the Duke of Gloucester, brother to the British King, and
then a transient traveler through that part of France, he learns, as an incident of
intelligence received that morning by the English prince from London, that the Congress
of rebels at Philadelphia had issued a declaration of independence. A conversation
ensues upon the causes which have contributed to produce this event, and upon the
consequences which may be expected to flow from it. The imagination of Lafayette has
caught across the Atlantic tide the spark emitted from the Declaration of Independence,
his heart has kindled, at the shock, and, before he slumbers upon his pillow, he has
resolved to devote his life and fortune to the cause.
You have before you the cause and the man. The selfdevotion of Lafayette was twofold.
First to the people, maintaining a bold and seemingly desperate struggle against
oppression, and for national existence. Secondly, and chiefly, to the principles of their
declaration, which then first unfurled before his eyes the consecrated standard of
human rights. To that standard, without an instant of hesitation, he repaired. Where it
would lead him, it is scarcely probable that he himself then foresaw. It was then identical
with the stars and stripes of the American Union, floating to the breeze from the Hall of
Independence, at Philadelphia. Nor sordid avarice, nor vulgar ambition, could point his
foot-steps to the pathway leading to that banner. To the love of ease or pleasure
nothing could be more repulsive. Something may be allowed to the beatings of the
youthful breast, which make ambition virtue, and something to the spirit of military
adventures imbibed from his profession, and which he felt in common with many others.
France, Germany, Poland, furnished to the armies of this Union, in our revolutionary
struggle, no inconsiderable number of officers of high rank and distinguished merit. The
names of Pulaski and De Kalb are numbered among the martyrs of our freedom, and
their ashes repose in our soil side by side with the canonized bones of Warren and of
Montgomery. To the virtues of Lafayette, a more protracted career and happier earthly
destiny were reserved. To the moral principle of political action, the sacrifices of no
other man were comparable to his. Youth, health, fortune; the favor of his King; the
enjoyment of ease and pleasure; even the choicest blessings of domestic felicity - he
gave them all for toil and danger in a distant land, and an almost hopeless cause; but it
was the cause of justice, and of the rights of humankind.
The resolve is firmly fixed, and it now remains to be carried into execution. On
December 7, 1776, Silas Deane, then a secret agent of the American Congress at
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Paris, stipulates with the Marquis de Lafayette that he shall receive a commission, to
date from that day, of major-general in the army of the United States; and the marquis
stipulates, in return, to depart when and how Mr. Deane shall judge proper, to serve the
United States with all possible zeal, without pay or emolument, reserving to himself only
the liberty of returning to Europe, if his family or his King should recall him.
Neither his family nor his King were willing that he should depart; nor had Mr. Deane the
power, either to conclude this contract, or to furnish the means of his conveyance to
America. Difficulties rise up before him only to be dispersed, and obstacles thicken only
to be surmounted. The day after the signing of the contract, Mr. Deane's agency was
superseded by the arrival of Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Arthur Lee as his colleagues in
commission; nor did they think themselves authorized to confirm his engagements.
Lafayette is not to be discouraged. The commissioners extenuate nothing of the
unpromising condition of their cause. Mr. Deane avows his inability to furnish him with a
passage to the United States. "The more desperate the cause," says Lafayette, "the
greater need has it of my services; and, if Mr. Deane has no vessel for my passage, I
shall purchase one for myself, and will traverse the ocean with a selected company of
my own."
Other impediments arise. His design becomes known to the British ambassador at the
Court of Versailles, who remonstrates to the French government against it. At his
instance, orders are issued for the detention of the vessel purchased by the marquis
and fitted out at Bordeaux, and for the arrest of his person. To elude the first of these
orders, the vessel is removed from Bordeaux to the neighboring port of Passage, within
the dominion of Spain. The order for his own arrest is executed; but, by stratagem and
disguise, he escapes from the custody of those who have him in charge, and, before a
second order can reach him, he is safe on the ocean wave, bound to the land of
independence and of freedom.
The war of American Independence is closed. The people of the North American
Confederation are in union, sovereign and independent. Lafayette at twenty-five years
of age has lived the life of a patriarch, and illustrated the career of a hero. Had his days
upon earth been then numbered, and had he then slept with his fathers, illustrious as for
centuries their names had been, his name, to the end of time, would have transcended
them all. Fortunate youth! fortunate beyond even the measure of his companions in
arms with whom he had achieved the glorious consummation of American
Independence. His fame was all his own; not cheaply earned; not ignobly won. His
fellow-soldiers had been the champions and defenders of their country. They reaped for
themselves, for their wives, their children, their posterity to the latest time the rewards of
their dangers and their toils. Lafayette had watched, and labored, and fought, and bled,
not for himself, not for his family, not, in the first instance, even for his country. In the
legendary tales of chivalry we read of tournaments at which a foreign and unknown
knight suddenly presents himself, armed in complete steel, and, with the vizor down,
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enters the ring to contend with the assembled flower of knighthood for the prize of
honor, to be awarded by the hand of beauty; bears it in triumph away, and disappears
from the astonished multitude of competitors and spectators of the feats of arms. But
where in the rolls of history, where in the fictions of romance, where but in the life of
Lafayette, has been seen the noble stranger, flying, with the tribute of his name, his
rank, his influence, his ease, his domestic bliss, his treasure, his blood, to the relief of a
suffering and distant land, in the hour of her deepest calamity-baring his bosom to her
foes; and not at the transient pageantry of a tournament, but for a succession of five
years sharing all the vicissitudes of her fortunes; always eager to appear at the post of
danger-tempering the glow of youthful ardor with the cold caution of a veteran
commander; bold and daring in action; prompt in execution; rapid in pursuit; fertile in
expedients; unattainable in retreat; often exposed, but never surprised, never
disconcerted; eluding his enemy when within his fancied grasp; bearing upon him with
irresistible sway when of force to cope with him in the conflict of arms? And what is this
but the diary of Lafayette, from the day of his rallying the scattered fugitives of the
Brandywine, insensible of the blood flowing from his wounds, to the storming of the
redoubt at Yorktown?
Henceforth, as a public man, Lafayette is to be considered as a Frenchman, always

active and ardent to serve the United States, but no longer in their service as an officer.
So transcendent had been his merits in the common cause, that, to reward them, the
rule of progressive advancement in the armies of France was set aside for him. He
received from the minister of war a notification that from the day of his retirement from
the service of the United States as a major-general, at the close of the war, he should
hold the same rank in the armies of France, to date from the day of the capitulation of
Lord Cornwallis.
Henceforth he is a Frenchman, destined to perform in the history of his country a part as

peculiarly his own, and not less glorious, than that which he had performed in the war of
independence. A short period of profound peace followed the great triumph of freedom.
The desire of Lafayette once more to see the land of his adoption and the associates of
his glory, the fellow-soldiers who had become to him as brothers, and the friend and
patron of his youth, who had become to him as a father; sympathizing with their desire
once more to see him - to see in their prosperity him who had come to them in their
affliction-induced him, in the year 1784, to pay a visit to the United States.
On August 4, of that year, he landed at New York, and, in the space of five months from
that time, visited his venerable friend at Mount Vernon, where he was then living in
retirement, and traversed ten States of the Union, receiving everywhere, from their
legislative assemblies, from the municipal bodies of the cities and towns through which
he passed, from the officers of the army, his late associates, now restored to the virtues
and occupations of private life, and even from the recent emigrants from Ireland, who
had come to adopt for their country the self-emancipated land, addresses of gratulation
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and of joy, the effusions of hearts grateful in the enjoyment of the blessings for the
possession of which they had been so largely indebted to his exertions; and, finally,
from the United States of America, in Congress assembled, at Trenton.
On December 9 it was resolved by that body that a committee, to consist of one

member from each State, should be appointed to receive and, in the name of Congress,
take leave of the marquis. That they should be instructed to assure him that Congress
continued to entertain the same high sense of his abilities and zeal to promote the
welfare of America, both here and in Europe, which they had frequently expressed and
manifested on former occasions, and which the recent marks of his attention to their
commercial and other interests had perfectly confirmed. "That, as his uniform and
unceasing attachment to this country has resembled that of a patriotic citizen, the
United States regard him with particular affection, and will not cease to feel an interest
in whatever may concern his honor and prosperity; and that their best and kindest
wishes will always attend him."
And it was further resolved that a letter be written to his most Christian Majesty, to be
signed by his Excellency, the president of Congress, expressive of the high sense which
the United States, in Congress assembled, entertain of the zeal, talents, and meritorious
services of the Marquis de Lafayette, and recommending him to the favor and
patronage of his Majesty.
The first of these resolutions was, on the next day, carried into execution. At a solemn
interview with the committee of Congress, received in their hall, and addressed by the
chairman of their committee, John Jay, the purport of these resolutions was
communicated to him. He replied in terms of fervent sensibility for the kindness
manifested personally to himself, and, with allusions to the situation, the prospects, and
the duties of the people of this country, he pointed out the great interests which he
believed it indispensable to their welfare that they should cultivate and cherish. In the
following memorable sentences the ultimate objects of his solicitude are disclosed in a
tone deeply solemn and impressive: "May this immense temple of freedom," said he,
"ever stand, a lesson to oppressors, an example to the oppressed, a sanctuary for the
rights of mankind! and may these happy United States attain that complete splendor
and prosperity which will illustrate the blessings of their government, and for ages to
come rejoice the departed souls of its founders." Fellow-citizens, ages have passed
away since these words were spoken; but ages are the years of the existence of
nations. The founders of this immense temple of freedom have all departed, save here
and there a solitary exception, even while I speak, at the point of taking wing. The
prayer of Lafayette is not yet consummated. Ages upon ages are still to pass away
before it can have its full accomplishment; and, for its full accomplishment, his spirit,
hovering over our heads, in more than echoes talks around these walls. It repeats the
prayer which from his lips fifty years ago was at once a parting blessing and a prophecy;
for, were it possible for the whole human race, now breathing the breath of life, to be
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assembled within this hall, your orator would, in your name and in that of your
constituents, appeal to them to testify for your fathers of the last generation, that, so far
as has depended upon them, the blessing of Lafayette has been prophecy. Yes! this
immense temple of freedom still stands, a lesson to oppressors, an example to the
oppressed, and a sanctuary for the rights of mankind. Yes! with the smiles of a
benignant Providence, the splendor and prosperity of these happy United States have
illustrated the blessings of their government, and, we may humbly hope, have rejoiced
the departed souls of its founders. For the past your fathers and you have been
responsible. The charge of the future devolves upon you and upon your children. The
vestal fire of freedom is in your custody. May the souls of its departed founders never
be called to witness its extinction by neglect, nor a soil upon the purity of its keepers!
With this valedictory Lafayette took, as he and those who heard him then believed, a
final leave of the people of the United States. He returned to France, and arrived at
Paris on January 25, 1785.
Such, legislators of the North American Confederate Union, was the life of Gilbert Motier
de Lafayette, and the record of his life is the delineation of his character. Consider him
as one human being of 1,000,000,000, his contemporaries on the surface of the
terraqueous globe. Among that 1,000,000,000 seek for an object of comparison with
him; assume for the standard of comparison all the virtues which exalt the character of
man above that of the brute creation; take the ideal man, little lower than the angels;
mark the qualities of mind and heart which entitle him to his station of preeminence in
the scale of created beings, and inquire who, that lived in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries of the Christian era, combined in himself so many of those qualities, so little
alloyed with those which belong to that earthly vesture of decay in which the immortal
spirit is enclosed, as Lafayette.
Pronounce him one of the first men of his age, and you have not yet done him justice.
Try him by that test by which he sought in vain to stimulate the vulgar and selfish spirit
of Napoleon; class him among the men who, to compare and seat themselves, must
take in the compass of all ages; turn back your eyes upon the records of time; summon
from the creation of the world to this day the mighty dead of every age and every clime
—and where, among the race of merely mortal men, shall one be found, who, as the
benefactor of his kind, shall claim to take precedence of Lafayette?
There have doubtless been, in all ages, men, whose discoveries or inventions, in the
world of matter or of mind, have opened new avenues to the dominion of man over the
material creation; have in-creased his means or his faculties of enjoyment; have raised
him in nearer approximation to that higher and happier condition, the object of his hopes
and aspirations in his present state of existence.
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Lafayette discovered no new principles of politics or of morals. He invented nothing in

science. He disclosed no new phenomenon in the laws of nature. Born and educated in
the highest order of feudal nobility, under the most absolute monarchy of Europe, in
possession of an affluent fortune, and master of himself and of all his capabilities, at the
moment of attaining manhood, the principle of republican justice and of social equality
took possession of his heart and mind, as if inspired from above. He devoted himself,
his life, his fortune, his hereditary honors, his towering ambition, his splendid hopes, all
to the cause of liberty. He came to another hemisphere to defend her. He became one
of the most effective champions of our independence; but, that once achieved, be
returned to his own country, and thenceforward took no part in the controversies which
have divided us. In the events of our Revolution, and in the forms of policy which we
have adopted for the establishment and perpetuation of our freedom, Lafayette found
the most perfect form of government. He wished to add nothing to it. He would gladly
have abstracted nothing from it. Instead of the imaginary republic of Plato, or the Utopia
of Sir Thomas More, he took a practical existing model, in actual operation here, and
never attempted or wished more than to apply it faithfully to his own country.
It was not given to Moses to enter the promised land; but he saw it from the summit of
Pisgah. It was not given to Lafayette to witness the consummation of his wishes in the
establishment of a republic, and the extinction of all hereditary rule in France. His
principles were in advance of the age and hemisphere in which he lived. A Bourbon still
reigns on the throne of France, and it is not for us to scrutinize the title by which he
reigns. The principles of elective and hereditary power, blended in reluctant union in his
person, like the red and white roses of York and Lancaster, may postpone to aftertime
the last conflict to which they must ultimately come. The life of the patriarch was not
long enough for the development of his whole political system. Its final accomplishment
is in the womb of time.
The anticipation of this event is the more certain, from the consideration that all the
principles for which Lafayette contended were practical. He never indulged himself in
wild and fanciful speculations. The principle of hereditary power was, in his opinion, the
bane of all republican liberty in Europe. Unable to extinguish it in the revolution of 1830,
so far as concerned the chief magistracy of the nation, Lafayette had the satisfaction of
seeing it abolished with reference to the peerage. A hereditary crown, stripped of the
support which it may derive from an hereditary peerage, however compatible with
Asiatic despotism, is an anomaly in the history of the Christian world, and in the theory
of free government. There is no argument producible against the existence of an
hereditary peerage but applies with aggravated weight against the transmission from
sire to son of an hereditary crown. The prejudices and passions of the people of France
rejected the principle of inherited power in every station of public trust, excepting the
first and highest of them all; but there they clung to it, as did the Israelites of old to the
savory deities of Egypt.
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This is not the time or the place for a disquisition upon the comparative merits, as a
system of government, of a republic and a monarchy surrounded by republican
institutions. Upon this subject there is among us no diversity of opinion, and if it should
take the people of France another half-century of internal and external war, of dazzling
and delusive glories, of unparalleled triumphs, humiliating reverses, and bitter
disappointments, to settle it to their satisfaction, the ultimate result can only bring them
to the point where we have stood from the day of the Declaration of Independence-to
the point where Lafayette would have brought them, and to which he looked as a
consummation devoutly to be wished.
Then, too, and then only, will be the time when the character of Lafayette will be
appreciated at its true value throughout the civilized world. When the principle of
hereditary dominion shall be extinguished in all the institutions of France; when
government shall no longer be considered as property transmissible from sire to son,
but as a trust committed for a limited time, and then to return to the people whence it
came; as a burdensome duty to be discharged and not as a reward to be abused; when
a claim, any claim, to political power by inheritance shall, in the estimation of the whole
French people, be held as it now is by the whole people of the North American Union-
then will be the time for contemplating the character of Lafayette, not merely in the
events of his life, but in the full development of his intellectual conceptions, of his fervent
aspirations, of the labors and perils and sacrifices of his long and eventful career upon
earth; and thenceforward, till the hour when the trump of the archangel shall sound to
announce that Time shall be no more, the name of Lafayette shall stand enrolled high
on the list of the pure and disinterested benefactors of mankind.
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Chapter 3
Thomas Jefferson
[Thomas Jefferson Biography] [Thomas Jefferson Motto] [Thomas Jefferson Quotes]
[Thomas Jefferson Inauguration] [Jeffersonian Policy]
Jefferson, THOMAS, third

President of the United States; born
in Shadwell, Virginia, April 2, 1743;
was educated at the College of
William and Mary; studied law under
George Wythe; and was admitted to
the bar in 1767. From 1769 to 1775
he was an active member of the
Virginia House of Burgesses. In that
body he introduced a bill
empowering masters to emancipate
their slaves. On January 1, 1771,
he married Martha Skelton, a rich
and beautiful young widow who was
twenty-three years old. He was a
member of the committee of
correspondence of Virginia, which
he assisted in forming, and was
engaged in active public life until his
retirement from the Presidency of
the United States. In 1774 he wrote
his famous Summary View of the
Rights of British America, which, it
is believed, procured for him a
place in the list of American traitors
denounced by the British
Parliament. He had taken an active
part against the Boston port bill. Mr. Jefferson took his seat in the Continental Congress
in June, 1775, when he was thirty-two years of age. In that body he served on the most
important committees, and in drawing up state papers. On the committee to draft the
Declaration of Independence, to Mr. Jefferson was assigned the duty of writing that
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important paper, which he advocated and signed. True to the proclivities of his nature in
favor of human liberty, he introduced a clause censuring slavery, which was stricken
out. In October, 1776, he retired from Congress to take part in his own State affairs, and
for two years and a half was employed in revising the laws of Virginia and procuring
some wise enactments, such as abolishing the laws of primogeniture, giving freedom to
convicts, etc. During the entire Revolutionary War Jefferson was very active in his own
State, serving as its governor from June, 1779 to 1781.
Thomas Jefferson's Home at Monticello
At the time of his retirement from the chair, Cornwallis, invading Virginia, desolated
Jefferson's estate at Elk Hill, and he and his family narrowly escaped capture. Mr.
Jefferson was again in Congress in 1783, and, as chairman of a committee, reported to
that body the definite treaty of peace with Great Britain. Assisting the suggestions of
Gouverneur Morris, he proposed and carried a bill establishing the decimal system of
currency. In 1785 he succeeded Dr. Franklin as minister at the French Court, where he
remained until 1789, when he returned and took a seat in George Washington's cabinet
as Secretary of State. In France he had published his Notes on Virginia, and he had
there become thoroughly imbued with the spirit of the French revolutionists previous to
the bloody era of 1793. Not finding at home the same enthusiastic admiration of the
French people in their struggle against "the conspiracy of the kings," he became
morbidly suspicious of a monarchical party in the United States that might overthrow the
government. He formed and led an active party called "Republican" or "Democratic,"
and there was much acrimonious feeling soon engendered between that and the
Federal party, of which Alexander Hamilton was the active leader. Mr. Jefferson was an
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able leader of the Democratic party, and secured so large a following that in 1800 he
was elected President, and served eight years, retiring in March, 1809, when he
withdrew from public life and retired to his seat at Monticello, near Charlottesville,
Virginia Among the important events of his administration were the purchase of
Louisiana, an exploration of the continent from the Mississippi River to the Pacific
Ocean, and difficulties with France and Great Britain on account of their violation of the
rights of neutrals. Mr. Jefferson was the founder of the University of Virginia (1819) at
Charlottesville, Va., and was its rector until his death, which occurred on the same day,
and almost at the same hour, as that on which John Adams died, who was his associate
in drafting the Declaration of Independence, and signing it, just fifty years before (July 4,
1826).
Thomas Jefferson's Personal Appearance
Jefferson was a keen politician, though no speaker; a man of great learning and fine
scholarly as well as scientific attainments, and in conversation extremely attractive. His
house was the resort of learned men of his own country and of Europe. In person he
was tall and slender, with sandy hair, florid complexion in his youth, and brilliant gray
eyes, a little inclining to brown. He was buried in a family cemetery near his house at
Monticello, and over his grave is a granite monument, bearing the inscription, written by
himself, and found among his papers after his death,
"Here lies buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the
Declaration of Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for
religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia."
Mr. Jefferson regarded slavery as a moral and political
evil, and did much to alleviate its hardships. His
correspondence with men of all classes was voluminous,
for he was a fluent writer and had a very wide
acquaintance. Few men have exerted as much influence
in establishing the free institutions of the United States as
Thomas Jefferson. He adopted for the motto of his private
seal that of Oliver Cromwell—"Rebellion to tyrants is
obedience to God." See LEWIS, MERIWETHER.
British Attempt to Capture Jefferson
When, in the early summer of 1781, Cornwallis was overrunning a portion of Virginia, he
sent Tarleton with his cavalry to capture the Virginia Assembly sitting at Charlottesville,
and also Governor Jefferson, who lived 2 miles from that place. On the way Tarleton
destroyed twelve wagon-loads of clothing intended for Greene's army in North Carolina.
Within 10 miles of Charlottesville, Tarleton detached Captain McLeod, with a party of
horsemen, to capture Governor Jefferson at Monticello, while he pressed forward. On
his way he captured some members of the legislature, but when he arrived at
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Charlottesville the remainder, forewarned, had fled and escaped. McLeod's expedition
to Monticello was quite as unsuccessful. Jefferson was entertaining several members of
the legislature, including the presiding officers of both houses, when the British cavalry
were seen coming up the winding road towards the mansion. Jefferson immediately
sent his family away, while he and the others escaped on horseback. Jefferson had not
been gone ten minutes when McLeod rode up and found the house deserted.
Presidential Election of 1800
The leaders of the two great parties nominated their respective candidates for the
Presidency in 1800, the Federalists choosing to vote for John Adams and Charles
Cotesworth Pinckney; the Democrats, Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr. There was a
breach in the Federal party, owing to extended dislike of Adams, and the Democrats
used the Alien and Sedition Laws with powerful effect against him. The Federalists were
defeated. Jefferson and Burr had each seventy-three votes in the electoral college, and,
according to the provisions of the Constitution, the election was carried into the House
of Representatives. There exciting scenes occurred. Two or three members, too sick to
appear otherwise, were brought to the House on beds. For seven days the balloting
went on. After it was ascertained that a Democrat was elected, the Federalists all voted
for Burr, as being less objectionable than Jefferson; but the friends of the latter were
stronger than all opposition, and he was elected. The whole Federal party were
mortified and humiliated by the triumph of Jefferson, their archenemy. He was
inaugurated March 4, 1801. See LOUISIANA ; MAZZEI, PHILIP
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Thomas Jefferson's Motto

Few people have exerted as much influence in
establishing the freedoms we enjoy in the United States
as Thomas Jefferson. He adopted for the motto of his
private seal that of Oliver Cromwell—
"Rebellion to tyrants is obedience

to God."
Thomas Jefferson Quotes

The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time.
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (22 Vols., 1905)
To the Victor Belongs the Spoils

Letter to Monroe Explaining his Strategy for Political Appointments
He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second
and third time, till at length it becomes habitual; he tells lies without attending
to it, and truths without the world's believing him.
1785 Letter to Peter Carr
Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited
without being lost.
Letter to Dr. James Currie (January 28, 1786)
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I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That "all
powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people."
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson "Memorial Edition" (20 Vols., 1903-04)
Delay is preferable to error.

Letter to George Washington, 1792
Thomas Jefferson Inaugural Address

Inaugural Address.—The following is the principal part of the inaugural address of
Thomas Jefferson, delivered on March 4, 1801:
Friends and Fellow - citizens,—Called upon to undertake the duties of the first
executive officer of our country, I avail myself of the presence of that portion of my
fellow-citizens which is here assembled, to express my grateful thanks for the favor with
which they have been pleased to look towards me, to declare a sincere consciousness
that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with those anxious and awful
presentiments which the greatness of the charge and the weakness of my powers so
justly inspire. A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing all the seas
with the rich productions of their industry, engaged in commerce with nations who feel
power and forget right, advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye;
when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the honor, the happiness, and
the hopes of this beloved country committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I
shrink from the contemplation, and humble myself be-fore the magnitude of the
undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair, did not the presence of many whom I see
here remind me that, in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution, I shall
find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which to rely under all difficulties. To
you, then, gentlemen, who are charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and
to those associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guidance and support
which may enable us to steer with safety the vessel in which we are all embarked, amid
the conflicting elements of a troubled world.
During the contest of opinion through which we have passed, the animation of
discussions and of exertions has sometimes worn an aspect which might impose on
strangers unused to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think; but this
being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced according to the rules of the
Constitution, all will of course arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in
common efforts for the common good. All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle,
that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must
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be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal laws must
protect, and to violate which would be oppression. Let us then, fellow-citizens, unite with
one heart and one mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection
without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that,
having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long
bled and suffered, we have yet gained little, if we countenance a political intolerance as
despotic, as wicked, and as capable of bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes
and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man,
seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the
agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this
should be more felt and feared by some, and less by others, and should divide opinions
as to measures of safety; but every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.
We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all
republicans; we are all federalists. If there be any among us who wish to dissolve this
Union, or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of
the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to
combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government
cannot be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But would the honest
patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far
kept us free and firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear that this government, the
world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I
believe this, on the contrary, the strongest government on earth. I believe it is the only
one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and
would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is
said that man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be trusted
with the government of others? Or have we found angels, in the form of kings, to govern
him? Let history answer this question.
Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own federal and republican
principles; our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by
nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too
high-minded to endure the degradation of the others; possessing a chosen country, with
room enough for our descendants to the thousandth generation; entertaining a due
sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisition of our own
industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but
from our actions and their sense of them ; enlightened by a benign religion, professed
indeed and practised in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth,
temperance, gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an overruling
Providence, which, by all its dispensations, proves that it delights in the happiness of
man here, and his greater happiness hereafter; with all these blessings, what more is
necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-
citizens-a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one
another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and
improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is
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the sum of good government; and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow-citizens, upon the exercise of duties which comprehend every-
thing dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the
essential principles of our government, and, consequently, those which ought to shape
its administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear,
stating the general principle, but not all its limitations. Equal and ex-act justice to all
men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political ; peace, commerce, and
honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the
State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our
domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-republican tendencies; the
preservation of the general government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-
anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election
by the people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of
revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovoked; absolute acquiescence in the
decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which there is no appeal
but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined
militia, our best reliance in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may
relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public
expense, that labor may be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts, and
sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce
as its handmaid; the diffusion of information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of
the public reason; freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of person,
under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected. These
principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps
through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages, and blood of
our heroes, have been devoted to their attainment; they should be the creed of our
political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of
those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us
hasten to retrace our steps, and to regain the road which leads alone to peace, liberty,
and safety. . . .
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Thomas Jeffersonian Policy

