prietors. The proprietors thus exercised those prerogatives which in the royal governments were held by the

crown.

THE CHARTER GOVERNMENTS. In the charter governments the power more largely lay in the hands of the people. Not only were members of the legislature elected by the people, but the people also elected their governors. All other officers were either elected by the people or appointed by the governor, or the governor and the council. The charter granted to Massachusetts by Charles I. was very liberal, but prior to the Revolution the powers of the people had been seriously abridged. The charters of Connecticut and Rhode Island were granted as early as 1662 and 1663, and were so satisfactory to the people that they retained them long after they had become states of the American union. Connecticut did not form a state constitution until 1818, and Rhode Island was governed by the provisions of her charter of 1663 down to the year 1842— nearly 180 years. At the time she adopted a constitution, her charter was the oldest written constitution that was in force up to that time in the civilized world.

It will be observed that all of the colonies exercised some of the powers of government, while all were dependent more or less upon the British crown. There were in these governments the germs of popular rights, the seeds from which in due time sprang the republic. The democratic element, which was first manifested in the compact agreed to in the cabin of the Mayflower, had expanded and continued to grow, until it finally became the dominant form of all governmental power in this country.

CHAPTER IX.

THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

THE Continental congress, already mentioned, and which is sometimes called the second continental congress, met in Philadelphia on the 10th of May, 1775. The delegates were chosen in some instances by the colonial legislatures, and in other cases by conventions of the people. Many of these delegates were the same men who had met the previous year, in the first continental congress. Their object was not to establish a new government, and they had no design and but little thought of independence. They hoped by united action, and a bold but temperate bearing, to exert such an influence upon parliament as to obtain a redress of their grievances. Before they had assembled, General Gage, in command of the British troops at Boston, had commenced open hostilities. Massachusetts sent a letter to congress giving an account of the battles of Lexington and Concord, and requesting the advice and assistance of the congress. The journal of congress shows that in this letter was the following suggestion: "With the greatest deference we beg to suggest that a powerful army on the side of America is considered by us as the only means left to stem the rapid progress of a tyrannical ministry." The congress at once appreciated the urgency of the case, and felt obliged to take measures to put the country in a state of defence, and so practically assume con

trol over the military operations of the colonies. They organized the army, and appointed a commander-inchief. They created a continental currency by issuing bills of credit. They established a treasury department and a post-office department, and from time to time. adopted regulations concerning commerce; in fact, they drifted, apparently without design, into the exercise of sovereign powers.

The mani

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. festoes which the first continental congress put forth, with the hope that a redress of grievances could be obtained, failed to produce the results desired. Although the leaders in all the colonies were generally averse to independence, firmly supposing that their difficulties. with the mother country could be satisfactorily adjusted, yet the drift was inevitably toward a separation. Early in the spring of 1775 the subject began to be seriously discussed by the delegates in congress. It is believed that North Carolina was the first to propose separation and independency. A convention in that state on the 22d of April authorized their delegates in congress "to concur with those in the other colonies in declaring independency." So far as is known, this was the first direct public act of any colonial assembly or convention in favor of the measure.

On the 4th of May, 1776, the legislature of Rhode Island passed an act abjuring allegiance to the British crown. This act provides that in all commissions of officers and legal forms and processes of law, “wherever the name and authority of the said king is made use of, the same shall be omitted, and there shall be substituted the words: The governor and company of

the English colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations," and that "the courts of law be no longer entitled or considered as the king's courts."

May 15 the convention of Virginia instructed their delegates in congress to propose to that respectable body to declare the united colonies a free and independent state, absolved from all allegiance or dependence upon the crown or the parliament of Great Britain.

Col. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, on the 7th of June, submitted to the congress a resolution, "that the united colonies are and ought to be free and independent states, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be dissolved."

It has been said that no question of greater magnitude was ever presented for the consideration of a deliberative body, or debated with more energy, eloquence, and ability. A committee was appointed to draft a declaration of independence. This committee consisted of the foremost men of that day: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. The resolution offered by Richard Henry Lee was adopted by congress on the 2d of July, and on the 4th of July the report of the committee was adopted. This remarkable paper received the unanimous vote of the congress. It was written by Thomas Jefferson, and contains these burning words: "That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted