Journals of the Continental Congress,
THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1777
“...The committee appointed to prepare an address to the inhabitants of the United States, reported a draught, which was read.
To the inhabitants of the United States.
Friends and Fellow Citizens--
In free States an unreserved Communication of Sentiments, as well as an Union of Interests should always subsist, between those who direct, and those who delegate to them the Direction of public Affairs. That your interests and ours are inseparable, is a Truth of which we are clearly convinced; and our Conduct is, we trust an uniform Testimony of this clear Conviction. We wish that, upon every Occasion, you may have the fullest and most perfect Views of the Situation in which you stand; but we look upon it as peculiarly our Duty, at this Time when a new Campaign is opening, to address you upon some important Subjects, with which your Freedom and Happiness are very intimately connected.1
[Note 1: 1 In the margin is written "Congress ought not to suppose a necessity for Expressing this. It ought not to appear that the Negative of it could ever suggest itself to Congress." These marginal notes are by Thomas Burke.]
Let us begin with contemplating in Retrospect, the Scenes, which are already passed. Entitled to the Character of Freemen you saw a system formed for debasing you to the Condition of Slaves. Vested by bounteous Heaven with the Right of being governed by yourselves, or by those, upon whom you devolved the Powers of Government, you saw others, avow a Claim of governing you, without your Consent in all Cases whatever. Alarmed at Pretensions, to which Submission would have been Treason, you did, what a free and temperate People ought to do,--you petitioned and remonstrated against y our Grievances; but you petitioned and remonstrated in a Tone which evinced your Determination never to bear them. Your Oppressors turned a deaf ear1 to your Supplications. Your Wrongs were multiplied, and [their Severity was]2 increased. To feet, and to say that you felt them, were accounted Crimes.3 Arms were employed to punish you for not surrendering your Birth-right; and to wrest from you what you would not, relinquish. What remained on your Part, to be done? To oppose Force by Force. The Sword that is drawn in the Defence of Liberty is consecrated.
[Note 1: 1 "is not this a vulgarism, amend it thus, 'refused even to hear'"]
[Note 2: 2 Inserted by the commentator.]
[Note 3: 3 "of the deepest Dye," in margin by the commentator, but struck out.]
Though War had been commenced by your Enemies, yet did not you nor your Representatives desist, from applying, in the most respectful Manner, for Redress?It4 was deemed inconsistent with the Dignity of those, who assumed the Rule over you;to5 vouchsafe you an Answer. The ill founded Claim of governing you was the Injury offered; and you could not be heard till that ill-founded Claim was admitted. The War was prosecuted against you with unremitted Violence, and, on many Occasions, with Circumstances of Cruelty, disavowed by the Maxims and the Practice of civilized Nations. Though, at no Time, you had transgressed the Bounds of your Duty as subjects, and though your Resistance to illegal Government ought to have had peculiar Merit with a Prince whose Family [had been by a similar] Resistance had led [elevated] to the Throne, yet this virtuous Principle was pronounced Rebellion, and you were excluded from the Protection of the British Crown.
[Note 4: 4 "dele 'it'"]
[Note 5: 5 "begin sentence with 'To vouchsafe &c.'"]
6Now the political Bands Connexion between you and Great Britain
[Note 6: 6 "This does not enter my Mind with sufficient force, clearness and Simplicity, neither the reasoning or motive is full, satisfactory or conclusive."]
was burst asunder; the Compact was on her Part dissolved, and you ceased to be [was dissolved, and she would not consider you as] Subjects, because you would not be Slaves. But the Means of Freedom will never be wanting to those, who resolve to be free. Liberty was, in happier Times, enjoyed under the British Constitution: It will grow however with proper Culture, in every Soil. The [transplanted] Branch which is transplanted will flourish, though the Root be rotten. By your Authority your Delegates, in Congress assembled declared that you were free and Independent States.
Much Industry has been employed, on this and on the other Side of the Atlantic to misrepresent this Declaration, and the Principles and Motives, on which it was founded. It has been considered as forming a new Æra in the Contest; as a Departure from the Maxims, on which you originally set out, and as the only Bar to an Accommodation with Great Britain: This Matter deserves to be placed in a clear and proper Point of View.
Was it necessary for you to enter into this Controversy? An Attention to its Importance will discover the true Answer. It was not a Dispute about Affairs of trivial Consequence--about Claims or Rights which might have been admitted or given up, without materially affecting you. Your Property and your Lives--your Liberties and those of your Posterity--every Thing on Earth worth contending for--all were involved in the Decision of the momentous Conflict.