The Jeffersonian Policy. - Soon after his inauguration, Jefferson indicated his policy
in a letter to Nathaniel Macon, in Congress, as follows: " 1. Levees are done away
with. 2. The first communication to the next Congress will be, like all subsequent
ones, by message, to which no answer will be expected. 3. Diplomatic establishments
in Europe will be reduced to three ministers. 4. The compensation of collectors
depends on you [Congress], and not on me. 5. The army is undergoing a chaste
reformation. 6. The navy will be reduced to the legal establishment by the last of this
month [May, 1801]. 7. Agencies in every department will be revived. 8. We shall push
you to the uttermost in economizing. 9. A very early recommendation has been given
to the Postmaster-General to employ no traitor, foreigner, or Revolutionary Tory in
any of his offices."
Three days after his inauguration he wrote to Monroe: I have firmly refused to follow
the counsels of those who have desired the giving of offices to some of the Federalist
leaders in order to reconcile them. I have given, and will give, only to Republicans
under existing circumstances." The doctrine, " To the victor belong the spoils," which
has been accepted as orthodox in the politics of our republic ever since, was then first
promulgated.
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Chapter 4
Samuel Adams
Adams, SAMUEL, American patriot; was born in Boston on September 27, 1722; he
graduated from Harvard College in 1742, and was honored with the degree of LL.D. in
1792. The tendency of his mind was shown when, at the age of twenty-one, receiving
the degree of A.M., he proposed, and took the affirmative on, the question "Whether it
be lawful to resist the supreme magistrate if the commonwealth cannot otherwise be
preserved?" He published a pamphlet at about the same time entitled Englishmen's
Rights. He became an unsuccessful merchant, but a successful writer; and gained great
popularity by his political essays against the administration of Governor Shirley. Stern in
morals, a born republican, and with courage equal to his convictions, Samuel Adams
was a natural leader of the opposers of the Stamp Act and kindred measures of
Parliament, and from that period (1765) until the independence of the colonies was
achieved he was a foremost leader of the American Patriots. He suggested the Stamp
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Act Congress, and was a continual object of dread and hatred to the colonial governors.
He proposed the first Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts in 1772; and,
when General Gage besought him to make his peace with the King, he replied, " I trust
I have made my peace with the King of kings. No personal considerations shall
induce me to abandon the righteous cause of my country "
In 1774 he was the chief in maturing the plan for a Continental Congress; was a
member of it; and served in that body most efficiently from that time until 1781.
As early as 1769 Mr. Adams advocated the independence of the colonies, and was one
of the warmest supporters of it in the Congress. When debating on the Declaration of
Independence, Adams said: "I should advise persisting in our struggle for liberty
though it were revealed from heaven that 999 were to perish, and one of 1,000
were to survive and retain his liberty. One such freeman must possess more
virtue, and enjoy more happiness, than 1,000 slaves; and let him propagate his
like, and transmit to them what he has so nobly preserved."
Mr. Adams assisted in drafting the State constitution of Massachusetts (1779), was
president of his State Senate (1781), member of his State Convention that ratified the
national Constitution, lieutenant-governor (1789-94), and governor (1794-97). He
sympathized with the French Revolutionists, and was a Jeffersonian Democrat in
politics in his latter days. The purity of his life and his inflexible integrity were attested by
friends and foes. Hutchinson, in a letter to his government, said he was of "such an
obstinate and inflexible disposition that no gift nor office would ever conciliate him." His
piety was sincere, and he was a thoroughbred Puritan. Without fortune, without a
profession, he depended on moderate salaries and emoluments of office; and for almost
fifty years a daily maintenance, frugal in the extreme, was eked out by the industry and
prudence of his second wife, whom he married in 1757. He died in Boston, October 2,
1803.
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Paul Revere's Midnight Ride to Warn

Samuel Adams and John Hancock
Samuel Adams and John Hancock were regarded as
arch-rebels by General Gage, and he resolved to
arrest them and send them to England to be tried for
treason. A key part of his scheme, in sending out the
expedition to Lexington and Concord (April 18-19,
1775), was the seizure of these patriots, who,
members of the Provincial Congress, had tarried at
Lexington on being informed of Gage's intention to
arrest them on their return to Boston. They were at the
house of Rev. Jonas Clarke, and Gage thought to
surprise and capture them at midnight. The vigilant
Warren, learning the secret of the expedition, sent
Paul Revere to warn the patriots of their danger.
Revere waited at Charlestown for a signal-light from
the sexton of the North Church, to warn him of the
forward movement of the troops. It was given, and on
Deacon Larkin's swift horse Revere sped to Lexington.
Paul Revere
At a little past midnight he rode up to Clarke's house, which he found guarded by

Sergeant Monroe and his men. In hurried words he asked for Hancock. "The family
have retired," said the sergeant, " and I am directed not to allow them to be disturbed by
any noise." "Noise!" exclaimed Revere; "you'll have noise enough before long; the
regulars are coming out!" He was then allowed to knock at the door. Mr. Clarke
appeared at a window, when Revere said, "I wish to see Mr. Hancock." "I do not like to
admit strangers into my house so late at night," answered Mr. Clarke. Hancock, who
was not asleep, recognized Revere's voice, and called out, "Come in, Revere, we are
not afraid of you." The warning was given; the whole household was soon astir, and the
two patriots awaited the coming of the enemy. When they approached, the "arch-rebels"
were persuaded to retire to a more secure retreat, followed by Dorothy Quincy, to whom
Hancock was affianced (and whom he married in September following), who was on a
visit at Mr. Clarke's. When Adams, from a wooded hill near Clarke's house, saw the
beginning of the skirmish at Lexington, he exclaimed, with prophetic prescience, " What
a glorious morning for America is this!"
In a proclamation (June 12) in which he denounced those in arms and their abettors to
be "rebels and parricides of the Constitution," and offered a free pardon to all who
should forthwith return to their allegiance, General Gage excepted Adams and Hancock,
who were outlawed, and for whom he offered a reward as " arch-traitors." Immediately
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after the " Boston Massacre" a monster meeting of citizens of Boston was held in the
Old South Meeting-house, and appointed a committee, consisting of Samuel Adams,
John Hancock, William Molineaux, William Phillips, Joseph Warren, Joshua Henshaw,
and Samuel Pemberton, to call on Lieutenant-Governor Hutchinson and demand the
removal of the British troops from Boston, by presenting resolutions to that effect
adopted by the meeting. Adams submitted the resolutions. The lieutenant-governor and
Colonel Dalrymple were disposed to temporize. Hutchinson said he had no power to
remove all the troops. Adams proved that he had, by the terms of the charter. Still the
crown officers hesitated. Adams resolved that there should be no more trifling with the
will of the people. Stretching forth his hand towards Hutchinson, and in a voice not loud
but clear, he said: " If you have power to remove one regiment, you have power to
remove both. It is at your peril if you do not. The meeting is composed of 3,000 people.
They are become very impatient. A thousand men are already arrived from the
neighborhood, and the country is in general motion. Night is approaching; an immediate
answer is expected." This was the voice of the province—of the continent. Hutchinson
grew pale; his knees trembled; and Adams afterwards said, " I enjoyed the sight." After
conferring together in a whisper. Hutchinson and Dalrymple promised to send all the
troops to Castle William, in Boston Harbor.
Samuel Adams Refuses to be Bribed
Mr. Adams was early marked as an inflexible patriot and most earnest promoter of the
cause of freedom. When Governor Gage sought to bribe him to desist from his
opposition to the acts of Parliament concerning taxation in America, he sent Colonel
Fenton on this errand. The latter said to Adams that he was authorized by Gage to
assure him that he (the governor) had been empowered to confer upon him such
benefits as would be satisfactory, upon the condition that he would engage to cease his
opposition to the measures of government. He also observed that it was the advice of
Governor Gage to him not to incur the further displeasure of his Majesty; that his
conduct had been such as made him liable to the penalties of the Act of Henry VIII., by
which persons could be sent to England for trial for treason, at the discretion of the
governor of a province; but by changing his political course he would not only receive
great personal advantages, but would thereby make his peace with his King. Adams
listened attentively, and at the conclusion of the colonel's remarks he asked him if he
would deliver a reply exactly as it should be given. He assented, when Adams, rising
from his chair and assuming a determined manner, said, after repeating the historical
words already quoted, "No personal consideration shall induce me to abandon the
righteous cause of my country. Tell Governor Gage it is the advice of Samuel Adams to
him no longer to insult the feelings of an exasperated people."
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Samuel Adam's Protest against Taxation.

—On May 24, 1764, Samuel Adams addressed the following protest to Royal Tyler,
James Otis, Thomas Cushing, and Oxenbridge Thacher:
Gentlemen,—Your being chosen by the freeholders and inhabitants of the town of
Boston to represent them in the General Assembly the ensuing year affords you the
strongest testimony of that confidence which they place in your integrity and capacity.
By this choice they have delegated to you the power of acting in their public concerns in
general as your own prudence shall direct you, always reserving to themselves the
constitutional right of expressing their mind and giving you such instructions upon
particular matters as they at any time shall judge proper.
We therefore, your constituents, take this opportunity to declare our just expectations
from you, that you will constantly use your power and influence in maintaining the
valuable rights and privileges of the province, of which this town is so great a part, as
well those rights which are derived to us by the royal charter as those which, being prior
to and independent of it, we hold essentially as free-born subjects of Great Britain.
That you will endeavor, as far as you shall be able, to preserve that independence in the
House of Representatives which characterizes a free people, and the want of which
may in a great measure prevent the happy efforts of a free government, cultivating as
you shall have opportunity that harmony and union there which is ever desirable to good
men, which is founded on principles of virtue and public spirit, and guarding against any
undue weight which may tend to disadjust that critical balance upon which our
Constitution and the blessings of it do depend. And for this purpose we particularly
recommend it to you to use your endeavors to have a law passed whereby the seats of
such gentlemen as shall accept of posts of profit from the crown or the governor, while
they are members of the House, shall be vacated agreeably to an act of the British
Parliament, till their constituents shall have the opportunity of re-electing them, if they
please, or of returning others in their room.
Being members of the legislative body, you will have a special regard to the morals of
this people, which are the basis of public happiness, and endeavor to have such laws
made, if any are still wanting, as shall be best adapted to secure them ; and we
particularly desire you carefully to look into the laws of excise, that if the virtue of the
people is endangered by the multiplicity of oaths therein enjoined, or their trade and
business is unreasonably impeded or embarrassed thereby, the grievance may be
redressed.
As the preservation of morals, as well as of property and right, so much depends upon
the impartial distribution of justice, agreeable to good and wholesome law; and as the
judges of the land do depend upon the free grants of the General Assembly for support,
it is incumbent upon you at all times to give your voice for their honorable maintenance,
so long as they, having in their minds an indifference to all other affairs, shall devote
themselves wholly to the duties of their own department and the further study of the law,
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by which their customs, precedents, proceedings, and determinations are adjusted and
limited.
You will remember that this province hath been at a very great expense in carrying on
the war, and that it still lies under a very grievous burden of debt; you will therefore use
your utmost endeavor to promote public frugality as one means to lessen the public
debt.
You will join in any proposals which may be made for the better cultivating the lands and
improving the husbandry of the province; and as you represent a town which lives by its
trade, we expect in a very particular manner, though you make it the object of your
attention to support our commerce in all its just rights, to vindicate it from all
unreasonable impositions and promote its prosperity. Our trade has for a long time
labored under great discouragements, and it is with the deepest concern that we see
such further difficulties coming upon it as will reduce it to the low ebb, if not totally
obstruct and ruin it. We cannot help expressing our surprise that when so early notice
was given by the agent of the intentions of the ministry to burden us with new taxes, so
little regard was had to this most interesting matter that the Court was not even called
together to consult about it till the latter end of the year; the consequence of which was
that instructions could not be sent to the agent, though solicited by him, till the evil had
gone beyond an easy remedy.
There is no room for further delay; we therefore expect that you will use your earliest
endeavors in the General Assembly that such methods may be taken as will effectually
prevent these proceedings against us. By a proper representation we apprehend it may
easily be made to appear that such severities will prove detrimental to Great Britain
itself; upon which account we have reason to hope that an application, even for a repeal
of the act, should it be already passed, will be successful. It is the trade of the colonies
that renders them beneficial to the mother country; our trade, as it is now and always
has been conducted, centers in Great Britain, and, in return for her manufactures,
affords her more ready cash beyond any comparison than can possibly be expected by
the most sanguinary promoter of these extraordinary methods. We are, in short,
ultimately yielding large supplies to the revenues of the mother country, while we are
laboring for a very moderate subsistence for ourselves. But if our trade is to be curtailed
in its most profitable branches, and burdens beyond all possible bearing laid upon that
which is suffered to remain, we shall be so far from being able to take off the
manufactures of Great Britain, though it will be scarce possible for us to earn our bread.
But what still heightens our apprehensions is that these unexpected proceedings may
be preparatory to new taxations upon us; for if our trade may be taxed, why not our
lands? Why not the produce of our lands and everything we possess or make use of?
This we apprehend annihilates our charter right to govern and tax ourselves. It strikes at
our British privileges, which, as we have never forfeited them, we hold in common with
our fellow-subjects who are natives of Britain. If taxes are laid upon us in any shape
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without our having a legal representation where they are laid, are we not reduced from
the character of free subjects to the miserable state of tributary slaves?
We therefore earnestly recommend it to you to use your utmost endeavors to obtain in
the General Assembly all necessary instruction and advice to our agent at this critical
juncture; that while he is setting forth the unshaken loyalty of this province and this
town—its unrivalled exertion in supporting his Majesty's government and rights in this
part of his dominions—its acknowledged dependence upon and subordination to Great
Britain, and the ready submission of its merchants to all just and necessary regulations
of trade, he may be able in the most humble and pressing manner to remonstrate for us
all those rights and privileges which justly belong to us either by charter or birth.
As his Majesty's other Northern American colonies are embarked with us in this most
important bottom, we further desire you to use your endeavors that their weight may be
added to that of this province, that by the united application of all who are aggrieved, all
may happily obtain redress.
Samuel Adam's on the Rights of Colonists

Rights of the Colonists.—On Nov. 20, 1772, he made the following report:
AS MEN.
Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First, a right to life. Second, to
liberty. Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the
best manner they can. These are evident branches of, rather than deductions from, the
duty of self-preservation, commonly called the first law of nature.
All men have a right to remain in a state of nature as long as they please, and
in case of intolerable oppression, civil or religious, to leave the society they belong to
and enter into another.
When men enter into society it is by voluntary consent, and they have a right to demand
and insist upon the performance of such conditions and previous limitations as form an
equitable original compact.
Every natural right not expressly given up, or from the nature of a social compact
necessarily ceded, remains.
All positive and civil laws should conform, as far as possible, to the law of natural
reason and equity.
As neither reason requires nor religion permits the contrary, every man living in or out of
a state of civil society has a right peaceably and quietly to worship God according to the
dictates of his conscience.
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"Just and true liberty, equal and impartial liberty," in matters spiritual and temporal is a
thing that all men are clearly entitled to by the eternal and immutable laws of God and
nature, as well as by the laws of nations and all well-grounded and municipal laws,
which must have their foundation in the former.
In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all
good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and
example inculcated on mankind. It is now generally agreed among Christians that this
spirit of toleration, in the fullest extent consistent with the being of civil society, is the
chief characteristically mark of the true Church. In so much that Mr. Locke has asserted
and proved, beyond the possibility of contradiction on any solid ground, that such
toleration ought to be extended to all whose doctrines are not subversive of society. The
only sects which he thinks ought to be, and which by all wise laws are, excluded from
such toleration are those who teach doctrines subversive of the civil government under
which they live. The Roman Catholics, or Papists, are excluded by reason of such
doctrines as these: That princes excommunicated may be deposed, and those that they
call heretics may be destroyed without mercy; besides their recognizing the Pope in so
absolute a manner, in subversion on government, by introducing, as far as possible into
the states under whose protection they enjoy life, liberty, and property, that solecism in
politics, imperium in imperio, leading directly to the worst anarchy and confusion, civil
discord, war, and bloodshed.
The natural liberty of man by entering into society is abridged or restrained, so far only
as is necessary for the great end of society—the best good of the whole.
In the state of nature every man is, under God, judge and sole judge of his own rights
and of the injuries done him. By entering into society he agrees to an arbiter or
indifferent judge between him and his neighbors; but he no more renounces his original
right, thereby taking a cause out of the ordinary course of law, and leaving the decision
to referees or in-different arbitrators. In the last case, he must pay the referee for time
and trouble. He should also be willing to pay his just quota for the support of the
government, the law, and the Constitution, the end of which is to furnish indifferent and
impartial judges in all cases that may happen, whether civil, ecclesiastical, marine, or
military.
The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be
under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his
rule.
In the state of nature men may, as the patriarchs did, employ hired servants for the
defense of their lives, liberties, and property, and they shall pay them reasonable
wages. Government was instituted for the purpose of common defense, and those who
hold the reins of government have an equitable, natural right to an honorable support
from the same principle that "the laborer is worthy of his hire." But then the same
community which they serve ought to be the assessors of their pay. Governors have a
right to seek and take what they please; by this, instead of being content with the station
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assigned them, that of honorable servants of the society, they would soon become
absolute masters, despots, and tyrants. Hence, as a private man has a right to say what
wages he will give in his private affairs, so has a community to determine what they will
give and grant of their substance for the administration of public affairs.
And in both cases more are ready to offer their service at the proposed and stipulated
price than are able and willing to perform their duty.
In short, it is the greatest absurdity to suppose it in the power of one, or of any number
of men, at the entering into society to renounce their essential natural rights, or the
means of preserving those rights, when the grand end of civil government, from the very
nature of its institution, is for the support, protection, and defense of those very rights;
the principal of which, as is before observed, are life, liberty, and property. If men,
through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any essential
natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely
vacate such renunciation. The right of freedom being the gift of God Almighty, it is not in
the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.
AS CHRISTIANS.
These may be best understood by reading and carefully studying the institutes of the
great Law-giver and head of the Christian Church, which are to be found clearly written
and promulgated in the New Testament.
By an act of the British Parliament commonly called the Toleration Act, every subject in
England, except Papists, etc., were restored to, and re-established in, his natural right
to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. And by the charter of
this province it is granted, ordained, and established (that is, declared as an original
right) that there shall be liberty of conscience allowed in the worship of God to all
Christians, except Papists, inhabiting, or which shall inhabit or be resident within, such
province or territory. Magna Charta itself is in substance but a constrained declaration
or proclamation and promulgation in the name of King, Lords, and Commons, of the
sense the latter had their original, inherent, indefeasible, natural rights, as also those of
free citizens equally perdurable with the other. That great author, that great jurist, and
even that court writer, Mr. Justice Blackstone, holds that this recognition was justly
obtained of King John, sword in hand. And peradventure it must be one day, sword in
hand, again rescued and preserved from total destruction and oblivion.
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AS SUBJECTS.
A commonwealth or state is a body politic, or civil society of men united together to
promote their mutual safety and prosperity by means of their union.
The absolute right of Englishmen and all freemen, in or out of civil society, are
principally personal security, personal liberty, and private property.
All persons born in the British American Colonies are by the laws of God and nature,
and by the common law of England, exclusive of all charters from the Crown, well
entitled, and by acts of the British Parliament are declared to be entitled, to all the
natural, essential, inherent, and inseparable rights, liberties, and privileges of subjects
born in Great Britain or within the realm. Among these rights are the following, which no
man, or body of men, consistently with their own rights as men and citizens, or
members of society, can for themselves give up or take away from others:
First. The first fundamental positive law of all commonwealths or states is the
establishing the legislative power. As the first fundamental natural law, also, which is to
govern even the legislative power itself is the preservation of the society.
Secondly. The legislative has no right to absolute arbitrary power over the lives and
fortunes of the people; nor can mortals assume a prerogative not only too high for men,
but for angels, and there-fore reserved for the Deity alone.
The legislative cannot justly assume to itself a power to rule by extempore arbitrary
decrees; but it is bound to see that justice is dispensed, and that the rights of the
subjects be decided by promulgated standing, and known laws, and authorized
independent judges; that is, independent. as far as possible, of prince and people.
There should be one rule of justice for rich and poor, for the favorite at court, and the
countryman at the plough.
Thirdly. The supreme power cannot justly take from any man any part of his property
without his consent in person or by his representative.
These are some of the first principles of natural law and justice, and the great barriers of
all free states, and of the British constitution in particular. It is utterly irreconcilable to
these principles, and to any other fundamental maxims of the common law, common-
sense, and reason, that a British House of Commons should have a right at pleasure to
give and grant the property of the colonists. (That the colonists are well entitled to all the
essential rights, liberties, and privileges of men and freemen born in Britain is manifest
not only from the colony charters in general, but acts of the British Parliament.) The
statute of the 13th of Geo. H., c. 7, naturalizes every foreigner after seven years'
residence. The words of the Massachusetts charter are these: " And further, our will and
pleasure is, and we do hereby, for us, our heirs and successors, grant, establish, and
ordain that all and every of the subjects of us, our heirs and successors, which shall go
to and inhabit within our said Province or Territory, and every of their children which
shall happen to be born there or on the seas in going thither or returning from thence,
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shall have and enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects within any
of the dominions of us, our heirs and successors, to all intents, constructions, and
purposes whatsoever, as if they and every one of them were born within this, our realm
of England."
Now what liberty can there be where property is taken away without consent? Can it be
said with any color of truth and justice that this continent of 3,000 miles in length, and of
a breadth as yet unexplored, in which, however, it is supposed there are 5,000,000 of
people, has the least voice, vote, or influence in the British Parliament? Have they
altogether any more weight or power to return a single member to that House of
Commons who have not inadvertently, but deliberately, assumed a power to dispose of
their lives, liberties, and properties, than to choose an emperor of China? Had the
colonists a right to return members to the British Parliament, it would only be hurtful, as,
from their local situation and circumstances it is impossible they should ever be truly
and properly represented there. The inhabitants of this country, in all probability, in a
few years, will be more numerous than those of Great Britain and Ireland together; yet it
is absurdly expected by the promoters of the present measure that these, with their
posterity to all generations, should be easy while their property shall be disposed of by a
House of Commons at 3,000 miles distant from them, and who cannot be supposed to
have the least care or concern for their real interest, but must be in effect bribed against
it, as every burden they lay on the colonists is so much saved or gained to themselves.
Hitherto many of the colonists have been free from quit rents; but if the breath of a
British House of Commons can originate an act for taking away all our money, our lands
will go next, or be subject to rack rents from haughty and relentless landlords, who will
ride at ease while we are trodden in the dirt. The colonists have been branded with the
odious names of traitors and rebels only for complaining of their grievances. How long
such treatment will or ought to be borne is submitted.
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Chapter 5
Benjamin Franklin
Franklin, BENJAMIN, statesman; born in Boston, Jan. 17, 1706. His father was from
England; his mother was a daughter of Peter Folger, the Quaker poet of Nantucket. He
learned the art of printing with his brother; but due to disagreements, Benjamin left
Boston when seventeen years of age, sought employment in New York. Not succeeding
there, he went to Philadelphia. He
soon attracted the attention of
Governor Keith as a very bright lad,
who, making him a promise of the
government printing, induced young
Franklin, at the age of eighteen, to
go to England and purchase
printing material. He was deceived,
and remained there eighteen
months, working as a journeyman
printer in London. He returned to
Philadelphia late in 1726, and in
1729 established himself there as a
printer. He started the Pennsylvania
Gazette, and married Deborah
Read, a young woman whose
husband had absconded. For many
years he published an almanac
under the assumed name of
Richard Saunders. It became
widely known as Poor Richard's
Almanac, as it contained many wise
and useful maxims, mostly from the
ancients. Franklin was soon marked
as a wise, prudent, and sagacious
man, full of well-directed public
spirit. He was the chief founder of the Philadelphia Library in 1731. He became clerk of
the Provincial Assembly in 1736, and postmaster of Philadelphia the next year. He was
the founder of the University of Pennsylvania and the Philosophical Society of
Philadelphia in 1744, and was elected a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1750. In
1753 he was appointed deputy postmaster for the English-American colonies; and in
1754 he was a delegate to the Colonial Congress of Albany, in which he prepared a
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plan of union for the colonies, which was the basis of the Articles of Confederation
adopted by Congress more than twenty years afterwards.
Benjamin Franklin's Electrical Experiments with the Kite
Franklin had begun his investigations and experiments in electricity, by which he

demonstrated its identity with lightning as early as 1746. The publication of his account
of these experiments procured for him membership in the Royal Society, the Copley
gold medal, and the degree of LL.D. from Oxford and Edinburgh in 1762. Harvard and
Yale colleges had previously conferred upon him the decree of Master of Arts. Franklin
was for many years a member of the Assembly and advocated the rights of the people
in opposition to the claims of the proprietaries; and in 1764 he was sent to England as
agent of the colonial legislature, in which capacity he afterwards acted for several other
colonies. His representation to the British ministry, in 1765-66, of the temper of the
Americans on the subject of taxation by Parliament did much in effecting the repeal of
the Stamp Act. He tried to avert the calamity of a rupture between Great Britain and her
colonies; but, failing in this, he returned to America in 1775, after which he was
constantly employed at home and abroad in the service of his countrymen struggling for
political independence.
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In Congress, he advocated, helped to prepare

