Thomas Jefferson's Autobiography Introduction and Background
by Thomas Jefferson
At the age of 77, I begin to make some memoranda and state some
recollections of dates & facts concerning myself, for my own more
ready reference & for the information of my family.
The tradition in my father's family was that their ancestor
came to this country from Wales, and from near the mountain of
Snowdon, the highest in Gr. Br. I noted once a case from Wales in the
law reports where a person of our name was either pl. or def. and one
of the same name was Secretary to the Virginia company. These are
the only instances in which I have met with the name in that country.
I have found it in our early records, but the first particular
information I have of any ancestor was my grandfather who lived at
the place in Chesterfield called Ozborne's and ownd. the lands
afterwards the glebe of the parish. He had three sons, Thomas who
died young, Field who settled on the waters of Roanoke and left
numerous descendants, and Peter my father, who settled on the lands I
still own called Shadwell adjoining my present residence. He was
born Feb. 29, 1707/8, and intermarried 1739. with Jane Randolph, of
the age of 19. daur of Isham Randolph one of the seven sons of that
name & family settled at Dungeoness in Goochld. They trace their
pedigree far back in England & Scotland, to which let every one
ascribe the faith & merit he chooses.
My father's education had been quite neglected; but being of a
strong mind, sound judgment and eager after information, he read much
and improved himself insomuch that he was chosen with Joshua Fry
professor of Mathem. in W. & M. college to continue the boundary line
between Virginia & N. Caroline which had been begun by Colo Byrd, and
was afterwards employed with the same Mr. Fry to make the 1st map of
Virginia which had ever been made, that of Capt Smith being merely a
conjectural sketch. They possessed excellent materials for so much
of the country as is below the blue ridge; little being then known
beyond that ridge. He was the 3d or 4th settler of the part of the
country in which I live, which was about 1737. He died Aug. 17.
1757, leaving my mother a widow who lived till 1776, with 6 daurs &
2. sons, myself the elder. To my younger brother he left his estate
on James river called Snowden after the supposed birth-place of the
family. To myself the lands on which I was born & live. He placed
me at the English school at 5. years of age and at the Latin at 9.
where I continued until his death. My teacher Mr. Douglas a
clergyman from Scotland was but a superficial Latinist, less
instructed in Greek, but with the rudiments of these languages he
taught me French, and on the death of my father I went to the revd
Mr. Maury a correct classical scholar, with whom I continued two
years, and then went to Wm. and Mary college, to wit in the spring of
1760, where I continued 2. years. It was my great good fortune, and
what probably fixed the destinies of my life that Dr. Wm. Small of
Scotland was then professor of Mathematics, a man profound in most of
the useful branches of science, with a happy talent of communication,
correct and gentlemanly manners, & an enlarged & liberal mind. He,
most happily for me, became soon attached to me & made me his daily
companion when not engaged in the school; and from his conversation I
got my first views of the expansion of science & of the system of
things in which we are placed. Fortunately the Philosophical chair
became vacant soon after my arrival at college, and he was appointed
to fill it per interim: and he was the first who ever gave in that
college regular lectures in Ethics, Rhetoric & Belles lettres. He
returned to Europe in 1762, having previously filled up the measure
of his goodness to me, by procuring for me, from his most intimate
friend G. Wythe, a reception as a student of law, under his
direction, and introduced me to the acquaintance and familiar table
of Governor Fauquier, the ablest man who had ever filled that office.
With him, and at his table, Dr. Small & Mr. Wythe, his amici omnium
horarum, & myself, formed a partie quarree, & to the habitual
conversations on these occasions I owed much instruction. Mr. Wythe
continued to be my faithful and beloved Mentor in youth, and my most
affectionate friend through life. In 1767, he led me into the
practice of the law at the bar of the General court, at which I
continued until the revolution shut up the courts of justice. [For a
sketch of the life & character of Mr. Wythe see my letter of Aug. 31.