If it was necessary to enter into the Controversy, at what Stage in its Progress, ought you to have stopt? Are there certain Lengths, to which Freemen may go, in asserting their Freedom, and no farther? Does the sacred Blessing deserve a Petition or a Remonstrance, and nothing more? If Arms may be taken up in its Defence, when should they be laid down? When the Attack upon it is abandoned, or effectually repulsed.
The Truth is, that Independence was the natural, and when it was declared, the necessary Result of your Determination to defend and of the Determination of your Enemies to destroy your Liberties; that the Support of it is now become essential to the Success of your Cause; and that every Bar to an Accommodation with Great Britain which existed before it, exists still. Every Principle, which justified your Opposition at its Commencement, justifies it at its present Height.
The Claim of Great Britain was to bind you, by her Laws, in all Cases whatever: Your Right was to be bound only by Laws made by yourselves, or your Representatives. Is your Right less certain, or of less Importance now, than it was at the Beginning of the Controversy? Has any Thing happened to shew the Propriety of receding from it? Is the Claim of Great Britain less pertinaciously prosecuted now than formerly? Has any thing happened to shew the Propriety of admitting it? What Change, then, can be pointed out, in the Merits and Principles of the Contest? A fond Hope long lingered in your Breasts, that your Enemies would give up their unjust Pretensions; and that a Reconciliation, on the Principles of the British Constitution, would take Place. But Experience shewed the Hope to be vain. Determined never to part with your Liberties; and convinced that Great Britain would not suffer you to enjoy them in Connexion with her, you took the only Course left--you separated.
This is a true and undisguised State of the Matter. Upon that Part of it, which relates to you, it is unnecessary for us to enlarge; because you know your own Rights, your own Principles, your own Conduct, and your own Determinations. What relates to Great Britain, her Prince, her Ministers and her Emissaries deserves a farther Illustration, in the Course of which we shall discover that the Disingenuity of the Arts has been equal to the Cruelty of the Arms employed against you.
Commissioners, at the Head of Fleets and Armies were sent to restore Peace to America. After their Arrival, they issued a Proclamation, containing a Promise of Pardon. A Pardon implies a precedent Crime. What Crime was it, which the Pardon so graciously proferred, was meant. to extinguish? That of refusing to surrender your Birthright and to be bound, in all Cases, by the Acts of the British Parliament. To receive a Pardon was to acknowledge that asserting the essential Rights of Freemen was criminal; and to promise never to assert them any more. And yet in the, same Proclamation, mention is made of constitutional Liberty. What Meaning did those, stiled Commissioners intend to convey by these Expressions? What Meaning where theyempowered to convey? Those Questions are far from being of the same Import. By an Art, unknown to Openness and Candour, the Commissioners insinuated that the Plea of Independence was the only one, that was inadmissible, when they were conscious, that though that Plea had been relinquished, they must have refused to admit every other; for till an absolute Submission was made on your Part, they had no Authority to enter into any Negotiation on theirs. This appears beyond all Contradiction from the Declarations of the Ministers and from the Debates in the Houses of Parliament. We descend not to the Animadversions, which such Duplicity merits.
No middle Line can now be drawn. Absolute and unconditional Submission to their Power is the End, long intended, and now avowed on the Part of the King and Parliament of Great Britain. Freedom and Independence, now the necessary Guard and Instrument of Freedom, are the Ends Objects proposed by you. Which ought a wise and virtuous People to chuse? Absolute and unconditional Submission! These are Terms, to which your Ears have been unaccustomed. It behoves you now fully to understand their Meaning. Absolute and unconditional Submission! The Horrours of Asiatic Slavery rush into your View. Behold a Wretch--the Property of his Lord and Master--without any Thing that he can call his own--without Lands--without a Wife--without Children--without Enjoyment--without Hope--doomed to be subservient to the Luxury, the Pride, the Caprice, and the Ambition of another--that Wretch is under absolute and unconditional Submission. What would be the Consequences of your absolute and unconditional Submission? You would be degraded from the Rank of Freemen which you now possess: You would be numbered among Slaves. You might plow and plant and sow; but you would not plow or plant or sow for yourselves: Your haughty Masters would reap the Harvest of your Labours. The Expence of subjecting you, and of keeping you in Subjection would be required from your Hands: And it would be imputed to you as a Crime, that the Ambition and Jealousy of your Tyrant obliged him to be at that Expence. What would be the Lot of your Children? Your Feelings will not permit you to trace the Subject. Let us turn our Eyes from the dismal Scene; and direct them to the most delightful Prospects.