and signed the Declaration of Independence;
and in the fall of 1776 he was sent as
ambassador to France, as the colleague of Silas
Deane and Arthur Lee. To him was chiefly due
the successful negotiation of the treaty of
alliance with France, and he continued to
represent his country there until 1785, when he
returned home. While he was in France, and
residing at Passy in 1777, a medallion likeness
of him was made in the red clay of that region.
He took an important part in the negotiation of
the treaties of peace. In 1786 he was elected
governor of Pennsylvania, and served one term;
and he was a leading member in the convention,
in 1787, that framed the national Constitution.
His last public act was the signing of a memorial
to Congress on the subject of slavery by the
Abolition Society of Pennsylvania, of which he
was the founder and president. Dr. Franklin
performed extraordinary labors of usefulness for
his fellow-men. In addition to scientific and
literary institutions, he was the founder of the
first fire-company in Philadelphia in 1738; organized a volunteer military association for
the defense of the province in 1744; and was colonel of a regiment, and built forts for
the defense of the frontiers in 1755. He was the inventor of the FRANKLIN STOVE,
which in modified forms is still in use. He was also the inventor of the lightning-rod.
Franklin left two children, a son, William, and a daughter. He died in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, April 17, 1790.
Benjamin Franklin Sent to England
In 1752 the Pennsylvania, Assembly, yielding to the urgency of public affairs in the
midst of war, voted a levy of $500,000 without insisting upon their claim to tax the
proprietary estates. They protested that they did it through compulsion; and they sent
Franklin to England as their agent to urge their complaint against the proprietaries. This
was his first mission abroad. At the beginning of the French and Indian War (1754) the
colonists, as well as the royal governors, saw the necessity of a colonial union in order
to present a solid front of British subjects to the French. Dr. Franklin labored earnestly
to this end, and in 1755 he went to Boston to confer with Governor Shirley on the
subject. At the governor's house they discussed the subject long and earnestly. Shirley
was favorable to union, but he desired it to be effected by the fiat of the British
government and by the spontaneous act of the colonists. Franklin, on the contrary,
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animated by a love of popular liberty, would not consent to that method of forming a
colonial union. He knew the true source of power was lodged with the people, and that a
good government should be formed by the people for the people; and he left Shirley in
disappointment. Shirley not only condemned the idea of a popular colonial government,
but assured Franklin that he should immediately propose a plan of union to the ministry
and Parliament, and also a tax on the colonies.
In February, 1766, Dr. Franklin was examined before the House of Commons relative to
the STAMP ACT. At that examination he fairly illustrated the spirit which animated the
colonies. When asked, " Do you think the people of America would submit to the stamp
duty if it were moderated?" he answered, " No, never, unless compelled by force of
arms." To the question," What was the temper of America towards Great Britain before
the year 1763?" he replied, " The best in the world. They submitted willingly to the
government of the crown, and paid, in their courts, obedience to the acts of Parliament.
Numerous as the people are in the old provinces, they cost you nothing, in forts,
citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them in subjection. They were governed by this
country at the expense only of a little pen, ink, and paper; they were led by a thread.
They had not only a respect but an affection for Great Britain, for its laws, its customs,
and manners, and even a fondness for its fashions that greatly increased the
commerce. Natives of Britain were always treated with peculiar regard. To be an 'Old
England man' was of itself a character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among
us." It was asked, " What is their
temper now?" and Franklin replied, "
Oh, very much altered." He declared
that all laws of Parliament had been
held valid by the Americans,
excepting such as laid internal taxes;
and that its authority was never
disputed in levying duties to regulate
commerce. When asked, "Can you
name any act of Assembly or public
act of your government that made
such distinction?" Franklin replied, " I
do not know that there was any; I
think there never was occasion to
make such an act till now that you
have attempted to tax us; that has
occasioned acts of Assembly
declaring the distinction, on which, I
think, every Assembly on the
continent, and every member of
every Assembly, have been unanimous." This examination was one of the causes which
led to a speedy repeal of the Stamp Act.
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Late in 1773 Dr. Franklin presented to Lord Dartmouth, to be laid before the King, a
petition from Massachusetts for the removal of Governor Hutchinson and Chief - Justice
Oliver from office. They were charged with conspiracy against the colony, as appeared
by certain letters which had been published. A rumor found utterance in the newspapers
that the letters had been dishonestly obtained through John Temple, who had been
permitted to examine the papers of the deceased Mr. Whately, to whom the letters were
addressed. That permission had been given by William Whately, brother and executor
of the deceased. Whately never made a suggestion that Temple had taken the letters
away, but he published such an evasive card that it seemed not to relieve Temple from
the implication. The latter challenged Whately to mortal combat. They fought, but were
unhurt. Another duel was likely to ensue, when Dr. Franklin, to prevent bloodshed,
publicly said: " I alone am the person who obtained and transmitted to Boston the letters
in question." This frank and courageous avowal drew upon him the wrath of the ministry.
He was summoned before the privy council (Jan. 8, 1774) to consider the petition. He
appeared with counsel. A crowd was present—not less than thirty-five peers.
Wedderburn, the solicitor-general (of whom the King said, at his death, " He has not left
a greater knave behind him in my kingdom "), abused Franklin most shamefully with
unjust and coarse invectives, while not an emotion was manifested in the face of the
abused statesman. The ill-bred lords of that day seconded Wedderburn's abuse by
derisive laughter, instead of treating Franklin with decency. At the end of the solicitor's
ribald speech the petition was dismissed as "groundless, scandalous, and vexatious." " I
have never been so sensible of the power of a good conscience," Franklin said to Dr.
Priestley, with whom he breakfasted the next morning. When he went home from the
council he laid aside the suit of clothes he wore, making a vow that he would never put
them on again until he should sign the degradation of England by a dismemberment of
the British Empire and the independence of America. He kept his word, and, as
commissioner for negotiating peace almost ten years afterwards, he performed the act
that permitted him to wear the garments again.
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Benjamin Franklin standing before the Lords in Council in Whitehall Chapel, London in 1774,
presenting the concerns of the American colonists
Franklin, in England in 1774, was a perfect enigma to the British ministry. They were
perplexed with doubts of the intentions of the defiant colonists. They believed Franklin
possessed the coveted secret, and tried in vain to draw it from him. He was an expert
chess-player, and well known as such. Lord Howe (afterwards admiral on our coast)
was intimate with leading ministers. His sister-in-law, Mrs. Howe, was also an expert
chess-player, and an adroit diplomatist. She sent Franklin an invitation to her house to
play chess, with the hope that in the freedom of social conversation she might obtain
the secret. He went; was charmed with the lady's mind and manners ; played a few
games; and accepted an invitation to repeat the visit and the amusement. On his
second visit, after playing a short time, they entered into conversation, when Mrs. Howe
put questions adroitly to the sage, calculated to elicit the information she desired. He
answered without reserve and with apparent frankness. He was introduced to her
brother, Lord Howe, and talked freely with him on the subject of the great dispute; but,
having early perceived the designs of the diplomatists, his usual caution had never
allowed him to betray a single secret worth preserving. At the end of several interviews,
enlivened by chess-playing, his questioners were no wiser than at the beginning.
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While the Continental Congress was in session in the fall of 1774, much anxiety was felt
in political circles in England concerning the result. The ministry, in particular, were
anxious to know, and Franklin was solicited by persons high in authority to promulgate
the extent of the demands of his countrymen. So urgent were these requests that,
without waiting to receive a record of the proceedings of the Congress, he prepared a
paper entitled Hints for Conversation upon the Subject of Terms that may probably
produce a durable Union between Britain and the Colonies, in seventeen propositions.
The substance of the whole was that the colonies should be reinstated in the position
which they held, in relation to the imperial government, before the obnoxious acts then
complained of became laws, by a repeal, and by a destruction of the whole brood of
enactments in reference to America hatched since the accession of George III. In a
word, he proposed that English subjects in America should enjoy all the essential rights
and privileges claimed as the birthright of subjects in England. Nothing came of the
Hints.
After the attack by Wedderburne when before the privy council, and his dismissal from
the office of postmaster-general for the colonies, Franklin was subjected to the danger
of arrest, and possibly a trial, for treason; for the ministry, angry because he had
exposed Hutchinson's letters, made serious threats. Conscious of rectitude, he neither
left England then nor swerved a line from his course of duty. When, in February, 1776,
Lord North endeavored to find out from him what the Americans wanted, "We desire
nothing," said Franklin, " but what is necessary to our security and well-being." After
stating that some of the obnoxious acts would probably be repealed, Lord North said the
Massachusetts acts must be continued, both "as real amendments" of the constitution
of that province, and " as a standing example of the power of Parliament." Franklin
replied: "While Parliament claims the right of altering American constitutions at pleasure,
there can be no agreement, for we are rendered unsafe in every privilege." North
answered: "An agreement is necessary for America; it is so easy for Britain to burn all
your seaport towns." Franklin coolly answered: " My little property consists in houses in
those towns; you may make bonfires of them whenever you please; the fear of losing
them will never alter my resolution to resist to the last the claim of Parliament."
Mr. Strahan, of London, had been a sort of go-between through whom Dr. Franklin had
communicated with Lord North. On July 5, 1776, Franklin wrote to him: " You are a
member of Parliament, and one of that majority which has doomed my country to
destruction. You have begun to burn our towns and murder our people. Look upon your
hands; they are stained with the blood of your relations! You and I were long friends;
you are now my enemy, and I am yours.-B. FRANKLIN."
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Benjamin Franklin's Reception in France
Late in the autumn of 1776 Dr. Franklin was sent as a diplomatic agent to France in the
ship Reprisal. The passage occupied thirty days, during which that vessel had been
chased by British cruisers and had taken two British brigantines as prizes. He landed at
Nantes on Dec. 7. Europe was surprised, for no notice had been given of his coming.
His fame was world-wide. The courts were filled with conjectures. The story was spread
in England that he was a fugitive for safety. Burke said, " I never will believe that he is
going to conclude a long life, which has brightened every hour it has continued, with so
foul and dishonorable a flight." On the Continent it was rightly concluded that he was on
an important mission. To the French people he spoke frankly, saying that twenty
successful campaigns could not subdue the Americans; that their decision for
independence was irrevocable; and that they would be forever independent States. On
the morning of December 28, Franklin, with the other commissioners (Silas Deane and
Arthur Lee), waited upon Vergennes, the French minister for foreign affairs, when he
presented the plan of Congress for a treaty. Vergennes spoke of the attachment of the
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French nation to the American cause; requested a paper from Franklin on the condition
of America; and that, in future, intercourse with the sage might be in secret, without the
intervention of a third person. Personal friendship between these two distinguished men
became strong and abiding. He told Franklin that as Spain and France were in perfect
accord he might communicate freely with the Spanish minister, the Count de Aranda.
With him the commissioners held secret but barren interviews as Aranda would only
promise the freedom of Spanish ports to American vessels.
Benjamin Franklin Traveling to France
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Vindication of the Colonies.
-On June, 15, 1775, Franklin issued the following address to the public:
Forasmuch as the enemies of America in the Parliament of Great Britain, to render us

odious to the nation, and give an ill impression of us in the minds of other European
powers, having represented us as unjust and ungrateful in the highest degree;
asserting, on every occasion, that the colonies were settled at the expense of Britain;
that they were, at the expense of the same, protected in their infancy; that they now
ungratefully and unjustly refuse to contribute to their own protection, and the common
defense of the nation; that they intend an abolition of the navigation acts; and that they
are fraudulent in their commercial dealings, and propose to cheat their creditors in
Britain, by avoiding the payment of their just debts; And as by frequent repetitions these
groundless assertions and malicious calumnies may, if not contradicted and refuted,
obtain further credit, and be injurious throughout Europe to the reputation and interest of
the Confederate colonies, it seems proper and necessary to examine them in our own
just vindication.
With regard to the first, that the colonies were settled at the expense of Britain, it is a
known fact that none of the twelve united colonies were settled, or even discovered, at
the expense of England. Henry VII., indeed, granted a commission to Sebastian Cabot,
a Venetian, and his sons to sail into western seas for the discovery of new countries;
but it was to be "suis corum propriis sumptibus et expensis," at their own cost and
charges. They discovered, but soon slighted and neglected these northern territories;
which were, after more than a hundred years' dereliction, purchased of the natives, and
settled at the charge and by the labor of private men and bodies of men, our ancestors,
who came over hither for that purpose. But our adversaries have never been able to
produce any record that ever the Parliament or government of England was at the
smallest expense on these ac-counts; on the contrary, there exists on the journals of
Parliament a solemn declaration in 1642 (only twenty-two years after the first settlement
of the Massachusetts colony, when, if such expense had ever been incurred, some of
the members must have known and remembered it), " that these colonies had been
planted and established without any expense to the state."
New York is the only colony in the founding of which England can pretend to have been
at any expense, and that was only the charge of a small armament to take it from the
Dutch, who planted it. But to retain this colony at the peace, another at that time fully as
valuable, planted by private countrymen of ours, was given up by the crown to the
Dutch in exchange-viz., Surinam, now a wealthy sugar colony in Guiana, and which, but
for that cession, might still have remained in our possession. Of late, indeed, Britain has
been at some expense in planting two colonies, Georgia and Nova Scotia, but those are
not in our confederacy; and the expense she has been at in their name has chiefly been
in grants of sums unnecessarily large, by way of salaries to officers sent from England,
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and in jobs to friends, whereby dependants might be provided for; those excessive
grants not being requisite to the welfare and good government of the colonies, which
good government (as experience in many instances of other colonies has taught us)
may be much more frugally, and full as effectually, provided for and supported.
With regard to the second assertion, that these colonies were protected in their infant
state by England, it is a notorious fact, that, in none of the many wars with the Indian
natives, sustained by our infant settlements for a century after our arrival, were ever any
troops or forces of any kind sent from England to assist us; nor were any forts built at
her expense, to secure our seaports from foreign invaders; nor any ships of war sent to
protect our trade till many years after our first settlement, when our commerce became
an object of revenue, or of advantage to British merchants; and then it was thought
necessary to have a frigate in some of our ports, during peace, to give weight to the
authority of custom-house officers, who were to restrain that commerce for the benefit of
England. Our own arms, with our poverty, and the care of a kind Providence, were all
this time our only protection; while we were neglected by the English government; which
either thought us not worth its care, or, having no good will to some of us, on account of
our different sentiments in religion and politics, was indifferent what became of us.
On the other hand, the colonies have not

been wanting to do what they could in
every war for annoying the enemies of
Britain. They formerly assisted her in the
conquest of Nova Scotia. In the war before
last they took Louisburg, and put it into her
hands. She made her peace with that
strong fortress by restoring it to France,
greatly to their detriment. In the last war, it
is true, Britain sent a fleet and army, who
acted with an equal army of ours, in the
reduction of Canada, and perhaps thereby
did more for us, than we in our preceding
wars had done for her. Let it be
remembered, however, that she rejected
the plan we formed in the Congress at
Albany, in 1754, for our own defense, by a
union of the colonies; a union she was
jealous of, and therefore chose to send her
own forces; otherwise her aid to protect us
was not wanted. And from our first
settlement to that time, her military
operations in our favor were small, compared with the advantages she drew from her
exclusive commerce with us. We are, however, willing to give full weight to this
obligation ; and, as we are daily growing stronger, and our assistance to her becomes of
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more importance, we should with pleasure embrace the first opportunity of showing our
gratitude by returning the favor in kind.
But, when Britain values herself as affording us protection, we desire it may be

considered that we have followed her in all her wars, and joined with her at our own
expense against all she thought fit to quarrel with. This she has required of us; and
would never permit us to keep peace with any power she declared her enemy; though
by separate treaties we might have done it. Under such circumstances, when at her
instance we made nations our enemies, we submit it to the common-sense of mankind,
whether her protection of us in those wars was not our just due, and to be claimed of
right, instead of being received as a favor? And whether, when all the parts exert
themselves to do the utmost in their common defense, and in annoying the common
enemy, it is not as well the parts that protect the whole, as the whole that protects the
parts? The protection then has been proportionately mutual. And whenever the time
shall come that our abilities may as far exceed hers as hers have exceeded ours, we
hope we shall be reason-able enough to rest satisfied with her proportion able
exertions, and not think we do too much for a part of the empire, when that part does as
much as it can for the whole.
To charge against us that we refuse to contribute to our own protection, appears from
the above to be groundless; but we further declare it to be absolutely false; for it is well
known, that 'we ever held it as our duty to grant aids to the crown, upon requisition,
towards carrying on its wars; which duty we have cheerfully complied with, to the utmost
of our abilities, insomuch that prudent and grateful acknowledgments thereof by King
and Parliament appear on the records. But, as Britain has enjoyed a most gainful
monopoly of our commerce; the same, with our maintaining the dignity of the King's
representative in each colony, and all our own separate establishments of government,
civil and military; has ever hitherto been deemed an equivalent for such aids as might
otherwise be expected from us in time of peace. And we hereby declare that on a
reconciliation with Britain, we shall not only continue to grant aids in time of war, as
aforesaid; but whenever she shall think fit to abolish her monopoly, and give us the
same privileges of trade as Scotland received at the union, and allow us a free
commerce with the rest of the world; we shall willingly agree (and we doubt not it will be
ratified by our constituents) to give and pay into the sinking fund £100,000 sterling per
annum for the term of 100 years, which duly, faithfully, and inviolably applied to that
purpose, is demonstrably more than sufficient to extinguish all her present national debt;
since it will in that time amount, at legal British interest, to more than £230,000,000.
But if Britain does not think fit to accept this proposition, we, in order to remove her
groundless jealousies, that we aim at independence and an abolition of the navigation
act (which hath in truth never been our intention), and to avoid all future disputes about
the right of making that and other acts for regulating our commerce, do hereby declare
ourselves ready and willing to enter into a covenant with Britain, that she shall fully
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possess, enjoy, and exercise the right, for 100 years to come; the same being bona fide
used for the common benefit; and, in case of such agreement, that every Assembly be
advised by us to confirm it solemnly by laws of their own, which, once made, cannot be
repealed without the assent of the crown.
The last charge, that we are dishonest traders, and aim at defrauding our credit-ors in
Britain, is sufficiently and authentically refuted by the solemn declarations of the British
merchants to Parliament (both at the time of the Stamp Act and in the last session), who
bore ample testimony to the general good faith and fair dealing of the Americans, and
declared their confidence in our integrity; for which we refer to their petitions on the
journals of the House of Commons. And we presume we may safely call on the body of
the British tradesmen, who have had experience of both, to say, whether they have not
received much more punctual payment from us, than they generally have from the
members of their own two Houses of Parliament.
On the whole of the above it appears that the charge of ingratitude towards the mother -
country, brought with so much confidence against the colonies, is totally without
foundation; and that there is much more reason for retorting that charge on Britain, who,
not only never contributes any aid, nor affords, by an exclusive commerce, any
advantages to Saxony, her mother - country ; but no longer since than in the last war,
without the least provocation, subsidized the King of Prussia while he ravaged that
mother-country, and carried fire and sword into its capital, the fine city of Dresden ! An
example we hope no provocation will induce us to imitate.
Benjamin Franklin's Return to Philadelphia in 1785
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Sons of Liberty
Sons of Liberty. At the period of Zenger's trial (1735) the radical opponents of the royal
governors were called Sons of Liberty; but the name was not often heard until after the
memorable speech in the House of Commons (1765) of Colonel Barre against the
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taxation of the Americans. In reply to Charles Townshend's assertion that the colonies
had been cared for and nourished into strength by the indulgence of the British
government, Barre scornfully denied it, saying that care was exercised in sending unfit
persons as governors to rule over them—" men whose behavior on many occasions
had caused the blood of those sons of liberty to recoil within them." The associated
patriots in America instantly assumed this name. They were chiefly ardent young men,
who loved excitement, but who were truly patriotic. They had, as a general rule, nothing
to lose, let events turn as they might. Persons of consideration and influence, though
they generally favored the acts of the Sons of Liberty, kept aloof from open coalition
with them, for prudential motives; for the combination appeared dangerous. Their first
business seemed to be the intimidation of stamp-distributors and to oppose the act in
every way; but they finally, spreading widely over the colonies from Massachusetts to
Georgia, became the most radical leaders in the quarrel with Great Britain and
promoters of the Revolutionary War, in which many of them became distinguished
leaders in the council and in the field. The Sons of Liberty often met under the Liberty
Tree in Boston.
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Liberty Tree
Sons of Liberty tarring & feathering British Loyalist Under the Liberty Tree
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Liberty Tree. The original Liberty Tree, in Boston, was not on Boston Common. It was
the largest one of a grove of beautiful elms which stood in Hanover Square, at the
corner of Orange (now Washington) and Essex streets, opposite the Boyleston Market.
Its exact site is marked by a building. on the front of which is a relief figure of the tree in
granite and the inscription " Sons of Liberty –1766. Independence of Our Country–
1776." This elm was called " Liberty Tree" because the Sons of Liberty held their
meetings under it, and the ground below was called "Liberty Hall." The first meeting of
this society was held there some time in 1765. A pole fastened to the trunk of the tree
rose far above the top-most branch, and a red flag floating from it was an understood
signal to call together the fearless Sons of Liberty. This society held many meetings
here during the next ten years, and placards addressed to the people were nailed to the
tree, and inscribed banners were suspended from its limbs. They had a board fastened
to the tree with the inscription, "This tree was planted in 1614, and pruned by order of
the Sons of Liberty, Feb. 14, 1776." On Nov. 20, 1767, a seditious handbill was fixed to
the tree, exhorting the Sons of Liberty to rise and fight against the country's oppressors;
it declared that they would be joined by legions of their countrymen, that the tyrant
would be driven from the land, and generations to come would bless them, while if they
neglected this opportunity to free their country they would be cursed to all eternity. In
June, 1768, a red flag was raised over the tree, and a second appeal to the Sons of
Liberty to rise against the British was affixed in the form of a handbill to its trunk. The
anniversary of the rising against the Stamp Act was observed Aug. 14, 1773, by a
meeting under this tree. On Nov. 3 following there was an immense gathering under this
tree again, at which a resolution was passed concerning the tea-ships which were
known to be on their way to Boston, ordering the consignees of the cargoes not to sell
them on American soil, but to return them promptly to London in the same vessels in
which they had been shipped. The ultimate result of this meeting was the "Boston Tea
party" of Dec. 6, 1773, when 340 chests of tea were poured into the Boston Harbor. In
May, 1774, British troops under Gage were quartered in Boston, the port was closed,
and all public meetings were forbidden. The gatherings of the Sons of Liberty were,
therefore, made in secret during the next two years, but the Liberty Tree retained its
name, and probably witnessed more than one midnight meeting. In the winter of 1775–
76 the British soldiery, to whom the popular name of this tree rendered it an object of
hatred, cut down this magnificent elm and converted it into fourteen cords of firewood.
This act of destruction was greatly resented by the people.
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Engraving by Paul Revere of the Monument constructed under the Liberty Tree
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The Stamp Act

[Observed under the Liberty Tree]
Stamp Act, THE. Laws authorizing the use of stamps, stamped paper, or stamps on
packages, bearing fixed rates for the stamps, for raising revenue, were introduced into
England, in the reign of William and Mary, from Holland. From that time until now the
system has been a favorite one in England for raising revenue. Each stamp represents
a tax for a certain sum which must be paid to obtain it. A penalty is imposed upon those
attempting to evade it, and the transaction in which it should have been used was
declared invalid without it. A stamp duty had never been imposed in the colonies. In
1732 it was proposed, but the great minister, Walpole, said," I will leave the taxation of
America to some of my successors who have more courage than I have." In 1739 Sir
William Keith, governor of Pennsylvania, proposed such a tax in that province. Franklin
thought it just, as he said in the convention at Albany in 1754; Lieutenant-governor De
Lancey proposed it in New York in 1755; and in 1756 Governor Shirley, of
Massachusetts, urged Parliament to adopt a stamp tax. In 1757 it was proposed to Pitt
to tax the colonies. " I will never burn my fingers with an American stamp tax," he said.
But George Grenville, Pitt's brother-in-law, bolder than his predecessors, proposed in
1764 a stamp tax to be extended to the colonies. It was delayed to await suggestions
from the latter.
The law required that for every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece
of paper, on which should be engrossed, written, or printed any declaration, plea,
replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, or any copy thereof, in any court of
law within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty should be
imposed. Also for all legal documents of every kind, marriage certificates, etc., a stamp
duty should be paid. The stamps were printed in embossed letters, sometimes directly
upon the paper used, but more generally, for the colonies, on coarse blue paper, such
as is known as " tobacco paper." The value of each stamp was indicated upon it, and
varied from 3d. to £2. The kinds of documents and other papers to be stamped to make
them legal numbered fifty-four. To the blue-paper stamps was attached a narrow strip of
tinfoil, represented in the larger engraving by the white space. The ends of the foil were
passed through the parchment or paper, flattened on the opposite side, and a piece of
paper with a rough device and number, seen in the smaller engraving, with a crown and
the initials of the King pasted over to secure it.
Britain Tries To Tax Colonies via the Stamp Act
In the preamble to the Stamp Act the open avowal was made that its purpose was the "
raising of a revenue for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing
his Majesty's dominions in America." This phraseology was rather deceptive. The British
treasury had been exhausted not by defending the colonies, but by wars in Europe, and
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its coffers needed replenishing. This was the real meaning of the Stamp Act, and the
Americans clearly perceived it. When accounts of this scheme reached Boston, the
newly elected representatives of that town were instructed to use all their efforts "
against the pending plan of parliamentary taxation," and for the " repeal of any such
acts already passed." These instructions were drawn by Samuel Adams, and contained
the first decided protest uttered against this taxation scheme. It was suggested that a.
combination of all the colonies in opposition to the act would be expedient. A committee
of correspondence was appointed to hold communications with the other colonial
assemblies, and the political postulate—"Taxation without representation is tyranny "—
an idea borrowed from the Dutch, was boldly enunciated in a pamphlet by James Otis,
entitled The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted. The Assembly also resolved, " That
the imposition of duties and taxes by the Parliament of Great Britain upon a people not
represented in the House of Commons is absolutely irreconcilable with their rights."
Opposition to the measure soon appeared in all the colonies. The people in cities and
villages gathered in excited groups and loudly expressed their indignation. The pulpit
denounced the scheme, and associations calling themselves the "Sons of Liberty," in
every colony, put forth their energies in defense of popular freedom. The press, then
assuming much power, spoke out fearlessly. Men appointed by the crown, known as
"stamp distributors," were insulted and despised, and not allowed to act. Stamps were
seized on their arrival and secreted or burned, and when Nov. 1 arrived--the day on
which the law was to take effect—there were no officials courageous enough to attempt
to enforce it. The public sentiment had already taken a more dignified tone and
assumed an aspect of nationality. A general congress of delegates was called, and met
in New York (see STAMP ACT CONGRESS, THE) in October, 1765, and sent out
documents boldly asserting the rights of the people. Nov. 1 was observed as a day of
fasting and mourning. Funeral processions paraded city streets, and bells tolled funeral
knells. The colors of sailing-vessels were trailed at half-mast, and the columns of
newspapers exhibited broad black lines. The courts were closed, legal marriages
ceased, ships remained in port, and for a while all business was suspended. Out of this
calm a tempest was evolved. Mobs began to assail the residences of officials and burn
distinguished royalists in effigy. Merchants entered into agreements not to import goods
from Great Britain, and very soon such a cry of remonstrance from all classes in
America assailed the ears of the British ministry, as well as from merchants and
manufacturers of London, that the question of repealing the act was raised.
In March, 1766, a protest, prepared by Lord Lyttelton, against the repeal of the Stamp
Act, was signed by thirty-three peers. In that House it was maintained that such a
strange and unheard-of submission of King, Lords, and Commons to a successful
insurrection of the colonies would make the authority of Great Britain contemptible.
There were sixty-three members of the House of Lords, including several bishops, who
were for subduing the colonies with fire and sword, if necessary; but the vote for repeal
stood 105 against 71. Soon afterwards a second protest, containing a vigorous defense
of the policy of Grenville, and showing a disposition to enforce the Stamp Act at all
hazards, was signed by twenty-eight peers. At that hour of efforts for conciliation five of
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the bishops " solemnly recorded, on the journal of the House of Lords, their unrelenting
enmity to measures of peace."
Stamp Act is Repealed
On March 18, 1766, in pursuance of the provisions of a bill introduced in Parliament by

William Pitt, the act was repealed. In the bill was a clause declaratory of the right of
Parliament to tax the colonies, which was not acceptable to the latter. Pitt said the
repealing bill could not have passed but for this clause, so of two evils he chose the
least. The Americans were so pleased, however, with the repeal of the obnoxious act
that, in gratitude to the King and to Pitt, statues were erected to them. An equestrian
statue of the King was erected in Bowling Green, New York City, and a statue of Pitt in
the attitude of speaking was set up at the intersection of Wall and William streets.
Another was erected in Charleston, S. C. The King was dissatisfied with the repeal of
the Stamp Act, regarding it as " a fatal compliance which had wounded the majesty of
England, and planted thorns under his pillow." He scolded Lord North, for he preferred
the risk of losing the colonies rather than to yield one iota of his claim to absolute
authority over them. (See PITT, WILLIAM.)
The following is the full text of the Stamp Act, which received the royal signature, March
27, 1765:
The Stamp Act
Whereas, by an act made in the last session of Parliament, several duties were granted,
continued, and appropriated towards defraying the expenses of defending, protecting,
and securing the British colonies and plantations in America; and whereas it is first
necessary that provision be made for raising a further revenue within your Majesty's
dominions in America, towards defraying the said expenses; we, your Majesty's most
dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Great Britain, in Parliament assembled, have
therefore resolved to give and grant unto your Majesty the several rights and duties
hereinafter mentioned; and do most humbly beseech your Majesty that it may be enact-
ed. And be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and
consent of the lords spiritual and temporal, and commons, in this present Parliament
assembled, and by the authority of the same, that from and after the first day of
November, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, there shall be raised, levied,
collected, and paid unto his Majesty, his heirs and successors, throughout the colonies
and plantations in America, which now are, or hereafter may be, under the dominion of
his Majesty, his heirs and successors:
1. For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any declaration, plea, replication, rejoinder,
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demurrer, or other pleading, or any copy thereof, in any court of law within the British
colonies and plantations in America, a stamp duty of three pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any special bail, and appearance upon such bail
in any such court, a amp duty of two shillings.
may be engrossed, written, or printed any petition, bill, or answer, claim, plea,
replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, in any court of chancery or equity
within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp act of one shilling and six pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any copy of any petition, bill, answer, claim, plea,
replication, rejoinder, demurrer, or other pleading, in any such court, a stamp duty of
three pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any monition, libel, answer, allegation, inventory,
renunciation, in ecclesiastical matters, in any court of probate, court of the ordinary, or
other court exercising ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the said colonies and plantations,
a stamp duty of one shilling.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any copy of any will (other than the probate
thereof), monition, libel, answer, allegation, inventory, or renunciation, in ecclesiastical
matters in any such court, a stamp duty of six pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any donation, presentation, collation or institution,
of or to any benefice, or any writ or instrument for the like purpose, or any register,
entry, testimonial, or certificate of any degree taken in any university, academy, college,
or seminary of learning, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two
pounds.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any monition, libel, claim, answer, allegation,
information, letter of request, execution, renunciation, inventory, or other pleading, in
any admiralty court within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one
shilling.
any copy of any such monition, libel, claim, answer, allegation, information, letter of
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request, execution, renunciation, inventory, or other pleading shall be engrossed,

