Severing Chains of Tyranny

This America Reaches Two Hundred Forty-Seven

 

These We Remember

 The First and Second Continental Congress

This body of delegates spoke and acted collectively for the people of America’s (Britain’s) colonies. These colonies later became the United States of America.

First Continental Congress 1774 - Second Continental Congress 1775–1781

 The First Continental Congress included Patrick Henry, George Washington, John and Samuel Adams, John Jay, and John Dickinson.

The members met in secret. The body rejected a plan for reconciling British authority with colonial freedom. They adopted a declaration of personal rights including life, liberty, property, assembly, and trial by jury. They denounced taxation without representation and the maintenance of the British army in the colonies without their consent.

 

The Colonies

 The New England Colonies 

New Hampshire

Massachusetts

Rhode Island

Connecticut

 The Middle Colonies

New York

New Jersey

Pennsylvania

Delaware

 The Southern Colonies 

Maryland

Virginia

North Carolina,

South Carolina

Georgia

 

A Brief Chronology included these, but not only these, dates 

October 1774, the Congress petitioned the crown for redress of grievances extending at least to the year 1763. 

April 19, 1775, before the seating of the Second Continental Congress, armed conflict began between Britain and the thirteen colonies (the nucleus of the future United States). 

The Second Congress seated new members Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. John Hancock and John Jay served as president.

June 15, 1775, the Congress endorsed the New England military forces that had converged upon Boston and appointed George Washington commander in chief of the American army. 

April 12, 1776, the revolutionary convention of North Carolina authorized its delegates in Congress to vote for independence. 

May 15, 1776, the Virginia convention instructed its deputies to offer the motion. On June 7, British-educated Virginian Richard Henry Lee brought the motion forward in the Congress. 

Lee was a distinguished orator and active member of the First Continental Congress. In the Second Continental Congress, he introduced three resolutions for: 

Declaring independence

Forming foreign alliances and

Preparing a plan of confederation

On July 2, 1776, Lee’s first resolution was adopted. Twelve colonies (New York abstained) comprising the Congress resolved without objection that: 

“These United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.”

Also prepared by the Congress were the Articles of Confederation (precursor of the 1787 Constitution of the United States of America).

Two days later the chains of tyranny came undone in America's Declaration of Independence  

Framers of the Declaration

The Second Continental Congress appointed a Committee of Five whose responsibility was the drafting and presentation of a document that was originally titled: 

“A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress assembled” 

The five distinguished men of the committee were Adams of Massachusetts, Franklin of Pennsylvania, Jefferson of Virginia, Livingston of New York, and Sherman of Connecticut.

Positions Held by the Committee of Five before and after Second Continental Congress - Alphabetically by surname

John Adams (New Englander) October 30, 1735 - July 4, 1826

• Delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress September 5, 1774 – November 28, 1777
• 12th Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature October 1775 – February 1777 (Provincial Congress appointment)
• Chairman of the Marine Committee October 13, 1775 – October 28, 1779
• United States Envoy to France November 28, 1777 – March 8, 1779
• 1st United States Minister to the Netherlands April 19, 1782 – March 30, 1788 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
• 1st United States Minister to Great Britain April 1, 1785 – February 20, 1788 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
• 1st Vice President April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797
• 2nd President of the United States March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801

Benjamin Franklin (New Englander at age 17 relocates to Philadelphia) January 17 [Old Style January 6], 1706- April 17, 1790

• Philadelphia offices: member of the City Council 1748, justice of the peace1749, city alderman and a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly 1751
• 2nd President of the University of Pennsylvania 1749–1754
• Speaker of the Pennsylvania Assembly May 1764 – October 1764
• Postmaster General of British America August 10, 1753 – January 31, 1774
• Delegate from Pennsylvania to Second Continental Congress May 1775 – October 1776
• 1st United States Postmaster General July 26, 1775 – November 7, 1776
• United States Minister to France March 23, 1779 – May 17, 1785 (Continental Congress appointment)
• United States Minister to Sweden September 28, 1782 – April 3, 1783 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
• 6th President of Pennsylvania* October 18, 1785 – November 5, 1788
• *The office of President of Pennsylvania between 1777 and 1790 referred to “Supreme Executive Council of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” “the collective directorial executive branch of Pennsylvanian state government”

