Continental Congress Quotes
He was too ill to read the speech himself and it was read by James Wilson for him.
1st Earl of Chatham. The Continental Congress had endorsed and sent to England a set of resolutions from Suffolk County, Massachusetts, drawn up by Joseph Warren. Legislators forever since have admired the logic and presentation of the case for America. The King and the Prime Minister failed to heed Pitt’s view, and the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution followed.
The debate had come to an impasse over the issue of voting and taxation by state equally or proportional to the population. Witherspoon warned of the consequence of there being no agreement on some form of unity.
During the American Revolution, conditions were very difficult for Washington’s soldiers who were ill armed, ill clothed, and ill fed while they were paid irregularly. At one point morale was so low that some of the soldiers revolted. Smyth observes that Washington and Congress disciplined the mutineers very mildly, especially when compared with the way the British would deal with such things. The British Governor Clinton tried to take advantage of the mutiny and the poor morale by announcing that all of Washington’s troops who wished could obtain amnesty and join the British forces where the pay and conditions were much better. Professor Smyth found it fascinating that none of the Americans would join the British and he credits it to the wise and mild discipline policies of Washington and Congress as well as the general perception of the justice of the American cause among the American troops.
Despite his warning---and that of others—all that they could get agreement upon had each of these three weaknesses. After winning the American Revolution, the new country found the Articles of Confederation and the Continental Congress completely inadequate and finally in 1787 there was a Constitutional Convention held in secret in Philadelphia to overcome the weaknesses of the existing structure of which the warnings of Rush were three of the problems that had to be fixed.
The Articles of Confederation had no Federal teeth and the Continental Congress and the State Government’s were a mess after the Revolution. At the time of this writing to Jefferson in Europe, the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention had begun and many were pinning all their hopes on the outcome. While the proceedings of the convention were secret, the fact that it was ongoing was not only public knowledge, but there was intense public interest and hope for its outcome. The delegates were under a great deal of public pressure to unify the nation and come up with a viable form of government.
The simplistic view that the American colonists were patriots and the British were the colonizers against whom the colonists revolted is not really accurate. The American colonists were polarized into patriots and loyalists. The Loyalist Americans ranged from many of those merchants whose business depended upon England, those whose family were still in England, those whose religion made them loyal to the Church of England, slaves who would be free under British law, Americans who had strong cultural and intellectual ties to England and those Americans who were great believers in monarchy and whose honor required that they fulfill the oath that they had taken to the King of England. Some of the worst atrocities of the American Revolution occurred in the battles of these Americans against each other. See {82105} for more on this point.
Fox was one of the opposition leaders who were opposed to the heavy handed policies that the British King and Government had used.
This quotation is the first prayer of the first Congress. Some advocates of a more religious role in government use this quotation to illustrate that not only was religion a part of the first Congressional deliberations, but it was a Christian prayer. Of course, the Constitution would not be created for another 13 years and there was no provision for separation for church and state in the Continental Congress—there was not even an executive. Duche was later captured by the British and was persuaded to write a letter to George Washington {583740} asking that he lay down his arms. John Adams described him to Abagail: “Mr. Duche I am sorry to inform you has turned out an Apostate and a Traytor. Poor Man! I pitty his Weakness, and detest his Wickedness.”
The New England and Middle Atlantic States had recruited and allowed Negroes to serve in their divisions with excellent results. These two Southern states were suffering badly as a result of the British Military dominance and atrocities. Almost all whites who were patriots were already under arms. Hence the recommendation. Despite their precarious position, the Southern States would not follow the recommendation. Many were convinced that the Blacks would never make good soldiers, and the those Southerners who disagreed were terrified that once armed, the Blacks would never submit to slavery and would support slave insurrections of the Black slaves who were not in the military.
he always called him by his first name The name Mad Anthony Wayne stuck.
Today, most Americans know little of Samuel Adams but see John Adams as a much larger and more important figure. But for the American Patriots fighting the Revolution, it was Sam Adams who made the most outstanding contributions to the political strategy and leadership.
General Washington and his officers were constantly trying to get around the Southern bloc in the Continental Congress. South Carolina was willing because, perhaps more so than any other region of the country the South Carolina civilian population were suffering from the British military initiatives. See related quotes.
A local pilot who knew the local waters was necessary to help a large ship to dock in a port. Most of the pilots were patriots and those who weren’t were intimidated by the Continental Congress and the patriots in the community. At this point there was no formal battles yet of the Revolution. The British authorities were really angered that they could not safely land a British ship in the ports of their own colonies. This is another example of the American Revolution starting before the battles of 1776.
He was a Loyalist Tory and generally opposed to independence. The passion of the other politicians at the First Continental Congress surprised him greatly.