written, or printed, a stamp duty of six pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any appeal, writ of error, writ of dower, ad quo
damnum, certiorari, statute merchant, statute staple, attestation, or certificate, by any
officer, or exemplification of any record or proceeding, in any court whatsoever, within
the said colonies and plantations (except appeals, writs of error, certiorari, attestations,
certificates, and exemplifications, for, or relating to, the removal of any proceedings
from before a single justice of the peace) a stamp duty of ten shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any writ of covenant for levying fines, writ of entry
for suffering a common recovery, or attachment issuing out of or returnable into any
court within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of five shilings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any judgment, decree, or sentence, or
dismission, or any record of nisi prius or postea, in any court within the said colonies
and plantations, a stamp duty of four shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any affidavit, common bail, or appearance,
interrogatory, deposition, rule, order or warrant of any court, or any dedimus
potestament, capias subpoena, summons, compulsory citation, commission,
recognizance, or any other writ, process, or mandate, issuing out of or returnable into
any court, or any office belonging thereto, or any other proceeding therein whatsoever,
or any copy thereof, or of any record not hereinbefore charged, within the said colonies
and plantations (except warrants relating to criminal matters, and proceedings thereon,
or relating thereto), a stamp duty of one shilling.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any note or bill of lading, which shall be signed
for any kind of goods, wares or merchandise, to be exported from, or any cocket or
clearance granted within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed letters of mart or commission for private ships-of-
war, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of twenty shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any grant, appointment, or admission of or to any
public beneficial office or employment, for the space of one year, or any lesser time, of
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or above twenty pounds per annum sterling money, in salary, fees, and perquisites,
within the said colonies and plantations (except commissions and appointments of
officers of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, of judges, and of justices of the peace), a
stamp duty of ten shillings.
any grant, of any liberty, privilege, or franchise, under the seal or sign manual of any
governor, proprietor, or public officer, alone or in conjunction with any other person or
persons, or with any council, or any council and assembly, or any exemplification of the
same, shall be engrossed, written, or printed within the said colonies and plantations, a
stamp duty of six pounds.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any license for retailing spirituous liquors, to be
granted to any person who shall take out the same, within the said colonies and
plantations, a stamp duty of twenty shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any license for retailing of wine, to be granted to
any person who shall not take out a license for retailing of spirituous liquors, within the
said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pounds.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any license for retailing of spirituous liquors,
within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of three pounds.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any probate of will, letters of ad-ministration, or of
guardianship for any estate above the value of twenty pounds sterling money, within the
British colonies and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging
thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama islands, a stamp duty of five shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any such probate, letters of ad-ministration or of
guardianship, within all other parts of the British dominions in America, a stamp duty of
ten shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any bond for securing the payment of any sum of
money, not exceeding the sum of ten pounds sterling money, within the British colonies
and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the
Bermuda and Bahama islands, a stamp duty of six pence.
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money above ten pounds and not exceeding twenty pounds sterling money, within such
colonies, plantations, and islands, a stamp duty of one shilling.
money above twenty pounds and not exceeding forty pounds sterling money, within
such colonies and plantations and islands, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.
shall be engrossed, written or printed any order or warrant for survey- I ing or setting out
any quantities of land not exceeding 100 acres, issued by any governor, proprietor, or
any public officer, alone or in conjunction with any other person or persons, or with any
council, or any council or assembly, with the British colonies and plantations in America,
a stamp duty of six pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any such order or warrant for surveying or setting
out any quantity of land above 100 and not exceeding 200 acres, within the said
colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any such order or warrant for surveying or setting
out any quantity of land above 200 and not exceeding 320 acres, and in proportion for
every such order or warrant for surveying or setting out every other 320 acres, within
the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any original grant or any deed, mesne
conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land not
exceeding 100 acres shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within the British colonies
and plantations upon the continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the
Bermuda and Bahama islands (except leases for any term not exceeding the term of
twenty-one years), a stamp duty of one shilling and six pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any such original grant, or any such deed, mesne
conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land above 100
and not exceeding 200 acres shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within such
colonies, plantations, and islands, a stamp duty of two shillings.
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and not exceeding 320 acres shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, and in proportion
for every such grant, deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument, granting,
conveying, or assigning every other 320 acres, within such colonies, plantations, and
islands, a stamp duty of two shillings and six pence.
conveyance, or other instrument whatsoever, by which any quantity of land not
exceeding 100 acres shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within all other parts of
the British dominion in America, a stamp duty of three shillings.
and not exceeding 200 acres shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, within the same
parts of the said domains, a stamp duty of four shillings.
and not exceeding 320 acres shall be granted, conveyed, or assigned, and in proportion
for every such grant, deed, mesne conveyance, or other instrument, granting,
conveying, or assigning every other 320 acres within the same parts of the said
dominions, a stamp duty of five shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any grant, appointment, or admission of or to any
beneficial office or employment, not hereinbefore charged, above the value of twenty
pounds per anmum sterling money, in salary, fees, and perquisites, or any
exemplification of the same within the British colonies and plantations upon the
continent of America, the islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama
islands (except commissions of the officers of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, and
of justices of the peace), a stamp duty of four pounds.
For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any such grant, appointment, or admission of or
to any such public beneficial office or employment, or any exemplification of the
same within all other parts of the British dominions in America, a stamp duty of six
pounds.
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For every skin or piece of vellum or parchment, or sheet or piece of paper, on which
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any indenture, lease, conveyance, contract,
stipulation, bill of sale, charter party, protest, articles of apprenticeship or covenant
(except for the hire of servants not apprentices, and also except such other matters as
hereinbefore charged), within the British colonies and plantations in America, a stamp
duty of two shillings and six pence.
any warrant or order for auditing any public accounts, beneficial warrant, order, grant,
or certificate, under any public seal, or under the seal or sign manual of any governor,
proprietor, or public officer, alone or in conjunction with any person or persons, or with
any council, or any council and assembly, not hereinbefore charged, or any passport or
letpass, surrender of office, or policy of assurance, which shall be engrossed, written, or
printed within the said colonies and plantations (except warrants or orders for the
service of the army, navy, ordnance, or militia, and grants of offices under twenty
pounds per annum, in salary, fees, and perquisites), a stamp duty of five shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any notarial act, bond, deed, letter of attorney,
procuration, mortgage, release, or other obligatory instrument, not hereinbefore
charged, within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two shillings.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed any register, entry, or enrolment of any grant,
deed, or other instrument whatsoever, hereinbefore charged, within the said colonies
and plantations, a stamp duty of three pence.
shall be engrossed, written, or printed grant register, entry, or enrolment of any grant,
deed, or other instrument whatsoever, not hereinbefore charged, within the said
colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of two shillings.
42. And for and upon every pack of playing cards, and all dice, which shall be sold or
used within the said colonies and plantations, the several stamp duties following (that is
to say) :
43. For every pack of cards, one shilling.
44. For every pair of such dice, ten shillings.
45. And for and upon every paper called a pamphlet, and upon every newspaper
containing public news or occurrences, which shall be printed, dispersed, and made
public, within any of the said colonies and plantations, and for and upon such
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advertisements as are herein-after mentioned, the respective duties following (that is to

say) :
46. For every such pamphlet and pa-per, contained in a half sheet or any lesser piece of
paper, which shall be so printed, a stamp duty of one half-penny for every printed copy
thereof.
47. For every such pamphlet and pa-per (being larger than half a sheet and not
exceeding one whole 'sheet) which shall be printed, a stamp duty of one penny for
every printed copy thereof.
48. For every pamphlet and paper, being larger than one whole sheet and not
exceeding six sheets in octavo, or in a lesser page, or not exceeding twelve sheets in
quarto, or twenty sheets in folio, which shall be so printed, a duty after the rate of one
shilling for every sheet of any kind of paper which shall be contained in one printed copy
thereof.
49. For every advertisement to be con-tained in any gazette, newspaper, or other paper,
or any pamphlet which shall be so printed, a duty of two shillings.
50. For every almanac, or calendar, for l any one particular year, or for any time less
than a year, which shall be written 1 or printed on one side only of any one sheet, skin,
or piece of paper, parchment, or vellum, within the said colonies and plantations, a
stamp duty of two pence.
51. For every other almanac or calendar, for any one particular year, which shall be
written or printed within the said colonies and plantations, a stamp duty of four pence.
52. And for every almanac or calendar, written or printed in the said colonies and
plantations, to serve for several years, duties to the same amount respectively shall be
paid for every such year.
any instrument, proceeding, or other matter or thing aforesaid shall be engrossed,
written, or printed, within the said colonies and plantations, in any other than the English
language, a stamp duty double the amount of the respective duties before charged
thereon.
54. And there shall be also paid, in the said colonies and plantations, duty of six pence
for every twenty shillings, in any sum not exceeding fifty pounds sterling money, which
shall be given, paid, contracted, or agreed for with or in relation to any clerk or
apprentice, which shall be put or placed to or with any master or mistress, to learn any
profession, trade, or employment. II. And also a duty of one shilling for every twenty
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shillings, in any sum not exceeding fifty pounds, which shall be given, paid, contracted,
or agreed for, with or in relation to, any such clerk or apprentice.
55. Finally, the produce of all the aforementioned duties shall be paid into his Majesty's
treasury, and there held in reserve, to be used from time to time by the Parliament for
the purpose of defraying the expenses necessary for the defence, protection, and
security of the said colonies and plantations.
The Stamp Act Congress

Stamp-Act Congress, THE, assembled in New York on Oct. 7, 1765, to consider
Grenville's obnoxious scheme of taxation. It was organized by the choice of Timothy
Ruggles, of Massachusetts, chairman, and John Cotten, clerk. The following
representatives presented their credentials: Massachusetts—James Otis, Oliver
Partridge, Timothy Ruggles. New York—Robert R. Livingston, John Cruger, Philip
Livingston, William Bayard, Leonard Lispenard. New Jersey—Robert Ogden, Hendrick
Fisher, Joseph Borden. Rhode Island — Metcalf Bowler, Henry Ward. Pennsylvania —
John Dickinson, John Morton, George Bryan. Delaware—Thomas McKean, Caesar
Rodney, Connecticut—Eliphalet Dyer, David Rowland, William S. Johnson. Maryland—
William Murdock, Edward Tilghman, Thomas Ringgold. South Carolina — Thomas
Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, John Rutledge. The Congress continued in session
fourteen consecutive days, and adopted a Declaration of Rights, written by John
Cruger, a Petition to the King, written by Robert R. Livingston, and a Memorial to Both
Houses of Parliament, written by James Otis. In all these the principles which governed
the leaders in the Revolutionary War soon afterwards were conspicuous. The
proceedings were signed by all the delegates excepting Ruggles and Ogden, who were
afterwards active loyalists or Tories.
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Chapter 6
Joseph Warren
Warren, JOSEPH, physician; born in
Roxbury, Massachusetts, June 11, 1741;
killed in battle, June 17, 1775; graduated
at Harvard College in 1759; studied
medicine; began practice in 1764 in
Boston, and by his successful treatment
of small-pox patients acquired a high
reputation among the faculty. In politics
he was in advance of public opinion in
general, holding the doctrine that the
British Parliament had no right to levy a
tax of any kind upon the colonies. When,
in 1772, Samuel Adams declined to
deliver the annual oration on the
anniversary of the Boston massacre, Dr.
Warren took his place, and exhibited
great ability. He again delivered the
anniversary oration in 1775 in the midst
of the danger caused by the presence of
British troops and the exasperation of the
citizens. He had been made a member of
the Boston committee replied Warren, "
but where's the man who does not think it
glorious and delightful to die for his
country?" Just before the battle began he went to the redoubt on Breed's Hill with a
musket in his hand, and was offered the command by Colonel Prescott and General
Putnam, but declined, and fought as a volunteer in the ranks. He was one of the last to
leave the redoubt. As he moved away towards Bunker Hill an officer of the British army
who knew him called out to him by name to surrender, at the same time commanding
his men to cease firing. As Warren turned, attracted by the voice, a bullet penetrated his
brain and he fell dead. The Continental Congress voted him a monument, and resolved
to educate his infant son at the public expense. The monument was never erected by
the government, but the Bunker Hill monument was unveiled on the famous hill, June
17, 1857. A masonic lodge in Charlestown erected a monument in 1794 on the spot
where he fell. It was composed of a brick pedestal 8 feet square, rising 10 feet from the
ground, and supporting a Tuscan column of wood 18 feet in height. This was
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surmounted by a gilt cross, bearing the inscription " J. W., aged 35," entwined with
masonic emblems. Upon the pedestal was an appropriate inscription. The monument
stood thus forty years, when it gave way to the Bunker Hill monument. A beautiful model
of Warren's monument stands within the base of the huge granite obelisk.
Joseph Warren in the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he was killed
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Chapter 7
Paul Revere
Revere, PAUL, patriot; was born in
Boston, Massachusetts on January 1,
1735. He was descended from the
Huguenots, and was educated in his
father's profession of goldsmith. In the
French and Indian War he was at Fort
Edward, on the upper Hudson, and
served as a lieutenant of artillery.
When he returned from this military
duty, he again took up the trade of a
goldsmith. He also taught himself to be
a copper-plate engraver. He was one
of four engravers in America when the
Revolutionary War broke out. He had
engraved, in 1766, a print emblematic
of the repeal of the Stamp Act, and in
1767 another called "The Seventeen
Rescinders." He published a print of
the Boston massacre, in 1770, and
from that time became one of the most
active opponents of the acts of
Parliament. Revere engraved the
plates, made the press, and printed
the bills of credit, or paper money, of
Massachusetts, issued in 1775; he
also engraved the plates for the
"Continental money." He was sent by
the Sons of Liberty, of Boston, to
confer with their brethren in New York
and Philadelphia. Early in 1775 the Provincial Congress sent him to Philadelphia to
learn the art of making powder, and on his return he set up a mill. The president of the
Congress (Joseph Warren) chose Revere as one of his trusted messengers to warn the
people of Lexington and Concord of the expedition sent their by Gage (April 18, 1775),
and to tell Adams and Hancock of their danger. He was made a prisoner while on his
way from Lexington towards Concord, but was soon released. Longfellow made
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Revere's midnight ride the subject of his well-known poem. He served in the military
corps for the defense of his State, and after the war he cast church bells and cannon;
and he founded the copper-works at Canton, Mass., afterwards carried on by the
Revere Copper Company. He was the first in the United States to smelt copper ore and
roll it into sheets. In 1795 Revere, as grand master of the masonic order, laid the
corner-stone of the State-house in Boston. He died in Boston, Mass., May 10, 1818.
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Chapter 8
John Adams
The Second President
of the United States of America
Adams, JOHN, served as second President of

the United States; from 1797 to 1801; Federalist;
born in Braintree (near Quincy), Massachusetts,
October 30, 1735. He received a degree from
Harvard College in 1755, and immediately
afterwards taught school at Worcester, where he
began studying law. His father was in moderate
circumstances - a selectman and a farmer.
Beginning the profession of law in Braintree in
1758, he soon acquired a good practice; and,
when he was twenty-nine years old, he married
Abigail Smith, an accomplished woman who was
very intelligent. His first appearance in the
political arena was as author of Instructions of
the Town of Braintree to its Representatives on
the Subject of the Stamp Act, which was adopted
by over forty towns. Associated with Gridley and
Otis in supporting a memorial addressed to the
governor and council, praying that the courts
might proceed without the use of stamps, Adams
opened the case by declaring that the Stamp Act was void, as Parliament had no right
to make such a law. He began early to write political essays for the newspapers; and, in
1768, he went to Boston, when the town was greatly excited by political disturbances.
There he was counsel for Captain Preston in the case of the "Boston Massacre", and in
the same year (1770) he was elected to the General Court. From that time Adams was
a leader among the patriots in Massachusetts. He was a delegate to the first
Continental Congress (1774), where he was recognized as a leader. Returning, he was
elected a member of the Provincial Congress. He was a good orator and most useful
committee-man in the Continental Congress until he was appointed commissioner to
France late in 1777. He advocated, helped to frame, voted for, and signed the
Declaration of Independence, and he was a most efficient member of the Board of War
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from June, 1776, until December, 1777. He arrived in Paris on April 8, 1778, where he
found a feud between Benjamin Franklin and Lee, two other commissioners. He advised
intrusting that mission to one commissioner, and Franklin was made sole ambassador.
He was appointed minister (1779) to treat with Great Britain for peace, and sailed for
France in November. He did not serve as commissioner there, but, in July, 1780, he
went to Holland to negotiate a loan. He was also received by the States-General as
United States minister, April 19, 1782. He obtained a loan for Congress of $2,000,000,
and made a treaty of amity and commerce. He returned to Paris in October, and
assisted in negotiating the preliminary treaty of peace. With Franklin and John Jay, he
negotiated a treaty of commerce with Great Britain; and, in the following winter, he
negotiated for another Dutch loan.
In 1785 he went as minister to the English Court, and there he prepared his Defense of
the American Constitution. Being coldly received, he returned home, and, in 1788, was
elected Vice-President of the United States under the national Constitution. He
sustained the policy of George Washington through the eight years of his
administration, opposed the French Revolution, and was a strong advocate for the
neutrality of the United States. In 1796 he was chosen President by a small majority
over Jefferson, and his administration was vehemently opposed by the new party known
as Republicans, led by the latter, its real founder. Adams had much trouble with the
French Directory throughout his entire administration, and drew upon himself great
blame for favoring the Alien and Sedition Law. In his eagerness for reelection Adams
offended a powerful faction of his party, and was beaten by Thomas Jefferson at the
election in 1800. Then he retired to private life, where he watched the course of events
with great interest for twenty-five years longer, dying July 4, 1826. His death occurred
on the same day, and at almost the same hour, as that of Jefferson, his colleague on
the drafting committee and in signing of the Declaration of Independence, fifty years
before.
While he was teaching school at Worcester, in 1755, he wrote a letter to Nathan Webb,
in which he remarked: "Mighty states and kingdoms are not exempted from change. . . .
Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this new world for conscience'
sake. This apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire to America. . .
. If we can remove the turbulent Gaines, our people, according to the exactest
calculations, will, in another century, become more numerous than in England itself. The
united force of Europe will not be able to subdue us. The only way to keep us from
setting up for ourselves is to disunite us." Less than thirty years afterwards the prophet
stood before the monarch of England as the representative of an American republic,
where, only ten years before, were flourishing English colonies. And just a century after
that prophecy was uttered the number and strength of the people here exceeded the his
calculation. The population then was more than double that of England; and, while his
country was fiercely torn by civil war, its government defied the power of Great Britain,
France, Spain, and the Papal States, whose rulers were enemies of republican
government.
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On June 1, 1785, Adams was introduced by the Marquis of Carmarthen to the King of
Great Britain as ambassador extraordinary from the United States of America to the
Court of London. The inexecution of the treaty of peace on the part of Great Britain had
threatened an open rupture between the two nations. Adams was sent with full powers
to arrange all matters in dispute. His mission was almost fruitless. He found the temper
of the British people, from the peasant up to the monarch, very unfriendly to the United
States. He was never insulted, but the chilliness of the social atmosphere and the
studied neglect of his official representations often excited hot indignation in his bosom.
But his government, under the old confederation, was so weak and powerless that he
was compelled to endure the hauteur of British officials in silence. They gave him to
understand that they would make no arrangements about commercial relations between
the two governments; and when he proposed to his own government to pass
countervailing navigation laws for the benefit of American commerce, he was met by the
stern fact that it possessed no power to do so. At length, believing his mission to be
useless, and the British government sturdily refusing to send a minister to the United
States, he asked and obtained permission to return home.
Mr. Adams saw with alarm the contagion of revolution that went out from Paris, in 1789,
affecting England, and, in a degree, his own country. It was different, in form and
substance, from that which had made his own people free. With a view to avert its evil
tendencies, he wrote a series of articles for a newspaper, entitled Discourses on Davila.
These contained an analysis of Davila's History of the Civil War in France, in the
sixteenth century. In those essays he maintained that, as self-esteem was the great
spring of human activity, it was important in a popular government to provide for the
moderate gratification of a desire for distinction, applause, and admiration. He therefore
advocated a liberal use of titles and ceremonial honors for those in office, and an
aristocratic Senate. He proposed a popular Assembly on the broadest democratic basis
to counteract any undue influence; and to keep in check encroachments upon each
other, he recommended a powerful executive. The publication of these essays at that
time was unfortunate, when jealousy was rife in the public mind concerning the national
Constitution. His ideas were so cloudily expressed that his meaning was misunderstood
by many and misinterpreted by a few. He was charged with advocating a monarchy and
a hereditary Senate. The essays disgusted Jefferson, who for a time cherished the idea
that Hamilton, Adams, Jay, and others were at the head of a conspiracy to overthrow
the republican institutions of the United States.
Also See:
John Adams Speech to Congress on the Relationship Between United States and
France
John Adams Letter Written on the Eve of the Signing of the Declaration of
Independence
229 | P a g e
French and American

Relationship in 1797
The Threatening Attitude of France. - On May 16, 1797, President Adams
communicated the following message to the Congress on the serious relations which
had sprung up between the United States and France:
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, - The

personal inconveniences to the members of the Senate and of the House of
Representatives in leaving their families and private affairs at this season of the year
are so obvious that I the more regret the extraordinary occasion which has rendered the
convention of Congress indispensable.
It would have afforded me the highest satisfaction to have been able to congratulate you
on the restoration of peace to the nations of Europe whose animosities have
endangered our tranquility; but we have still abundant cause of gratitude to the
Supreme Dispenser of national blessings for general health and promising seasons, for
domestic and social happiness, for the rapid progress and ample acquisitions of
industry through extensive territories, for civil, political, and religious liberty. While other
states are desolated with foreign war or convulsed with intestine divisions, the United
States present the pleasing prospect of a nation governed by mild and equal laws,
generally satisfied with the possession of their rights, neither envying the advantages
nor fearing the power of other nations, solicitous only for the maintenance of order and
justice and the preservation of liberty, increasing daily in their attachment to a system of
government in proportion to their experience of its utility, yielding a ready and general
obedience to laws flowing from the reason and resting on the only solid foundation-the
affections of the people.
It is with extreme regret that I shall be obliged to turn your thoughts to other
circumstances, which admonish us that some of these felicities may not be lasting But if
the tide of our prosperity is full and a reflux commencing, a vigilant circumspection
becomes us, that we may meet our reverses with fortitude and extricate ourselves from
their consequences with all the skill we possess and all the efforts in our power.
In giving to Congress information of the state of the Union and recommending to their
consideration such measures as appear to me to be necessary or expedient, according
to my constitutional duty, the causes and the objects of the present extraordinary
session will be explained.
230 | P a g e
After the President of the United States received information that the French
government had expressed serious discontents at some proceedings of the government
of these States said to affect the interests of France, he thought it expedient to send to
that country a new minister, fully instructed to enter on such amicable discussions and
to give such candid explanations as might happily remove the discontents and
suspicions of the French government and vindicate the conduct of the United States.
For this purpose he selected from among his fellow-citizens a character whose integrity,
talents, experience, and services had placed him in the rank of the most esteemed and
respected in the nation. The direct object of his mission was expressed in his letter of
credence to the French Republic, being "to maintain that good understanding which
from the commencement of the alliance had subsisted between the two nations, and to
efface unfavorable impressions, banish suspicions, and restore that cordiality which was
at once the evidence and pledge of a friendly union." And his instructions were to the
same effect, "faithfully to represent the disposition of the government and people of the
United States (their disposition being one), to remove jealousies and obviate complaints
by showing that they were groundless, to restore that mutual confidence which had
been so unfortunately and injuriously impaired, and to explain the relative interests of
both countries and the real sentiments of his own."
A minister thus specially commissioned it was expected would have proved the
instrument of restoring mutual confidence between the two republics. The first step of
the French government corresponded with that expectation. A few days before his
arrival at Paris the French minister of foreign relations informed the American minister
then resident at Paris of the formalities to be observed by himself in taking leave, and by
his successor preparatory to his reception. These formalities they observed, and on
December 9 presented officially to the minister of foreign relations, the one a copy of his
letters of recall, the other a copy of his letters of credence.
These were laid before the Executive Directory. Two days afterwards the minister of
foreign relations informed the recalled American minister that the Executive Directory
had determined not to receive another minister plenipotentiary from the United States
until after the redress of grievances demanded of the American government, and which
the French Republic had a right to expect from it. The American minister immediately
endeavored to ascertain whether by refusing to receive him it was intended that he
should retire from the territories of the French Republic, and verbal answers were given
that such was the intention of the Directory. For his own justification he desired a written
answer, but obtained none until towards the last of January, when, receiving notice in
writing to quit the territories of the republic, he proceeded to Amsterdam, where he
proposed to wait for instruction from this government. During his residence at Paris
cards of hospitality were refused him, and he was threatened with being subjected to
the jurisdiction of the minister of police; but with becoming firmness he insisted on the
protection of the law of nations due to him as the known minister of a foreign power.
You will derive further information from his despatches, which will be laid before you.
231 | P a g e
As it is often necessary that nations should treat for the mutual advantage of their
affairs, and especially to accommodate and terminate differences, and as they can treat
only by ministers, the right of embassy is well known and established by the law and
usage of nations. The refusal on the part of France to receive our minister is, then, the
denial of a right; but the refusal to receive him until we have acceded to their demands
without discussion and without investigation is to treat us neither as allies nor as friends,
nor as a sovereign state.
With this conduct of the French government it will be proper to take into view the public
audience given to the late minister of the United States on his taking leave of the
Executive Directory. The speech of the President discloses sentiments more alarming
than the refusal of a minister, because more dangerous to our independence and union,
and at the same time studiously marked with indignities towards the government of the
United States. It evinces a disposition to separate the people of the United States from
the government, to persuade them that they have different affections, principles, and
interests from those of their fellow citizens whom they themselves have chosen to
manage their common concerns, and thus to produce divisions fatal to our peace. Such
attempts ought to be repelled with a decision which shall convince France and the world
that we are not a degraded people, humiliated under a colonial spirit of fear and sense
of inferiority, fitted to be the miserable instruments of foreign influence, and regardless
of national honor, character, and interest.
I should have been happy to have thrown a veil over these transactions if it had been
possible to conceal them; but they have passed on the great theatre of the world, in the
face of all Europe and America, and with such circumstances of publicity and solemnity
that they cannot be disguised and will not soon be forgotten. They have inflicted a
wound in the American breast. It is my sincere desire, however, that it may be healed.
It is my sincere desire, and in this I presume I concur with you and with your
constituents, to preserve peace and friendship with all nations; and believing that
neither the honor nor the interest of the United States absolutely forbid the repetition of
advances for securing these de-sirable objects with France, I shall institute a fresh
attempt at negotiation, and shall not fail to promote and accelerate an accommodation
on terms compatible with the rights, duties, interests, and honor of the nation. If we have
committed errors, and these can be demonstrated, we shall be willing to correct them; if
we have done injuries, we shall be willing on conviction to redress them; and equal
measures of justice we have a right to expect from France and every other nation.
The diplomatic intercourse between the United States and France being at present
suspended, the government has no means of obtaining official information from that
country. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that the Executive Directory passed a
decree on the 2d of March last contravening in part the treaty of amity and commerce of
1778, injurious to our lawful commerce and endangering the lives of our citizens. A copy
of this decree will be laid before you.
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While we are endeavoring to adjust all our differences with France by amicable
negotiation, the progress of the war in Europe, the depredations on our commerce, the
personal injuries to our citizens, and the general complexion of affairs render it my
indispensable duty to recommend to your consideration effectual measures of defense.
The commerce of the United States has become an interesting object of attention,
whether we consider it in relation to the wealth and finances or the strength and
resources of the nation. With a sea-coast of near 2,000 miles in extent, opening a field
for fisheries, navigation, and commerce, a great portion of our citizens naturally apply
their industry and enterprise to these objects. Any serious and permanent injury to
commerce would not fail to produce the most embarrassing disorders. To prevent it
from being undermined and destroyed it is essential that it receive an adequate
protection.
The naval establishment must occur to every man who considers the injuries committed
on our commerce, the insults offered to our citizens, and the description of vessels by
which these abuses have been practiced. As the sufferings of our mercantile and
seafaring citizens cannot be ascribed to the omission of duties demandable, considering
the neutral situation of our country, they are to be attributed to the hope of impunity
arising from a supposed inability on our part to afford protection. To resist the
consequences of such impressions on the minds of foreign nations and to guard against
the degradation and servility which they must finally stamp on the American character is
an important duty of government.
A naval power, next to the militia, is the natural defense of the United States. The
experience of the last war would be sufficient to show that a moderate' naval force, such
as would easily be within the present abilities of the Union, would have been sufficient
to have baffled many formidable transportations of troops from one State to another,
which were then practiced. Our seacoasts, from their great extent, are more easily
annoyed and more easily defended by a naval force than any other. With all the
materials our country abounds; in skill our naval architects and navigators are equal to
any; and commanders and seamen will not be wanting.
But although the establishment of a permanent system of naval defense appears to be