20. to Mr. John Saunderson]
In 1769, I became a member of the legislature by the choice of
the county in which I live, & continued in that until it was closed
by the revolution. I made one effort in that body for the permission
of the emancipation of slaves, which was rejected: and indeed, during
the regal government, nothing liberal could expect success. Our
minds were circumscribed within narrow limits by an habitual belief
that it was our duty to be subordinate to the mother country in all
matters of government, to direct all our labors in subservience to
her interests, and even to observe a bigoted intolerance for all
religions but hers. The difficulties with our representatives were
of habit and despair, not of reflection & conviction. Experience
soon proved that they could bring their minds to rights on the first
summons of their attention. But the king's council, which acted as
another house of legislature, held their places at will & were in
most humble obedience to that will: the Governor too, who had a
negative on our laws held by the same tenure, & with still greater
devotedness to it: and last of all the Royal negative closed the last
door to every hope of amelioration.
On the 1st of January, 1772 I was married to Martha Skelton
widow of Bathurst Skelton, & daughter of John Wayles, then 23. years
old. Mr. Wayles was a lawyer of much practice, to which he was
introduced more by his great industry, punctuality & practical
readiness, than to eminence in the science of his profession. He was
a most agreeable companion, full of pleasantry & good humor, and
welcomed in every society. He acquired a handsome fortune, died in
May, 1773, leaving three daughters, and the portion which came on
that event to Mrs. Jefferson, after the debts should be paid, which
were very considerable, was about equal to my own patrimony, and
consequently doubled the ease of our circumstances.
When the famous Resolutions of 1765, against the Stamp-act,
were proposed, I was yet a student of law in Wmsbg. I attended the
debate however at the door of the lobby of the H. of Burgesses, &
heard the splendid display of Mr. Henry's talents as a popular
orator. They were great indeed; such as I have never heard from any
other man. He appeared to me to speak as Homer wrote. Mr. Johnson,
a lawyer & member from the Northern Neck, seconded the resolns, & by
him the learning & the logic of the case were chiefly maintained. My
recollections of these transactions may be seen pa. 60, Wirt's life
of P. H., to whom I furnished them.
In May, 1769, a meeting of the General Assembly was called by
the Govr., Ld. Botetourt. I had then become a member; and to that
meeting became known the joint resolutions & address of the Lords &
Commons of 1768 -- 9, on the proceedings in Massachusetts.
Counter-resolutions, & an address to the King, by the H. of Burgesses
were agreed to with little opposition, & a spirit manifestly
displayed of considering the cause of Massachusetts as a common one.
The Governor dissolved us: but we met the next day in the Apollo of
the Raleigh tavern, formed ourselves into a voluntary convention,
drew up articles of association against the use of any merchandise
imported from Gr. Britain, signed and recommended them to the people,
repaired to our several counties, & were re elected without any other
exception than of the very few who had declined assent to our
proceedings.
Nothing of particular excitement occurring for a considerable
time our countrymen seemed to fall into a state of insensibility to
our situation. The duty on tea not yet repealed & the Declaratory
act of a right in the British parl to bind us by their laws in all
cases whatsoever, still suspended over us. But a court of inquiry
held in R. Island in 1762, with a power to send persons to England to
be tried for offences committed here was considered at our session of
the spring of 1773. as demanding attention. Not thinking our old &
leading members up to the point of forwardness & zeal which the times
required, Mr. Henry, R. H. Lee, Francis L. Lee, Mr. Carr & myself
agreed to meet in the evening in a private room of the Raleigh to
consult on the state of things. There may have been a member or two
more whom I do not recollect. We were all sensible that the most
urgent of all measures was that of coming to an understanding with
all the other colonies to consider the British claims as a common
cause to all, & to produce an unity of action: and for this purpose
that a commee of correspondce in each colony would be the best
instrument for intercommunication: and that their first measure would
probably be to propose a meeting of deputies from every colony at
some central place, who should be charged with the direction of the
measures which should be taken by all. We therefore drew up the
resolutions which may be seen in Wirt pa 87. The consulting members
proposed to me to move them, but I urged that it should be done by
Mr. Carr, my friend & brother in law, then a new member to whom I
wished an opportunity should be given of making known to the house
his great worth & talents. It was so agreed; he moved them, they
were agreed to nem. con. and a commee of correspondence appointed of
whom Peyton Randolph, the Speaker, was chairman. The Govr. (then Ld.