Thomas Jefferson (Virginian) April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826

• Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses May 11, 1769– June 1, 1775
• Delegate from Virginia to the Continental Congress June 20, 1775 – September 26, 1776
• Member of the Virginia House of Delegates October 7, 1776 – May 30, 1779; December 10, 1781 – December 22, 1781
• 2nd Governor of Virginia June 1, 1779 – June 3, 1781
• Delegate from Virginia to the Congress of the Confederation June 6, 1782 – May 7, 1784
• Minister Plenipotentiary for Negotiating Treaties of Amity and Commerce May 7, 1784 – May 11, 1786 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
• 2nd United States Minister to France May 17, 1785 – September 26, 1789 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
• 1st United States Secretary of State March 22, 1790 – December 31, 1793
• 2nd Vice President of the United States March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801
• 3rd President of the United States March 4, 1801 – March 4, 1809

Robert R. Livingston (New Yorker) November 27 [Old Style November 6], 1746 – February 26, 1813

• Member of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia 1775–1776, 1779–1781, 1784–1785 (involved I drafting New York State’s first constitution 1777)
• 1st Chancellor of New York July 30, 1777 – June 30, 1801
• 1st United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs October 20, 1781 – June 4, 1783 (Congress of the Confederation appointment)
• 7th United States Minister to France December 6, 1801 – November 18, 1804

Roger Sherman (New Englander) April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793

• Justice of the Superior Court of Connecticut 1766- 1789
• Delegate to the Continental Congress from Connecticut 1774–1781
• Member of the Confederation Congress from Connecticut 1784–1784
• Mayor of 1st New Haven, Connecticut 1784–1793 [Also delegate to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia 1787]
• Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut (at-large district) March 4, 1789 – March 3, 1791
• Member of the U.S. Senate from Connecticut June 13, 1791 – July 23, 1793

On June 28, 1776, the committee presented to the Committee of the Whole Congress

“A Declaration by 

The Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.”

Unforgettable

American Revolutionary Women Founders

Mercy Otis Warren (New Englander)
American Revolutionary poet, political playwright, satirist, historian, pamphleteer (pseudonym A Columbian Patriot)
September 25, 1728 – October 19, 1814

Far from the silent and submissive female image of the era, Mercy Otis Warren, active in the circles of John, Abigail, and Samuel Adams was, in her own right, “the leading female intellectual of the Revolution and early republic.”

Born and raised among lawyers and libraries, she was a self-educated historian and commentator whose exposure to politics began early and lasted a lifetime. In 1754 she married a political activist and later Massachusetts lawmaker who encouraged her writing. 

At the advent of the American Revolution, she set about writing its history, part of which was later published in History of the Rise, Progress and Termination of the American Revolution (1805).

She has been celebrated as an “avid patriot” who relentlessly denounced British policies, loyalists and lackeys. Well in advance of Mr. Jefferson, Mrs. Mercy Otis Warren in 1772, 1773 and 1775 was publishing satire and stage plays (“The Adulator,” “Defeat” and “The Group”) “skewering British colonial leaders.” She supported the Boston Tea Party and boycotts of British imports; and encouraged other women to follow suit.

Abigail Smith Adams (New Englander)
Second Lady of the United States 
April 21, 1789 – March 4, 1797 (Vice President John Adams)
First Lady of the United States 
March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801 (President John Adams)
November 22 [Old Style November 11], 1744 – October 28, 1818

As with Mercy Otis Warren, Abigail Adams was not “formally” educated but for more educated—far more than most women—for having been born and raised among and availed her of libraries.

 Abigail Adams was also an able businesswoman and manager of finance and property. As her husband John Adams was a constant traveler as a lawyer and political revolutionary and after the Revolution a diplomat, it was her job to “manage their farm and business affairs while raising the children.” She is reported to have “made investment decisions that enhanced the family’s prosperity.” It is worth noting that Mr. and Mrs. John Adams (except for their son John Quincy) were the only founding presidents who refused to participate in the business enterprise of slavery.