What will be the Result of your Freedom and Independence? You will sit under your own Vine, and under your own Fig-tree, none being permitted to make you afraid. All political Power will be derived from you; and will be exercised only by such Persons, during such Terms in such Manner and for such Purposes as you shall appoint. Those who shall be entrusted with the Management of public Affairs, will be the Servants, and not the Masters of the States. Laws made by yourselves, or by your Representatives, will be the Rule of your Conduct. In those Laws Virtue will find Protection, and Vice will meet with her proper Punishment. Your Property will be secure; and Justice will be regularly and impartially executed dispensed. An honest Industry will have every Encouragement: Commerce will be expanded extended to every Quarter of the Globe: Learning and the Arts will flourish: All Circumstances will combine to render you free and good and happy: And you will have the best founded Hopes, that your Posterity will be free and good and happy after you.
But are you able to establish and to support your Independance? This is an interesting Question; and as, from our Situation and the Trust, which you have been pleased to repose in us, it is in our Power to furnish you with Materials for an Answer to it, we shall with the utmost Plainness and Candour lay before you, on one Hand, the Dangers, to which you are exposed; and on the other, the Expectations, which you may reasonably entertain of Success.
The first, and indeed the chief Danger, which we wish to point out to you, is that of forgetting and forsaking the Principles and Maxims by which your Hearts were animated, and your Conduct was directed, at the Commencement of the present Controversy. While the Struggle shall continue, the Virtues necessary for supporting it must be cultivated. These are Industry, O Economy, Patriotism, Vigour and Disinterestedness. Ease and Opulence will naturally follow, but will never produce a prosperous Issue of the Conflict.
Another Danger arises from Dissensions and Animosities about Matters of Government. We are far from wishing you to be indifferent about the Constitutions, under which you and your Posterity are to live. What we mean to recommend is, that the Differences which arise concerning them should be conducted in such a Manner as not to withdraw or exclude your Attention, your Zeal or your Services from the great Cause, in which we are all engaged, and on the Decision of which the Freedom and Happiness, or the Slavery and Wretchedness of all depend. Above all, let not private or party Interest rise superior to that of the public: No Symptom forebodes more fatal Consequences than this.
A third Danger proceeds from the secret Arts and Machinations of Emissaries sent among you by the Enemy, and of the Disaffected among yourselves. They gain and transmit Intelligence: They invent and propagate false and injurious Reports: They create and foment Jealousies between States and Individuals: They magnify the Power, Numbers, and Resources of the Enemy: They undervalue yours. By these Means, the timid are dismayed; and the honest but unsuspicious, are misinformed and misled.
Let us now consider the Expectations of Success, which you may reasonably entertain: Your Troops are animated with the Love of Freedom: They have fought and bled, and have often been victorious in the Discharge of their Duty as good Citizens, as well as brave Soldiers, Regardless of the Inclemency of Seasons, and of the Length and Fatigue of Marches, they have gone and acted, with Cheerfulness, wherever the cause of Liberty and their Country has required their Service: They have not, we confess, enjoyed the Advantages arising from Experience and Discipline: But Facts have shewn that native Courage, warmed with Patriotism, are sufficient to counterbalance those Advantages. Their Experience and Discipline will daily increase: Their Patriotism will receive no Diminution: The longer those who forced you into this War, oblige you to continue it, the more formidable you will become.
The Army is now put upon a very respectable Footing; whether we regard its Numbers, or the Term of its Inlistment. The most liberal Establishments are made for procuring Relief and Assistance for the sick and the wounded. Arms, Ammunition, Artillery and military Stores are amply provided. Cloathing has been imported and manufactured in very large Quantities: The increasing Industry and Skill of the Inhabitants; and the growing Commerce and Connexion with foreign Countries promise still larger Supplies. The Fertility of your Fields and Pastures, and the little Labour necessary for cultivating them ensure Plenty of Provisions of every Kind.
But your Strength and your Resources are not confined to the Operations by Land. You can exert yourselves likewise by Sea, Your Sailors are hardy and brave: You possess, beyond any Nation on Earth, all the Materials for Shipbuilding: Your Artificers can work them into Form. You cannotyet vie with the Navy of England; though that Navy too hadits Beginnings: But you may nevertheless be able to defend your own Coasts; and in Time--a much shorter Time, perhaps than the most, sanguine now imagine--may control that haughty maritime Power, which has so long spread her Terrors to the most remote Regions of the Globe. Your Fleet will soon be in a Situation to perform important Services. Your Privateers have already given a severe Blow to the British Commerce; and have enriched you, at the same Time that they have distressed your Enemies.