Dunmore) dissolved us, but the commee met the next day, prepared a
circular letter to the Speakers of the other colonies, inclosing to
each a copy of the resolns and left it in charge with their chairman
to forward them by expresses.
The origination of these commees of correspondence between the
colonies has been since claimed for Massachusetts, and Marshall II.
151, has given into this error, altho' the very note of his appendix
to which he refers, shows that their establmt was confined to their
own towns. This matter will be seen clearly stated in a letter of
Samuel Adams Wells to me of Apr. 2., 1819, and my answer of May 12.
I was corrected by the letter of Mr. Wells in the information I had
given Mr. Wirt, as stated in his note, pa. 87, that the messengers of
Massach. & Virga crossed each other on the way bearing similar
propositions, for Mr. Wells shows that Mass. did not adopt the
measure but on the receipt of our proposn delivered at their next
session. Their message therefore which passed ours, must have
related to something else, for I well remember P. Randolph's
informing me of the crossing of our messengers.
The next event which excited our sympathies for Massachusets
was the Boston port bill, by which that port was to be shut up on the
1st of June, 1774. This arrived while we were in session in the
spring of that year. The lead in the house on these subjects being
no longer left to the old members, Mr. Henry, R. H. Lee, Fr. L. Lee,
3. or 4. other members, whom I do not recollect, and myself, agreeing
that we must boldly take an unequivocal stand in the line with
Massachusetts, determined to meet and consult on the proper measures
in the council chamber, for the benefit of the library in that room.
We were under conviction of the necessity of arousing our people from
the lethargy into which they had fallen as to passing events; and
thought that the appointment of a day of general fasting & prayer
would be most likely to call up & alarm their attention. No example
of such a solemnity had existed since the days of our distresses in
the war of 55. since which a new generation had grown up. With the
help therefore of Rushworth, whom we rummaged over for the
revolutionary precedents & forms of the Puritans of that day,
preserved by him, we cooked up a resolution, somewhat modernizing
their phrases, for appointing the 1st day of June, on which the Port
bill was to commence, for a day of fasting, humiliation & prayer, to
implore heaven to avert from us the evils of civil war, to inspire us
with firmness in support of our rights, and to turn the hearts of the
King & parliament to moderation & justice. To give greater emphasis
to our proposition, we agreed to wait the next morning on Mr.
Nicholas, whose grave & religious character was more in unison with
the tone of our resolution and to solicit him to move it. We
accordingly went to him in the morning. He moved it the same day;
the 1st of June was proposed and it passed without opposition. The
Governor dissolved us as usual. We retired to the Apollo as before,
agreed to an association, and instructed the commee of correspdce to
propose to the corresponding commees of the other colonies to appoint
deputies to meet in Congress at such place, annually, as should be
convenient to direct, from time to time, the measures required by the
general interest: and we declared that an attack on any one colony
should be considered as an attack on the whole. This was in May. We
further recommended to the several counties to elect deputies to meet
at Wmsbg the 1st of Aug ensuing, to consider the state of the colony,
& particularly to appoint delegates to a general Congress, should
that measure be acceded to by the commees of correspdce generally.
