United Colonies, where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs hath been hitherto 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." On the 15th of the same month, they ordered the above resolution to be published, with the following preamble:

WHEREAS, His Britannic Majesty, in conjunction with the Lords and Commons of Great Britain, has, by a late Act of Parliament, excluded the inhabitants of these United Colonies from the protection of his crown; and whereas, no answer whatever to the humble petition of the colonies for redress of grievances and reconciliation with Great Britain has been, or is likely to be given, but the whole force of that kingdom, aided by foreign mercenaries, is to be exerted for the destruction of the good people of these colonies; and whereas, it appears absolutely irreconcilable to reason and good conscience for the people of these colonies now to take the oaths or affirmations necessary for the support of any government under the crown of Great Britain, and it is necessary that the exercise of any authority under the said crown should be totally suppressed and all the powers of government exerted, under the authority of the people of the colonies for the preservation of internal peace, virtue, and good order, as well for the defence of their lives, liberties and properties against the hostile invasions and cruel depredations of their enemies; therefore, resolved, &c.

As

This resolution, with the preamble, falls but little short of a declaration of absolute independence. The necessity of some provision for the internal government of the colonies, during the continuance of the war with Great Britain, had before this attracted the attention of different colonies. early as May 15, 1775, the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts addressed a letter to Congress on the subject. Congress in reply by resolution of the 9th of June, recommended that the provincial convention should request the inhabitants to choose representatives, and that the representatives so chosen should choose Councillors, and that the Assembly and Coun

cil so chosen should exercise the powers of government, until a governor of His Majesty's appointment will consent to govern according to charter. And afterwards, in October following, the delegates from New Hampshire presented their instructions, "to obtain the advice and direction of Congress with respect to the method of our administering justice and regulating our civil police." Congress advised the provincial convention of New Hampshire to call a full and free representation of the people, "and that the representatives establish a form of government during the continuance of the present dispute between Great Britain and the colonies." Similar advice was given to other colonies that applied to Congress in this behalf. These, it will readily appear, fall far short of the recommendation of May 10, 1776, being, by their terms, only for temporary purposes.

At the same May session of the General Assembly (1776), Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery, of Newport, were elected delegates to Congress. They were elected in a grand committee of both houses of the Assembly, as had been the immemorial usage in the election of Colony officers. Previous elections of delegates appear to have been made by resolutions passed by concurrent vote of both houses of the Assembly. This change in the mode of election would seem to imply that delegates to the Continental Congress were recognized among the necessary permanent officers of the new sovereignty, and therefore, to be elected as the other officers of that State. The instructions are embodied in their commission, which was as follows:

THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF THE ENGLISH COLONY OF RHODE ISLAND and Providence Plantations in General Assembly convened, to Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery, Esquires, GREETING: WHEREAS, this Assembly, reposing special trust and confidence in your abilities and integrity, have appointed you, the said Stephen Hopkins and William Ellery, delegates to represent this Colony in the General Congress.

You are, therefore, hereby empowered to join with the delegates of the other United Colonies in Congress at Philadelphia, as soon as conveniently may be, or at such other time and place as shall be agreed upon by the major part of the delegates from the said colonies. You are also authorized and empowered to consult and advise with the delegates of the said colonies, upon the most proper measures for promoting and confirming the strictest union and confederation between the said United Colonies, for exerting their whole strength and force to annoy the common enemy, and to secure to the said colonies their rights and liberties, both civil and religious, whether by entering into treaties with any prince, state or potentate, or by such other prudent and effectual ways and means as shall be devised and agreed upon, and in conjunction with the delegates from the said United Colonies, or the major part of them, to enter into and adopt such measures; taking the greatest care to secure to this Colony, in the strongest and most perfect manner, its present established form, and all the powers of government so far as relates to its internal police and conduct of our own affairs, civil and religious.

You are also instructed and directed to exert your utmost abilities in carrying on this just and necessary war in which we are engaged, against our cruel and unnatural enemy, in the most vigorous manner, until peace shall be restored to the said colonies, and their rights and liberties secured upon a solid and permanent basis. You are also empowered to join with the major part of the delegates of the said United Colonies, in adjourning from time to time, and to such place or places, as shall be thought proper, for and during one year. You have it in express charge to make immediate application to Congress to put the Colony brigade upon the Continental establishment, and to defray the expenses of it from the first enlistment of the troops, as that number is indispensably necessary for the defence of this Colony, which is utterly unable to support them. And as it may happen that from sickness or other necessary cause, one of you may be absent from Congress, in such case the other is hereby as fully empowered to represent the Colony as though both were present and agreed in sentiment.

In behalf of the General Assembly, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the Colony to be affixed this sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six.

NICHOLAS COOKE, GOVERNOR.

By his Honor's command, HENRY WARD, Secretary.

The attention of the reader is particularly requested to the terms of this commission. Hitherto the delegates had

been restricted to advisory recommendations to the colonial government, to be adopted and carried into effect by them. The circumstances of the United Colonies in May, 1776, required that Congress should possess more extensive powers, and the ability to carry them out without the action of colonial legislatures. Such power was by this commission conferred on the delegates of Rhode Island. They were "to consult and advise with the delegates from the other colonies, upon the most proper measures for promoting and confirming the strictest union and confederation" between the colonies, in order to secure the exertion of the whole "force against the common enemy, and to secure the rights of the colonies, civil and religious," "and in conjunction with the delegates from the said United Colonies, or the major part of them, to enter into and adopt such measures." No reference is had to the future action of the General Assembly, leaving it to Congress to determine what were "the most proper measures," and to provide for carrying them into effect. To this grant of power there is one limit, and a most important one, in these words:-"Taking the greatest care to secure to this Colony, in the strongest and most perfect manner, its present established form, and all the powers of government so far as relates to its internal police and the conduct of our affairs, civil and religious."

Those who are acquainted with the early history of Rhode Island will not be surprised at this limit to the powers of its delegates in Congress. If there was any value in soul liberty, any truth in the doctrines adopted by the Colony in the foundation of its civil government, that civil magistrates have authority only in civil things, and have not rightfully any control or jurisdiction in matters of religion, that civil government emanates from the people and rests only on the consent of the governed, the General Assembly could not leave the inhabitants of the Colony to be governed, or their

rights controlled or in any way affected within the Colony by any power without the Colony, or not originating from them. It would have been in effect an abrogation of the sovereignty that the Colony had assumed. They would never have been pardoned had they not remembered, that the propagation of these principles had subjected their ancestors to persecution, and imperiled the very existence of the Colony in times past, that neighboring governments embracing and maintaining other and opposite doctrines, had always opposed this Colony for avowing and adopting them. Their fathers had suffered too much for their distinctive opinions to have them jeopardized. So long as these opinions were not avowed and adopted by the other colonies, they would be in danger if the other colonies were admitted to legislate for this Colony. Rhode Island was earnest for an effective union of all the colonies, earnest for an annual Congress to perfect that union, earnest for a confederation, and equally earnest against any consolidation of the colonies, and earnestly opposed to all legislation by Congress or Parliament, or any other body which might alter "the present established form and all the powers of government so far as it relates to its internal police and the conduct of its own affairs, civil and religious;" in fine, any thing that would affect its sovereignty.

This was the political creed of Rhode Island in 1776. It gave color to all proceedings down to her adoption of the Constitution of the United States.

It appears from the letter last given from Governor Hopkins to Governor Cooke, that the Colony brigade was put on the Continental establishment on the 11th of May, 1776, before the instructions just copied reached Philadelphia. General Washington used his influence for that purpose, and at the session in June, the General Assembly tendered him their thanks for his interposition on that subject.