CHARACTER OF THE INSTRUMENT. "This celebrated instrument," 119 "regarded as a CHAP. legislative proceeding, was the most solemn enactment, by the III. representatives of all the colonies, of a complete dissolution 1776. of their allegiance to the British crown. It severed the po litical connection between the people of this country and the people of England, and at once erected the different colonies into free and independent states. The body by which this step was taken constituted the actual government of the nation at the time; and its members had been directly invested with competent legislative power to take it, and had also been specially instructed to do so. The consequences flowing from its adoption were, that the local allegiance of the inhabitants of each colony became transferred and due to the colony itself, or, as it was expressed by the Congress, became due to the laws of the colony from which they derived protection; that the people of the country became thenceforth the rightful sovereigns of the country; that they be came united, in a national corporate capacity, as one people; that they could thereafter enter into treaties and contract alliances with foreign nations, could levy war and conclude peace, and do all other acts pertaining to the exercise of a national sovereignty; and, finally, that, in their national corporate capacity, they became known and designated as the United States of America. This Declaration was the first national state paper in which these words were used as the style and title of the nation. In the enacting part of the instrument, the Congress styled themselves the representa tives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled ;' and, from that period, the previously 'United Colonies' have been known as a political community, both coincidences of date which history records, there is none, perhaps, so striking as that John Adams and Jefferson, the two main movers of this declaration, should both, after filling with signal reputation the highest office in their native land, expire on the fif- 1 Hist. Const. i. 87, 88. 120 REJOICINGS ON ITS PASSAGE. CHAP. Within their own borders and by the other nations of the III. world, by the title which they then assumed." 1776. In accordance with the arrangements which had been made for that purpose, the Declaration of Independence was read publicly in all the states, and at the head of the army, and was welcomed with the liveliest demonstrations of joy. In July 8. Philadelphia, in particular, the bell in the State House rang for the first time the stirring peal of American liberty, and the enthusiasm of the people rose to the highest pitch.1 Throughout the country, indeed, a change was visible; and every thing, from this date, assumed a new form. The Americans no longer appeared in the character of subjects in arms against their sovereign, but as an independent people, repelling the attacks of an invading foe. The propositions and supplications for reconciliation were done away. The dispute was brought to a single point whether the late British colonies should be conquered provinces, or free and independent states." 2 July 18. แ The reading of the Declaration in Boston took place on the eighteenth of July, from the balcony of the Town House, which was thenceforth the State House, in the presence of a vast concourse of the citizens, of a number of military companies, of the officers of the militia and of the continental army then on the station, of the selectmen and other municipal officers of the town, and of many members of the Executive Council and the General Assembly. The parade on the occasion was unusually great; the exultation of the people was unbounded. The king's arms were removed from the place they had long filled; and a public dinner was given, at which hundreds were seated. On the ensuing Sunday, the Declaration was read in most of the churches at the close of the religious services of the afternoon; and the piety of the 1 Gordon's Am. Rev. ii. 92; Almon's Remembrancer, iii. 337. 2 Ramsay's Am. Rev. i. 346. PROPRIETY OF THIS STEP. 121 people consecrated the cause as the cause of God and of suf- CHAP fering humanity.1 III. It will be readily conceived that no step hitherto taken was 1776. more cordially approved by the patriots of New England than this, which severed forever their connection with Great Britain. Not that even the most zealous deprecated, under all circumstances, the continuance of such connection; but they had long been satisfied of the hopelessness of effecting a reconciliation upon terms which would be alike satisfactory and honorable. If concessions were to be made, it was well understood that they would be expected to come from this side of the water. The ministers of the king had too much pride to acknowledge their errors, nor did they seem even conscious that they had done any thing which called for such an acknowledgment. In their own estimation, they had sought only to uphold the dignity of the crown, and to restore to obedience refractory subjects. If, in some cases, they had advocated measures of unusual severity, they were made necessary, they thought, by the exigencies of the times; and the responsibility of their passage must rest with the "rebels." Knowing that such feelings prevailed, and conscious that their resistance was grounded upon principle, and fell legitimately within the limits of constitutional authority, the statesmen of New England, who were in the forefront of the battle, and who looked over the field with a view to remote consequences as well as to immediate results, were convinced that war alone could decide the controversy, and that, to concentrate the 1 Boston Gazette for July 22, 1776; Sparks's Corresp. of the Rev. i. 256; Austin's Life of Gerry, i. 206; Bradford, ii. 116, 117. "The bells of the town were rung on the occasion, and undissembled festivity cheered and lightened every face." "We hear that, on Thursday last, every King's Arms in Boston, and every sign with any resemblance of it, whether Lion and Crown, Pestle and Mortar and Crown, Heart and Crown, &c., to- 122 PROPRIETY OF THIS STEP. CHAP. action of all the colonies, they must be bound together by a III. common tie, to enlist the sympathies of the reluctant and luke1776. warm. This was effected by the Declaration of Independence; and for the passage of this Declaration none labored more zealously than the delegates from Massachusetts. They knew it was not only for their own interest, but for the interest of the country, that the step should be taken; and, when taken, they foresaw that strength would be added to the public councils, that foreign alliances could be more easily contracted, and that the freedom of the nation would be more speedily secured. They did not adopt the maxim of ancient times of degeneracy, "Quærenda pecunia primum est, but, appropriating to themselves a nobler sentiment, were ready to say, "If it be aught toward the general good, Set honor in one eye, and death i' the other, And I will look on both indifferently; For let the gods so speed me, as I love Julius Cæsar, Act i. Sc. 2. CHAPTER IV. MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN MASSACHUSETTS. IV. To sketch in full the progress of the revolution is properly CHAP. the province of the national historian; and though the field is a tempting one, and might be profitably explored, it would 1776. be quite out of place for the local historian to aim to supply any existing deficiency by an amplitude of detail, which would be allowable in a general work, but which, in one of a more restricted character, would be regarded as superfluous. Nothing, therefore, will be attempted here more than a summary of events bearing directly upon the history of Massachusetts, and illustrating the part taken by the citizens of this state in achieving the independence of the country. Even within these bounds, enough may be said to show that, if the soil of Massachusetts was no longer trodden by a hireling soldiery, and the people were no longer subjected to the stern necessity of fighting immediately for their own families and the protection of their own homes, they were by no means indifferent to the claims of others upon their services, whose peace was disturbed by a foreign foe; nor were they unwilling to conse crate their fortunes to liberty, and to seal their sincerity by their own blood. Upon the evacuation of Boston, and the departure of Washington for New York, the command of the forces in Massachusetts devolved upon General Ward, who was instructed to occupy and repair the forts already erected, and to strengthen his defences to prevent the recapture of the town. He was, also, in all his proceedings, to consult the civil authorities, and act under their advice for the protection of the terri |