On the 7th June, 1776, resolutions were moved respecting Independence.* On the 10th June a committee of the whole reported a resolution; That these united colonies are and of right ought to be, free and independent states; that they are åbsolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and that all connexion between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. On the same day the consideration of this resolution was postponed to Monday, the first of July; and it was resolved, that in the mean while, that no time be lost, in case the Congress agree thereto, a committee be appointed to prepare a declaration to the effect of this resolution.' On the following day, a committee was appointed of which Mr. Jefferson was the first named, and Mr. Adams the second. The remainder of the committee were Dr. Franklin, Mr. Sherman, and R. R. Livingston.The duty of preparing the draught was by them committed to Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Adams. Thus were they associated in that immortal labour. On the 2d July, the resolution of Independence was adopted, and on the ever memorable 4th July, 1776, the declaration reported by the committee, with some slight alterations, was agreed to and promulgated. It is now a nation's creed.

There is a point of resemblance, in the lives and characters of these illustrious men which must not be overlooked in its bearing upon the present subject. To the natural gift of great talents, they had both added the advantages of constant laborious culture. They came forward, disciplined and prepar ed by previous study, for the service and the ornament of the country. The deep and extensive learning of Mr. Adams is familiar to all, and none of us are ignorant of the varied and uncommon acquirements of Mr. Jefferson. The late venerable

*This motion was made by Richard Henry Lee, in pursuance of instructions from the Convention of Virginia and is understood to have been in the terms reported by the committee of the whole.

Charles Thompson, a chronicle of the times of the revolution, has told me, that he well remembered the first appearance of Mr. Jefferson in Congress, that he brought with him the repu tation of great attainments, particularly in political science, which he always well sustained. They had both diligently studied the history of man and of government. The examples of generous devotion in ancient times, inspired their hearts with lofty patriotism. The records of ages since, showed them how accident, and fraud, and force, had sunk the great body of mankind under grinding oppression, justified at length by maxims essentially false, but which the solitary speculations of writers, however undeniably true, were unable to correct. Here then, with prophetic wisdom they perceived, and blessed be God who put it into their hearts to perceive-here they perceived was the great occasion which the patriot and the philanthropist had rather wished than hoped for, at once to fix the end and aim of the revolution by raising the standard of the rights of man.

It was no longer a mere contest for separation. National Independence was indissolubly connected with civil and religious liberty. The same venerated instrument that declared our separation from Great Britain, contained also the memorable assertion, that all men are created equál, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.' This was the text of the revolution-the ruling vital principle-the hope that animated the patriot's heart and nerved the patriot's arm, when he looked forward through succeeding generations, and saw stamped upon all their institutions, the great principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence. It is not a charter-we hold by no charter. Freedom is coeval with our national existence, derived to us from no man's grant or concession,but received from the Author of our being, and secured by the valour, and toil, and blood of our ancestors.

These sacred principles, thus solemnly inscribed upon the banner of the revolution, are still borne aloft by the strength of increasing millions. They have not been defaced nor obliterated, nor even their lusture dimmed, by lapse of time or change of circumstances. When the war of the revolution was ended, and the God of battles had crowned our country's cause with victory, the gallant soldier who had endured every privation, and exposed himself to every hazard in the field, laid down his arms in submission to their acknowledged authority. An armed nation which had conquered peace in a seven years war, was changed in an instant into a nation of citizens; and the men who had fought and bled in the cause of their country, were seen in the walks of private life confessing by their conduct, their voluntary allegiance to the truths which had been proclaimed on the great day of Independence.

When, from the experience of a few years, the inefficacy of the articles of confederation had been demonstrated, these sacred principles were solemnly reiterated in the introduction of the Constitution of the United States. They are the basis of every state constitution: and like the air that we breathe, they belong to our very existence. He would be justly deemed an apostate, and a traitor, who should seek to destroy or weaken them. He would be held up to opprobrium and scorn, as the enemy of his country, and the enemy of mankind.

Nor has their kindly influence been confined to our own country. Throughout the world, the friends and advocates of human freedom and of human rights, have found consolation and encouragement in the example thus set before them. The standard was raised for ourselves-but it was raised on high, and it has floated in triumph, visible to the nations of the civilized world, for their assurance that man is competent to self government. Long established error, has been rebuked by their practical excellence. Systems apparently consolidated by ages, have been modified by their influence. A

knowledge of the rights of man has been universally disseminated. Whenever, and wherever, by any crisis in affairs, the people for a moment recover a portion of their lost power, their eager demand is for the acknowledgement of first principles in writte. constitutions. Whenever a sovereign, alarmed by foreign menace or pressure, would rouse his peo, le to uncon mon exertion, he appeals, not to the obsolete errors which he loves too well to renounce them, whilst their preservation is possible; but, in such an exigency, he is obliged to speak to their own sense of their own rights, and to promise to secure them by written constitutions. This we have witnessed in our day. Monarchs and their subjects have marched forth together under this assurance, animated with unwonted energy. The last, the greatest, the most powerful incentive to vigorous exertion, has been found in that knowledge which the principles of the Declaration of Independence have diffused so extensively. Such promises, it is true, have often proved delusive. "Ease would retract vows made in pain." But the knowledge exists-the feeling is there-it cannot again be smothered or subdued. It will go on, conquering and to conquer. At this moment, such has been its mighty progress, that no man will dare to assert, even though a princely diadem surround his brow, what, fifty years ago it would have been thought impious to dispute. That 'governments are instituted for the benefit of the people,' is already established" that they derive their just powers from the consent of the governed," cannot fail soon to follow, to the utter extirpation of the absurd heresy of the divine right of kings. In this hemisphere, a ‘fraternity of freedom' has been founded. The colonies of Spain, afflicted by ages of oppression, have looked upon the standard of our revolution, and been healed. They have achieved their Independence; and have taken their station among the powers of the earth, as members of a family of free republics. Such has already been the spread of the light which issued from yonder hall on the fourth July, 1776.

In contemplating the part which these illustrious men performed in the great work of that day, it is delightful to recur to the generous and conclusive testimony they have borne to each other's merits. Of Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Adams says, "he came into Congress in June, 1775, and brought with him a reputation for literature, science, and a happy talent for composition. Writings of his were handed about, remarkable for their peculiar felicity of expression. Though a silent member in Congress, he was so prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive on committees, (not even Samuel Adams was more so,) that he seized upon my heart." Of Mr. Adams, Mr. Jefferson says, in a letter, written in 1813, to an artist, who was about to engrave the picture of the Declaration of Independence. "No man better merited, than Mr. John Adams, a most conspicuous place in the design. He was the pillar of its support on the floor of Congress-its ablest advocate and defender against the multifarious attacks it encountered."? Assaults it did encounter-resistance it did suffer-not from the enemies only, of our country, but from her most sincere friends. The timid were alarmed; the minds of men of ordinary constancy were possessed with doubts and hesitation, at this final and irretrievable step. Heroic courage and patriotism were what the occasion demanded, and what-let us be thankful for it!-the occasion found. We have seen that the resolution engaged the attention of Congress, from the 7th June, when it was moved, to the 2d July, when it was adopted. "The arguments in Congress," says the late venerable Governor M'Kean, a man of revolutionary stature and strength, himself one of the signers of the declaration, “The arguments, for and against the Declaration of Independence, were exhausted, and the measure fully considered." And so they, doubtless, were, with all the deliberate gravity and solemn earnestness which the momentous occasion required.— It was, indeed, a fearful question. At the last moment when the question was about to be put, a celebrated member of the Congress, of undoubted patriotism, a man whose mem