Along with these Advantages on your Side, many Disadvantages on that of the Enemy should be taken into the Account. The War is carried on by them at a very great Distance from the Seat of their Power. Their Troops, and the Stores and Provisions necessary for them, must, be transported, with much Cost and Risque, by Sea. The Number of Men employed in their Shipping is almost equal to that of those serving in the Field. This enhances the Expence of their Armaments. Add to all those Circumstances, the Delays and Losses, which must be occasioned by the long Voyages of numerous Fleets.
It is in your Power to avoid every Danger, and to check the Progress of every Evil, which threatens you. The Advantages on your Side, and the Disadvantages on that of the Enemy are continually increasing. You entered into the War without Money, without Arms, without Ammunition, without Experience, without Preparations of any Kind. You have sustained it during two Campaigns against the most vigorous Efforts of a Kingdom, which has been long the Dread of the Nations in Europe; and you are more powerful now, than you were at its beginning.
Is there, then, any reason to doubt of your being able to establish and to support your Independence. None, if you are not wanting to yourselves.
Let Sobriety, Vigilance, Fortitude, Disinterestedness, and firmness form your Character and regulate your Conduct. Join together, with Emulation, but without Jealousy, in the Prosecution of the great Cause, with which all must stand or fall. Watch suspicious Persons: Detect and punish disaffected ones. Let Devotion to the Public invigorate your Actions. Do what it is in your Power to do; and you have the greatest Reason to rest, assured that, under the gracious Protection of divine Providence, your virtuous Struggles will be crowned with abundant Success.1
[Note 1: 1 This report, in the writing of James Wilson, is in the Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 24, folio 233. The words inclosed in brackets were interlined by Thomas Burke.]
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Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 7,
Friends and fellow Citizens
[ante May 29, 1777](1)
We your Delegates in Congress address you at this Period in order to give you a Just Notion of your affairs and of the Exertions Necessary for compleating your Freedom and Happiness.
Our Enemy are unwearied in their Endeavours to seduce you from that honest and virtuous firmness wherewith you have united against their Usurpations. They pretend that your resistance do's not arise from a Sense of Violence done to your Rights, but from a Delusion into which you have been lead by Some designing men whose purpose is only to set up an Independant Dominion that they themselves may enjoy the supreme Power.
These Suggestions your own Experience can best refute, to you it is best known that they are false and Groundless, and every honest unprejudiced man will be convinced of it from a short View of the progress of the Contest.
The British Parliament expressly declared that they had and of Right ought to have Power to bind the Inhabitants of America in all Cases whatsoever. They proceeded to the Exercise of such Power by laying Taxes to be paid in America, and they Instituted arbitrary Courts supported by Military Force to Compel Obedience. This Tax, confessedly, was not laid for the Value of the revenue, but to form a precedent for exercising the Power when and to what Extent they pleased.
The Representatives of the People in their general Assemblies Complained of those Doings as violating the Rights of their Constituents. They knew it was their distinguished Privilege to give and grant their own Money, and to Consent to all Laws which they were bound to obey.
Soon as the Governors perceived the Assemblies were in Deliberation on this Subject they dissolved them. Other Representatives were chozen and those Extravagant Usurpations Still presented themselves as the greatest Grievance. When they entered on the Consideration of them they were again dissolved. This mode was pursued until the People every where became Sensible that no Opportunity would be given them ever to Complain. Necessity pointed out to them that they must have recourse to other Methods of representing their wrongs and requiring redress. Nature pointed out to them the mode they Adopted, and they were so reluctant to do any thing which might even appear a Deviation from Established Form, that they long forbore assembling in Towns and Counties and did not at length yield to the Necessity until they found every hope of redress any other way was lost.
When obliged to take this first Step the People proceeded with the utmost Caution. No tumult or disorder appeared, every man was impressed with an awful Sense of the Necessity he was under of Exercising that Right which Nature gave to every Man, and which the British Constitution expressly Assented, that of Consulting and resolving Concerning his Safety and Happiness, and each was determined to Exercise it no farther than the Necessity pressingly required.