Also, not like Mercy Otis Warren but in a different way, perhaps, Abigail Adams was a correspondent, a writer, a commentator.

 Abigail and John Adams were married in 1764 and from the early years they are said to have carried on extensive correspondence. In 1776, as John Adams was involved in the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Abigail Adams’ letter to him counseled the Founding Fathers to …

“Remember the ladies.…

“Do not place unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.

“Remember all men would be tyrants if they could.”

Mr. Adams in all of his travels before the White House was an avid writer of letters as was his wife (not unusual for the era of the mind detached from “modern” technological gadgets). On entering the White House as president in 1787, John Adams reportedly implores his wife:

“I have never wanted your Advice and assistance more in my life.” 

At the end of John Adams’ tenure in Washington, Abigail Adams maintained correspondence with political leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (3rd and 4th U.S. Presidents) and Dolley Todd Madison (4th First Lady).

Fifty-six listed (seven foreign-born)

Signers of the 1776 American Declaration of Independence 

Name	State Rep.	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Age in 1776	Occupation
1.        Adams, John	MA	10/30/1735	Quincy, MA	40	Lawyer
2.        Adams, Samuel	MA	9/27/1722	Boston, MA	53	Merchant
3.        Bartlett, Josiah	NH	11/21/1729	Amesbury,MA	46	Physician
4.        Braxton, Carter	VA	9/10/1736	Newington, VA	39	Plantation Owner
5.        Carroll, Charles of Carrollton	MD	9/19/1737	Annapolis, MD	38	Merchant, Plantation Owner
6.        Chase, Samuel	MD	4/17/1741	Somerset Co., MD	35	Lawyer
7.        Clark, Abraham	NJ	2/15/1726	Elizabethtown, NJ	50	Lawyer, Surveyer
8.        Clymer, George	PA	3/16/1739	Philadelphia, PA	37	Merchant
9.        Ellery, William	RI	12/22/1727	Newport, RI	48	Lawyer, Merchant
10.     Floyd, William	NY	12/17/1734	Brookhaven, NY	41	Land Speculator
11.     Franklin, Benjamin	PA	1/17/1706	Boston, MA	70	Scientist, Printer
12.     Gerry, Elbridge	MA	7/17/1744	Marblehead, MA	32	Merchant
13.     Gwinnett, Button	GA	c. 1735	Gloucester, England	41	Merchant, Plantation Owner
14.     Hall, Lyman	GA	4/12/1724	Wallingford, CT	52	Physician, Minister
15.     Hancock, John	MA	1/12/1737	Quincy, MA	40	Merchant
16.     Harrison, Benjamin	VA	4/7/1726	Charles City Co., VA	50	Plantation Owner, Farmer
17.     Hart, John	NJ	c. 1711	Hunterdon Co., NJ	65	Land owner
18.     Hewes, Joseph	NC	1/23/1730	Kingston, NJ	46	Merchant
19.     Heyward Jr., Thomas	SC	7/28/1746	St. Helena Parish, SC	30	Lawyer, Plantation Owner
20.     Hooper, William	NC	6/17/1742	Boston, MA	34	Lawyer
21.     Hopkins, Stephen	RI	3/7/1707	Providence, RI	69	Merchant
22.     Hopkinson, Francis	NJ	10/2/1737	Philadelphia, PA	38	Lawyer, Musician
23.     Huntington, Samuel	CT	7/3/1731	Windham, CT	45	Lawyer
24.     Jefferson, Thomas	VA	4/13/1743	Albemarle Co., VA	33	Lawyer, Plantation Owner, Scientist
25.     Lee, Francis Lightfoot	VA	10/14/1734	Mt. Pleasant, VA	41	Plantation Owner
26.     Lee, Richard Henry	VA	1/20/1732	Stratford, VA	44	Plantation Owner, Merchant
27.     Lewis, Francis	NY	3/21/1713	Llandaff, Wales	63	Merchant
