gress; and, with other forces raised for the common defence, became known and designated as the American Continental Army.1 Six companies of riflemen were ordered to be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia, and directed to join the army near Boston, and to be paid by the continent.2 On the 15th of June, 1775, Colonel George Washington, one of the delegates in Congress from Virginia, was unanimously chosen to be commander-inchief of the continental forces. Having accepted the appointment, he received from the Congress a commission, together with a resolution by which they pledged their lives and fortunes to maintain, assist, and adhere to him in his great office, and a letter of instructions, in which they charged him to make it his special care, "that the liberties of America receive no detriment." In the commission given to the general, the style of "the United Colonies" was for the first time adopted, and the defence of American Liberty was assumed as the great object of their union.5 On the 21st of June, Washington left Philadelphia to take command of the army, and arrived at Cambridge in Massachusetts on the 2d of July. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were also appointed by the Congress for the continental army; rules and regulations for its government were adopted and proclaimed, and the pay of the officers and privates was fixed.1 The Congress also proceeded, as the legislative authority of the United Colonies, to create a continental currency, in order to defray the expenses of the war. This was done by issuing two millions of dollars, in bills of credit, for the redemption of which the faith of the confederated colonies was pledged. A quota of this sum was apportioned to each colony, and each colony was made liable to discharge its proportion of the whole, but the United Colonies were obligated to pay any part which either of the colonies should fail to discharge. The first of these quotas was made payable in four, the second in five, the third in six, and the fourth in seven years from the last day of November, 1775, and the provincial assemblies or conventions were required, by the resolves of the Congress, to provide taxes in their respective provinces or colonies, to discharge their several quotas. The Congress also directed reprisals to be made, both by public and private armed vessels, against the ships and goods of the inhabitants of Great Britain found on the high seas, or between high and low water-mark; this being a measure of retaliation against an act of Parliament, which had authorized the capture and condemnation of American vessels, and which was considered equivalent to a declaration of war. They also threw open the ports 1 June 16-July 4, 1775. Journals, I. 112-133. 2 Journals, I. 125, June 23, 1775. Ibid., I. 185, July 29, 1775. 3 Ibid. of the United Colonies to all the world, except the dominions and dependencies of Great Britain. Further, they established a general Treasury Department, by the appointment of two joint Treasurers of the United Colonies, who were required to give bonds for the faithful performance of the duties of their office, and they organized a general Post-Office, by the appointment of a Postmaster-General for the United Colonies, to hold his office at Philadelphia, to appoint deputies, and to establish a line of posts from Falmouth in Massachusetts to Savannah in Georgia, with such cross posts as he should judge proper.2 The proceedings of the Congress on the subject of the Militia were, of course, in the nature of recommendations only. They advised the arming and training of the militia of New York, in May, 1775,8 and in July they recommended to all the colonies to enroll all the able-bodied, effective men among their inhabitants, between sixteen and fifty years of age, and to form them into proper regiments. The powers of the Congress to call into the field the militia. thus embodied were considered to be subject to the consent of those exercising the executive powers of government in the colony, for the time being.5 The relations of the country with the Indian tribes 1 Journals, I. 186, July 29, 1775. Michael Hillegas and George Clymer, Esquires, were elected Treas urers. 2 Journals, I. 177, 178, July 26, 1775. Dr. Franklin was elected Postmaster-General for one year 3 Journals, I. 106. 5 Journals, I. 285. CHAPTER II. 1775-1776. THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.-FORMATION AND CHARACTER OF THE REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENT. — APPOINTMENT OF A COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.-FIRST ARMY OF THE REVOLUTION. A NEW Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia on the 10th of May, 1775; and in order to observe the growth of the Union, it is necessary to trace the organization of this body, and to describe briefly the kind of sovereignty which it exercised, from the time of its assembling until the adoption and promulgation of the Declaration of Independence.1 1 Peyton Randolph, President of the first and reëlected President of the second Congress, died very suddenly at Philadelphia on the 22d of October, 1775, and was succeeded in that office by John Hancock. Mr. Randolph was one of the most eminent of the Virginia patriots, and an intimate friend of Washington. Richard Henry Lee wrote to Washington, on the day after his death, that "in him American liberty lost a powerful advocate, and human nature a sincere friend." He was formerly Attorney-General of Virginia, and in 1753 went to England as agent of the House of Burgesses, to procure the abolition of a fee, known as the pistole fee, which it had been the custom of the Governors of Virginia to charge for signing land patents, as a perquisite of their office. He succeeded in getting the fee abolished in cases where the quantity of land exceeded one hundred acres. He was commander of a company of mounted volunteers called the Gentlemen Associators, who served in the The delegates to this Congress were chosen partly by the popular branch of such of the colonial legislatures as were in session at the time, the choice being afterwards ratified by conventions of the people; but they were principally appointed by conventions of the people held in the various colonies. All these appointments, except those made in New York, took place before the battle of Lexington, and most of them had been made in the course of the previous winter. The credentials of the delegates, therefore, while they conferred authority to adopt measures to recover and establish American rights, still expressed, in many instances, a desire for the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and her colonies. In some cases, however, this desire was not expressed, but a naked authority was granted, to consent and agree to all such measures as the Congress should deem necessary and effectual to obtain a redress of American grievances. When this Congress assembled, it seems to have been tacitly assumed that each colony should continue to have one vote through its delegation actually present. All the thirteen colonies were represented at the opening of the session, except Georgia French war. He was President of the Virginia Convention, as well as a Delegate in Congress, at the time of his death. Sparks's Washington, II. 58, 161; III. 139, 140; XII. 420. 1 In Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, they were made in December; in Connecticut, in November; in New Jersey, in January; in South Carolina, in February; in the Lower Counties on Delaware and in Virginia, in March; in North Carolina, on the 5th of April; and in New York, on the 22d of April. |