requisite, I am sensible it cannot be formed so speedily and extensively as the present
crisis demands. Hitherto I have thought proper to prevent the sailing of armed vessels
except on voyages to the East Indies, where general usage and the danger from pirates
appeared to render the permission proper. Yet the restriction has originated solely from
a wish to prevent collisions with the powers at war, contravening the act of Congress of
June, 1794, and not from any doubt entertained by me of the policy and propriety of
permitting our vessels to employ means of defense while engaged in a lawful foreign
commerce. It remains for Congress to prescribe such regulations as will enable our
seafaring citizens to defend themselves against violations of the law of nations, and at
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the same time restrain them from committing acts of hostility against the powers at war.
In addition to this voluntary provision for defense by individual citizens, it appears to me
necessary to equip the frigates, and provide other vessels of inferior force, to take under
convoy such merchant vessels as shall remain unarmed.
The greater part of the cruisers whose depredations have been most injurious have
been built and some of them partially equipped in the United States. Although an
effectual remedy may be attended with difficulty, yet I have thought it my duty to present
the subject generally to your consideration. If a mode can be devised by the wisdom of
Congress to prevent the resources of the United States from being converted into the
means of annoying our trade, a great evil will be prevented. With the same view, I think
it proper to mention that some of our citizens resident abroad have fitted out privateers,
and others have voluntarily taken the command, or entered on board of them, and
committed spoliations on the commerce of the United States. Such unnatural and
iniquitous practices can be restrained only by severe punishment.
But besides a protection of our commerce on the seas, I think it highly necessary to
protect it at home, where it is collected in our most important ports. The distance of the
United States from Europe, and the well-known promptitude, ardor, and courage of the
people in defense of their country, happily diminish the probability of invasion.
Nevertheless, to guard against sudden and predatory incursions the situation of some of
our principal seaports demands your consideration. And as our country is vulnerable in
other interests besides those of its commerce, you will seriously deliberate whether the
means of general defense ought not to be increased by an addition to the regular
artillery and cavalry, and by arrangements for forming a provisional army.
With the same view, and as a measure which, even in a time of universal peace, ought
not to be neglected, I recommend to your consideration a revision of the laws for
organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, to render that natural and safe defense
of the country efficacious.
Although it is very true that we ought not to involve ourselves in the political system of
Europe, but to keep ourselves always distinct and separate from it if we can, yet to
effect this separation early, punctual, and continual information of the current chain of
events and of the political projects in contemplation is no less necessary than if we were
directly concerned in them. It is necessary, in order to the discovery of the efforts made
to draw us into the vortex, in season to make preparations against them. How-ever we
may consider ourselves, the maritime and commercial powers of the world will consider
the United States of America as forming a weight in that balance of power in Europe
which never can be forgotten or neglected. It would not only be against our interest, but
it would be doing wrong to one-half of Europe, at least, if we should voluntarily throw
ourselves into either scale. It is a natural policy for a nation that studies to be neutral to
consult with other nations engaged in the same studies and pursuits. At the same time
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that measures might be pursued with this view, our treaties with Prussia and Sweden,
one of which is expired and the other near expiring, might be renewed.
Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, —It is particularly your province to

consider the state of the public finances, and to adopt such measures respecting them
as exigencies shall be found to require. The preservation of public credit, the regular
extinguishment of the public debt, and a provision of funds to defray any extraordinary
expenses will, of course, call for your serious attention. Although the imposition of new
burthens cannot be in itself agreeable, yet there is no ground to doubt that the American
people will expect from you such measures as their actual engagements, their present
security, and future interests demand.
Gentlemen of the Senate and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives,—The

present situation of our country imposes an obligation on all the departments of
government to adopt an explicit and decided conduct. In my situation an exposition of
the principles by which my administration will be governed ought not to be omitted.
It is impossible to conceal from ourselves or the world what has been before observed,
that endeavors have been employed to foster and establish a division between the
government and people of the United States. To investigate the causes which have
encouraged this attempt is not necessary, but to repel, by decided and united councils,
insinuations so derogatory to the honor and aggressions so dangerous to the
Constitution, Union, and even independence of the nation is an indispensable duty.
It must not be permitted to be doubted whether the people of the United States will
support the government established by their voluntary consent and appointed by their
free choice, or whether, by surrendering themselves to the direction of foreign and
domestic factions, in opposition to their own government, they will forfeit the honorable
station they have hitherto maintained.
For myself, having never been indifferent to what concerned the interests of my country,
devoted the best part of my life to obtain and support its independence, and constantly
witnessed the patriotism, fidelity, and perseverance of my fellow-citizens on the most
trying occasions, it is not for me to hesitate or abandon a cause in which my heart has
been so long engaged.
Convinced that the conduct of the government has been just and impartial to foreign
nations, that those internal regulations which have been established by law for the
preservation of peace are in their nature proper, and that they have been fairly
executed, nothing will ever be done by me to impair the national engagements, to
innovate upon principles which have been so deliberately and uprightly established, or
to surrender in any manner the rights of the government. To enable me to maintain this
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declaration I rely, under God, with entire confidence on the firm and enlightened support
of the national legislature and upon the virtue and patriotism of my fellow-citizens.
JOHN ADAMS.
John Adam's
Letter on the Eve of the
Declaration of
Independence
The Fourth of July.—In a letter to his wife, dated Philadelphia, July 3, 1776, John
Adams made the following predictions:
Had a declaration of independence been made seven months ago, it would have been
attended with many great and glorious effects. We might, before this hour, have formed
alliance with foreign states. We should have mastered Quebec and been in possession
of Canada.
You will, perhaps, wonder how much a declaration would have influenced our affairs in
Canada; but, if I could write with freedom, I could easily convince you that it would, and
explain to you the manner how. Many gentlemen in high stations and of great influence
have been duped, by the ministerial bubble of commissioners, to treat; and in real,
sincere expectation of this event, which they so fondly wished, they have been slow and
languid in promoting measures for the reduction of that province. Others there are in the
colonies who really wished that our enterprise in Canada would be defeated; that the
colonies might be brought into danger and distress between two fires, and be thus
induced to submit. Others really wished to defeat the expedition to Canada, lest the
conquest of it should elevate the minds of the people too much to harken to those terms
of reconciliation which they believed would be offered us. These jarring views, wishes,
and designs occasioned an opposition to many salutary measures which were proposed
for the support of that expedition, and caused obstructions, embarrassments, and
studied delays, which have finally lost us the province.
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All these causes, however, in conjunction, would not have disappointed us, if it had not
been for a misfortune which could not have been foreseen, and perhaps could not have
been prevented—I mean the prevalence of the small-pox among our troops. This fatal
pestilence completed our destruction. It is a frown of Providence upon us, which we
ought to lay to heart.
But, on the other hand, the delay of this declaration to this time has many great
advantages attending it. The hopes of reconciliation which were fondly entertained by
multitudes of honest and well-meaning, though short-sighted and mistaken, people have
been gradually, and at last totally, extinguished. Time has been given for the whole
people maturely to consider the great question of independence, and to ripen their
judgment, dissipate their fears, and allure their hopes, by discussing it in newspapers
and pamphlets, by debating it in assemblies, conventions, committees of safety and
inspection, in town and county meetings, as well as in private conversations, so that the
whole people, in every colony, have now adopted it as their own act. This will cement
the union, and avoid those heats, and perhaps convulsions, which might have been
occasioned by such a declaration six months ago.
But the day is past. The second day of July, 1776, will be a memorable epoch in the
history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding
generations as the great Anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day
of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized
with pomp, shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end
of the continent to the other, from this time forward forever.
You may think me transported with enthusiasm; but I am not. I am well aware of the toil
and blood and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this declaration and support and
defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of light and glory; I
can see that the end is more than worth all the means, and that posterity will triumph,
although you and I may rue, which I hope we shall not.
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Chapter 9
Alexander Hamilton
Hamilton, ALEXANDER, statesman; born in Nevis,
W. I., January 11, 1757. His father was a
Scotchman; his mother, of Huguenot descent. He
came to the colonies in 1772, and attended a
school kept by Francis Barber at Elizabeth, New
Jersey, and entered King's (Columbia) College in
1773. He made a speech to a popular assemblage
in New York City in 1774, when only seventeen
years old, remarkable in every way, and he aided
the patriotic movement by his writings. In March,
1776, he was made captain of artillery, and served
at White Plains, Trenton, and Princeton; and in
March, 1777, became aide-de-camp to General
George Washington, and his secretary and trusted
friend. He was of great assistance to Washington in
his correspondence, and in planning campaigns. In
December, 1780, he married a daughter of General
Schuyler, and in 1781 he retired from General
Washington's staff. In July he was appointed to the command of New York troops, with
the rank of colonel, and assaulted and captured a redoubt at Yorktown, October 14,
1781. After the surrender of Cornwallis he left the army; studied law; was a member of
Congress (1782-83), and soon took the lead in his profession. He was a member of the
New York legislature in 1787, and of the convention at Philadelphia that framed the new
Constitution. With the aid of James Madison and John Jay, Hamilton put forth a series
of papers in support of the Constitution, which became known as The Federalist.
Hamilton wrote the larger part of that work. He was called to the cabinet of George
Washington as Secretary of the Treasury, and was the founder of the economic system
of the republic. Having assisted in setting up the government of the United States, and
seeing it in successful working order, he resigned, January 31, 1795, and resumed the
practice of law; but his pen was much used in support of the policy of the national
government. When, in 1798, war with France seemed probable, and President Adams
appointed George Washington commander-in-chief of the armies of the republic,
Hamilton was made his second in command, with the rank of major-general. On the
death of Washington (December, 1799), Hamilton succeeded him as commander-in-
chief, but the provisional army was soon disbanded.
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On September 3, 1780, Hamilton wrote to Duane, a member of Congress from New

York, and expressed his views on the subject of State supremacy and a national
government. He proposed to call for a convention of all the States on November 1
following, with full authority to conclude, finally, upon a general confederation. He traced
the cause of the want of power in Congress, and censured that body for its timidity in
refusing to assume authority to preserve the infant republic from harm. "Undefined
powers," he said, "are discretionary powers, limited only by the object for which they
were given." He said that "some of the lines of the army, but for the influence of
Washington, would obey their States in opposition to Congress. . . . Congress should
have complete sovereignty in all that relates to war, peace, trade, finance, foreign
affairs, armies, fleets, fortifications, coining money, establishing banks, imposing a land-
tax, poll-tax, duties on trade, and the unoccupied lands." He proposed that the general
government should have power to provide certain perpetual revenues, productive and
easy of collection. He claimed the plan of confederation then before Congress to be
defective, and urged alteration. "It is neither fit for war," he said, "nor for peace. The
idea of an uncontrollable sovereignty in each State will defeat the powers given to
Congress, and make our union feeble and precarious." He recommended the
appointment of joint officers of state—for foreign affairs, for war, for the navy, and for
the treasury—to supersede the "committees" and "boards" hitherto employed; but he
neither favored a chief magistrate with supreme executive power, nor two branches in
the national legislature. The whole tone of Hamilton's letter was hopeful of the future,
though written in his tent, in the midst of a suffering army.
Alexander Hamilton Feared Democracy
Hamilton was afraid of democracy. He wished to secure for the United States a strong
government; and in the convention at Philadelphia in 1787 he presented a plan, the
chief features of which were an assembly, to be elected by the people for three years; a
senate, to be chosen by electors voted for by the people, to hold office during good
behavior; and a governor, also chosen to rule during good behavior by a similar but
more complicated process. The governor was to have an absolute negative upon all
laws, and the appointment of all officers, subject, however, to the approval of the
Senate. The general government was to have the appointment of the governors of the
States, and a negative upon all State laws. The Senate was to be invested with the
power of declaring war and ratifying treaties. In a speech preliminary to his presentation
of this plan, Hamilton expressed doubts as to republican government at all, and his
admiration of the English constitution as the best model; nor did he conceal his
preference for monarchy, while he admitted that, in the existing state of public
sentiment, it was necessary to adhere to republican forms, but with all the strength
possible. He desired a general government strong enough to counter-balance the
strength of the State governments and reduce them to subordinate importance.
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Debt from the Revolutionary War
The first report to the national Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury was waited for
with great anxiety not only by the public creditors, but by every thoughtful patriot. It was
presented to the House of Representatives January 15, 1790. It embodied a financial
system, which was adopted, and remained the financial policy of the new government
for more than twenty years. On his recommendation, the national government assumed
not only the foreign and domestic debts of the old government, incurred in carrying on
the Revolutionary War, but also the debts contracted by the several States during that
period. The foreign debt, with accrued interest, amounting to almost $12,000,000, was
due chiefly to France and private lenders in Holland. The domestic debt, including
outstanding Continental money and interest, amounted to over $42,000,000, nearly
one-third of which was accumulated accrued interest. The State debts assumed
amounted in the aggregate to $21,000,000, distributed as follows:
New Hampshire, $300,000;

Massachusetts, $4,000,000;
Rhode Island, $200,000;
Connecticut, $1,600,000;
New York, $1,200,000;
New Jersey, $800,000;
Pennsylvania, $2,200,000;
Delaware, $200,000;
Maryland, $800,000;
Virginia, $3,000,000;
North Carolina, $2,400,000;
South Carolina, $4,000,000;
Georgia, $300,000.
Long and earnest debates on this report occurred in and out of Congress. There was
but one opinion about the foreign n debt, and the President was authorized to borrow
$12,000,000 to pay it with. As to the domestic debt, there was a wide difference of
opinion. The Continental bills, government certificates, and other evidences of debt
were mostly held by speculators, who had purchased them at greatly reduced rates;
and many prominent men thought it would be proper and expedient to apply a scale of
depreciation to them, as in the case of the paper money towards the close of the war, in
liquidating them.
Hamilton declared such a course would be dishonest and impolitic, and that the public
promises should be met in full, in whatever hands the evidences were found. It was the
only way, he argued justly, to sustain public credit. He proposed the funding of the
public debt in a fair and economical way by which the creditors should receive their
promised 6 per cent. until the government should be able to pay the principal. Congress
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also authorized an additional loan to the amount of $21,000,000, payable in certificates

of the State debts. A system of revenue from imports and internal excise, proposed by
Hamilton, was also adopted.
Conflict Between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton
The persistent and sometimes violent attacks upon the financial policy of the
government, sometimes assuming the aspect of personality towards Hamilton, that
appeared in Freneau's National Gazette in 1792, at length provoked the Secretary of
the Treasury to publish a newspaper article, over the signature of "An American," in
which attention was called to Freneau's paper as the organ of the Secretary of State,
Mr. Jefferson, and edited by a clerk employed in his office. This connection was
represented as indelicate, and inconsistent with Jefferson's professions of republican
purity. He commented on the inconsistency and indelicacy of Mr. Jefferson in retaining a
place in the cabinet when he was opposed to the government he was serving, vilifying
its important measures, adopted by both branches of the Congress, and sanctioned by
the chief magistrate; and continually casting obstacles in the way of establishing the
public credit and providing for the support of the government. The paper concluded with
a contrast, as to the effect upon the public welfare, between the policy adopted by the
government and that advocated by the party of which Jefferson aspired to be leader.
Freneau denied, under oath, that Jefferson had anything to do with his paper, and
declared he had never written a line for it. To this " An American " replied that "actions
were louder than words or oaths," and charged Jefferson with being "the prompter of
the attacks on government measures and the aspersions on honorable men." The
papers by "An American" were at once ascribed to Hamilton, and drew out answers
from Jefferson's friends. To these Hamilton replied. The quarrel waxed hot. Washington
(then at Mount Vernon), as soon as he heard of the newspaper war, tried to bring about
a truce between the angry Secretaries. In a letter to Jefferson, August 23, 1792, he
said: "How unfortunate and how much to be regretted it is that, while we are
encompassed on all sides with avowed enemies and insidious friends, internal
dissensions should be harrowing and tearing out our vitals." He portrayed the public
injury that such a quarrel would inflict. He wrote to Hamilton to the same effect. Their
answers were characteristic of the two men, Jefferson's concluding with an intimation
that he should retire from office at the close of Washington's term. Hamilton and
Jefferson were never reconciled; personally there was a truce, but politically they were
bitter enemies.
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The Duel Between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr
In the winter of 1804 Hamilton was in Albany, attending to law business. While there a
caucus or consultation was held by the leading Federalists. It was a secret meeting to
consult and compare opinions on the question whether the Federalists, as a party,
ought to support Aaron Burr for the office of governor of the State of New York. In a
bedroom adjoining the closed dining-room in which the caucus was held one or two of
Burr's political friends were concealed, and heard every word uttered in the meeting.
The characters of men were fully discussed, and Hamilton, in a speech, spoke of Burr
as an unsuitable candidate, because no reliance could be placed in him. The spies
reported the proceedings, and on February 17 a correspondent of the Morning
Chronicle wrote that at a Federal meeting the night before the "principal part of
Hamilton's speech went to show that no reliance ought to be placed in Mr. Burr." In the
election which ensued Burr was defeated, and, though Hamilton had taken no part in
the canvass, his influence was such that Burr attributed his defeat to him. Burr, defeated
and politically ruined, evidently determined on revenge - a revenge that nothing but the
life of Hamilton would satisfy. Dr. Charles Cooper, of Albany, had dined with Hamilton,
where Hamilton spoke freely of Burr's political conduct and principles only, to which he
declared himself hostile. Dr. Cooper, in his zeal, just before the election, in published
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letters, said: "Hamilton and Kent both consider Burr, politically, as a dangerous man,
and unfit for the office of governor." He also wrote that Hamilton and Kent both thought
that Burr ought not to be "trusted with the reins of government," and added, "I could
detail a still more despicable opinion which Hamilton had expressed of Burr." The latter
made these private expressions of Hamilton concerning his political character a pretext
for a challenge to a duel; and, seizing upon the word " despicable," sent a note to
Hamilton, demanding " a prompt and unqualified acknowledgment or denial of having
said anything which warranted such an expression." Several notes passed between
Hamilton and Burr, through the hands of friends, in one of which Hamilton frankly said
that "the conversation which Dr. Cooper alluded to turned wholly on political topics, and
did not attribute to Colonel Burr any instance of dishonorable conduct, nor relate to his
private character; and in relation to any other language or conversation of General
Hamilton which Colonel Burr will specify, a prompt and frank avowal or denial will be
given." This was all an honorable man could ask. But Burr seemed want Hamilton dead,
and he pressed him to fight a duel in a manner which, in the public opinion which then
prevailed concerning the "code of honor," Hamilton could not decline. They fought at
Weehawken, July 11, 1804, on the west side of the Hudson River, and Hamilton, who
would not discharge his pistol at Burr, for be did not wish to hurt him, was mortally
wounded, and died the next day. The public excitement, without regard to party, was
intense. Burr fled from New York and became a fugitive from justice. He was politically
dead, and bore the burden of scorn and remorse for more than thirty years.
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Chapter 10
Nathan Hale
Hale, NATHAN, patriot; born in Coventry, Connecticut, June 6, 1755; graduated at

Yale College in 1773; and taught school till the fight in Lexington prompted him to join
Colonel Charles Webb's regiment. He took part in the siege of Boston; was promoted to
captain in January, 1776; and was sent to New York. In response to a call from George
Washington he volunteered to enter the British lines and procure needed information. At
the house of Robert Murray, on the Incleberg (now Murray Hill, in the city of New York),
where Washington had his headquarters for a brief time while retreating towards Harlem
Heights, Hale received instructions on duty from the commander-in-chief. He entered
the British camp on Long Island as a plain young farmer, and made sketches and notes
unsuspected. A Tory kinsman knew and betrayed him. He was taken to Howe's
headquarters at the Beekman mansion, and confined in the greenhouse all night. He
frankly avowed his name, rank, and character as a spy (which his papers revealed),
and, without even the form of a trial, was handed over to the provost-marshal
(Cunningham) the next morning (September 22, 1776) to be hanged. That infamous
officer denied Hale the services of a clergyman and the use of a Bible; but the more
humane officer who superintended the execution furnished him with materials to write
letters to his mother, his betrothed, and sisters. These the brutal Cunningham destroyed
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before the face of his victim, while tears and sobs marked the sympathy of the
spectators. With unfaltering voice, Hale said, at the last moment, "I only regret that I
have but one life to lose for my country." Statues of the patriot have been erected in
the capitol in Hartford and in City Hall Park, New York City.
Execution of Nathan Hale
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Chapter 11
Nathaniel Bacon
Bacon, NATHANIEL, patriot; born in Suffolk, England, January 2, 1642. He was
educated at the Inns of Court, London; came to America with a considerable fortune in
1670; settled in Gloucester county, Virginia, and owned a large estate high up on the
James River. A lawyer by profession and eloquent
in speech, he easily exercised great influence
over the people. He became a member of the
council in 1672. He was a republican in sentiment;
and, strongly opposing the views and public
conduct of Governor Berkeley, the stanch loyalist,
he stirred up the people to rebellion. Berkeley,
who was very popular at first, had become
tyrannical and oppressive as an uncompromising
royalist and rigorous executor of his royal master's
will. At the same time republicanism had begun a
vigorous growth among the people of Virginia; but
it was repressed somewhat by a majority of
royalists in the House of Burgesses; and the
council were as pliant tools of Berkeley as any
courtiers who paid homage to the King. The
governor rigidly enforced navigation laws
oppressive to colonial commerce; and the
marriage laws, and the elective and other
franchises, were modified, abridged, or abolished.
The Church of England was made supreme, and was an instrument of persecution in
the hands of the dominant party, in attempts to drive Baptists, Quakers, and Puritans
out of Virginia. Stimulated by these oppressions, republicanism grew vigorously in
Virginia, and the toilers and righteous men of the aristocracy soon formed a powerful
republican party that threatened to fill the House of Burgesses with men of their creed.
Berkeley, having a pliant majority of the cavalier class in the Assembly, sanctioned
unjust and arbitrary decrees of the King, who gave to profligate court favorites, first
large tracts of land, some of it cultivated, in Virginia; and, finally, in 1673, he gave to two
of them (Lord Culpepper and Earl of Arlington) " all the dominion of land and water
called Virginia " for thirty years.
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Colonists of Virginia Become Discontent
The best men in the colony of both parties, alarmed by this proceeding, sent a
committee with a remonstrance to the King, but the mission was fruitless. The
republicans were very indignant. Rebellious murmurs were heard everywhere in the
colony; and the toiling people were taught to regard the aristocracy as their enemies,
and so the majority of them were. Having a majority in the legislature of the colony, they
ruled without any regard for the happiness of the people. Everything for the public good
was neglected. There were no roads or bridges in Virginia; and the people were
compelled to travel along bridle-paths on land, and to ford or swim the streams. They
journeyed on the water in canoes or boats, and endured many hardships. The working
people lived in log-cabins with unglazed windows. There were no villages. At the time,
Jamestown, the capital, consisted of only a church, a State-house, and eighteen
dwellings; and, until lately, the Assembly had met in the hall of an ale-house. This was
about seventy years after the founding of the colony, when it contained 50,000
inhabitants. The large landowners - the aristocracy - meanwhile were living in luxury in
fine mansions, in sight of some beautiful river, surrounded by negro slaves and other
dependants, and enjoying a sort of patriarchal life. The governor was clamoring for an
increase of his salary, while his stables and fields had seventy horses in them, and
flocks of sheep were on his great plantation, called "Green Spring." The tendency of
such a state of society was obvious to every reflecting mind.
Indian Troubles
It was at this juncture that Bacon arrived in Virginia, and espoused the cause of the
republicans. In the summer of 1675 the Indians, seeing their domain gradually absorbed
by the encroaching white people, in their despair struck a heavy blow. As they swept
from the North through Maryland, John Washington, grandfather of the first President of
the United States, opposed them with a force of Virginians, and a fierce border war
ensued. Berkeley, who had the monopoly of the furtrade with the natives, treated the
latter leniently. Six chiefs, who had come to camp to treat for peace, were treacherously
slain by Englishmen. The wrathful Indians strewed their pathway, in the country
between the Rappahannock and James rivers, with the dead bodies of ten Englishmen
for every chief that was treacherously murdered, and blackened its face with fire. The
supineness of the governor increased the sense of insecurity among the people, and a
deputation headed by Bacon petitioned him for leave to arm and protect themselves.
Berkeley, having reason, as he thought, to suspect Bacon of ambitious rather than
patriotic motives (for he had been engaged in an insurrection before), refused to grant
this prayer.
Bacon's Rebellion
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At this Bacon took fire. He knew the cause of the refusal, and he at once proclaimed
that he was ready to lead the people against the approaching invaders without
permission, if another white person should be murdered by them. Very soon news
reached him that some on his own plantation, near (present) Richmond, had been slain.
He summoned the people to a consultation. Mounting a stump, he addressed them with
impassioned eloquence, denounced the governor, and advised his hearers to take up
arms in their own defense. They were soon embodied in military force, and chose
Bacon as their general. He asked the governor to give him a commission as such, but
was refused; and Bacon marched against the Indians without it. Before he had reached
York River, the governor proclaimed him a rebel, and ordered his followers to disperse.
A greater portion of them followed Bacon's standard, and the expedition pushed
forward; while the lower settlements arose in insurrection, and demanded an immediate
dissolution of the aristocratic Assembly. The Indians were driven back to the
Rappahannock, a new Assembly was chosen, and Bacon was elected to a seat in the
House of Burgesses from Henrico county.
The new House represented the popular will. They gave Bacon a commission as
general, but Berkeley refused to sign it. Some of the Assembly supported the governor
in the matter, when Bacon, fearing treachery, retired to the " Middle Plantation " (now
Williamsburg), where 500 followers proclaimed him commander-in-chief of the Virginia
forces. With these he appeared at Jamestown, and demanded his commission.
Regarding the movement as revolutionary, the governor again refused to sign it. The
sturdy old cavalier went out in great anger before the insurgent chief, and baring his
bosom, exclaimed, " Shoot! shoot! it is a fair mark!" Bacon said, respectfully, " Not a hair
of your head shall be hurt; we have come for our commissions to save our lives from the
Indians." The governor, influenced by his judgment when his anger had cooled, or by
his fears, not only signed the commission, but joined his council in commending Bacon
to the King as a zealous, loyal, and patriotic citizen. That was done on July 4, 1676, just
100 years before the famous Declaration of Independence, written by a Virginia " rebel,"
THOMAS JEFFERSON, proclaimed the English-American colonies " free and
independent States."
Bacon, so encouraged, immediately marched against the Indians. The faithless

governor, relieved of his presence, crossed the York River, called a convention of the
inhabitants of Gloucester county, and proposed to proclaim Bacon a traitor. The
convention refused to do so, when the haughty baronet issued such a proclamation on
his own responsibility, in spite of their remonstrance's. The news of this perfidy reached
Bacon at his camp on the Pamunky River. He addressed his followers with much
warmth, saying, " It vexes me to the heart that, while I am hunting the wolves and tigers
that destroy our lands, I should myself be pursued as a savage. Shall persons wholly
devoted to their King and countrymen who hazard their lives against the public enemy -
deserve the appellation of 'rebels' and 'traitors'? The whole country is witness to our
peaceable behavior. But those in authority, how have they obtained their estates? Have
they not devoured the common treasury? What arts, what sciences, what learning have
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they promoted? I appeal to the King and Parliament, where the cause of the people will
be heard impartially." Under the circumstances, Bacon felt himself compelled to lead in
a revolution. He invited the Virginians to meet in convention at the Middle Plantation.
The best men in the colony were there. They debated and deliberated on a warm
August day from noon until midnight. Bacon's eloquence and logic led them to take an
oath to support their leader in subduing the Indians and in preventing civil war; and
again he went against the Indians. The governor, alarmed by the proceedings at the
Middle Plantation, fled, with his council, to the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay,
where, by promises of booty, he tried to raise an army among the inhabitants and the
seamen of English vessels there. William Drummond, who had been the first governor
of North Carolina, with his brave and patriotic wife, Sarah, was then with Bacon. Mrs.
Drummond did much to incite the Virginians to go on in the path of revolution, and she
was denounced as "a notorious, wicked rebel." Her husband proposed to Bacon to
proclaim government in the colony abdicated by Berkeley on account of his act. It was
suggested that a power would come from England that would ruin the republicans in the
colony. Sarah snatched up a small stick from the ground, and exclaimed, " I fear the
power of England no more than a broken straw. The child that is unborn shall have
cause to rejoice for the good that will come by the rising of the country." The
proclamation of abdication was made, on the ground that the governor was fomenting
civil war; and writs were issued for a representative convention.
Meanwhile Berkeley had gathered a motley host of followers incited by promises of

plunder; proclaimed the freedom of the slaves of " rebels "; was joined by some Indians
from the eastern shore, and the English ships were placed at his service. With this
army, commanded by Major Beverly, the governor sailed with five ships and ten sloops,
and landed at Jamestown early in September, 1676, where, after piously offering
thanksgiving in the church, he proclaimed Bacon a traitor. Bacon was surprised, for he
had then few followers in camp; but his ranks swelled rapidly as the news went from
plantation to plantation. At the head of a considerable host of patriotic Virginians, he
marched towards Jamestown, seizing by the way as hostages the wives of loyalists who
were with Berkeley. The republicans appeared before the capital on a moonlit evening,
and cast up entrenchments. In vain the governor urged his motley troops to attack them;
they were not made of stuff for soldiers. Finally, the royalists stole away in the night, and
compelled the indignant governor to follow them, when Bacon entered Jamestown, and
assumed the reins of civil power. Very soon he was startled by a rumor that the royalists
of the upper counties were coming down upon him. In a council of war it was agreed to
burn the capital. The torch was applied at the twilight of a soft September day, and the
next morning nothing was left but the brick tower of the church and a few chimneys (see
JAMESTOWN) . Then Bacon hastened to meet the approaching royalists, who, not
disposed to fight, deserted their leader and joined the "rebels." At the same time the
royalists of Gloucester yielded their allegiance to Bacon, and he resolved to cross the
Chesapeake and drive the royalists and Berkeley from Virginia. His plans were
suddenly frustrated by a foe deadlier than the malignity of the royalists who opposed
him. The malaria from the marshes around Jamestown in September had poisoned his
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blood, and on October 11, 1676, he died of malignant fever. His followers made but
feeble resistance thereafter; and before November Berkeley returned to the Peninsula
and resumed the functions of government at the Middle Plantation, which was made the
capital of Virginia. Bacon had failed; yet those " do not fail who die in a good cause." His
name is embalmed in history as a rebel; had he succeeded, he would have been
immortalized as a patriot. His principal followers were very harshly treated by the soured
governor, and for a while terror reigned in Virginia. The rebellion cost the colony
$500,000. See BERKELEY, SIR WILLIAM.
Sir William Berkeley