28.     Livingston, Philip	NY	1/15/1716	Albany, NY	60	Merchant
29.     Lynch Jr., Thomas	SC	8/5/1749	Prince George’s Parrish, SC	26	Lawyer
30.     McKean, Thomas	DE	3/19/1735	Chester Co., PA	42	Lawyer
31.     Middleton, Arthur	SC	6/26/1742	Charleston, SC	34	Plantation Owner
32.     Morris, Lewis	NY	4/8/1726	West Chester Co.,NY	50	Plantation Owner
33.     Morris, Robert	PA	1/31/1734	Liverpool, England	42	Merchant, Land Speculator
34.     Morton, John	PA	c. 1724	Ridley Township, PA	52	Farmer
35.     Nelson Jr., Thomas	VA	12/26/1738	Yorktown, VA	37	Merchant, Plantation Owner
36.     Paca, William	MD	10/31/1740	Abington, MD	35	Lawyer, Plantation Owner
37.     Paine, Robert Treat	MA	3/11/1731	Boston, MA	45	Lawyer, Scientist
38.     Penn, John	NC	5/6/1740	Carolina Co., VA	36	Lawyer
39.     Read, George	DE	9/18/1733	Northeast MD	42	Lawyer
40.     Rodney, Caesar	DE	10/7/1728	Dover, DE	47	Plantation Owner, Military Officer
41.     Ross, George	PA	5/10/1730	New Castle, DE	46	Lawyer
42.     Rush, Benjamin Dr.	PA	1/4/1746	Philadelphia, PA	30	Physician
43.     Rutledge, Edward	SC	11/23/1749	Christ Church Parish, SC	26	Lawyer, Plantation Owner
44.     Sherman, Roger	CT	4/19/1721	Newton, MA	55	Lawyer
45.     Smith, James	PA	c. 1719	Northern Ireland	57	Lawyer
46.     Stockton, Richard	NJ	10/1/1730	Princeton, NJ	45	Lawyer
47.     Stone, Thomas	MD	c. 1743	Charles Co., MD	33	Lawyer
48.     Taylor, George	PA	c. 1716	Ireland	60	Merchant
49.     Thornton, Matthew	NH	c. 1714	Ireland	62	Physician
50.     Walton, George	GA	c. 1741	Cumberland Co., VA	35	Lawyer
51.     Whipple, William	NH	1/14/1730	Kittery, ME	46	Merchant
52.     Williams, William	CT	4/18/1731	Lebannon, CT	45	Merchant
53.     Wilson, James	PA	9/14/1742	Carskerdo, Scotland	33	Lawyer
54.     Witherspoon, John	NJ	2/5/1723	Gifford, Scotland	53	Minister
55.     Wolcott, Oliver	CT	11/20/1726	Windsor, CT	49	Lawyer
56.     Wythe, George	VA	c. 1726	Elizabeth City Co., VA	50	Lawyer

 Information obtained from: American Council of Learned Societies. American National Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. Who Was Who in America: Historical Volume 1607-1896. Chicago: The A.N. Marquis Company, 1963. https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/signers-factsheet

Foreign-born Signers’ Interesting Career Paths in Government

#13 Button Gwinnett, Gloucester, England (Southwest)
# 33 Robert Morris, Liverpool, England (Northwest)
#45 James Smith, Northern Ireland (Britain)
#48 George Taylor, Ireland (Republic of Ireland: Northwestern Europe, Island in North Atlantic Ocean)
#49 Matthew Thornton, Ireland (Republic of Ireland: Northwestern Europe, Island in North Atlantic Ocean)
# 53 James Wilson, Carskerdo, Scotland (Carskerdo Farm, Near Leven, a seaside town in Fife, east Central Lowlands of Scotland)
#54 John Witherspoon, Gifford, Scotland (village in Yester Parish East Lothian, Southeast Scotland 25 miles east of Edinburgh)

Gwinnett

Member of the Continental Congress from Georgia 1776–1777; 8th Governor of U.S. State of Georgia February 22, 1777 – May 8, 1777
(Georgia ratified Articles of Confederation February 26, 1778; Georgia ratified the U.S. Constitution January 2, 1788)

 

Morris
Rose and Descended: the richest man lands in debtors’ prison.

Delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Pennsylvania 1775-1778 (member of “Secret Committee of Trade” handling procurement of supplies, “Committee of Correspondence” handling foreign affairs, “Marine Committee” overseeing Continental Navy; election to the Pennsylvania Assembly 1779; United States Superintendent of Finance June 27, 1781 – November 1, 1784; United States Agent of Marine August 29, 1781 – November 1, 1784; Delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia 1787; United States Senator from Pennsylvania March 4, 1789 – March 4, 1795. During and after membership in the Senate, Morris “went deeply into debt through speculating on land, leading into the Panic of 1796–1797.” For failure to pay his debts, he was confined to the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “Prune Street debtors’ apartment adjacent to Walnut Street Prison 1798-1801.”

Smith

Member by appointment to the provincial convention in Philadelphia (1775), to the state constitutional convention (1776); Elected to the Continental Congress/ signer of the Declaration of Independence; reelected to Congress (1785) but declined because of “his advanced age.”

Taylor

Member, Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly 1763–1769; 1775–1777; Pennsylvania Delegate to the Continental Congress July 20, 1776 – February 17, 1777; Member Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania March 4, 1777 – November 8, 1777

Thornton

President of the New Hampshire Provincial Congress 1775; speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives January to September 1776, elected to the Continental Congress (late arrival November 1776 post-debates in Philadelphia, granted signatory permission four months after the formal July signing); New Hampshire Superior Court judge 1776-1782; Member of New Hampshire House of Representatives 1783; Member of New Hampshire Senate 1784-1787 (simultaneously a state counselor from 1785–1786); Member of New Hampshire House of Representatives1786.

Wilson

Elected to the Continental Congress 1775; delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia1787 (member of the “Committee of Detail” that produced the first draft of the U.S. Constitution); had major role in drafting Pennsylvania Constitution 1790; Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States October 5, 1789 – August 21, 1798

Witherspoon

President of the College of New Jersey (1768–1794) (later named Princeton University), a school conceived as an institution to train clergymen and equip leaders of a new country; Member of New Jersey Committee of Correspondence and Safety 1774; elected to the Continental Congress as part of the New Jersey delegation -Delegate to the Second Continental Congress (appointed congressional chaplain) from New Jersey 1776 (voted yea on adoption of Virginia Resolution for Independence); later signed the Articles of Confederation and supported ratification of the Constitution of the United States

Burned into Memory, Bequeathed to the Young

“We hold these truths to be self-evident— that all … are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

“… [T]o secure these rights, Governments are instituted …, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…

… [W]henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to (effectuate) their Safety and Happiness.

“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes. [A]ccordingly, all experience hath shown that (human beings) are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable; than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
“But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such Government; and to provide new Guards for their future security.

“Such has been the patient sufferance …. The history of the present (regime) is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny …. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”

[Minor edits, excerpt from the American Declaration of Independence: A Transcription, in Congress, July 4, 1776, document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript]

What is America to me?

The House I Live in… Children at play …

All races and religions the faces I see … That’s America to me

… The church the school the clubhouse …

The place I work … The workers next to me

A neighborly hello a handshake feeling free…

…The right to speak my mind… That’s America to me

Big things and small … Laughter and tears… 

A dream that grows [two hundred and forty-seven] years… 

A million lights I see …

Especially the people I see …That’s America to me

Sources General References and Song lyrics websites
Excerpt and edited from “The House I Live In” by Abel Meeropol pseudonym Lewis Allan (February 10, 1903 – October 29, 1986), songwriter and poet; and Earl Hawley Robinson (July 2, 1910 – July 20, 1991), composer, arranger, singer-songwriter

Composition and Commentary excluding quoted material and individual images

Copyright © Carolyn LaDelle Bennett

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