In the most humble manner they declared their attachment to the Established Government, and even affection to the person of the Prince, they Complained of Wrongs which they modestly supposed to have arisen from no ill Intention or design in the Prince or Parliament, and they determined to Communicate their Sentiments to their Neighbors in Conventions of representatives Chozen and Instructed for this purpose. The same Necessity pressing at the Same time in every Colony, the same Sense of Wrong being every where felt, and Simple Nature every where Suggesting the same Expedient the meetings were every where held nearly at the same time, and they produced Conventions nearly at the Same time in every one of the present United States. Instructions from the People were nearly the Same in every Town and County, and they all Breathed (nearly) the same Spirit of humility, Moderation and Loyalty. All pointed out the Propriety of a Common Communication between the Different Colonies, and of Joint Supplications to the Throne for redress of Wrongs and Protection from Usurpations.
This produced the first Congress, and that Congress Confined itself entirely to Stating the Grievances of the People of America, Peti[ti]oning the King for a redress of them, professing the most Loyal humility and recommending Frugality and A Suspension of Commerce, unless within a Certain time the Wrongs should be redressed.
It is fresh in every Ones Memory that their Petition was treated with the most Insulting Contempt. That another Congress Still fondly holding by the Hope that Britain would forego her unjust Claims and Harmony be Restored, most humbly entreated the King to point out Some Method by which the Complaints of America might find their way to him without offending him, but to this Petition, the lowest Condescention to which a free People ever Stooped, was refused even an Answer. This humiliating Measure which Nothing but the Extream reluctance of the People of America to seperate from Britain can Account for or Justify was as fruitless as every other, and Acts of Parliament were made to subject the persons and Properties of Americans every where to Military plunder and Execution. Regular Bands of Soldiers were marched into the Country under their officers to deal Hostile Murders and Ravages around them. A formidable Naval Force was employed to hinder the Commerce of populous Cities and thereby to reduce the poor Inhabitants to Wretchedness, and even to prevent their availing themselves of the Food which the Sea Washing their own Coasts afforded to their Industry-and it was expressly declared that no Mitigation of those violences could be obtained but by Submitting without Condition to the absolute Will of the Parliament of Great Britain, a Body composed of men unknown to and unchozen by the Inhabitants of America, and who showed but too little regard to the Rights of their own Constituents, and of human Nature.
The Conduct of the British Court towards the Americans in the repeated dissolutions of their Assemblies whenever they attempted to Complain, in disregarding their Complaints when offered in the most humble and supplicating Manner by their Representatives in Congress, in refusing even to point out a Mode whereby they might find an Inoffensive passage to the Royal Ear, in disregarding all Rules of Justice and humanity by Subjecting their persons and Properties to Military Violence and Endeavouring even to Starve them, and by denying any Mitigation of those Enormities, Unless absolute Submission Should be made. this Conduct of the B[ritish] C[ourt] left no room to doubt that they considered the Americans as objects merely of Dominion not of Government. of Plunder not of Protection, of Military Tyranny not of Legal administration of Justice. No choice was left but to Oppose Arms to Arms, or submit to the absolute dominion of Men whose pride and Cruelty is incurrable, and whose rapacity is without Bounds. No alternative was left to the Citizen but to rouse into a Soldier or Sink into a Slave and entail Servitude Irrevocably on his posterity.
Yet even after this altho the People of America Could not Hesitate to take Arms, they kept in view their much loved Constitutional Connection with Britain, and altho they knew that when Protection was denied them, and they were driven to arms for their Safety, all relation between them and the Crown of Britain was dissolved, yet they chose to overlook this, and so long as any Hope remained of obtaining it on Just and reasonable Grounds to leave every possible Avenue open to reconciliation, nor did they forego this pleasing tho Imaginary prospect until they four.d that Britain was arming Slaves, Savages, and foreign Mercenaries against them and that she was totally regardless of their sufferings and Intent only on Subduing them to absolute Slavery. It now became Folly to indulge any Hope of Reconciliation. The Americans were universally Sensible that in all her progress Britain was determined to Establish over them an unlimitted Tyranny, that nothing less would Satisfy her ambition, and to Effect this She would Not Scruple to Expose them to the Undistinguishing Plunder and Massacres of Slaves, Indians, and more unfeeling Mercenary Soldiers. All Connection with Britain became impossible Except as Slaves without Right or property, but what must be held at the Precarious Will and pleasure of her Ministers.(2) Reconciliation became the same thing as Slavery, Independence the same thing as Freedom. Independance was not the voluntary choice of America but the Alternative which she prefered to Servitude, for no other Choice but one of them was left.
