CONGRESS ADVISES FORMATION OF STATE GOVERNMENTS. 419 had determined to establish such a form of civil government as would fit the present situation. In order that the affairs of the community might not sink into a state of total confusion, several of the States asked the advice of Congress as to what form of government should be adopted. In reply, Congress recommended that the matter be submitted to the people and that such a form of government be established as would best secure the desired end, conditions greatly varying in the different States and no set form being applicable to all. Among the colonies which requested this advice from Congress was New Hampshire. On January 5, 1776, therefore, at the congress at Exeter, a form of civil government was drafted and adopted in accordance with the recommendations of Congress. Massachusetts had already acted, in July, 1775, electing members to the Assembly under the existing law "in observance of the resolve of the Continental Congress." Congress had given similar *Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, pp. 492493; Hildreth, vol. iii., pp. 126-127. See also Friedenwald, Declaration of Independence, p. 34; John Adams, Works, vol. i., pp. 188-189, vol. iii., p. 21. Frothingham, p. 491. On June 9, 1775, Congress had advised Massachusetts to elect representatives to conduct the government until a royal governor was chosen who would conduct the government according to the terms of the charter. Journals of Congress, vol. i., p. 80. See also Harry A. Cushing, Transition from Province to Commonwealth Government in Massachusetts, in Columbia College Studies, vol. vii. (1896); John Adams, Works, vol. i., p. 174. advice also to Virginia and South Carolina* which had been acted upon favorably by both colonies, their action giving a considerable forward impulse to the question of independence. On May 10 Congress unanimously resolved, "That it be recommended to the respective Assemblies and Conventions of the United Colo nies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath hitherto been established, to adopt such government, as shall, in the opinion of the representatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents, in particular, and America, in general."† Five days later Congress declared that it was irreconcilable to reason and conscience that the colonists should take an oath to support the government under the crown of Great Britain, and declared it necessary that all royal authority should be suppressed. It was also said that all the functions of government should be exercised under the authority of the people of the colonies, for the preservation of internal peace, virtue and good order, as well as for the defence of their lives, liberties, and properties, against the hostile invasions 66 *See McCrady, South Carolina in the Revolution, p. 103 et seq.; Journals of Congress, vol. i., pp. 215, 219; John Adams, Works, vol. iii., p. 21. † Force, American Archives, 4th series, vol. vi., pp. 1671, 1701, also v., p. 1180 and vi., pp. 395, 633, 825; Trevelyan, American Revolution, vol. ii., pp. 127-128; John Adams, Works, vol. i., p. 217, vol. iii., p. 44. 420 JUDGE DRAYTON'S SPEECHES AND WRITINGS. and cruel depredations of their enemies."'* Acting upon this recommendation, the people of South Carolina elected John Rutledge as their governor or president, and the people of Virginia elected Patrick Henry to that honorable position. A judiciary was also formed in South Carolina, and William Henry Drayton was appointed chief justice.|| In April, 1776, this noted jurist delivered a charge to the Grand Jury in which he said: "I think it my duty, to declare in the awful seat of justice, and before Almighty God, that, in my opinion, the Americans can have no safety but by the Divine favor, their own virtue, and their being so prudent, as not to leave it in the power of the British rulers to injure them. Indeed, the ruinous and deadly injuries received on our side, and the jealousies entertained, and which, in the nature of things, must daily increase against us on the other, demonstrate to a mind, in the least given to reflection upon the rise and fall of empires, that true reconcilement never can exist between Great Britain and America, the latter being in subjection to the former. The Almighty created America to be independent of Britain; let us beware of the impiety of being backward to act as instruments in the Almighty hand, now extended to accomplish his purpose; and by the completion of which alone America, in the nature of human affairs, can be secure against the craft and insidious designs of her enemies, who think her prosperity and power already by * John Adams, Works, vol. i., p. 218, vol. iii., p. 46. McCrady, South Carolina in the Revolution, p. 115. Tyler, Life of Patrick Henry, pp. 180-188. On the framing of the constitution, see Henry, Life of Patrick Henry, vol. i., chap. xvii. Jefferson's draft of the proposed constitution is in Ford's ed. of Jefferson's Writings, vol. ii., pp. 7-30; Madison's draft is in Madison's Works (Congress ed.), vol. i., pp. 24-28. ||Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, pp. 493495; Hildreth, vol. iii., p. 130; Bancroft, vol. iv., pp. 393-396. far too great. In a word, our piety and political safety are so blended, that to refuse our labors in this divine work, is to refuse to be a great, a free, a pious, and a happy people! And now having left this important alternative, political happiness or wretchedness, under God, in a great degree in your own hands; I pray the Supreme Arbiter of the affairs of men, so to direct your judgment, as that you may act agreeably to what seems to be his will, revealed in his miraculous works in behalf of America, bleeding at the altar of liberty!" Judge Drayton delivered also two other charges to the jury on October 15, 1776, and October 15, 1777, which were similar in thought.* He was well known as a pamphleteer, in August, 1774, putting forth the powerful Letter from Freemen of South Carolina, to the Deputies of North America, Assembled in the High Court of Congress at Philadelphia; in October, 1776, over the signature "A Carolinian " publishing a trenchant address to the two Howes wherein he exposed the dangerous tendency of their peace proclamation;t and in September, 1778, publishing An Answer to the Letters and Addresses of the Commissioners. In January, 1778, he delivered a speech before the South Carolina Assembly against the ratification of the Articles of Confederation.‡ The preliminary steps toward a Declaration of Independence by the United Colonies had been taken by * All three speeches will be found in H. Niles, Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America, pp. 72-98. See also McCrady, South Carolina in the Revolution, p. 117 et seq. John Drayton, Memoirs of the American Revo lution, vol. i., p. 17. ‡ Niles, Principles and Acts, pp. 98–115. VIRGINIA AND THE CAROLINAS FAVOR INDEPENDENCE. the individual colonies. On April 12, 1776, the Convention of North Carolina resolved that "the delegates of this colony in the Continental Congress be empowered to concur with the delegates of the other colonies in declaring Independence, and forming foreign alliances, reserving to this colony the sole and exclusive right of forming a constitution and laws for this colony, and of appointing delegates from time to time (under the direction of a general representation thereof) to meet delegates of the other colonies for such purposes as shall be hereafter pointed out." According to Pitkin, this was the first direct public act of any colonial Assembly or Convention in favor of independence.* Previously to this (March 23), South Carolina had instructed her delegates in Congress to "concert, agree to, and execute every measure which a majority of the Continental Congress shall judge necessary for the defence, security, interest, or welfare of this colony in particular and of America in general."† McCrady points out, however, that this could not be construed as authorizing the delegates to vote for independence, as the sense of the province was against such action at that time.t * See also Frothingham, Rise of the Republic, p. 502 et seq.; Bancroft, vol. iv., pp. 390-391; The South in the Building of the Nation, vol. i., pp. 461, 468. Journals of Congress, vol. i., p. 54. McCrady, South Carolina in the Revolution, Pp. 124-125. 421 Virginia went still further, when, on May 15, the delegates of that colony* were instructed" to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain; and that they give the assent of this Colony to such declaration and to whatever measures may be thought proper and necessary by the Congress for forming foreign alliances, and a confederation of the Colonies, at such time and in the manner, as to them shall seem best: Provided, that the power of forming government for and the regulation of the internal concerns of each Colony be left to the respective Colonial legislatures."+ At the same time the Virginia Convention unanimously resolved to appoint a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and such plan of government as would be most likely to maintain peace and order in this colony and secure substantial and equal liberties to the people." The Bill 66 |