It was acceded to, Philadelphia was appointed for the place, and the
5th of Sep. for the time of meeting. We returned home, and in our
several counties invited the clergy to meet assemblies of the people
on the 1st of June, to perform the ceremonies of the day, & to
address to them discourses suited to the occasion. The people met
generally, with anxiety & alarm in their countenances, and the effect
of the day thro' the whole colony was like a shock of electricity,
arousing every man & placing him erect & solidly on his centre. They
chose universally delegates for the convention. Being elected one
for my own county I prepared a draught of instructions to be given to
the delegates whom we should send to the Congress, and which I meant
to propose at our meeting. In this I took the ground which, from the
beginning I had thought the only one orthodox or tenable, which was
that the relation between Gr. Br. and these colonies was exactly the
same as that of England & Scotland after the accession of James &
until the Union, and the same as her present relations with Hanover,
having the same Executive chief but no other necessary political
connection; and that our emigration from England to this country gave
her no more rights over us, than the emigrations of the Danes and
Saxons gave to the present authorities of the mother country over
England. In this doctrine however I had never been able to get any
one to agree with me but Mr. Wythe. He concurred in it from the
first dawn of the question What was the political relation between us
& England? Our other patriots Randolph, the Lees, Nicholas,
Pendleton stopped at the half-way house of John Dickinson who
admitted that England had a right to regulate our commerce, and to
lay duties on it for the purposes of regulation, but not of raising
revenue. But for this ground there was no foundation in compact, in
any acknowledged principles of colonization, nor in reason:
expatriation being a natural right, and acted on as such, by all
nations, in all ages. I set out for Wmsbg some days before that
appointed for our meeting, but was taken ill of a dysentery on the
road, & unable to proceed. I sent on therefore to Wmsbg two copies
of my draught, the one under cover to Peyton Randolph, who I knew
would be in the chair of the convention, the other to Patrick Henry.
Whether Mr. Henry disapproved the ground taken, or was too lazy to
read it (for he was the laziest man in reading I ever knew) I never
learned: but he communicated it to nobody. Peyton Randolph informed
the convention he had received such a paper from a member prevented
by sickness from offering it in his place, and he laid it on the
table for perusal. It was read generally by the members, approved by
many, but thought too bold for the present state of things; but they
printed it in pamphlet form under the title of "A Summary view of the
rights of British America." It found its way to England, was taken up
by the opposition, interpolated a little by Mr. Burke so as to make
it answer opposition purposes, and in that form ran rapidly thro'
several editions. This information I had from Parson Hurt, who
happened at the time to be in London, whether he had gone to receive
clerical orders. And I was informed afterwards by Peyton Randolph
that it had procured me the honor of having my name inserted in a
long list of proscriptions enrolled in a bill of attainder commenced
in one of the houses of parliament, but suppressed in embryo by the
hasty step of events which warned them to be a little cautious.
Montague, agent of the H. of Burgesses in England made extracts from
the bill, copied the names, and sent them to Peyton Randolph. The
names I think were about 20 which he repeated to me, but I recollect
those only of Hancock, the two Adamses, Peyton Randolph himself,
Patrick Henry, & myself. [1] The convention met on the 1st of Aug,
renewed their association, appointed delegates to the Congress, gave
them instructions very temperately & properly expressed, both as to
style & matter; and they repaired to Philadelphia at the time
appointed. The splendid proceedings of that Congress at their 1st
session belong to general history, are known to every one, and need
not therefore be noted here. They terminated their session on the
26th of Octob, to meet again on the 10th May ensuing. The convention
at their ensuing session of Mar, '75, approved of the proceedings of
Congress, thanked their delegates and reappointed the same persons to
represent the colony at the meeting to be held in May: and foreseeing
the probability that Peyton Randolph their president and Speaker also
of the H. of B. might be called off, they added me, in that event to
the delegation.
[1. See Girardin's History of Virginia, Appendix No. 12,
note.]
Mr. Randolph was according to expectation obliged to leave the
chair of Congress to attend the Gen. Assembly summoned by Ld.