Every Man in America knows that during the whole Progress until the Declaration of Independance Britain might have disarmed America and made her perfectly Happy by recalling her Fleets and armies, renouncing her claims to absolute Dominion and declaring she would be Satisfied with regulating Commerce. That the Declaration of Independance was adopted at length as a Measure of Necessity to which Britain herself had driven America, and every Man of Common Sense and Honesty must be convinced it is Necessary to maintain it. Because to give it up would be to Sink into the most abject Slavery to a People who have given the most convincing Proofs that they regard us only as objects of their rapine; whose Policy it must be to keep us always poor, dejected and oppressed in order to Subdue our Spirit of Resistance to their Tyranny and to blot out even the Memory of that Liberty which Animates us at present to defend our Rights under so many disadvantagesw Even to suspend it would deprive us of the Confidence of Foreign Powers, and Consequently of their Friendship and assistance. Thus Britain could she prevail in this would deprive us of every prospect of Support and might pursue her purpose of enslaving us without danger of any Effectual resistance, and we should be deprived of every resource which enables us to make a stand for our Liberties.
In short it is manifest that from the Begining Britain has pursued a purpose of making the People of America Submit to her absolute Dominion, and regardless of Right, Justice and humanity, has employed means the most destructive and Calamitous.
On the other Hand America has Supplicated with the most humble Voice and manner of Complaint, have prayed with most Submissive humility for Peace, Liberty and Safety, but in vain, and at length when forced to take Arms for self-preservation She raised them with reluctance against Britain even in Defence of her own Bosom, and at length unwillingly seperated altho she plainly saw that any further Connection must involve her in Circumstances worse than utter Perdition.
To maintain this Seperation is to maintain the Religion, Liberty and Property of ourselves and our Posterity, to renounce it is to Sink into the lowest meanness and Slavery.
May God remove every such thought from every American Breast! Welcome first the Life of the most uncivilized Savages ! Welcome Death itself and everlasting Oblivion to our race!
Your own Experience, Fellow Citizens, will best bear Testimony to the Truth of the Facts here set forth. Your own Experience can best prove the Falshood of the Suggestion that you are deluded by Individuals who aim at Nothing but Power. You know how little Influence Individuals have over you. You know that every Man trusted or Employed by you is a creature of your free Choice, and by every choice you make and every act you do you manifest that you feel you are Sovereign and supreme, and Influenced by Nothing but a Conviction that you ought to be free, a Determined Resolution to remain so and to transmit freedom unimpaired to your Children. You well know that you Command Your Servants to Execute Certain Duties which tho arduous and dangerous they think they ought not to refuse because every Citizen is devoted to his Country, and ought Serve on such Duty as his Country shall think proper to require.
It is not Strange that our Enemies should have fallen at first into this Error, accustomed to a Country where only the Shadow of Liberty remains to the People, where Multitudes know no more of freedom than the Liberty of following their choice of leaders, where the most groce [gross] and wicked artifices are every day practized in order to acquire Power and trust to Individuals who afterwards abuse them, to the purposes of avarice and Luxury, where the People in short are Considered as fit for Nothing but to toil that men of high birth and Fortune may (riot on what) live in Ease and Splender.. Accustomed to this it is not surprising they should expect to find the Same in America. They know not the Plenty which the fruitful Soil of America yields to the Hand which gives it Cultivation, that penury and oppressive Landlords are here equally unknown, that Americans undebauched by Luxury have few wants and these few are always supply'd by a chearful and Laborious Industry, that wanting nothing they have nothing to Hope from Individuals, and no Individuals having Power or Inclination to hurt they have nothing from Individuals to fear. That each man has Leisure to Search out and understand what are his rights and that none Can Comprehend any reason why they should be given up to the absolute will of another. In Such a state as this no One is in a Situation to delude or be deluded, and the People of America well know that it is their State, altho of such the present race of Men in Britain have no Experience. But it is not to be believed that they Still Continue in this Error. They have Seen the People change their Servants frequently since they were compelled to take arms for their Defence, and yet the resistance has rather increased upon every change. They have seen the People in every State Erect Governments by their Sovereign authority, and in these Governments take special care that no Individuals should ever acquire any Influence over them. They have met with one Common Spirit of resistance every where in America, and that Spirit actuated the People without Distinction. This must undoubtedly have Convinced them long before this that the Americans are all apprehensive of Danger from the same Object and are Influenced by nothing but that Common Apprehension, and a firm resolution to meet it with Effectual Opposition.