Berkeley, SIR WILLIAM, colonial governor ; born near London about 1610; was brother
of Lord John Berkeley, one of the early English proprietors of New Jersey. Appointed
governor of Virginia, he arrived there in February, 1642. Berkeley was a fine specimen
of a young English courtier. He was then thirty-two years of age, well educated at
Oxford, handsome in person, polished by foreign travel, and possessing exquisite taste
in dress. He was one of the most accomplished cavaliers of the day. He adopted some
salutary measures in Virginia which made him popular; and at his mansion at Green
Spring, not far from Jamestown, he dispensed generous hospitality for many years.
Berkeley was a stanch but not a bigoted royalist at first; and during the civil war in
England he managed public affairs in Virginia with so much prudence that a greater
proportion of the colonists were in sympathy with him.
Persecution of the Puritans
In religious matters there was soon perceived the spirit of persecution in the character
of the governor. The Puritans were then not only tolerated in Virginia, but had been
invited to settle there. The civil war drew a line of clear demarcation between
churchmen and nonconformists. A large majority of the people of Virginia were attached
to the Church of England; so was the governor. In England the Puritans were identified
with the republicans, and Berkeley thought it to be his duty to suppress them in his
colony as enemies to royalty. So he first decreed that no Puritan minister should preach
except in conformity to the rules of the Church of England; and, finally, all
nonconformists were banished from Virginia. In the war with the Indians in 1644, in
which OPECHANCANOUGH led the natives, the governor behaved with promptness
and efficiency, and soon crushed the invaders. Then the colonists had peace and
prosperity for some years. In 1648 they numbered 20,000. " The cottages were filled
with children, as the ports with ships and emigrants." The people were loyal to the King;
and when the latter lost his head, and royalty was abolished in England, they opened
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wide their arms to receive the cavaliers (many of them of the gentry, nobility, and clergy
of the realm) who fled in horror from the wrath of republicans. They brought refinement
in manners and intellectual culture to Virginia, and strengthened the loyalty of the
colonists. When the King was slain they recognized his exiled son as their sovereign,
and Berkeley proclaimed him King of Virginia. Sir William administered the government
under a commission sent by Charles from his place of exile (Breda, in Flanders).
Berkeley Remains Loyal to the Stuarts
Virginia was the last territory belonging to England that submitted to the government of
the republicans on the downfall of monarchy. This persistent attachment to the Stuarts
offended the republican Parliament, and they sent Sir George Ayscue with a strong
fleet, early in the spring of 1652, to reduce the Virginians to submission. The fleet bore
commissioners authorized to use harsh or conciliatory measures to make a
compromise, or to declare the freedom of the slaves of the royalists, put arms in their
hands, and make war. The commissioners were met with firmness by Berkeley.
Astonished by the boldness of the governor and his adherents, they deemed it more
prudent to compromise than to attempt coercion. The result was, the political freedom of
the colonists was guaranteed. Berkeley regarding those whom the commissioners
represented as usurpers, he would make no stipulations with them for himself, and he
withdrew from the governorship and lived in retirement on his plantation at Green Spring
until the restoration of monarchy in England in 1660, when the loyalty of the Virginians
was not forgotten by the new monarch.
Bacon's Rebellion
The people elected Richard Bennett governor; and he was succeeded by two others -
Edward Diggs (1655) and Samuel Matthews (1656), the latter appointed by Oliver
Cromwell. At his death (1660) the people elected Berkeley, but he refused to serve
excepting under a royal commission, and he went to England to congratulate Charles
on his restoration to the throne. Charles gave Berkeley a commission, and he returned
to Virginia to execute his master's will with vigor. He enforced various oppressive laws,
for he was less tolerant than when he was younger and politically weaker, and, with the
cavaliers around him, he hated everything that marked the character of the Puritans.
These cavaliers despised the "common people" of New England, and opposed the
ideas of popular education. Berkeley wrote to his government in 1665, " I thank God
there are no free schools nor printing in Virginia, and I hope we shall not have them
these hundred years; for learning has brought heresy and disobedience and sects into
the world, and printing hath divulged them, and libels against the best government; God
keep us from both!" Oppression of the people finally produced civil war in 1676, the
events of which soured Berkeley, who had then grown old (see BACON, NATHANIEL);
and after it was over, and he was firmly seated in power, he treated the principal
abettors of the insurrection with harshness and cruelty. His King had proclaimed Bacon
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(the leader of the insurrection) a traitor, and sent an armament under Sir John Berry to
assist in crushing the rebellion. This was the first time royal troops were sent to America
to suppress the aspirations of the people for freedom. Feeling strong, Berkeley pursued
the adherents of Bacon with malignant severity until twenty-two of them were hanged.
The first martyr was Thomas Hanford, a gallant young native of Virginia. Standing
before the governor, he boldly avowed his republicanism; and when sentenced to be
hanged, he said, " I ask no favor but that I may be shot like a soldier, and not hanged
like a dog." At the gallows he said, "Take notice that I die a loyal subject and a lover of
my country." Edmund Cheeseman, when arraigned before the governor, was asked why
he engaged in the wicked rebellion, and before he could answer his young wife stepped
forward and said, " My provocations made my husband join in the cause for which
Bacon contended; but for me, he had never done what he has done. Since what is
done," she said, as she knelt before the governor, with her bowed head covered with
her hands, " was done by my means, I am most guilty; let me bear the punishment; let
me be hanged; let my husband be pardoned." The governor cried out, angrily, " Away
with you!" The poor young wife swooned, and her husband was led to the gallows.
When the brave Drummond was brought before the governor, Berkeley, with wicked
satire, made a low bow and said, " You are very welcome; I am more glad to see you
than any man in Virginia; you shall be hanged in half an hour." Drummond replied, with
dignity, " I expect no mercy from you. I have followed the lead of my conscience, and
done what I might to free my country from oppression." He was condemned at one
o'clock and hanged at four ; and his brave wife, Sarah, was denounced as a " traitor "
and banished, with her children, to the wilderness, there to subsist on the bounty of
friends. When these things were brought to the notice of the profligate monarch, even
he was disgusted with Berkeley's cruelties, and said, " The old fool has taken more lives
in that naked country than I have taken for the murder of my father ;" and Berkeley was
ordered to desist. But he continued to fine and imprison the followers of Bacon until he
was recalled in the spring of 1677, and went to England with the returning fleet of Sir
John Berry. The colonists fired great guns and lighted bonfires in token of their joy at his
departure. In England his cruelties were severely censured, and he died (July 13, 1677)
of grief and mortified pride.
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Chapter 12
General Israel Putnam
Putnam, ISRAEL, military officer; born in
Salem (the part now Danvers),
Massachusetts, January 7, 1718; he settled
in Pomfret, Connecticut, in 1739, where he
acquired a good estate; raised a company,
and served in the French and Indian War with
so much efficiency that in 1757 he was
promoted to the rank of major.
While Abercrombie was resting securely in

his entrenchments at Lake George after his
repulse at Ticonderoga, two or three of his
convoys had been cut off by French scouting-
parties, and he sent out Majors Rogers and
Putnam to intercept them. Apprised of this
movement, Montcalm sent Molang, an active
partisan, to waylay the English detachment.
While marching through the forest (August,
1758), in three divisions, within a mile of Fort
Anne, the left, led by Putnam, fell into an
ambuscade of Indians, who attacked the
English furiously, uttering horrid yells.
Putnam and his men fought bravely. His pistol at length missed fire with the muzzle at
the breast of a powerful Indian, who, with a loud war-whoop, sprang forward and
captured the brave leader. Binding Putnam to a tree (where his garments were riddled
by bullets), the chief fought on. The Indians were defeated, when his captor unbound
Putnam and took him deeper into the forest to torture him. He was stripped naked and
bound to a sapling with green withes. Dry wood was piled high around him and lighted,
while the Indians chanted the death-song. The flames were kindling fiercely, when a
sudden thunder-shower burst over the forest and nearly extinguished them. But they
were renewed with greater intensity, and Putnam lost all hope, when a French officer
dashed through the crowd of yelling natives, scattered the burning limbs, and cut the
cords that bound the victim. It was Molang, the leader of the French and Indians, who
had heard of the dreadful proceedings. Putnam was delivered to Montcalm at
Ticonderoga, treated kindly, and sent a prisoner to Montreal. He was afterwards
exchanged for a prisoner captured by Bradstreet at Fort Frontenac, and was lieutenant-
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colonel at the capture of Montreal in 1760, and at the capture of Havana in 1762. He
was a colonel in Bradstreet's Western expedition in 1764. After the war he settled on a
farm in Brooklyn township, Connecticut, where he also kept a tavern.
Rescuing Putnam from the Indians
254 | P a g e
General Putnam in the Revolutionary War
On the morning after the affairs at Lexington and Concord (April 20, 1775) Putnam was
in his field, with tow blouse and leather apron, assisting hired men in building a stone
wall on his farm. A horseman at full speed acquainted him with the stirring news. He
instantly set out to arouse the militia of the nearest town,
and was chosen their leader when they were gathered. In
his rough guise he set out for Cambridge, and reached it
at sunrise, having ridden the same horse 100 miles in
eighteen hours. He was appointed a provincial major-
general; was active in the battle of Bunker Hill; and was
appointed one of the first major-generals of the
Continental army. From that time his services were given
to his country without cessation in the Hudson Highlands
and in western Connecticut. Paralysis of one side of his
body in 1779 affected his physical condition, but did not
impair his mind, and he lived in retirement until his death, May 19, 1790. The sign on
Putnam's tavern bore a full-length portrait of General Wolfe. In the following letter,
written at the close of the Revolutionary War, he alludes to his having been an
innkeeper:
"BROOKLYN, Feb. 18, 1782.
"GENTLEMEN, Being an Enemy to Idleness, Dissipation, and Intemperance, I would

object against any measure that may be conducive thereto; and as the multiplying of
public-houses where the public good does not require it has a direct tendency to ruin
the morals of the youth, and promote idleness and intemperance among all ranks of
people, especially as the grand object of those candidates for license is money, and
where that is the case, men are not apt to be over tender of people's morals or purses.
The authority of this town, I think, have run into a great error in approbating an
additional number of public houses, especially in this parish. They have approbated two
houses in the centre, where there never was custom (I mean traveling custom) enough
for one. The other custom (or domestic), I have been informed, has of late years
increased, and the licensing of another house, I fear, would increase it more. As I kept a
public house here myself a number of years before the war, I had an opportunity of
knowing, and certainly do know, that the traveling custom is too trifling for a man to lay
himself out so as to keep such a house as travelers have a right to expect; therefore I
hope your honors will consult the good of this parish, so as only to license one of the
two houses. I shall not undertake to say which ought to be licensed your honors will act
according to your best information.
"I am, with esteem, your honors' humble servant, ISRAEL PUTNAM.
"To the Honorable County Court, to be held at Windham on the 19th inst."
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Chapter 13
John Jay
Jay, JOHN, statesman; born in New York City, Dec. 12, 1745; was of Huguenot
descent. Graduated at King's College (now Columbia University) in 1764, he was
admitted to the bar in 1768, and formed a partnership with Robert R. Livingston. In 1774
he was a delegate in the first
Continental Congress, and the
same year he married a
daughter of William Livingston,
of New Jersey. In that
Congress, though the youngest
member but one, he took a
conspicuous part, being the
author of the Address to the
People of Great Britain. His
facile pen was often employed
in framing documents in the
Congress of 1775. Early in 1776
he left Congress and engaged in
the public affairs of his own
State, being a leading member
of the Provincial Congress in
1776. He wrote the able address
of the convention at Fishkill in
December, 1776; reported a bill
of rights to the New York
constitutional convention in
March, 1777; and was the chief
author of the first constitution of
the State of New York. After
assisting in putting in motion the
machinery of his State
government, and being made a judge he entered Congress again late in 1778 and
became president of that body. In September, 1779, he was sent to Spain to negotiate a
loan. Mr. Jay was one of the commissioners for negotiating a treaty of peace with Great
Britain. He returned to New York in 1784, and was secretary for foreign affairs from that
year until the organization of the government under the national Constitution. Mr. Jay
was associated with Hamilton and Madison in writing the series of articles in support of
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the Constitution known collectively as The Federalist. Washington appointed Jay the
first chief-justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
On April 7, 1794, a motion was made in the House of Representatives that all
commercial intercourse with Great Britain and her subjects be suspended, so far as
respected all articles of the growth or manufacture of Great Britain or Ireland, until the
surrender of the Western posts and due compensation for all losses and damages
growing out of British aggressions on our neutral rights should be made. This motion, if
adopted, would lead directly to war. Its adoption seemed probable, and Washington, to
avert the calamitous consequences, proposed to send a special minister to England to
negotiate an amicable settlement of the existing disputes. There were grave charges of
violations of the treaty of 1783 made by the two parties against each other. Washington
desired to send Hamilton on the mission. Violent opposition to this was made by his
political enemies, whose hatred and jealousy were intense. Fearing Hamilton might not
have the confirmation of the Senate, Washington nominated Mr. Jay (April 16), which
nomination was confirmed April 19. The special minister arrived in England in June,
where he was received with great courtesy by the British government. He negotiated a
treaty which was not wholly satisfactory to his countrymen, closing his labors on Nov. 19
; and from 1795 to 1801 he was governor of New York, under whose administration
slavery was abolished. This was his last public office. He died in Bedford, N. Y., May 17,
1829. See AMES, FISHER.
Jay's Treaty
After Mr. Jay's formal reception in London, Lord Grenville, then at the head of foreign
affairs, expressed great anxiety to bring the negotiations to a successful issue. There
was a wide difference of views concerning matters in dispute. The Americans
complained that, contrary to the provisions of the treaty of peace (1783), a large number
of negroes had been carried off by the evacuating armies; and for this loss
compensation was demanded for the owners. They complained, also, of the detention
of the Western posts, which was the main cause of the hostility of the Northwestern
tribes. They also alleged numerous violations of their neutral rights, especially on the
high seas, such as the impressments of seamen and the exclusion of American
shipping from the trade of the British West Indies. There were other complaints on the
part of the Americans; but the matters more immediately provocative of war were the
disputed questions of neutral rights and the detention of the Western posts. Deeming it
wise to adjust these two important difficulties, Jay thought it best to yield, temporarily,
other considerations, or leave them for future adjustment, and he was induced to sign a
treaty, Nov. 19, 1794, defective in some respects and objectionable in others. It
provided for the collection of British debts in the United States contracted before the
Revolution, but it did not secure indemnity to those who lost slaves. It secured indemnity
for unlawful captures on the high seas, and the evacuation of the military posts on the
frontiers yet held by the British. These were to be surrendered on June 1, 1796, the
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present residents to have the option of removing or of becoming American citizens.

There was to be a mutual reciprocity of inland trade and intercourse between the North
American territories of the two nations, including the navigation of the Mississippi; but it
did not extend to the Hudson Bay Company, nor to the admission of American vessels
into the harbors of the British North American colonies, nor to the navigation of the
rivers of those colonies below the highest port of entry. These were the principal
features of the first ten articles of the treaty, which were to be perpetual. Eighteen
others, of the nature of a treaty of commerce, were limited to two years. They provided
for the admission of American vessels into British ports in Europe and the East Indies
on terms of equality with British vessels; but no terms were made concerning the East
India coasting trade, or the trade between Europe and the British West Indies. There
were restrictions upon the American trade to the British West Indies; and British vessels
were to be admitted to American ports on terms of the most favored nations. Privateers
were to give bonds to respond to any damages they might - commit against neutrals,
and other regulations of that service were made. The list of contraband articles was
clearly defined. No vessel attempting to enter a blockaded port was to be captured
unless she had first been notified and turned away. Neither nation was to allow
enlistments within its territory by any third nation at war with the other; nor were the
citizens or subjects of either to be allowed to accept commissions from such third
nation, or to enlist in its service, on penalty of being treated as pirates. Ships-of-war of
the contracting parties were to be mutually admitted in a friendly manner into the ports
of each other, such vessels to be free from any claim of search, but were to depart as
speedily as might be. Other and stringent regulations were made concerning privateers.
In case of rupture or war, the citizens or subjects of either nation resident in the
territories of the other were to be allowed to remain and to continue their trade so long
as they behaved peaceably. They might be ordered off, in case of suspicion, on twelve
months' notice, or without any notice, if detected in violations of the laws. No reprisals
were to be ordered by either party till satisfaction had first been demanded. Fugitives
from justice charged with murder or forgery were to be mutually given up.
Early Opposition—The treaty was concluded at London on Nov. 19, 1794. It reached
the President in March, 1795, after the adjournment of Congress. The Senate was
convened, in special session, to consider it, early in June, 1795. After a debate for a
fortnight, in secret session, a vote of 20 to 10—precisely a constitutional majority—
advised (June 24) the ratification of the treaty, excepting the article which related to the
renunciation by the Americans of the privilege of transportation of sugar, molasses,
coffee, cocoa, and cotton in the West India trade. Cotton was then just promising to be
of vast importance in the carrying-trade, and such an article was wholly inadmissible.
The President had determined, before the meeting of the Senate, to ratify the treaty;
and when it was laid before the cabinet all agreed with him excepting the Secretary of
State (Edmund Randolph, of Virginia) , who raised the point that by the ratification,
before an obnoxious British Order in Council concerning neutrals should be repealed,
the British claim to the right of search and impressments would be conceded by the
Americans. Hamilton, who had been consulted, advised the ratification, but to withhold
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the exchange of ratifications until that order should be repealed. The Senate had
removed the seal of secrecy from their proceedings, but had forbidden any publication
of the treaty itself. Statements concerning the provisions of the treaty soon appeared.
The Democratic societies and newspapers had resolved to oppose and attack the treaty
whatever might be its provisions. They had opposed the mission to negotiate it. After it
was received Randolph revealed enough of its character to give a foundation for many
attacks upon it in the newspapers. It was denounced as a pusillanimous surrender of
American rights. In order to pre-vent misrepresentations, and to elicit the expressions of
the people, Washington caused the whole treaty to be published. A mad, seditious cry
went over the land from the opposition. In several cities mobs threatened personal
violence to the supporters of the treaty. Hamilton was stoned at a public meeting in New
York, while speaking in the open air. The British minister at Philadelphia was insulted ;
and in Charleston the British flag was trailed in the dust of the streets. Jay was
denounced as a traitor; and in Virginia disunion was recommended as a cure for
political evils. The Democratic societies and orators put forth claims for sympathy for
France. " She has a government congenial to our own. Citizens, your security depends
on France. Let us unite with her and stand or fall together!" shouted opposition orators
throughout the country. The Democrats adorned their hats with the French cockade. Jay
was burned in effigy in many places, and longings for the guillotine were freely
expressed in public assemblies.
When the President had proclaimed the treaty as the law of the land, he, according to
promise, sent a copy of it, March 2, 1796, to the House. Its appearance was the
beginning of a violent debate in that body, which turned upon the question whether the
House possessed discretionary power to carry the treaty into execution or not at its
pleasure. The debate arose on a motion of Edward Livingston, of New York, calling
upon the President for his instructions to Jay and other papers relating to the treaty.
After about thirty speeches, in a debate of three weeks, which grew warmer and warmer
the longer it lasted, the resolution was adopted, March 24, by a vote of 62 to 37. The
President consulted his cabinet, and they unanimously decided that the House had no
right to make such a call, as they were not a part of the treaty-making power. They also
decided that it was not expedient for the President to furnish the papers, for the call
should be considered as an unfounded claim of power on the part of the House to
interfere with the privileges of the President and Senate. The President, therefore,
declined to comply with the request of the House, giving his reasons in a special
message. Resolutions asserting the majesty of the House were introduced (April 6), and
were supported by Madison. These resolutions were adopted by a vote of 57 to 35, and
the subject of the " British treaty" was e staple topic of debate for some time after.
wards. Finally, April 30, the House passed a resolution-51 to 48-that it way expedient to
pass laws for carrying the treaty into effect.
The discussions of the treaty were soon transferred from public meetings and the
newspapers to the arena of State legislatures. Governor Shelby, in his speech to the
Kentucky legislature, attacked the treaty. The House seemed to agree with him (Nov. 4,
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1794), but the Senate evaded any decided committal. The house of delegates of
Virginia adopted, by a vote of 100 to 50, a resolution approving the conduct of their
Senators in voting (Nov. 20) against the treaty. A counter-resolution declaring their
undiminished confidence in the President was lost-59 to 79; but another resolution
disclaiming any imputation of the President's motives was passed-78 to 62. The
legislature of Maryland resolved that they felt a deep concern at efforts to detach from
the President the " well-earned confidence of his fellow-citizens," and declared their "
unabated reliance in his judgment, integrity, and patriotism." The Senate of
Pennsylvania made a similar declaration. The legislature of New Hampshire expressed,
Dec. 5, 1795, their " abhorrence of those disturbers of the peace " who had endeavored
to render abortive measures so well calculated to advance the happiness of the country.
The North Carolina legislature, by a decided majority, adopted a series of resolutions,
Dec. 8, reprobating the treaty and thanking their Senators for having opposed it. In the
legislature of South Carolina resolutions were introduced declaring the treaty "highly
injurious to the general interests of the United States "; when the friends of the treaty,
finding themselves in a minority, declared the legislature had no business to interfere
with the duties of the President and Senate of the United States, and refused to vote,
the resolutions were adopted unanimously. The House did not venture to send up these
resolutions to the Senate.
A resolution declaring the treaty unconstitutional was defeated. The legislature of

Delaware passed, Jan. 14, 1796, a resolution of approval. Gov. Samuel Adams, of
Massachusetts, spoke of the treaty as " pregnant with evil," suggested a conflict of
authority between the President and Senate and the House of Representatives, and
transmitted to the general court the resolutions of Virginia on the subject of
amendments to the Constitution. The Massachusetts Senate declared their concurrence
in the belief of the governor that the national government was in " honest hands," and
the house suggested "a respectful submission on the part of the people to the
constituted authorities as the surest means of enjoying and perpetuating the invaluable
blessings of our free and representative government." The general court of Rhode
Island expressed their confidence in the general government. So, also, did the
legislature of New York.
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Fisher Ames
and Speech on Jay's Treaty
Ames, FISHER, orator and statesman; born in
Dedham, Mass., April 9, 1758; was graduated at
Harvard College in 1774; taught school until
1781; then began the practice of law; and soon
displayed rare oratorical powers. He wrote
political essays for Boston newspapers, over the
signatures of " Brutus " and " Camillus." In
Congress from 1789 until 1797 he was always
distinguished for his great business talent,
exalted patriotism, and brilliant oratory. Ardently
devoted to Washington, personally and politically,
he was chosen by his colleagues to write the
address to the first President on his retiring from
office in 1797. After leaving Congress he devoted
himself to the practice of his profession; but
finally, on account of declining health, gave it up
to engage exclusively in agricultural pursuits. In
1804 he was chosen president of Harvard
College, but declined the honor. He received the degree of LL.D. from that institution.
His orations, essays, and letters were collected and published in 1 volume, with a
biographical sketch by Rev. Dr. Kirkland, in 1809. So powerful was his great speech in
Congress in favor of Jay's Treaty, on April 28, 1795, that an opposition member moved
to postpone the decision of the question that they might not " vote under the influence of
a sensibility which their calm judgment might condemn." He died in Dedham, July 4,
1808. (See JOHN JAY)
Speech on Jay's Treaty.
The following are extracts from his speech made on April 28, 1796:
The treaty is bad, fatally bad, is the cry. It sacrifices the interest, the honor, the
independence of the United States, and the faith of our engagements to France. If we
listen to the clamor of party intemperance, the evils are of a number not to be counted,
and of a nature not to be borne, even in idea. The language of passion and
exaggeration may silence that of sober reason in other places; it has not done it here.
The question here is whether the treaty be really so very fatal as to oblige the nation to
break its faith. I admit that such a treaty ought not to be executed. I admit that self-
preservation is the first law of society, as well as of individuals. It would, perhaps, be
deemed an abuse of terms to call that a treaty which violates such a principle. I waive,
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also, for the present, any inquiry, what departments shall represent the nation, and
annul the stipulations of a treaty. I content myself with pursuing the inquiry, whether the
nature of this compact be such as to justify our refusal to carry it into effect. A treaty is
the promise of a nation. Now, promises do not always bind him that makes them. But I
lay down two rules, which ought to guide us in this case. The treaty must appear to be
bad, not merely in the petty details, but in its character, principle, and mass. And in the
next place. this ought to be ascertained by the decided and general concurrence of the
enlightened public.
I confess there seems to be something very like ridicule thrown over the debate by the
discussion of the articles in detail. The undecided point is, shall we break our faith ? And
while our country and en-. lightened Europe await the issue with L more than curiosity,
we are employed to gather piecemeal, and article by article, from the instrument a
justification for the deed by trivial calculations of commercial profit and loss. This is little
worthy of the subject, of this body, or of the nation. If the treaty is bad, it will appear to
be so in its mass. Evil, to a fatal extreme, if that be its tendency, requires no proof ; it
brings it. Extremes speak for themselves and make their own law. What if the direct
voyage of American ships to Jamaica, with horses or lumber, might net 1 or 2 per
centum more than the present trade to Surinam-would the proof of the fact avail
anything in so grave a question as the violation of the public engagements ? . . .Why do
they complain that the West Indies are not laid open ? Why do they lament that any
restriction is stipulated on the commerce of the East Indies? Why do they pretend that, if
they reject this and insist upon more, more will be accomplished ? Let us be explicit
more would not satisfy. If all was granted, would not a treaty of amity with Great Britain
still be obnoxious ? Have we not this instant heard it urged against our envoy that he
was not ardent enough in his hatred of Great Britain? A treaty of amity is condemned
because it was not made by a foe and in the spirit of one. The same gentleman, at the
same instant, repeats a very prevailing objection, that no treaty should be made with the
enemy of France. No treaty, exclaim others, should be made with a monarch or a
despot ; there will be no naval security while those sea-robbers domineer on the ocean ;
their den must be destroyed; that nation must be extirpated.
I like this, sir, because it is sincerity. With feelings such as these we do not pant for
treaties. Such passions seek nothing, and will be content with nothing, but the
destruction of their object. If a treaty left King George his island, it would not answer; not
if he stipulated to pay rent for it. It has been said the world ought to rejoice if Britain was
sunk in the sea ; if where there are now men and wealth and laws and liberty, there was
no more than a sand-bank for sea monsters to fatten on, a space for the storms of the
ocean to mingle in conflict. . . .What is patriotism? Is it a narrow affection for the spot
where a man was born? very clods where we tread? Are the entitled to this ardent
preference because they are greener? No, sir, this is not the character of the virtue, and
it soars higher for its object. It is an extended self-love, mingled with all the enjoyments
of life, and twisting itself with the minutest filaments of the heart. It is thus we obey the
laws of society, because they are the laws of virtue. In their authority we see not the
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array of force and terror, but the venerable image of our country's honor. Every good
citizen makes that honor his own, and cherishes it not only as precious, but as sacred.
He is willing to risk his life in its defense, and is conscious that he gains protection while
he gives it. For, what rights of a citizen will be deemed inviolable when a state
renounces the principles that constitute their security? Or if his life should not be
invaded, what would its enjoyments be in a country odious in the eyes of strangers and
dishonored in his own? Could he look with affection and veneration to such a country as
his parent? The sense of having g one would die within him; he would blush for his
patriotism, if he retained any, and justly, for it would be a vice. He would be a banished
man in his native land. I see no exception to the respect that is paid among g nations to
the laws of good faith. If there are cases in this enlightened period when it is violated,
there are none when it is decried. It is the philosophy of polities, the religion of
governments. It is observed by barbarians—a whiff of tobacco smoke or a string g of
beads gives not merely a binding force but sanctity to treaties. Even in Algiers a truce
may be bought for money, but, when ratified, even Algiers is too wise or too just to
disown and annul its obligation. Thus we see neither the ignorance of savages nor the
principles of an association for piracy and rapine permit a nation to despise its
engagements. If, sir, there could be a resurrection from the foot of the gallows, if the
victims of justice could live again, collect together and form a society, they would,
however loath, soon find themselves obliged to make justice, that justice under which
they fell, the fundamental law of their state. They would perceive it was their interest to
make others respect--and they would, therefore, soon pay some respect themselves to-
-the obligations of good faith.
It is painful—I hope it is superfluous —to make even the supposition that America
should furnish the occasion of this opprobrium. No, let me not even imagine that a
republican government, sprung, as our own is, from a people en-lightened and
uncorrupted, a government whose origin is right, and whose daily discipline is duty, can,
upon solemn debate, make its option to be faithless—can dare to act what despots dare
not avow, what our own example evinces, the states of Barbary are unsuspected of. No,
let me rather make the supposition that Great Britain refuses to execute the treaty after
we have done everything to carry it into effect. Is there any language of reproach
pungent enough to ex-press your commentary on the fact? What would you say, or,
rather, what would you not say? Would you not tell them, wherever an Englishman
might travel, shame would stick to him—he would disown his country ? You would
exclaim: " England, proud of your wealth and arrogant in the possession of power, blush
for these distinctions, which become the vehicles of your dishonor." Such a nation might
truly say to corruption, " Thou art my father "; and to the worm, " Thou art my mother
and my sister." We should say of such a race of men, their name is a heavier burden
than their debt... .
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chapter 14
General John Sullivan
Sullivan, JOHN, military officer; born in
Berwick, Me., February 17, 1740; was a
lawyer, an earnest patriot, and a member
of the first Continental Congress. In
December, 1774, he, with John Langdon,
led a force against Fort William and Mary,
near Portsmouth, and took from it 100
barrels of gunpowder, fifteen cannon,
small-arms, and stores. In June, 1775, he
was appointed one of the brigadier -
generals of the Continental army, and
commanded on Winter Hill in the siege of
Boston. After the evacuation in March,
1776, he was sent with troops to reinforce
the army in Canada, of which he took
command on the death of General
Thomas, June 2, 1776, and soon
afterwards exhibited great skill in effecting
a retreat from that province. On the arrival
of Gates to succeed Sullivan, the latter
joined the army under George
Washington at New York, and at the battle
of Long Island, in August, he was made
prisoner. He was soon exchanged for General Prescott, and, joining Washington in
Westchester county, accompanied him in his retreat across New Jersey. On the capture
of Lee, he took command of the troops under that officer, and performed good service
at Trenton and Princeton. In August, 1777, he made an unsuccessful attack on the
British on Staten Island, and then joining Washington, commanded the right wing in the
battle of Brandywine. He skillfully led in the battle of Germantown, and would have
driven the British from Rhode Island, or captured them, in August, 1778, had not
D'Estaing failed to cooperate with him. After a sharp battle, he withdrew with slight loss.
The atrocities of the Indians (especially the Senecas, the most westerly of the Six
Nations) in the Wyoming Valley, and their continual raids upon the frontier settlements
in New York, caused a retaliatory expedition to be made into their country in the
264 | P a g e
summer of 1779. It was led by General Sullivan, who was instructed to "chastise and
humble the Six Nations." He collected troops in the Wyoming Valley, and marched (July
31), up the Susquehanna with about 3,000 soldiers. At Tioga Point he met (August 22)
General James Clinton, who had come from the Mohawk Valley with about 1,600 men
to join him. On the 29th they fell upon some Tories and Indians who were pretty strongly
fortified at Chemung (now Elmira), and dispersed them. Before they could rally, Sullivan
had pushed onward to the Genesee River, when he began the work of destruction. In
the course of three weeks he destroyed forty Indian villages and a vast amount of food
growing in fields and gardens. In fields and granaries 160,000 bushels of corn were
wasted by fire. The Senecas had planted orchards in the rich openings in the forest.
These were destroyed. A vast number of the finest apple and pear trees, the product of
many years of growth, fell before the axe; hundreds of gardens abounding with edible
vegetables were desolated; the inhabitants were hunted like wild beasts; their altars
were overturned and their graves trampled on by strangers; and a beautiful, well-
watered country, teeming with a prosperous people and just rising from a wild state by
the aid of cultivation, was cast back a century in the course of a few weeks. This
dreadful scourging awed the Indians for the moment, but it did not crush them. In the
reaction they had greater strength, and by it the fires of deeper hatred of the white
people were kindled far and wide among the tribes upon the borders of the Great Lakes
and in the valley of the Ohio. After this campaign Sullivan resigned his commission on
account of his shattered health, and received the thanks of Congress. He took a seat in
Congress late in 1780, and aided in suppressing the mutiny in the Pennsylvania line.
From 1782 to 1786 he was attorney-general of New Hampshire, and from 1786 to 1789
was president of that commonwealth. He was active in other public employments, and
saved the State from great confusion by his prudence and intrepidity when discontented
persons were stirring up the spirit of insurrection. From 1789 until his death he was
United States judge of New Hampshire. He died in Durham, N. H., January 23, 1795.
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The Home of General John Sullivan
266 | P a g e
General John Sullivan, with John Langdon, led a