Dunmore to meet on the 1st day of June 1775. Ld. North's
conciliatory propositions, as they were called, had been received by
the Governor and furnished the subject for which this assembly was
convened. Mr. Randolph accordingly attended, and the tenor of these
propositions being generally known, as having been addressed to all
the governors, he was anxious that the answer of our assembly, likely
to be the first, should harmonize with what he knew to be the
sentiments and wishes of the body he had recently left. He feared
that Mr. Nicholas, whose mind was not yet up to the mark of the
times, would undertake the answer, & therefore pressed me to prepare
an answer. I did so, and with his aid carried it through the house
with long and doubtful scruples from Mr. Nicholas and James Mercer,
and a dash of cold water on it here & there, enfeebling it somewhat,
but finally with unanimity or a vote approaching it. This being
passed, I repaired immediately to Philadelphia, and conveyed to
Congress the first notice they had of it. It was entirely approved
there. I took my seat with them on the 21st of June. On the 24th, a
commee which had been appointed to prepare a declaration of the
causes of taking up arms, brought in their report (drawn I believe by
J. Rutledge) which not being liked they recommitted it on the 26th,
and added Mr. Dickinson and myself to the committee. On the rising
of the house, the commee having not yet met, I happened to find
myself near Govr W. Livingston, and proposed to him to draw the
paper. He excused himself and proposed that I should draw it. On my
pressing him with urgency, "we are as yet but new acquaintances, sir,
said he, why are you so earnest for my doing it?" "Because, said I,
I have been informed that you drew the Address to the people of Gr.
Britain, a production certainly of the finest pen in America." "On
that, says he, perhaps sir you may not have been correctly informed."
I had received the information in Virginia from Colo Harrison on his
return from that Congress. Lee, Livingston & Jay had been the commee
for that draught. The first, prepared by Lee, had been disapproved &
recommitted. The second was drawn by Jay, but being presented by
Govr Livingston, had led Colo Harrison into the error. The next
morning, walking in the hall of Congress, many members being
assembled but the house not yet formed, I observed Mr. Jay, speaking
to R. H. Lee, and leading him by the button of his coat, to me. "I
understand, sir, said he to me, that this gentleman informed you that
Govr Livingston drew the Address to the people of Gr Britain." I
assured him at once that I had not received that information from Mr.
Lee & that not a word had ever passed on the subject between Mr. Lee
& myself; and after some explanations the subject was dropt. These
gentlemen had had some sparrings in debate before, and continued ever
very hostile to each other.
I prepared a draught of the Declaration committed to us. It
was too strong for Mr. Dickinson. He still retained the hope of
reconciliation with the mother country, and was unwilling it should
be lessened by offensive statements. He was so honest a man, & so
able a one that he was greatly indulged even by those who could not
feel his scruples. We therefore requested him to take the paper, and
put it into a form he could approve. He did so, preparing an entire
new statement, and preserving of the former only the last 4.
paragraphs & half of the preceding one. We approved & reported it to
Congress, who accepted it. Congress gave a signal proof of their
indulgence to Mr. Dickinson, and of their great desire not to go too
fast for any respectable part of our body, in permitting him to draw
their second petition to the King according to his own ideas, and
passing it with scarcely any amendment. The disgust against this
humility was general; and Mr. Dickinson's delight at its passage was
the only circumstance which reconciled them to it. The vote being
passed, altho' further observn on it was out of order, he could not
refrain from rising and expressing his satisfaction and concluded by
saying "there is but one word, Mr. President, in the paper which I
disapprove, & that is the word "Congress," on which Ben Harrison
rose and said "there is but one word in the paper, Mr. President, of
which I approve, and that is the word Congress."
On the 22d of July Dr. Franklin, Mr. Adams, R. H. Lee, &
myself, were appointed a commee to consider and report on Ld. North's
conciliatory resolution. The answer of the Virginia assembly on that
subject having been approved I was requested by the commee to prepare
this report, which will account for the similarity of feature in the
two instruments.
On the 15th of May, 1776, the convention of Virginia instructed
their delegates in Congress to propose to that body to declare the
colonies independent of G. Britain, and appointed a commee to prepare
a declaration of rights and plan of government.