But altho they cannot believe it they make use of it as an Engine wherewith to deceive the timorous and unwary amongst us. They put it as an argument into the mouths of their Emissaries, and Such Inhabitants of America, as are insensible of the Blessings of Freedom, Such as are unfeeling and mean spirited enough to prefer their present ease and oppulence to the Happiness of Milions now living and of Myriads yet unborn, Such as have wickedly determined for the Hopes of private advantages to assist in enslaving the Country which gave them birth, or Support, or altered them by the pleasing prospect of Liberty and plenty, Such endeavour to avail themselves of it, to excuse their Indolence, their selfishness or their Criminal Endeavours.(3) We flatter ourselves their are few of our fellow Citizens who answer this description, but we are sorry to find there are Some, and we warn you against all who use these arguments to you. Every Man who uses them is himself convinced of their falshood, and every Man to whom they are used need but apply one moment to his own Experience to refute them. We advise you therefore to Consider all such as men who wish you to Submit to the absolute Will of a People whose rapine as appears by their Treatment of Ireland and the East Indies can never be Satisfied, as long as the most Cruel Violence can Extort any thing from you.(4)
The War in which we are engaged for the defence of the Liberty Religion, and property of ourselves and our Posterity was begun under every disadvantage which a brave and virtuous People could struggle with. A powerfull and warlike oppressor whose Numbers of Inhabitants and boundless Commerce render her resources infinite and inex-haustable, with armies disciplined and officers Experienced, with a Fleet in every respect the Dread and Envy of the World on our part Inexperience, (went of Numbers,) want of Commerce, of warlike stores and even of (arms), and of every resource but an Inextinguishable Love of Liberty and a Confidence in the Justice of Divine Providence. In this Situation were we opposed to that Power which a few years ago Shook the most formidable Monarchies in Europe and carried Terror all over the World, (and who ungenerously as well as unjustly relying on her Superior Force insisted on binding us in all Cases whatever without our Consent, and on binding us to an absolute Submission to the Will and pleasure of her Corrupt and venal Ministers). Not detered by such Disadvantages, nor despairing of Divine aid and Protection the Virtuous Inhabitants of America determined (without Hesitation) to resist all attempts to enforce such unjust and extravagant Claims, and to maintain that Freedom which Heaven had originally bestowed on Mankind, and which their Ancestors had wrested from the Hands of usurping Tyrants, and rendering it more valuable by their Blood shed in its defence transmitted Improved to their Posterity, chusing rather to trust to the Issue of any War however callamitous, than to the boundless and Insatiable rapine of Ministers who had a whole People once great and Free to corrupt, and Consequently Innumerable Minions to employ, whose avarice or Luxury must be Satiated with the plunder extorted from the Industrious Poor in America. The Events of the War hitherto have justified our Trust in Divine Providence, and prove to us that an all wise and beneficent God will never forsake men who have virtue enough to Struggle for those Blessings which he has bestowed upon them, and who will rely on his Protection against all superiority of worldly Power, for, our unfeeling Enemy, tho possessed of the advantages of superior Force, Discipline and Experience, and employing every Engine of Fraud and violence in a three years War have acquired only one City and a small Teritory round it which by reason of their superiority in shipping could not be defended and they have been baffled in every (Considerable Enterprize) attempt to Penetrate into the Country whether from Canada or the Sea. They have been forced to fly from Boston, and have been repelled and defeated with disgrace at Charlestown, and their Efforts against Virginia, North and South Carolina, either by Invasion from the Sea, by Inroads which they procured the Savage Indians to make on Western Frontiers or the Insurrections Excited by them among the Slaves, the Ignorant Highlanders, and disaffected Tories have been all repelled and suppressed, with little Damage to us; but with Irreparable Ruin to their Instruments. Their attempts against Pennsylvania were rendered abortive, their Troops defeated, and Captivated, and their Generals forced to retreat in order to save the remains of their army from utter destruction, altho this Enterprize was undertaken under the Conduct of their most experienced officers, with a numerous, well disciplined and well appointed army at a time when we had but few Troops, and these Few under every disadvantage. This Happy event was produced by the Superior Skill and Sagacity of our Commander in Chief, by the Indefatigable perseve rance and Intrepidity of our fellow Citizens who composed the army under his Command great part of which consisted of the Militia of Philadelphia, and other parts of Pennsylvania, Jersey and Maryland, and above all by the peculiar Interposition of Divine Providence. Ever Since they have been confined to Straight Quarter and never attempted to pass without them but they are repulsed defeated or taken Prisoners.
The Campaign is now nearly ready to open. We have large Supplies of Arms and Military Stores, we have large Magazines of Provisions, and our Country abounds in plenty, for among other marks of Divine favor Heaven has blessed us with Extraordinary fruitfulness. Your Delegates in Congress have provided a liberal, and they Hope useful Establishment for the assistance and care of all who during the Course of the War may be afflicted with Wounds or diseases and are taking every precaution to preserve the Health of their fellow Citizens who must form the armies. Nothing is now wanting but the Zealous Exertions of our brave fellow Citizens to Compleat our armies, and to man our Navy, and to watch, detect, and suppress the Tories amongst us with Spirit and Vigilence.