force against Fort William and Mary, near
Portsmouth
Langdon, JOHN, statesman; born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1739; was a
successful merchant, and took an early and active part in the events preceding the
outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He was a member of the Continental Congress
(1775-76), but in June, in the latter year, he resigned his seat and became navy agent.
He was speaker of the Assembly, and was ready to make any reasonable sacrifice to
promote the cause. When means were needed to support a New Hampshire regiment,
he gave all his "hard money," pledged his plate, and applied to the same purpose the
proceeds of seventy hogsheads of tobacco. He furnished means for raising a brigade of
the troops with which Stark gained the victory at Bennington. He was active in civil
affairs, also, all through the war, serving in the Continental Congress and his State
legislature. In 1785 he was president of New Hampshire, and in 1787 was one of the
framers of the federal Constitution. He was governor of his State in 1788, and again
from 1805 to 1811; was United States Senator from 1789 to 1801, and declined the
office of Secretary of the Navy (1811) and of Vice-President of the United States (1812).
He died in Portsmouth, September 18, 1819.
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Chapter 15
General Nathanael Greene
Greene, NATHANAEL, military officer; born
in Warwick, Rhode Island, May 27, 1742; was
the son of a member of the Society of Friends
or Quakers. His education was confined to
the English of the common school, and his
youth was spent on the farm, in a mill, or in a
blacksmith's shop. When he was twenty years
old he studied law and afterwards military
tactics. He liked reading books from his
childhood. In 1770 he was elected a member
of the Rhode Island legislature, where he held
a seat until appointed to the command of the
Southern army in 1780. His military service
caused him to be "disowned" by Friends, and
he became a member of a military company.
Three regiments of militia were organized in
Rhode Island after the affair at Lexington, as
an "army of observation," and these Greene,
as provincial brigadier-general, led to
Cambridge, where he was promoted to
brigadier-general in the Continental army,
June 22, 1775. George Washington saw and
appreciated his soldierly qualities, and in August, 1776, he was made a major-general.
He commanded the left wing of the army at Trenton; was active in New Jersey; by a
rapid movement saved the army from destruction at the Brandywine; was in the battle of
Germantown, October 4, 1777, and in March, 1778, accepted the office of
quartermaster-general, but with a guarantee that he should not lose his right of
command in action. This office he resigned in August, 1780. In the battle of Springfield,
in June, 1780, he was conspicuous. During Washington's visit to Hartford (September,
1780) he was in command of the army, and was president of the court of inquiry in the
case of Major Andre soon afterwards (see ANDRE, JOHN). Greene succeeded Gates in
command of the Southern army, October 14, 1780, which he found a mere skeleton,
while a powerful enemy was in front of it. He took command of it at Charlotte, North
Carolina, December 4. By skill and energy he brought order and strength out of
confusion, and soon taught Cornwallis that a better general than Gates confronted him.
He made a famous retreat through Carolina into Virginia, and, turning back, fought the
268 | P a g e
British army at Guildford Courthouse, North Carolina, March 15, 1781. Greene then
pushed into South Carolina, and was defeated by Lord Rawdon in the battle of Hobkirk's
Hill, April 25. Soon afterwards he besieged the fort of Ninety-six, and on September 8
gained a victory at Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, for which Congress gave him thanks,
a British standard, and a gold medal.
Expelling the British from the Southern country, Greene returned to Rhode Island at the
close of the war. Congress presented him with two pieces of artillery. The State of
Georgia gave him a fine plantation a few miles from Savannah, where he settled in the
fall of 1785, and died June 19, 1786. South Carolina also gave him a valuable tract of
land. A monument dedicated jointly to Greene and Pulaski stands in the city of
Savannah, and the State of Rhode Island has erected an equestrian statue of him at the
national capital, executed by H. K. Browne.
The doubt that had long existed as to the actual burial-place of the hero was settled
early in March, 1901, when Colonel Asa Bird Gardiner, acting in behalf of the Rhode
Island Society of the Cincinnati, made an exploration of the cemeteries in Savannah,
Georgia, and, in the Jones vault of the long-abandoned colonial cemetery, found the
plate that had been on General Greene's coffin and three metal buttons, with the
American eagle on them, doubtless from the uniform in which it is known that General
Greene was buried.
269 | P a g e
Greene's Southern Campaign
While Greene and his army remained on the Santee Hills until late in the fall, his
partisan corps, led by Marion, Sumter, Lee, and others, were driving the British forces
from post to post, in the low country, and smiting Tory bands in every direction. The
British finally evacuated all their interior stations and retired to Charleston, pursued
almost to the edge of the city by the partisan troops. The main army occupied a position
between that city and Jacksonboro, where the South Carolina legislature had resumed
its sessions. Greene had failed to win victories in battle, but had fully accomplished the
object of his campaign—namely, to liberate the Carolinas and Georgia from British rule.
In the course of nine months he had recovered the three Southern States, and at the
close of 1781 he had all the British troops below Virginia hemmed within the cities of
Charleston and Savannah.
Greene's Retreat Across North Carolina
After the disaster at the Cowpens, Cornwallis placed his force in light marching order
and started in pursuit of Morgan, hoping to intercept him before he could cross the
Catawba River. The earl ordered all his stores and superfluous baggage to be burned,
and his whole army was converted into light infantry corps. The only wagons saved
were those with hospital stores, salt, and ammunition, and four empty ones for sick and
wounded. Sensible of his danger, Morgan, leaving seventy of his wounded under a flag
of truce, crossed the Broad River immediately after the battle at the COWPENS, and
pushed for the Catawba. Cornwallis followed the next morning. Two hours before the
van of the pursuers appeared, Morgan had passed the Catawba at Trading Ford, and
before the British could begin the passage, heavy rains produced a sudden rise in the
waters, and time was given to Morgan to send off his prisoners, and to refresh his weary
troops. When Greene heard of the affair at the Cowpens, he put his troops in motion to
join Morgan. Pressing forward with only a small guard, he joined Morgan two days after
he had passed the Catawba (January 29, 1781), and assumed, in person, the command
of the division. And now one of the most remarkable military movements on record
occurred. It was the retreat of the American army, under Greene, from the Catawba
through North Carolina into Virginia. When the waters of the Catawba subsided,
Cornwallis crossed and resumed his pursuit. He reached the right bank of the Yadkin
(Feb. 3), just as the Americans were safely landed on the opposite shore. Again he was
arrested by the sudden swelling of the river. Onward the flying patriots sped, and after a
few hours Cornwallis was again in full pursuit. At Guilford Courthouse Greene was
joined (February 7) by his main army from Cheraw, and all continued their flight towards
Virginia, for they were not strong enough to give battle. After many hardships and
narrow escapes, the Americans reached the Dan (February 15, 1781), and crossed its
rising waters into the friendly bosom of Halifax county, Virginia. When Cornwallis
arrived, a few hours afterwards, the stream was so high and turbulent that he could not
270 | P a g e
cross. There, mortified and disappointed, the earl abandoned the chase, and, moving
sullenly southward through North Carolina, established his camp at Hillsboro.
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Chapter 16
Roger Sherman
Sherman, ROGER, signer of the
Declaration of Independence; born in
Newton, Massachusetts, April 19, 1721;
in early life was a shoemaker, and after
the death of his father (1741) he
supported his mother and several
younger children by his industry, at the
same time employing all his leisure
time in acquiring knowledge, especially
of mathematics. In 1743 he joined an
elder brother in keeping a small store in
New Milford, Connecticut, and the next
year was appointed county surveyor of
lands. For several years (1748—60) he
furnished the astronomical calculations
for an almanac published in New York.
Meanwhile he had studied law, and
was admitted to the bar in 1754. He
was elected to the Connecticut
Assembly several times, and in 1759
became a judge of the court of common
pleas. Removing to New Haven in
1761, he became a judge of the same
court there in 1765, holding the office
until 1789. He was also chosen an assistant in 1766, and held the office nineteen years.
In 1774 he was chosen delegate to the first Continental Congress. He continued in
Congress until his death, at which time he was in the United States Senate. Judge
Sherman was one of the committee appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence;
served on the most important committees during the war; from 1784 until his death was
mayor of New Haven; and was chiefly instrumental in securing the ratification of the
national Constitution by Connecticut. He was one of the most useful men of his time.
Jefferson declared that he "never said a foolish thing in his life." He died in New Haven,
Connecticut, July 23, 1793.
272 | P a g e
General Greene Crossing the Dan River
273 | P a g e
Chapter 17
John Dickinson
Dickinson, JOHN, publicist, patriot; born
in Maryland, November 13, 1732; son of
Chief-Justice Samuel D. Dickinson; studied
law in Philadelphia and at the Temple in
London, and practiced his profession in
Philadelphia. In the Pennsylvania
Assembly, to which he was elected in 1764,
he showed great legislative ability, and was
a ready and vehement debater. At the
same time, he wrote much on the subject of
British infringement on the liberties of the
colonies. The most noted of these writings
were papers (twelve in number) entitled
Letters from a Pennsylvania Farmer, etc.,
published in the Pennsylvania Chronicle in
1767. Mr. Dickinson was a member of the
first Continental Congress, and wrote
several of the state papers put forth by that
body. Considering the resolution of
independence unwise, he voted against it
and the Declaration, and did not sign the
latter document. This made him unpopular.
In 1777 he was made a brigadier-general of
the Pennsylvania militia. He was elected a representative in Congress from Delaware in
1779, and wrote the Address to the States put forth by that body in May of that year. He
was successively president of the States of Delaware and Pennsylvania (1781-85), and
a member of the convention that framed the national Constitution (1787). Letters from
his pen, over the signature of "Fabius," advocating the adoption of the national
Constitution, appeared in 1788; and another series, over the same signature, on our
relations with France, appeared in 1797. Mr. Dickinson assisted in framing the
constitution of Delaware in 1792. His monument is DICKINSON COLLEGE, at Carlisle,
Pennsylvania, which he founded and liberally endowed. He died in Wilmington,
Delaware, February 14, 1808.
274 | P a g e
Chapter 18
John Rutledge
Rutledge, JOHN, jurist; born in
Charleston, South Carolina, in 1739;
studied law in London; returned to
Charleston in 1761; and soon afterwards
rose to eminence in his profession. In
1765 he was a member of the Stamp Act
Congress that met in New York City; in
1774 of the South Carolina convention of
patriots; and of the first Continental
Congress, at Philadelphia, the same
year. He was also in Congress in 1775,
and was chairman of the convention that
framed the State constitution of South
Carolina in 1776. By his vigilance and
activity he saved Fort Moultrie from the
effects of an order by General Lee to
evacuate it when attacked by the British;
and he was elected president of the State
under the new constitution. In 1779 he
was chosen governor, and the legislature
made him a temporary dictator when
Charleston was threatened with siege. In
the fall of Charleston (May, 1780),
Rutledge went to North Carolina, and
accompanied the Southern army until
1782, when he was elected to Congress.
He was chosen chancellor of South Carolina in 1784; was a member of the convention
that framed the national Constitution (1787) ; appointed an associate-justice of the
Supreme Court of the United States (1789); elected chief-justice of South Carolina in
1791; and in 1795 was appointed chief-justice of the United States, but the Senate did
not confirm him. He died in Charleston, South Carolina, July 23, 1800.
275 | P a g e
Chapter 19
Robert Morris
Morris, ROBERT, financier, and a
signer of the Declaration of
Independence; born in England,
January 20, 1734; came to America
at the age of thirteen years; entered
the mercantile house of Charles
Willing, of Philadelphia, and in 1754
entered into partnership with his son.
At the beginning of the Revolution it
was the largest commercial house in
Philadelphia. Mr. Morris espoused
the cause of the colonies, and was a
member of the Continental Congress
in 1775. On July 2, 1776, he voted
against the resolution for
independence, and on the 4th he
refused to vote on the Declaration
because he considered the
movement premature. When it was
adopted, he signed it.
Hard money was lacking to pay the

bounties offered by the Congress
when George Washington attempted
to recruit his army (December,
1776). It was an urgent necessity at
a critical moment. The Congress had
just ordered the issue of $5,000,000
in paper money, but the credit of that body was already so low that many good
republicans refused to take that currency. Washington applied to Morris, whose credit
stood high as well as his skill as a financier, for a large sum in hard money. Morris
doubted his ability to raise it. In a desponding mood he left his counting-room at a late
hour, musing, as he walked, on the subject of the requisition. He met a wealthy member
of the Society of Friends, to whom he made known his wants. "Robert, what security
276 | P a g e
canst thou give?" asked the Friend. "My note and my honor," Morris replied. " Thou
shalt have it!" was the response of the Quaker; and the next day Morris wrote to
Washington, "I was up early this morning to dispatch a supply of $50,000 to your
Excellency."
He served in Congress at different times during the war, and at the same time was
largely engaged in managing the financial affairs of the country, making use of his
personal credit to support the public credit. With other citizens he established a bank in
Philadelphia in 1780, by which means the army was largely sustained. In 1781 he
supplied almost everything to carry on the campaign against Cornwallis. When
Washington received a letter from Count de Grasse saying that he could not yet leave
the West Indies, Morris was at headquarters at Dobb's Ferry with Richard Peters,
secretary of the board of war. The commander-in-chief was sorely disappointed, for he
saw little chance of success against the British at New York without the aid of a French
fleet. He instantly conceived the campaign against Cornwallis. Turning to Peters, he
said, "What can you do for me?" " With money, everything; without it, nothing," replied
the secretary, at the same time turning an anxious look towards Morris, who
comprehended the expression. "Let me know the sum you want," said the
superintendent of finance. Washington soon handed him estimates. Morris borrowed
$20,000 from the French commander, promising to repay it in October. The arrival of
Colonel Laurens (August 25) at Boston with a part of the subsidy of over $1,000,000
from France for which he had negotiated enabled Morris to keep his engagement.
Appointed superintendent of finance and Secretary of the Treasury under the

Confederation in 1781, he served until 1784, when the fiscal affairs of the country were
placed in the hands of three commissioners. As superintendent of finance he proposed
a scheme for funding the public debt of the United States in 1782, and to provide for the
regular payment of the interest on it. For these purposes he proposed a very moderate
land-tax, a poll-tax, and an excise on distilled liquors. He also proposed to add to the
sum thus raised 5 per cent. of the duties on imports, if the States would consent to it,
and to reserve the back public lands as security for new loans in Europe. This plan, if
carried out, it was thought, would establish the public credit. But the jealous States
would not give their consent.
He assisted in framing the national Constitution, and was chosen the first United States
Senator for Pennsylvania under it. Washington offered him the Secretary ship of the
Treasury, but he declined it. In 1784 he, in partnership with Governor Morris, sent to
Canton, China, the first American ship ever seen in that port. Entering into land
speculations in his old age, he lost his fortune, and was in prison for debt for some time.
He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1806.
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Chapter 20
Arthur St. Clair
St. Clair, ARTHUR, military officer; born in
Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, in 1734; was a
grandson of the Earl of Roslyn, and was
educated at the University of Edinburgh. He
studied medicine under the celebrated Hunter,
of London, but inheriting a large sum of money
from his mother, he purchased an ensign's
commission in a regiment of foot (May 13,
1757) and came in Boscawen's fleet to
America in 1758. He was with Amherst at the
capture of Louisburg, and, promoted to
lieutenant in April, 1759, distinguished himself,
under Wolfe, at Quebec. In May, 1760, he
married, at Boston, a half-sister of Governor
Bowdoin; resigned his commission in 1762,
and in 1764 settled in Ligonier Valley,
Pennsylvania, where he established mills and
built a fine dwelling-house. Having held, by
appointment, several civil offices of trust, he
became a colonel of militia in 1775, and in the
fall of that year accompanied Pennsylvania
commissioners to treat with the Western
Indians at Fort Pitt. As colonel of the 2d
Pennsylvania Regiment, he was ordered to Canada in February, 1776, and in the early
summer aided Sullivan in saving his army from capture. In August he was made a
brigadier-general, and joined George Washington in November. St. Clair was actively
engaged in New Jersey until April, 1777, when he took command of Ticonderoga, which
he was compelled to evacuate (July 4-5), by the presence of Burgoyne in overwhelming
force. After that he was a member of Washington's military family, acting as his aide at
the battle near the Brandywine. He was with Sullivan in the Seneca country in 1779. St.
Clair commanded the light infantry in the absence of Lafayette, and was a member of
the court that condemned Major Andre. He was in command at West Point from
October 1, 1780, and aided in suppressing the mutiny of the Pennsylvania line in
January, 1781. Joining Washington in October, he participated in the capture of
Cornwallis, and afterwards led a body of troops to join Greene in South Carolina, driving
the British from Wilmington on the way. He was afterwards a delegate in Congress;
president of that body (February to November, 1787); appointed governor of the
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Northwestern Territory (February, 1788); fixed the seat of government at Cincinnati,

and, in honor of the Cincinnati Society, gave the place that name.
Made commander-in-chief of the army (March 4, 1791), he moved against the Indians
on the Wabash, while so lame from gout that he was carried on a litter. The Indians,
encouraged by the defeat of Harmar (October, 1790), had spread terror over the frontier
settlements in the Northwestern Territory. In May, 1791, General Charles Scott, of
Kentucky, led 800 men, and penetrated to the Wabash country, almost to the present
site of Lafayette, Ind., and destroyed several Indian villages. At the beginning of August
General Wilkinson, with more than 500 men, pushed into the same region to
Tippecanoe and the surrounding prairies, destroyed some villages of Kickapoos, and
made his way to the Falls of the Ohio, opposite Louisville. These forays caused the
Indians to fight more desperately for their country. Congress then prepared to plant forts
in the Northwestern Territory, and in September there were 2,000 troops at Fort
Washington. under the immediate command of General Richard Butler. With General
St. Clair as chief, these troops marched northward. They built Fort Hamilton, on the
Miami River, 20 miles from Fort Washington, and garrisoned it. Forty-two miles farther
on they built Fort Jefferson, and, when moving from that post, late in October, there
were evidences that Indian scouts were hovering on their flanks. The invaders halted
and encamped on a tributary of the Wabash, in Darke county, O., 100 miles north from
Fort Washington (now Cincinnati). There the wearied soldiers slept (Nov. 3), without
suspicion of danger near. During the night the sentinels gave warning of prowling
Indians, and early the next morning, while the army were preparing for break-fast, they
were furiously attacked by the barbarians. The slaughter among the troops was
dreadful. General Butler was killed, and most of the other officers were slain or
wounded. The army fled in con-fusion, and it was with great difficulty that St. Clair
escaped on a pack-horse, after having three horses killed under him. Among the
fugitives were 100 women, wives of soldiers, most of whom escaped. St. Clair lost
nearly half of his army—over 800 men killed and wounded. The remainder returned to
Fort Washington.
Blamed severely, a committee of Congress vindicated St. Clair; but he resigned his
commission, March 5, 1792, and in November, 1802, Jefferson removed him from the
governorship in the Northwest. He was then broken in health, spirits, and fortune, and,
retiring to a log-house on the summit of Chestnut Ridge, among the Alleghany
Mountains, he there passed the remainder of his days in poverty, while he had unsettled
righteous claims against the government. Five years before his death the legislature of
Pennsylvania granted him an annuity of $400, and, a short time before his death, a
pension from the government of $60 a month was awarded him. He published a
narrative of his unfortunate campaign against the Indians. He died in Greensburg, Pa.,
August 31, 1818.
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Chapter 21
General "Mad Anthony" Wayne
Wayne, ANTHONY, military officer; born
in Easttown, Chester co., Pennsylvania,
January 1, 1745. His grandfather, who
came to America in 1722, was
commander of a squadron of dragoons
under William III. at the battle of the
Boyne, in Ireland. Anthony, after receiving
a good English education in Philadelphia,
was appointed a land agent in Nova
Scotia, where he remained a year.
Returning, he married, and until 1774 was
a farmer and surveyor in Pennsylvania.
He was a member of the Pennsylvania
legislature in 1774—75; and in September
of the latter year he raised the 4th
Regiment, of the Pennsylvania line, and
was appointed colonel in January, 1776.
He went with his regiment to Canada; was
wounded in the battle of Three Rivers;
and in February, 1777, was made
brigadier-general. In the battle of
Brandywine, in September, he was
distinguished; and nine days afterwards
he was surprised in the night near the Paoli Tavern, on the Lancaster road, in
Pennsylvania, when his command was much cut up, but the remainder retreated in
safety. He led the right wing of the army in the attack at Germantown, and was slightly
wounded. In the battle of Monmouth he was very distinguished; and his capture of
Stony Point, on the Hudson, in July, 1779, was one of the most brilliant achievements of
the war. In that attack he was wounded in the head, and Congress gave him a vote of
thanks and a gold medal. In June, 1781, Wayne joined Lafayette in Virginia, where he
performed excellent service until the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.
After the surrender, the Pennsylvania line, under Wayne, marched to South Carolina,
and their commander, with a part of them, was sent by General Greene to Georgia. On
May 21, 1782, Colonel Brown marched out of Savannah in strong force to confront
rapidly advancing Wayne. The latter got between Brown and Savannah, attacked him at
midnight, and routed the whole party. This event occurred on the Ogeechce road, about
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4miles southwest of Savannah. The vanguard of the Americans was composed of sixty
horsemen and twenty infantry, led by Colonel Anthony Walton White. These made a
spirited charge, killing or wounding forty of the British and making twenty of them
prisoners. The sword and bayonet did the work. The Americans lost five killed and two
wounded. On June 24 a part of Wayne's army, lying about 5 miles from Savannah, was
fiercely attacked by a body of Creek Indians, who first drove the troops and took two
pieces of artillery; but they were soon utterly routed by a spirited charge. The brief battle
was fought hand-to-hand with swords, bayonets, and tomahawks, and fourteen Indians
and two white men were killed. Guristersigo, a famous Creek chief, was killed. The
royalists coming out of Savannah to assist the Indians were driven back, with the loss of
a standard and 127 horses with packs. The men fled back to the city, and soon
afterwards evacuated it. Wayne took possession of the city, and of the province of
Georgia, which had been held by the British military commanders about four years. It
was estimated that Georgia lost in the war 1,000 of its citizens and 4,000 of its slaves
(see GEORGIA; SAVANNAH, EVACUATION OF). In 1784–85 Wayne served in the
Pennsylvania Assembly, and in the convention that ratified the national Constitution. In
April, 1792, he was made general-in-chief of the army.
The defeat of GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR spread alarm along the frontiers and
indignation throughout the country. General Wayne was appointed his successor.
Apprehending that pending negotiations with the Indians, if they failed, would be
followed by immediate hostilities against the frontier, Wayne marched into the
Northwestern Territory in the autumn of 1793 with a competent force. He spent the
winter at Greenvile, not far from the place of St. Clair's disaster, and built a stockade,
which he named Fort Recovery. The following summer he pushed on through the
wilderness towards the Maumee, and at its junction with the Auglaize he built Fort
Defiance. On the St. Mary's he built Fort Adams as an intermediate post; and in August
he went down the Maumee with 1,000 men and encamped near a British post at the
foot of the Maumee Rapids, called Fort Miami, or Maumee. Wayne, with a force ample
to destroy the Indians in spite of British influence, willing to spare bloodshed, offered
them peace and tranquility if they would lay down their weapons. They refused. Wayne
then advanced to the head of the rapids, and at a place called Fallen Timbers, not far
above (present) Maumee City, he attacked and defeated the Indians on August 20.
Almost all the dead warriors were found with British arms. Wayne laid waste their
country, and at the middle of September moved up to the junction of the St. Mary's and
St. Joseph's rivers, near the (present) city of Fort Wayne, Ind., and built a strong
fortification which lie named Fort Wayne. The little army wintered at Greenville. The
Indians perceived their own weakness and sued for peace. The following summer about
1,100 sachems and warriors, representing twelve cantons, met (August 3, 1795)
commissioners of the United States at Greenville. and made a treaty of peace. Brave to
the verge of rashness, Wayne received the name of "Mad Anthony." Yet he was
discreet and cautious, fruitful in resources, and prompt in the execution of plans. After
his successful campaign against the Indians, he returned to Fort Presque Isle (now
Erie), Pa., where he died, December 15, 1796. His body was afterwards removed by his
281 | P a g e
son and buried in Radnor churchyard, in his native county. Over his remains the
Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati caused a neat marble monument to be erected
in 1809.
Defense of Fort Recovery