In Congress, Friday June 7. 1776. The delegates from Virginia
moved in obedience to instructions from their constituents that the
Congress should declare that these United colonies are & of right
ought to be free & independent states, that they are absolved from
all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political
connection between them & the state of Great Britain is & ought to
be, totally dissolved; that measures should be immediately taken for
procuring the assistance of foreign powers, and a Confederation be
formed to bind the colonies more closely together.
The house being obliged to attend at that time to some other
business, the proposition was referred to the next day, when the
members were ordered to attend punctually at ten o'clock.
Saturday June 8. They proceeded to take it into consideration
and referred it to a committee of the whole, into which they
immediately resolved themselves, and passed that day & Monday the
10th in debating on the subject.
It was argued by Wilson, Robert R. Livingston, E. Rutledge,
Dickinson and others
That tho' they were friends to the measures themselves, and saw
the impossibility that we should ever again be united with Gr.
Britain, yet they were against adopting them at this time:
That the conduct we had formerly observed was wise & proper
now, of deferring to take any capital step till the voice of the
people drove us into it:
That they were our power, & without them our declarations could
not be carried into effect;
That the people of the middle colonies (Maryland, Delaware,
Pennsylva, the Jerseys & N. York) were not yet ripe for bidding adieu
to British connection, but that they were fast ripening & in a short
time would join in the general voice of America:
That the resolution entered into by this house on the 15th of
May for suppressing the exercise of all powers derived from the
crown, had shown, by the ferment into which it had thrown these
middle colonies, that they had not yet accommodated their minds to a
separation from the mother country:
That some of them had expressly forbidden their delegates to
consent to such a declaration, and others had given no instructions,
& consequently no powers to give such consent:
That if the delegates of any particular colony had no power to
declare such colony independant, certain they were the others could
not declare it for them; the colonies being as yet perfectly
independant of each other:
That the assembly of Pennsylvania was now sitting above stairs,
their convention would sit within a few days, the convention of New
York was now sitting, & those of the Jerseys & Delaware counties
would meet on the Monday following, & it was probable these bodies
would take up the question of Independance & would declare to their
delegates the voice of their state:
That if such a declaration should now be agreed to, these
delegates must retire & possibly their colonies might secede from the
Union:
That such a secession would weaken us more than could be
compensated by any foreign alliance:
That in the event of such a division, foreign powers would
either refuse to join themselves to our fortunes, or, having us so
much in their power as that desperate declaration would place us,
they would insist on terms proportionably more hard and prejudicial:
That we had little reason to expect an alliance with those to
whom alone as yet we had cast our eyes:
That France & Spain had reason to be jealous of that rising
power which would one day certainly strip them of all their American
possessions:
That it was more likely they should form a connection with the
British court, who, if they should find themselves unable otherwise
to extricate themselves from their difficulties, would agree to a
partition of our territories, restoring Canada to France, & the
Floridas to Spain, to accomplish for themselves a recovery of these
colonies:
That it would not be long before we should receive certain
information of the disposition of the French court, from the agent
whom we had sent to Paris for that purpose:
That if this disposition should be favorable, by waiting the
event of the present campaign, which we all hoped would be
successful, we should have reason to expect an alliance on better
terms:
That this would in fact work no delay of any effectual aid from
such ally, as, from the advance of the season & distance of our
situation, it was impossible we could receive any assistance during
this campaign:
That it was prudent to fix among ourselves the terms on which
we should form alliance, before we declared we would form one at all
events:
And that if these were agreed on, & our Declaration of
Independance ready by the time our Ambassador should be prepared to
sail, it would be as well as to go into that Declaration at this day.
On the other side it was urged by J. Adams, Lee, Wythe, and
others
That no gentleman had argued against the policy or the right of
separation from Britain, nor had supposed it possible we should ever
renew our connection; that they had only opposed its being now
declared:
That the question was not whether, by a declaration of
independance, we should make ourselves what we are not; but whether
we should declare a fact which already exists:
That as to the people or parliament of England, we had alwais
been independent of them, their restraints on our trade deriving
efficacy from our acquiescence only, & not from any rights they
possessed of imposing them, & that so far our connection had been
federal only & was now dissolved by the commencement of hostilities:
That as to the King, we had been bound to him by allegiance,
but that this bond was now dissolved by his assent to the late act of
parliament, by which he declares us out of his protection, and by his
levying war on us, a fact which had long ago proved us out of his
protection; it being a certain position in law that allegiance &
protection are reciprocal, the one ceasing when the other is
withdrawn:
That James the IId. never declared the people of England out of
his protection yet his actions proved it & the parliament declared
it:
No delegates then can be denied, or ever want, a power of
declaring an existing truth:
That the delegates from the Delaware counties having declared
their constituents ready to join, there are only two colonies
Pennsylvania & Maryland whose delegates are absolutely tied up, and
that these had by their instructions only reserved a right of
confirming or rejecting the measure:
That the instructions from Pennsylvania might be accounted for
from the times in which they were drawn, near a twelvemonth ago,
since which the face of affairs has totally changed:
That within that time it had become apparent that Britain was
determined to accept nothing less than a carte-blanche, and that the
King's answer to the Lord Mayor Aldermen & common council of London,
which had come to hand four days ago, must have satisfied every one
of this point:
That the people wait for us to lead the way:
That they are in favour of the measure, tho' the instructions
given by some of their representatives are not:
That the voice of the representatives is not always consonant
with the voice of the people, and that this is remarkably the case in
these middle colonies:
That the effect of the resolution of the 15th of May has proved
this, which, raising the murmurs of some in the colonies of
Pennsylvania & Maryland, called forth the opposing voice of the freer
part of the people, & proved them to be the majority, even in these
colonies:
That the backwardness of these two colonies might be ascribed
partly to the influence of proprietary power & connections, & partly
to their having not yet been attacked by the enemy:
That these causes were not likely to be soon removed, as there
seemed no probability that the enemy would make either of these the
seat of this summer's war:
That it would be vain to wait either weeks or months for
perfect unanimity, since it was impossible that all men should ever
become of one sentiment on any question:
That the conduct of some colonies from the beginning of this
contest, had given reason to suspect it was their settled policy to
keep in the rear of the confederacy, that their particular prospect
might be better, even in the worst event:
That therefore it was necessary for those colonies who had
thrown themselves forward & hazarded all from the beginning, to come
forward now also, and put all again to their own hazard:
That the history of the Dutch revolution, of whom three states
only confederated at first proved that a secession of some colonies
would not be so dangerous as some apprehended:
That a declaration of Independence alone could render it
consistent with European delicacy for European powers to treat with
us, or even to receive an Ambassador from us:
That till this they would not receive our vessels into their
ports, nor acknowledge the adjudications of our courts of admiralty
to be legitimate, in cases of capture of British vessels:
That though France & Spain may be jealous of our rising power,
they must think it will be much more formidable with the addition of
Great Britain; and will therefore see it their interest to prevent a
coalition; but should they refuse, we shall be but where we are;
whereas without trying we shall never know whether they will aid us
or not:
That the present campaign may be unsuccessful, & therefore we
had better propose an alliance while our affairs wear a hopeful
aspect:
That to await the event of this campaign will certainly work
delay, because during this summer France may assist us effectually by
cutting off those supplies of provisions from England & Ireland on
which the enemy's armies here are to depend; or by setting in motion
the great power they have collected in the West Indies, & calling our
enemy to the defence of the possessions they have there:
That it would be idle to lose time in settling the terms of
alliance, till we had first determined we would enter into alliance:
That it is necessary to lose no time in opening a trade for our
people, who will want clothes, and will want money too for the
paiment of taxes:
And that the only misfortune is that we did not enter into
alliance with France six months sooner, as besides opening their
ports for the vent of our last year's produce, they might have
marched an army into Germany and prevented the petty princes there
from selling their unhappy subjects to subdue us.