For these purpose[s] we Exhort you every where to use every Effort for recruiting the Battalions from our brave and Magnanimous Youth, to whom must be due the Glory of Freeing their Country from Oppression, and bestowing Liberty and Happiness on their Families to be transmitted to future ages in a bright and improving Succession, to Apprehend all Deserters who not only disgrace themselves by quitting so Noble a Conflict, but Rob you of the Monies which have been advanced to them, to Seize and bring to legal punishment all who Endeavour to deceive any men into a Belief that they ought to Submit to the absolute Dominion of Britain or to renounce that Independance which alone can Secure us from it, in a Word to Employ the most vigorous and Zealous Vigilence in Executing the Laws Enacted by every State upon Offenders against the public cause. We have the Strongest Confidence that the men You entrust with the Power of making Laws will provide such as will be Competent to every desirable purpose, and we assure you that we shall not remit the greatest care, attention and Vigor in discharging the Duties you have Enjoyned us to perform.(5)
May the all bountiful, Merciful, and Gracious God enable us to Conclude the War in a short time, and with as little Misery to Mankind as possible, and so may he prosper our Endeavours as he knows our Intentions are void of ambition, and of every Motive but that of Securing those Blessings which we derive from him as the Great and bountiful Father of Mankind. We hope Fellow Citizens that your Virtue and Piety will always merit his Divine Protection, and we humbly beseech him to make you the Care of his All righteous Providence.
MS (Nc-Ar). In the hand of Thomas Burke and endorsed by him: "Rough [draft] of an address to the People drawn when member of Congress in 1777."
1 In order to mobilize popular support for the forthcoming campaign, Congress appointed Burke, William Duer, and James Wilson on April 30 "to prepare an address to the inhabitants of the thirteen United States, on the present situation of public affairs." On May 29 the committee submitted a draft address to Congress, written by Wilson and containing marginal comments by Burke, which reviewed the controversy between America and Great Britain and exhorted the American people to defend their rights vigorously against British tyranny. Congress read the address but took no further action on it. There is no explanation in the journals or in the delegates' surviving correspondence of Congress' failure to approve the address, but Wilson's bombastic style and occasional lack of clarity may have convinced many delegates that his work was unsuited for a popular audience. This conclusion is suggested by a marginal comment Burke made about Wilson's justification of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence: "This does not enter my Mind with sufficient force, clearness and Simplicity, neither the reasoning or motive is full, satisfactory or conclusive." PCC, item 24, fols. 233-39; and JCC, 7:314, 8:397-404. Burke's remark is reminiscent of Congress' reaction to one of Wilson's earlier literary efforts, for in February 1776 it had rejected his proposed address to the colonies on the grounds that it was "very long, badly written & full against Independence." See Richard Smith's Diary, February 13, 1776.
Burke doubtless drafted the address printed here sometime between his appointment to the committee on April 30 and the submission of Wilson's address to Congress on May 29. Burke's address differs greatly in content and style from Wilson's and a careful comparison of the two fails to reveal any influence by Burke on Wilson's work. As there is no known testimony of the three committee members about their work, it is impossible to determine why they preferred Wilson's draft to Burke's, which is in many respects a more vigorous statement.
2 On a detached sheet Burke wrote what might be a variant draft of the preceding sentence: "By this the Political union between you and Great Britain was dissolved, and because you would not be slaves you were not suffered to be subjects."
3 After this sentence in the MS Burke first wrote and then deleted: "of all such we warn you to beware."
4 At this point Burke apparently decided to discontinue the present draft and start afresh. On the next MS page he first drew up an outline for a new draft- "1. General Situation of affairs. 2. Suggestions of the Enemy's Arts. 3. Cautions and Incentives-[traitors?], Deserters. Trace the Steps leading to Indepen[den]ce and Shew the Necessity of Defending that in order to prevent the claims of our Enemies"-and then wrote a salutation and paragraph identical to the opening of the present address. After this, however, he deleted both the outline and opening paragraph and resumed writing his original draft.
5 On a detached sheet Burke wrote a sentence that might have been intended for insertion near the end of this paragraph: "We advise you to be dilligent in bringing all such men to the Chastisement provided by Law for their Offenses, and Suppress and disappoint their Endeavours as you would prevent your Enemy from gaining an advantage over you."
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