Recovery, FORT, DEFENSE OF. General Wayne succeeded St. Clair in command of
the troops in the Northwest, and on the site of the latter's defeat (1791) he erected a
fort, and called it Recovery. In June, 1794, the garrison, under Major William McMahon,
were attacked by many Indians. McMahon and 22 others were killed, and 30 were
wounded. The Indians were repulsed. On August 20 the Indians were defeated by
Wayne at the MAUMEE RAPIDS.
Battle of Maumee Rapids

Maumee Rapids, or Fallen Timbers, BATTLE OF. In northern Ohio, "Mad Anthony"
Wayne completely routed 2,000 Indians, on August 20, 1794. The Americans lost thirty-
three killed and 100 wounded. The battle ended the Indian war in the Northwest. See
FALLEN TIMBERS.
Battle of Fallen Timbers

Fallen Timbers, BATTLE OF. On the morning of August 20, 1794, General Wayne, on
his campaign in the Indian wilderness, advanced with his whole army from his camp at
Roche de Bout, at the head of the Maumee Rapids, according to a plan of march
prepared by his young aide-de-camp, Lieutenant William Henry Harrison. He had
proceeded about 5 miles, when they were smitten with a terrible volley of bullets from a
concealed foe, and compelled to fall back. They were on the borders of a vast prairie, at
a dense wood, in which a tornado had prostrated many trees, making the movements of
mounted men very difficult, and forming an excellent cover for the foe, who were
composed of Canadians and Indians, 2,000 in number, posted on their lines within
supporting distance of each other. But Wayne's troops fell upon them with fearful
energy, and made them flee towards the British Fort Miami, below, like a herd of
frightened deer for cover. In one hour the victory was complete. The fugitives left forty of
their number dead in the pathway of their flight. By the side of each dead body lay a
musket and bayonet from British armories. Wayne lost in killed and wounded 133 men;
the loss of his foes was not ascertained. On the battleground, at the foot of the Maumee
Rapids, is a limestone rock, on which are numerous carvings of bird's feet. It is a stone
upon which Me-sa-sa, or Turkey-foot, a renowned chief, leaped when he saw his line of
dusky warriors giving way, and by voice and gesture endeavored to make them stand
firm. He fell, pierced by a musket-ball, and died by the side of the rock. Members of his
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tribe carved turkeys' feet upon the stone in commemoration of him, and for many years
men, women, and children, passing there, would linger at the stone, place dried beef,
parched corn, and pease, or some cheap trinket upon it, and, calling upon the name of
Me-sa-sa, weep piteously. This battle ended the Indian War in the Northwest.
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Chapter 22
Molly Pitcher
Pitcher, MOLLY. In the BATTLE OF MONMOUTH a shot from the British artillery
instantly killed an American gunner while working his piece. His wife, Mary, a young
Irishwoman twenty-two years of age, had been fetching water to him from a spring near
by. When he fell there appeared no one competent to fill his place, and the piece was
ordered to be removed. Mary heard the order, and, dropping her bucket and seizing a
rammer, vowed that she would fill her husband's place at the gun and avenge his death.
She did so with skill and courage. The next morning she was presented to George
Washington by General Greene, who was so pleased with her bravery that he gave her
a commission as sergeant and had her name placed on the pay-list for life. The fame of
"Sergeant Mary," or Molly Pitcher, as she was more generally known, spread
throughout the army.
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Chapter 23
Thomas Paine
Paine, THOMAS, patriot; born in
Thetford, England, Jan. 29, 1737.
His father was a Quaker, from whom
he learned the business of stay-
making. He went on a privateering
cruise in 1755, and afterwards
worked at his trade and preached as
a Dissenting minister. He was an
exciseman at Thetford, and wrote
(1772) a pamphlet on the subject.
Being accused of smuggling, he was
dismissed from office. Meeting Dr.
Franklin, the latter advised him to go
to America. He arrived in
Philadelphia in December, 1774,
and was employed as editor of the
Pennsylvania Magazine. In that
paper he published, October, 1775,
Serious Thoughts, in which he
declared his hope of the abolition of
slavery. At the suggestion of Dr.
Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia, it is
said, he put forward a powerfully
written pamphlet, at the beginning of 1776, in favor of the independence of the colonies.
It opened with the often-quoted words, "These are the times that try men's souls." Its
terse, sharp, incisive, and vigorous sentences stirred the people with irrepressible
aspirations for independence. A single extract will indicate its character:
"The nearer any government approaches to a republic, the less business there is for a
king; in England a king hath little more to do than to make war and give away places.
Arms must decide the contest [between Great Britain and America]; the appeal was the
choice of the King, and the continent hath escaped the challenge. The sun never shone
on a cause of greater worth. Tis not the affair of a city, a county, a province, or a
kingdom, but of a continent - of at least one-eighth part of the habitable globe. Tis not
the concern of a day, a year, or an age posterity are virtually involved in it even to the
end of time. . . . Freedom hath been hunted round the globe: Asia and Africa hath long
285 | P a g e
expelled her; Europe regards her like a stranger; and England hath given her warning to
depart. Oh, receive the fugitive, and prepare an asylum for mankind."
The effect of Common Sense was marvelous. Its trumpet tones awakened the
continent, and made every patriot's heart beat with intense emotion. It was read with
avidity everywhere; and the public appetite for its solid food was not appeased until
100,000 copies had fallen from the press. The legislature of Pennsylvania voted to the
author $2,500. George Washington, in a letter written at Cambridge, highly applauded it,
and all over the colonies there were immediate movements in favor of absolute
independence.
For a short time after the Declaration of Independence Paine was in the military service,
and was aide-de-camp to General Greene. In December, 1776, he published the first
number of his Crisis, and continued it at intervals during the war. In 1777 he was
elected secretary to the committee on foreign affairs. SILAS DEANE, who acted as
mercantile as well as diplomatic agent of the Continental Congress during the earlier
portion of the war, incurred the enmity of Arthur Lee and his brothers, and was so
misrepresented by them that Congress recalled him from France. It had been insinuated
by Carmichael that Deane had appropriated the public money to his private use. Two
violent parties arose, in and out of Congress, concerning the doings of the agents of
Congress abroad. Robert Morris, and others acquainted with financial matters, took the
side of Deane. The powerful party against him was led by Richard Henry Lee, brother of
Arthur, and chairman of the committee on foreign affairs. Deane published (1779) An
Address to the People of the United States, in which he commented severely on the
conduct of the Lees, and justly claimed credit for himself in obtaining supplies from
France through Beaumarchais. Paine, availing himself of documents in his custody,
published a reply to Deane's address, in which he asserted that the supplies nominally
furnished through a mercantile house came really from the French government. This
avowal, which the French and Congress both wished to conceal, drew from the French
minister, Gerard, a warm protest, as it proved duplicity on the part of the French Court;
and, to appease the minister, Congress, by resolution, expressly denied that any
present of supplies had been received from France previous to the treaty of alliance.
Paine was dismissed from office for his imprudence in revealing the secrets of
diplomacy.
Late in November, 1779, he was made clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly; and in that
capacity read a letter to that body from General Washington, intimating that a mutiny in
the army was imminent because of the distresses of the soldiers. The Assembly was
disheartened. Paine wrote a letter to Blair McClenaghan, a Philadelphia merchant,
stating the case, and enclosing $500 as his contribution to a relief fund. A meeting of
citizens was called, when a subscription was circulated, and very soon the sum of
£300,000 (Pennsylvania currency) was collected. With this capital a bank (afterwards
the Bank of North America) for the relief of the army was established. With Colonel
286 | P a g e
Laurens, Paine obtained a loan of 6,000,000 livres from France in 1781. In 1786
Congress gave him $3,000 for his services during the war, and the State of New York
granted him a farm of 300 acres of land at New Rochelle, the confiscated estate of a
loyalist.
Sailing for France in April, 1787, his fame caused him to be cordially received by
distinguished men. In 1788 he was in England, superintending the construction of an
iron bridge (the first of its kind) which he had invented. It now spans the Wear, at
Sunderland. He wrote the first part of his Rights of Man in 1791, in reply to Burke's
Reflections on the Revolution in France. It had an immense sale, and the American
edition had a preface by Thomas Jefferson. An active member of the revolutionary
society in England, he was elected to a seat in the French National Convention in 1792.
He had a triumphant reception in Paris, but in London he was indicted for sedition and
afterwards outlawed. Paine assisted in framing the French constitution in 1793; and the
same year he opposed the execution of the King, and proposed his banishment to
America. This action caused his imprisonment by the Jacobins, and he had a narrow
escape from the guillotine. It was at that period that he wrote his Age of Reason. James
Monroe, then American minister to France, procured his release from prison in 1794.
After an absence from the United States of fifteen years, he returned in a government
vessel in 1802. His admirers honored him with public dinners; his political opponents
insulted him. Settled in New York, he died there, June 8, 1809, and was buried on his
farm at New Rochelle, the Quakers, for peculiar reasons, having denied his request to
be interred in one of their burying-grounds. Near where he was buried a neat monument
was erected in 1839. In 1819 William Cobbett took his bones to England. In 1875 a
memorial building was dedicated in Boston, having over the entrance the inscription,
"Paine Memorial Building and Home of the Boston Investigator." See INGERSOLL,
ROBERT GREEN.
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Chapter 24
Benjamin Lincoln
Lincoln, BENJAMIN, military officer; born
in Hingham, Massachusetts, January 24,
1733; engaged in farming: was a firm and
active patriot; and was a major-general of
militia when the Revolutionary War broke
out. In June, 1776, he commanded an
expedition that cleared Boston Harbor of
British vessels, and in February, 1777, was
appointed a major-general in the
Continental army. His services were varied
and important all through the war, and at
the surrender of Yorktown he received the
sword of the defeated Cornwallis. From that
time (October, 1781) until 1784 he was
Secretary of War, and received a vote of
thanks from Congress on his retirement. In
1787 he commanded the troops which
suppressed Shays's insurrection. In that
year he was chosen lieutenant-governor of
Massachusetts, and from 1789 to 1808 he was collector of the port of Boston. He was
fond of literary and scientific pursuits. He died in Hingham, May 9, 1810.
Shays' Rebellion
Shays, DANIEL, insurgent; born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in 1747; was an ensign
in Woodbridge's regiment at the battle of Bunker Hill, and became a captain in the
Continental army. His place in history was obtained by his leadership of an insurrection
in Massachusetts in 1786-87.
In other portions of the Union, discontents like those which produced the State of
FRANKLAND caused revolutionary movements. A convention of the people of Maine,
sitting in Portland (September, 1786), considered the expediency of erecting
themselves into an independent State, but nothing came of it. In Massachusetts a more
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formidable movement took place. The General Court had voted customs and excise
duties to produce a revenue sufficient to meet the interest on the State debt. Besides
this burden laid upon them, the people were suffering from private indebtedness. There
were taxes to meet the installments to be paid on the principal of the State debt, and,
also, responses had to be made to requisitions of Congress for the proportion of money
required from Massachusetts for carrying on the general government. The taxes of the
State amounted annually to $1,000,000. Many of the farmers had fallen behind in their
payments. A multitude of lawsuits were pending in the courts. Conventions were called,
especially in the southern and western counties, to consider their grievances, and these
were sometimes followed by argued mobs which prevented the courts from sitting.
Mob in Shays's Rebellion
The poverty and exhaustion of the country in consequence of the war was complete.
Artful demagogues stirred up the people of one class against those of another. The
working-men were arrayed against the capitalists. The government of Massachusetts
was held responsible for every evil; and these demagogues, seeking notoriety, so
inflamed the people that large masses were ready to take up arms for the overthrow of
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the commonwealth. In this disturbed state of the public mind, the governor of
Massachusetts (Bowdoin) called (September, 1786) a special session of the legislature.
Unsuccessful attempts were made to pacify the malcontents, when the governor called
out the militia to protect the courts in the south-western counties. The Congress, fearing
the dissatisfied people might seize the government armory at Springfield, voted to enlist
1,300 men (October, 1786) under pretext of acting against Indians in the Northwest; but
before these troops could be raised, an insurrection had already broken out. Shays, at
the head of 1,000 men or more, took possession of Worcester (December 5) and
prevented a session of the Supreme Court in that town. He repeated this act at
Springfield (December 25).
The insurrection soon became so formidable that Governor Bowdoin was compelled to
call out several thousand militia, under General Lincoln, to suppress it. They assembled
at Boston (January 17, 1787) in the depth of winter, and marched for Worcester and
Springfield. Two other bodies of insurgents were then in the field under the respective
commands of Luke Day and Eli Parsons. United, they numbered about 2,000. Shays
demanded the surrender (January 25) of the arsenal at Springfield, and approached to
take it. Colonel Shepherd, in command there, first fired cannon over their heads. When
the pieces were pointed at the insurgents, they cried "Murder!" and fled in confusion.
Upon Lincoln's approach (January 27) the insurgents retreated. Finally, he captured 150
of them at Petersham; the rest were dispersed and fled into New Hampshire. Lincoln
then marched into the districts west of the Connecticut River, where the insurgents were
numerous. Their power was speedily broken. A free pardon was finally offered to all
persons who had engaged in the insurrection. Several of the leaders were tried and
sentenced to death, but none were executed; for it was perceived that the great mass of
the people sympathized with them. So ended what is known in history as Shays's
Rebellion. Shays died in Sparta, New York, Sept. 29, 1825.
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Chapter 25
Thomas Sumter
Sumter, Thomas, military officer; born in
Virginia in 1734; was a volunteer in the
French and Indian War, and was present at
Braddock's defeat in 1755. In March, 1776,
he became lieutenant-colonel of a South
Carolina regiment of riflemen, and was
stationed in the interior of the State to
overawe the Indians and Tories. After the
fall of Charleston in 1780, Sumter hid in the
swamps of the Santee; and when his State
was ravaged by the British, he retreated to
North Carolina, where he raised a larger
force than he could arm, and with these he
fought and defeated a British force at
Hanging Rock, and totally routed a British
force on the Catawba (July 12, 1780), but
was afterwards (August 18) surprised and
defeated at Fishing Creek by Tarleton. He
soon raised another corps and repulsed
Colonel Wemyss near the Broad River (November 12), and at Blackstocks defeated
Tarleton, who attempted to surprise him. So vigilant and brave was Sumter that the
British called him the "South Carolina Game-cock." Raising three regiments, with
Marion and Perkins he dreadfully harassed the British and Tories in South Carolina. He
received the thanks of Congress, January 13, 1781. Cornwallis, writing to Tarleton, said
of him, "He certainly has been our greatest plague in this country." He captured the
British post at Orangeburg (May, 1781), and soon afterwards those at Dorchester and
Monk's Corner. General Sumter was a warm friend of the national Constitution, and was
member of Congress under it in 1789-93, and again in 1797-1801. He was United
States Senator in 1801-10, when he was appointed United States minister to Brazil. He
died at South Mount, near Camden, South Carolina, June 1, 1832.
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Chapter 26
John Paul Jones
Jones, JOHN PAUL, naval officer; born in Kirkbean, Scotland, July 6, 1747. Before he
was eighteen years old he commanded a vessel that traded with the \Vest Indies. Jones
came to Virginia in 1773, inheriting the estate of his brother, who died there. Offering his
services to Congress, he was made first
lieutenant in the navy in December, 1775, when,
out of gratitude to General Jones, of North
Carolina, he assumed his name. Before that he
was John Paul. He was a bold and skilful
searover, gathering up many prizes. Made
captain in the fall of 1776, he raised the first flag
ever displayed on a United States ship-of-war, the
Alfred. He destroyed the Port Royal (N. S.)
fisheries, capturing all the vessels and freight. In
the summer of 1777 he sailed in the Ranger to
Europe, and in February, 1778, received from a
French commander the first salute ever given to
the American flag by a foreign man-of-war. In
April he scaled the walls of White-haven, in
England, on the borders of the Irish Sea, and
spiked thirty-eight cannon.
In 1779, while cruising up and down the east

coast of Scotland, between the Solway and the
Clyde, he tried to capture the Earl of Selkirk, in
order to secure a notable prisoner for exchange.
He had been an early friend of Jones's father. His
seat was at the mouth of the Dee. Jones anchored his vessel, the Ranger, in the
Solway at noon, and with a few men, in a single boat, he went to a wooded promontory
on which the earl's fine estate lay, where he learned that his lordship was not at home.
Disappointed, he ordered his men back to the boat, when his lieutenant, a large and
fiery man, proposed to go to the mansion and plunder it of the family plate. Jones would
not listen to the proposition, for the memory of old associations made his heart tender
towards Lady Selkirk, who had been very kind to him. Again he ordered his men back,
but they and the lieutenant, eager for prize-money, in defiance of his expostulations,
went to the house and demanded the plate. The frightened Lady Selkirk surrendered it
with her own hands. When the prizes of the Ranger were sold Jones bought this plate,
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and sent it back to Lady Selkirk with a letter in which he expressed his regret because
of the annoyance she had suffered.
Chapter 27
Francis Marion
Marion, FRANCIS, military officer; born near Georgetown, South Carolina, in 1732;
died February 29, 1793.
At the age of sixteen, while on a voyage to the West Indies, the vessel in which he
sailed foundered at sea, and he was rescued only when several of the crew, who, with
himself, had taken to the boat, had died of starvation. Working on a farm until 1759, that
year he joined an expedition against the
Cherokees. In 1761 he was made a captain,
under Colonel Grant. He led the forlorn hope
in the battle of Etchowee, and was among
the few who escaped death. On the breaking
out of the Revolutionary War, Marion was
elected to the South Carolina Provincial
Congress; became a captain of Provincial
troops; served as major in defense of Fort
Sullivan; and was lieutenant-colonel of his
regiment at Savannah in 1779, and at the
siege of Charleston. Appointed a brigadier-
general in 1780, he began his famous
partisan
career
with
only
sixteen
men.
He had gathered many partisans to his standard

while Cornwallis was carrying out his reign of terror
in South Carolina. "Colonel Marion," wrote
Cornwallis, "so wrought on the minds of the people
that there was scarcely an inhabitant between the
293 | P a g e
Santee and Pedee that was not in arms against us." Some parties even crossed the
Santee and carried terror to the gates of Charleston. One of the earliest of Marion's
great exploits was near Nelson's Ferry, on the Santee, on August 20, 1780, two days
after Williams's exploit at Musgrove's Mill. At dawn on that day a British party, with 150
prisoners of the Maryland line, captured from Gates near Camden (see GATES,
HORATIO), were crossing at the great savanna, near the ferry, on the route from
Camden to Charleston, when Marion and his men sprang upon the guard, liberated the
prisoners, and captured twenty-six of the escort.
Marion and his brigade achieved victory after victory over bands of Tories and British
among the swamps of the Santee, and late in October they pushed forward to assail the
British garrison at Georgetown, on Winyaw Bay, for the purpose of obtaining necessary
supplies. This was an unusual and serious undertaking for them. The garrison was on
the alert, and in a severe skirmish with a large party near the town Marion was repulsed.
He then retired to Snow's Island, at the confluence of Lynch's Creek and the Pedee
River, where, in a most secluded spot, he fixed his camp and strengthened its natural
defenses. It was chiefly high river swamp, covered with forest trees and abounding with
game. From that swamp fastness the partisan sent out or led expeditions which, for
many weeks, accomplished marvelous results by celerity of movements, stealthiness of
approaches to the enemy, and the suddenness and fierceness of the blows. It was in
allusion to these movements that Bryant wrote in his Song of Marion's Men:
" A moment in the British camp—A moment--and away,

Back to the pathless forest,
Before the break of day."
The British became thoroughly alarmed, and the destruction of Marion's camp became,
with them, an object of vital importance.
Tarleton was employed by Cornwallis in searching out partisan corps, such as Marion's
and Sumter's. He performed the orders of his general with fidelity. When, on one
occasion, he set out to pursue Marion, Cornwallis wrote (November 5, 1780) : "I most
sincerely hope you will get at Mr. Marion." On that march Tarleton and his corps set fire
to all the houses and destroyed all the corn from Camden to Nelson's Ferry; beat the
widow of a general officer because she would not tell where Marion was encamped, and
burned her dwelling and wasted everything about, not leaving her even a change of
raiment. All along the line of their march were seen groups of houseless women and
children, who had enjoyed the comforts afforded by ample fortunes before the destroyer
came, sitting around fires in the open air. Marion, on the contrary, although equally alert,
was always humane. In September, 1780, a band of 200 Tories were sent to surprise
him. With only fifty-three men, he first surprised a part of his pursuers and dispersed
them, capturing some who had committed great outrages; but he would not allow a
prisoner to be hurt. At Black Mingo Creek, on the 28th, he made a successful attack on
294 | P a g e
a guard of sixty militiamen, and made prisoners of those under its escort. At that time
the British were burning houses on the Little Pedee. He allowed his men to return to
protect their families and property, but would not permit them to retaliate. He wrote
afterwards: "There is not one house burned by my orders or by any of my people. It is
what I detest, to distress poor women and children."
After the war he married a wealthy lady of Huguenot descent (Mary Videau), and in time
became a State Senator. In 1790 he was a member of the State Constitutional
Convention. Small in stature, reserved, and very modest, he was exceedingly
captivating in manner. His residence was at Pond Bluff, on the Santee, near Nelson's
Ferry. It was built by himself soon after his marriage, and there he and his young wife
dispensed most generous hospitality. He died February 27, 1795.
295 | P a g e
THE HAND-TO-HAND FIGHT ON THE DECK OF THE SERAPIS.

296 | P a g e
During the spring and summer of 1779, American cruisers were very active, both in
American and European waters. At the middle of August Jones was sent out from the
French port of L'Orient, with five vessels, to the coast of Scotland. His flagship was the
Bon Homme Richard. As he was about to strike some armed British vessels in the
harbor of Leith a storm arose, which drove him into the North Sea. When it ceased, he
cruised along the Scottish coast, capturing many prizes and producing great alarm. Late
in September, while Jones's squadron lay a few leagues north of the mouth of the
Humber, he discovered the Baltic fleet of forty merchantmen (convoyed by the Serapis,
a 44-gun ship, and the Countess of Scarborough, of twenty-two guns), stretching out
from Flamborough Head. Jones signaled for a chase, and all but the Alliance, Captain
Landais, obeyed. While the opposing warships were maneuvering for advantage, night
fell upon the scene. At seven o'clock in the evening of September 23, 1779, one of the
most desperate of recorded sea-fights began. The Bon Homme Richard and Serapis,
Captain Pearson, came so close to each other that their spars and rigging became
entangled, and Jones attempted to board his
antagonist. A short contest with pike, pistol,
and cutlass ensued, and Jones was repulsed.
The vessels separated, and were soon placed
broadside to broadside, so close that the
muzzles of their guns touched each other.
Both vessels were dreadfully shattered: and, at
one time, the Serapis was on fire in a dozen
places. Just as the moon rose, at half-past
nine o'clock, the Richard, too, caught fire. A
terrific hand-to-hand fight now ensued. Jones's
ship, terribly damaged, could not float much
longer. The flames were creeping up the
rigging of the Serapis, and by their light Jones
saw that his double-headed shot had cut the
mainmast of the Serapis almost in two. He
hurled another, and the tall mast fell. Pearson
saw his great peril, hauled down his flag, and
surrendered. As he handed his sword to Jones
he said, in a surly tone, "It is painful to deliver
up my sword to a man who has fought with a
rope around his neck!" (Jones had been
declared a pirate by the British government.)
The battle ceased, after raging three hours.
The vessels were disengaged, and the Richard
soon went to the bottom of the North Sea. For
this victory Congress gave Jones the thanks of
the nation, a gold medal and a commission as
commander of the America, which ship was
soon presented to France. The King of France
297 | P a g e
made Jones a knight of the Order of Merit, and presented him with a gold sword. Jones
entered the service of Russia as rear-admiral in 1787, and, in consequence of a victory
over the Turks, was made vice-admiral and knighted. He resigned from the Russian
service, and was appointed consul of the United States at Algiers in 1792, but he died
before the commission reached him. He died in Paris, July 18, 1792. His body was
brought back to the United States by a squadron of war-ships in June, 1905.
God Bless them all

for their sacrifices their life
for the country's Independence
298 | P a g e

Patriot of The American Revolution

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October 21, 2010 [The Patriots of the American Revolution]

Compiled and Edited by

Akm Fakhrul Islam

The Top Patriots for the Liberation of America

George Washington Lafayette Thomas Jefferson Samuel Adams

Benjamin Franklin John Hancock Joseph Warren Paul Revere

John Adams Alexander Hamilton Nathan Hale Nathaniel Bacon

John Jay General John Sullivan

Roger Sherman John Dickinson Robert Morris

General Benjamin Thomas Sumter John Paul Jones Francis Marion

1. George Washington's Biography;

George Washington on his Death Bed

When Mary Ball was about

Mary Washington Monument at Fredericksburg, Virginia

Washington, MARTHA, wife of George

On Dec. 11, 1775, Mrs. Washington arrived at

The Continental Congress

Continental Congress Appointing George Washington Commander and Chief

Congress, CONTINENTAL. The first Continental Congress assembled in Carpenters'

American Association, the nearest approach to it, was opposed by Galloway of

Name. Where From. When Elected.

Nathan Gorham Massachusetts June 6, 1786.

The Second Continental Congress

The Continental Army

The Continental Army, 1776

The Provincial Congress of

Soon after Washington took

In October, 1775, a committee of Congress visited the camp at Cambridge, and, in

George Washington and the Revolutionary War Generals

New Hampshire 12,947

Desperate, indeed, is any attempt on earth to meet correspondingly this dispensation of

The finger of an over-ruling Providence, pointing at Washington, was neither mistaken

" 0 fortunatos nimium, sua fl bona norint !"

Leading through the complicated difficulties produced by previous obligations and

To this sublime policy he inviolably adhered, unmoved by foreign intrusion, unshaken by

George Washington on the Farm

George Washington in Mount Vernon Estate

George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate

George Washington the Soldier

George Washington's in Battle on Horseback

General George Washington

General George Washington

George Washington's Prayer at Valley Forge

George Washington's Prayer at Valley Forge

George Washington at Valley Forge

Valley Forge. Washington's army encamped at Whitemarsh, in a beautiful valley about

censuring the quartermaster-general (Mifflin), a Pennsylvanian, for neglect of duty: "For

Original 1777 Map of Valley Forge and Surrounding Vicinity

Picture of the Battle of Trenton

George Washington at the Battle of Trenton

George Washington on Horseback

George Washington on Horseback

George Washington at the Battle of Trenton

Trenton Battle Map

Washington Crossing the Delaware on December 25, 1776

Original 1777 Map of the Battle of Trenton

General Washington at Trenton

George Washington at Trenton

George Washington the Statesman

Betsy Ross and George Washington

George Washington's Triumphal Entry into New York

Inauguration of George Washington

Inauguration of George Washington