Founding America (Barnes & Noble Classics) - Jack N. Rakove [69]
Resolved 5ly. That the Honorable House of assembly of this State be Desired to Recommend it to the Inhabitants of the State to Proceed to Chuse a Convention or Congress for the Purpas abovesaid as soon as Possable.
INDEPENDENCE
Thomas Jefferson: Notes of Proceedings in Congress (June 7-28, 1776)
PAGE 111
Thomas Jefferson: Notes of Proceedings in Congress [including Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence with deletions and additions indicated] (July 1-4, 1776)
PAGE 122
John Dickinson: Notes for a Speech Opposing Independence (July 1, 1776)
PAGE 120
John Adams: Letter to Abigail Adams (July 3, 1776)
PAGE 134
The Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776)
PAGE 136
WHEN AMERICANS SPOKE OF independence in 1774 and 1775, they usually meant that the colonies should be legally independent of Parliament, not of the British Empire. In theory, the colonists remained committed to a reconciliation based on preserving the authority of a Crown that would treat the separate American legislatures as virtual equivalents of Parliament. After January 1776, however, the word “independence” took on its broader meaning of a total separation from all imperial authority, royal and parliamentary. The publication on January 10, 1776, of Thomas Paine’s sensational pamphlet Common Sense marked a critical step in this movement. Before Paine wrote, Americans were reluctant to discuss independence. After Common Sense appeared, they debated it everywhere.
Still, well into the spring of 1776 many American moderates continued to hope that the British government would come to its senses and send commissioners empowered to negotiate in good faith. Only in April and May did this hope finally begin to fade. Numerous communities began approving resolutions calling for a declaration of independence, and soon the provincial conventions followed suit. Acting on instructions from the Virginia provincial convention, Richard Henry Lee presented Congress with resolutions calling for the appointment of separate committees to draft a declaration of independence, articles of confederation, and a plan for negotiating treaties with potential foreign allies.
The best summary of these debates within Congress was compiled by Thomas Jefferson, the young Virginian with the quick pen who found himself tasked with being the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. If he’d had his druthers, Jefferson would have been back in Virginia, working on the state constitution. Instead, his fellow committeemen—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Livingston, and John Jay—decided he was the best man to draft the Declaration. Like any author, he was disappointed with the changes Congress made in his text. But many commentators believe these changes were for the better.
The critical decision that Congress faced, however, involved the simple fact of independence, not the wording of the Declaration. That was why John Adams, perhaps the leading advocate of independence within Congress, thought July 2 (when Congress approved independence in principle) would be remembered as the great day. Down to the end, a few delegates continued to believe that the formal decision could wait. The leading opponent of independence was John Dickinson. Since 1775, he had been the most important moderate in Congress, and though never wavering in his support of American rights, he remained committed to the idea of reconciliation. Thus even while Dickinson chaired the committee drafting articles of confederation, he hoped to persuade Congress to defer a decision. Failing to do so, he left Congress, sacrificing much of the reputation he had earned as a leading advocate of American rights since the 1760s.
—Thomas Jefferson—
NOTES OF PROCEEDINGS IN CONGRESS
JUNE 7-28,1776
IN CONGRESS. [JUNE 7-28, 1776]
FRIDAY JUNE 7. 1776. The Delegates from Virginia