|
FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR
THE OHIO COMPANY FORMED--CONVENTION AT ALBANY--INDIANS ATTACK SALISBURY AND CHARLESTOWN--JOHN STARK AND AMOS EASTMAN TAKEN PRISONERS--CONSTANT ALARM ON ACCOUNT OF THE INDIANS--FORT DUQUESNE ATTACKED--EXPEDITION TO CROWN POINT--NEW HAMPSHIRE REGIMENT MARCHES TO CROWN POINT BY WAY OF CHARLESTOWN--CAPTAIN FOLSOM CAPTURES THE FRENCH BAGGAGE TRAIN--ST. FRANCIS INDIANS RENEW THEIR DEPREDATIONS UPON HOPKINTON, KEENE, WALPOLE, ETC.--WAR DECLARED BY GREAT BRITAIN 1756--ROGERS AUTHORIZED TO RECRUIT CORPS OF RANGERS --JOHN STARK APPOINTED CAPTAIN--CROWN POINT EXPEDITION OF 1757--FORT WILLIAM HENRY SURRENDERS TO THE FRENCH--NEW HAMPSHIRE SOLDIERS MURDERED--QUEBEC SURRENDERS--ROGERS ANNIHILATES THE ST. FRANCIS TRIBE--MONTREAL SURRENDERS--PEACE DECLARED The next war, 1754, known as the French and Indian War or Seven Years' War, was a struggle to decide whether the French or English should control the continent of America. The treaty of Aix-la-Chappelle amounted to a little more than a cessation of hostilities or a truce. The English colonists occupied a long narrow line of territory from Newfoundland along the Atlantic coast to Georgia. The French had possession of two of the chief rivers of the country, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and had built fort after fort until they had a line extending from Quebec to Loulsiana, and were in possession of what is now the western part of New York, Pennsylvania, western part of Virginia and all the countries between the territory named and the Mississippi. After all the important points had been taken up by the French, the English began to awake from their slumber, and they saw that uniess they undertook heroic measures they would lose the heart of the continent, and with the French at the west of them must confine their settlements to the Atlantic coast. In order to prevent this environment by the French, a company was formed in 1748 for planting a colony along the upper Ohio River. A glance at the map shows that the territory from the city of Erie on Lake Erie in Pennsylvania to a junction of the Alleghany and Monongehela Rivers is the gateway of the west. Both parties realized the importance of this territory. The French already occupied it. The Ohio company, realizing that they must hold by force, began the construction of a fort where the city of Pittsburg, Pa., now stands, and before they could finish it the French drove them away, completed the same and named it Fort Duquesne. Matters looked serious, so much so that a convention of the northern colonies met at Abany in 1754, to consider what must be done. The Iroquois Indians, friendly to the English colonists, warned them of their danger. A plan was proposed for banding the colonies together for self-protection, but was rejected by the English "because it gave too much power to the people, by the Americans because it gave too much power to the King."1 The Indians who were always ready at the instigation of the French, again commenced their depredations upon the frontier settlements. In August they appeared at Bakerstown, where they killed a woman and took several captives. They committed similar outrages at Salisbury and Charlestown. In 1752 John and William Stark, David Stinson and Amos Eastman were hunting upon Baker's River in the town of Rumney, and had collected furs to the value of 560£ when they were attacked by the Indians.2 Stinson was killed, William Stark escaped by his brother's hardihood in striking up the Indians' guns as they were about to fire upon him. John Stark and Eastman were taken captives and carried to Memphremagog, in Canada, where they were afterwards ransomed. In June, 1754, the Indians attacked the house of Nathaniel Maloon in Salisbury; they captured Mr. Maloon, his wife and three children. Governor Wentworth at once dispatched a company after the Indians, but of no avail. The following August they made another attack upon what is now Franklin, where they killed Timothy Cook and Mrs. Philip Call, and took Enos Bishop prisoner. The people were in a constant state of alarm on account of these depredations, and on the l0th of August Governor Wentworth ordered a detachment of fifty men, under command of Maj. John Goffe, to march through the Merrimack Valley, and drive out the Indians, and at the same time he ordered two detachments to proceed to the Connecticut River. In Major Goffe's company were Joshua Martin, afterwards an active soldier in this war; John Harwood; Joseph Ordway from Goffstown, and Archibald Stark3 of Dunbarton with whose descendants we are familiar. Notwithstanding detachments had been sent to Charlestown on the Connecticut River, in August this same year, the Indians made an attack upon the house of James Johnson, capturing the whole family of eight persons, who were taken to Canada and sold into French captivity. A narrative of their capture and captivity, was afterwards written by Mrs. Johnson, which is very fascinating. In the meantime the British government had determined to render more effective aid to the colonies. Early in the year 1755 General Braddock arrived from England, with two regiments of regulars, to operate against the French. He proceeded against Fort Duquesne. His regulars knew nothing of warfare outside of English military tactics, and he himself was unacquainted with the enemy and too bigoted to receive instructions. The attack resulted in total defeat of his army, and he himself was mortally wounded. The second military expedition of this year was against Niagara by General Shirley which proved qulte as unsuccessful as that of Braddock. The third was for the reduction of Crown Point on Lake Champlain by Gen. William Johnson of New York, and although it failed as to its main object, yet its results helped dispel the gloom which followed Braddock's defeat. New Hampshire furnished a regiment of six hundred men under command of Col. Joseph Blanchard of Dunstable, now Nashua. Three companies in this regiment were raised in the vicinity of Amoskeag Falls; one was commanded by John Goffe, one by John Moore of Derryfield, and one by Robert Rogers of Dunbarton. It is impossible at this date to tell on which side of the river many of the Amoskeag men resided, but quite a detachment of the second and seventh companies were either of Goffstown or near neighbors. Samuel Martin, Joshua Martin, Joseph George, John Little, William McDougall, Ebenezer Martin, John Harwood, John Kidder, Benjamin Richards, Peter Dow, John Pollard, Robert Kennedy, John Cunningham were either residents of Goffstown then or afterwards.4 The regiment rendezvoused at Stevenstown, now within the limits of Franklin. A fort had been previously built at this place for protection against the Indians, which was called Salisbury Fort. In utter ignorance of the country, Governor Wentworth directed Colonel Blanchard to proceed to Crown Point by way of the Coos Meadow on the Connecticut River above Lancaster, anticipating a passage most of the way by water by means of the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers. Captain Rogers was sent forward to Coos with his company and detachments from others, to build a fort, and the rest of the regiment remained at Franklin building boats. Rogers Fort was located on the east bank of the Connecticut River within the limits of the town of Northumberland. At length the governor discovered his mistake and Colonel Blanchard and Captain Rogers were ordered to march directly to No.4, now Charlestown on the Connecticut River, and thence proceed across the country to Albany, N.Y. It is impossible at present to realize the obstacles of such a journey. No means of transportation; each soldier must carry his own luggage and provisions; the march must be made through a trackless forest, streams forded and no shelter by night. None but those who were inured to hardships, toils and privations could have accomplished the undertaking. Upon their arrival the New Hampshire regiment was posted at Fort Edward, where they arrived a short time before the attack was made upon Johnson's provincial army at the south end of Lake George, where the French were defeated by the loss of their leader. Upon the following day, September 8,1755, Captain Folsom with eighty New Hampshire men and forty from New York captured the baggage of the French army and soon after made an attack upon the retreating army. The enemy retired with great loss. Ouly six of Captain Folsom's troops were killed. The regiment then joined the regular army and its men were employed as scouts "These men were rugged foresters, every man of whom, as a hunter, 'could hit the size of a dollar at the distance of a hundred yards.' They were inured to cold, hunger and peril. They often marched without food, and slept in winter without shelter. They knew the Indians thoroughly. They were principally recruited in the vicinity of Amoskeag Falls and their early habits had accustomed them to face wild beasts, savage men and fierce storms."5 After the engagement, on the 8th of September, the province of New Hampshire was called upon to furnish a second regiment of three hundred men, which was placed under the command of Col. Peter Gilman of Exeter. This regiment marched to Fort Edward, by way of Charlestown, where they were employed until late in the fall, when both regiments were disbanded and returned to their homes. In this regiment were Joseph Ordway and James Harwood from Goffstown. At the close of the year 1755 a commission composed of delegates from the New England states met at Fort William Henry and decided that a garrison should be left at that fort for the winter, and New Hampshire's quota was ninety-one, mustered as a company under command of Capt. Robert Rogers of Dunbarton, where they remained until June, 1756. The expeditions of 1755 against Crown Point failed of their object and they served to excite the Indians to make fresh attacks upon the frontier of New Hampshire which was wholly unprotected and fully exposed to their murderous assaults. Between the headwaters of the Connecticut and St. Francis Rivers, the distance is short and elevation slight; and it formed a very convenient carrying place for the St. Francis tribe. They could slip down into New Hampshire to secure their captives and booty and return uumolested. Some new incentives, added to their natural ferocity, prompted them to renew their depredations upon Hopkinton, Keene, Walpole, Charlestown and Hinsdale. The plan of operations in 1756 was virtually the same as that of the preceding year. Crown Point, Niagara and Fort Duquesne were the strongholds to be taken. It seems strange that a campaign could be carried on so long without any formal declaration of war. But war was declared on the 17th of May, 1756, by Great Britain, against France, and very soon after by France against Great Britain. In March Captain Rogers received orders to repair to Boston, and was commissioned by General Shirley to raise a company of Rangers, as an independent corps, to consist of men accustomed to traveling and scouting, and in whose courage and fidelity the most implicit confidence could be placed. Returning to Fort William Henry he recruited his company. The officers were the same and the men mainly from his old company. The following July the corps of Rangers was increased by an addition of a second company, and the first of December, 1756, the corps was augmented by two more companies. We give the names of the officers of the company, because of their familiarity to some present residents: First Company--Robert
Rogers, Captain Richard
Rogers, Captain Robert
Rogers, Captain -- Hobbs,
Captain In a subsequent engagement Captain Spikeman, Lieutenant Kennedy and Ensign Caleb Page of Richard Rogers' Company were killed. John Stark was made captain of Spikeman's Company, James Rogers, Lieutenant, and Joshua Martin of Goffstown, Ensign of Richard Rogers' Company. January 21, 1757, in an engagement with the French and Indians, many of the Rangers were wounded, among whom was Ensign Martin, whose hip was shattered by a ball which passed through his body. He was left for dead upon the field, but afterwards revived and dragged himself after his retreating comrades, was discovered by them and taken to Fort William Henry where he was cared for. For the expedition against Crown Point in 1756, New Hampshire raised a regiment of seven hundred men under command of Col. Nathaniel Meserve. John Goffe was Captain of the seventh company; Nathaniel Martin, First Lieutenant. Samuel Martin, Ebenezer Martin, Joseph Ordway, Joseph George, Plummer Hadley, Caleb Emery, John Kidder, Caleb Dalton,6 members of the Company, either resided in Goffstown then or soon after. This regiment was in charge of Fort Edward for a time. In the fall they went to Albany and soon after came home. For the Crown Point expedition for 1757 New Hampshire furnished a regiment of five hundred men. Nathaniel Meserve, Colonel; Major John Goffe, Lieutenant Colonel. In this regiment were James Dunlap, Thomas Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, John Dinsore, Samuel Blodgett and William McDougall--Goffstown men. A part of this regiment went to Halifax and a part with Lieut.-Col. John Goffe to Fort William Henry, New York. This fort was attacked by the French and Indians under General Montcalm; and on the third of August surrendered, Montcalm agreeing to escort the New Hampshire troops to Fort Edward with their private baggage. The terms of the surrender were dishonorably violated. The French and Indians were allowed to attack the British troops and rob and murder indiscriminately. Out of the two hundred of the New Hampshire battalion eighty were killed. The French General Montclam made no effort to stay the slaughter. There is no language adequate to express such terrible wickedness as a oommander to allow hostile Indians to scalp and tomahawk capitulated prisoners. Potter speaks of this event as follows: "In this inhuman massacre there was a number from Amoskeag while others from the same place escaped by good fortune. John Dinsmore of Goffstown escaped from an Indian who had seized him by his shoulders by slipping out of his coat and outran his pursuer. Passing two nights in the wilderness and on the morning of the third day arrived at Fort Edward. William McDougall of this town and John Moore of Bedford were taken captives and sent to France. Samuel Blodgett hid under a batteaux. Here he remained until he thought it safe to venture from his hiding place, but was discovered by a band of savages who stripped him of every vestige of clothing in which plight he made his escape to Fort Edward." "Patriots
have toiled, and in their country's cause This horrid massacre threw the people of the colonies into great excitement, and a battalion of 250 men was raised for the defense of Fort Edward under command of Thomas Tash of Durham. This battalion went no further than Charlestown, N.H., and with the other New Hampshire troops was discharged in the fall. In the spring of 1758 New Hampshire raised another regiment for the Crown Point expedition, commanded by Col. John Hart. William McDougall and Plummer Hadley of Goffstown were in this regiment. Part of this regiment went to Louisburg under Colonel Hart, and a part to Crown Point under Lieut.-Col. John Goffe, marching by way of Charlestown and Albany. On the 27th of July, Louisburg again surrendered to the British arms after a brave defense. On the 5th of July, 16,000 men embarked upon Lake George for Ticonderoga. It is said that a thousand boats conveyed the English soldiers down Lake George. The attack continued three days and resulted in the final defeat of the Engiish. Lord Howe and 2,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or prisoners. In this aiege Major Rogers, and Captain Stark with the Rangers, performed a very important part in this engagement. And had the retreat not been covered by the gallant Rogers and his Rangers, and we might say his men from Amoskeag, it would have been a complete rout. In 1759 the province raised a regiment of 1,000 men, under command of Col. Zaccheus Lovewell of Dunstable and John Goffe, Lieutenant-Colonel. The regi-ment had its rendezvous at Dunstable, now Nashua, and marched to Worcester, Springfield, Mass., and thence to Albany, N.Y. General Amherst had been appointed commander of the English army. Quebec and Ticonderoga were taken this year--the New Hampshire troops had the honor of participating in both these engagements.7 The fall of Quebec was the turning point of the war. The French General Montcalm was entrenched upon the Plains of Abraham which overlooks the river St. Lawrence. The fortification was built upon a solid rock, and was termed the "Gibralter of America." Opposed to Montclam was General Wolfe with a fleet and 8,000 men in the St. Lawrence River. The English cannon easily reduced the lower part of the city, but were unable to reach the heights of the citadel. For weary weeks Wolfe lingered before the city vainly seeking a point of attack. One day while carefully scrutinizing, a precipitous or winding path was discovered by which he determined to make the ascent. Under cover of the darkness of night the troops clambered up the steep cliff and in the morning stood upon the "Plains of Abraham" in battle array. Montcalm was astonished at the audacity but at once decided to make an attack. His troops soon wavered when Wolfe ordered a bayonet charge and the field was won. Both commanders were mortally wounded, and when Wolfe was told that the French were put to flight replied, "Now God be praised, I die happy." Five days after, September 18, 1759, the city surrendered. General Wolfe was a great admirer of the poet Gray, and it is said that when going the rounds before this attack he repeated the stanza of his favorite poem, And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, Await alike the inevitable hour; The paths of glory lead but to the grave." On the morning of that engagement the country from Quebec to the Mississippi and New Orleans belonged to France. At sunset she had lost her hold on American power forever. This year Robert Rogers and his Rangers annihilated the St. Francis tribe of Indians at the village of St. Francis, in Canada, and after the destruction wandered home by way of the Coos intervales and Charlestown, encountering untold hardships and suffering. In 1760 New Hampshire raised another regiment of 800 men for the invasion of Canada, under command of Col. John Goffe; the regiment marched from Litchfield, N. H., by way of Milford and Peterboro over the Monadnock Mountain to Keene, and thence to Charlestown, where they crossed the Connecticut River and cut a road through the wilderness to the Green Mountains. They were upwards of forty days in cutting the road to the Green Mountains, a distance of twenty-six miles. Here they found the road cut by Stark the previous year to Crown Point. A large drove of cattle followed them for the army. They then proceeded with the English army down the lake, captured with little opposition the forts of St. John and Chamblee. Montreal surrendered without fighting, the governor seeing resistance wouid be folly. During the war which comprised six campaigns New Hampshire furnished 5,000 men with able commanders. The war closed in 1763 by a treaty concluded at Paris. By the treaty of peace France gave up the whole of her possessions in this country to England. Of all the magnificent country nothing was left to France but two barren islands south of Newfoundland. To the people of New Hampshire the war had a special significance. It cleared the Indians from her borders, and there was little trouble in the future from this element, which to our people was a great source of satisfaction.1Sanborn's
History of New Hampshire, p.131. Return Chapter 12
The
Non-Importation Agreement We,
his Majesty's most loyal subjects, the delegates of the several colonies
of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode island, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties of Newcastle, Kent and
Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South
Carolina, deputed to represent them in a Continental Congress, held in the
city of Philadelphia, on the fifth day of September, 1774, avowing our
allegiance to His Majesty, our affection and regard for our fellow
subjects in Great Britain and elsewhere, affected with the deepest anxiety
and most alarming apprehensions at those grievances and distresses, with
which His Majesty's American subjects are oppressed; and having taken
under our most serious deliberation the state of the whole continent, find
that the present unhappy situation of our affairs is occasioned by a
ruinous system of colony administration, adopted by the British Ministry
about the year 1763, evidently calculated for enslaving these colonies and
with them, the British empire. In
prosecution of which system, various acts of Parliament have been passed
for raising a revenue in America; for depriving the American subjects, in
many instances, of the constitutional trial by jury; exposing their lives
to danger by directing a new and illegal trial beyond the seas for crimes
alleged to have been committed in America. And in prosecution of the same
system, several late, cruel and oppressive acts have been passed
respecting the town of Boston and the Massachusetts Bay, and also an act
for extending the province of Quebec, so as to border on the western
frontiers of these colonies, establishing an arbitrary government therein,
and discouraging the settlement of British subjects in that wide-extended
country; thus, by the influence of civil principles and ancient prejudices
to dispose the inhabitants to act with hostility against the free
Protestant colonies, whenever a wicked Ministry shall choose to direct
them. To
obtain redress of these greivances which threaten destruction to the
lives, liberty, and property of His Majesty's subjects in North America,
we are of a opinion that a nonimportation, nonconsumption, and
nonexportation agreement, faithfully adhered to, will prove the most
speedy, effectual, and peaceable measure. And, therefore, we do, for
ourselves and the inhabitants of the several colonies whom we represent,
firmly agree and associate, under the sacred ties of virtue, honor, and
love of our country, as follows: 1.
That from and after the first day of December next, we will not import
into British America from Great Britain or Ireland any goods, wares or
merchandise, as shall have been exported from Great Britain or Ireland.
Nor will we, after that day, import any East India tea from any part of
the world; nor any molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, or pimento from the
British plantations or from Dominica; nor wines from Madeira or the
Western Islands, nor foreign indigo. 2.
We will neither import nor purchase any slave imported after the first day
of December next; after which time, we will wholly discontinue the slave
trade and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our
vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are
concerned in it. 3.
As a nonconsumption agreement, strictly adhered to, will be an effectual
security for the observation of the nonimportation, we, as above, solemnly
agree and associate that from this day we will not purchase or use any tea
imported on account of the East India Company, or any on which a duty has
been or shall be paid. And from and after the first day of March next, we
will not purchase or use any of those goods, wares, or merchandise we have
agreed not to import, which we shall know or have cause to suspect, were
imported after the first day of December, except such as come under the
rules and directions of the 10th Article hereafter mentioned. 4.
The earnest desire we have not to injure our fellow subjects in Great
Britain, Ireland, or the West Indies induces us to suspend a
nonexportation [agreement] until the tenth day of September, 1775; at
which time, if the said acts and parts of acts of the British Parliament
hereinafter mentioned are not repealed, we will not directly or indirectly
export any merchandise or commodity whatsoever to Great Britain, Ireland,
or the West Indies, except rice to Europe. 5.
Such as are merchants and use the British and Irish trade will give
orders, as soon as possible, to their factors, agents, and correspondents
in Great Britain and Ireland not to ship any goods to them, on any
pretense whatsoever, as they cannot be received in America; and if any
merchant residing in Great Britain or Ireland shall directly or indirectly
ship any goods, wares, or merchandise for America in order to break the
said nonimportation agreement or in any manner contravene the same, on
such unworthy conduct being well attested, it ought to be made public;
and, on the same being so done, we will not, from thenceforth, have any
commercial connection with such merchant. 6.
That such as are owners of vessels will give positive orders to their
captains or masters not to receive on board their vessels any goods
prohibited by the said nonimportation agreement, on pain of immediate
dismission from their service. 7.
We will use our utmost endeavors to improve the breed of sheep and
increase their number to the greatest extent; and to that end, we will
kill them as seldom as may be, especially those of the most profitable
kind; nor we will export any to the West Indies or elsewhere; and those of
us who are or may become overstocked with, or can conveniently spare any,
sheep will dispose of them to our neighbors, especially to the poorest
sort, on moderate terms. 8.
We will, in our several stations, encourage frugality, economy, and
industry, and promote agriculture, arts, and the manufactures of this
country, especially that of wool; and will discountenance and discourage
every species of extravagance and dissipation, especially all horse
racing, and all kinds of gaming, cockfighting, exhibitions of shows,
plays, and other expensive diversions and entertainments. And on the death
of any relation or friend, none of us, or any of our families, will go
into any further mourning dress than a black crape or ribbon on the arm or
hat for gentlemen, and a black ribbon and necklace for ladies, and we will
discontinue the giving of gloves and scarves at funerals. 9.
Such as are vendors of goods or merchandise will not take advantage of the
scarcity of goods that may be occasioned by this association, but will
sell the same at the rates we have been respectively accustomed to do for
twelve months last past. And if any vendor of goods or merchandise shall
sell such goods on higher terms, or shall, in any manner or by any device
whatsoever, violate or depart from this agreement, no person ought nor
will any of us deal with any such person, or his or her factor or agent,
at any time thereafter, for any commodity whatever. 10.
In case any merchant, trader, or other person shall import any goods or
merchandise after the first day of December and before the first day of
February next, the same ought forthwith, at the election of the owner, to
be either reshipped or delivered up to the committee of the country or
town wherein they shall be imported, to be stored at the risk of the
importer until the nonimportation agreement shall cease or be sold under
the direction of the committee aforesaid. And in the last-mentioned case,
the owner or owners of such goods shall be reimbursed out of the sales the
first cost and charges, the profit, if any, to be applied toward relieving
and employing such poor inhabitants of the town of Boston as are immediate
sufferers by the Boston port bill; and a particular account of all goods
so returned, stored, or sold to be inserted in the public papers. And if
any goods or merchandises after the said first day of February, the same
ought forthwith to be sent back again, without breaking any of the
packages thereof. 11.
That a committee be chosen in every county, city, and town by those who
are qualified to vote for representatives in the legislature, whose
business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons
touching this association. And when it shall be made to appear, to the
satisfaction of a majority of any such committee, that any person within
the limits of their appointment has violated this association, that such
majority do forthwith cause the truth of the case to be published in the
gazette; to the end that all such foes to the rights of British America
may be publicly known and universally contemned as the enemies of American
liberty; and thenceforth we respectively will break off all dealings with
him or her. 12.
That the Committee of Correspondence, in the respective colonies, do
frequently inspect the entries of their customhouses, and inform each
other, from time to time, of the true state thereof, and of every other
material circumstance that may occur relative to this association. 13.
That all manufactures of this country be sold at reasonable prices, so
that no undue advantage be taken of a future scarcity of goods. 14.
And we do further agree and resolve that we will have no trade, commerce,
dealings, or intercourse whatsoever with any colony or province in North
American which shall not accede to, or which shall hereafter violate, this
association, but will hold them as unworthy of the rights of freemen and
as inimical to the liberties of their country. And
we do solemnly bind ourselves and our constituents, under the ties
aforesaid, to adhere to this association until such parts of the several
acts of Parliament passed since the close of the last war, as impose or
continue duties on tea, wine, molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, sugar,
pimento, indigo, foreign paper, glass, and painters' colors imported into
America, and extend the powers of the Admiralty Courts beyond their
ancient limits, deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorize
the judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he
might otherwise be liable to from a trial by his peers, require oppressive
security from a claimant of ships or goods seized, before he shall be
allowed to defend his property, are repealed. And
until that part of the act...entitled "An act for the better securing
His Majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores,"
by which any persons charged with committing any of the offenses therein
described, in America, may be tried in any shire or county within the
Realm, is repealed; and until the four acts, passed the last session of
Parliament, viz: that for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor of
Boston; that for altering the charter and government of the Massachusetts
Bay; that which is entitled "An act for the better administration of
justice, etc."; and that "for extending the limits of Quebec,
etc.," are repealed. And we recommend it to the provincial
conventions, and to the committees in the respective colonies, to
establish such further regulations as they may think proper, for carrying
into execution this association. The
foregoing association being determined upon by the Congress, was ordered
to be subscribed by the several members thereof; and thereupon, we have
hereunto set our respective names accordingly. In
Congress, Philadelphia, Oct. 20, 1774. Signed, PEYTON
RANDOLPH, President. New
Hampshire: John Sullivan, Nat. Folsom. Massachusett's
Bay: Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine. Rhode
Island: Stephen Hopkins, Sam. Ward. Connecticut:
Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, Silas Deane. New-York:
Isaac Low, John Alsop, John Jay, James Duane, William Floyd, Henry Weisner,
S. Boerum. New
Jersey: James Kinsey, William Livingston, Stephen Crane, Richard Smith. Pennsylvania:
Joseph Galloway, John Dickinson, Charles Humphreys, Thomas Mifflin, Edward
Biddle, John Morton, George Ross. Newcastle,
Etc.: Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKean, George Read. Maryland:
Matthew Tilghman, Tho. Johnson, William Pace, Samuel Chase. Virginia:
Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, P. Henry, jun. Richard Bland,
Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton. North-Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hawes, R. Caswell. South-Carolina:
Henry Middleton, Tho. Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, John Ruttledge, Edward
Rutledge. Appearing
in a book entitled The Constitutions of the Several Independent States of
America, printed in London, 1783. Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental CongressOctober 14, 1774 Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British parliament, claiming a power, of right, to bind the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some acts, expressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under various presences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these colonies, established a board of commissioners, with unconstitutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty, not only for collecting the said duties, but for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county: And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges, who before held only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependant on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in times of peace: And whereas it has lately been resolved in parliament, that by force of a statute, made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, colonists may be transported to England, and tried there upon accusations for treasons and misprisions, or concealments of treasons committed in the colonies, and by a late statute, such trials have been directed in cases therein mentioned: And whereas, in the last session of parliament, three statutes were made; one entitled, ":An act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading, or shipping of goods, wares and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New England;": another entitled, ":An act for the better regulating the government of the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New England;": and another entitled, ":An act for the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New England;": and another statute was then made, ":for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, etc.": All which statutes are impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most dangerous and destructive of American rights: And whereas, assemblies have been frequently dissolved, contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate on grievances; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable petitions to the crown for redress, have been repeatedly treated with contempt, by his Majesty's ministers of state: The good people of the several colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North- Carolina and South-Carolina, justly alarmed at these arbitrary proceedings of parliament and administration, have severally elected, constituted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit in general Congress, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties, may not be subverted: Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now assembled, in a full and free representation of these colonies, taking into their most serious consideration, the best means of attaining the ends aforesaid, do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties, DECLARE, That the inhabitants of the English colonies in North-America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts, have the following RIGHTS: Resolved, N.C.D. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty and property: and they have never ceded to any foreign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent. Resolved, N.C.D. 2. That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies, were at the time of their emigration from the mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural- born subjects, within the realm of England. Resolved, N.C.D. 3. That by such emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them, as their local and other circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy. Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council: and as the English colonists are not represented, and from their local and other circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the British parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used and accustomed: But, from the necessity of the case, and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such acts of the British parliament, as are bonfide, restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects, in America, without their consent. Resolved, N.C.D. 5. That the respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law. Resolved, N.C.D. 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the English statutes, as existed at the time of their colonization; and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circumstances. Resolved, N.C.D. 7. That these, his Majesty's colonies, are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws. Resolved, N.C.D. 8. That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal. Resolved, N.C.D. 9. That the keeping a standing army in these colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against law. Resolved, N.C.D. 10. It is indispensably necessary to good government, and rendered essential by the English constitution, that the constituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several colonies, by a council appointed, during pleasure, by the crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous and destructive to the freedom of American legislation. All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of themselves, and their constituents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their indubitable rights and liberties, which cannot be legally taken from them, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent, by their representatives in their several provincial legislature. In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringements and violations of the foregoing rights, which, from an ardent desire, that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we pass over for the present, and proceed to state such acts and measures as have been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system formed to enslave America. Resolved, N.C.D. That the following acts of parliament are infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists; and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between Great Britain and the American colonies, viz. The several acts of Geo. III. ch. 15, and ch. 34.-5 Geo. III. ch.25.-6 Geo. ch. 52.-7 Geo.III. ch. 41 and ch. 46.-8 Geo. III. ch. 22. which impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, extend the power of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorize the judges certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might otherwise be liable to, requiring oppressive security from a claimant of ships and goods seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, and are subversive of American rights. Also 12 Geo. III. ch. 24, intituled, ":An act for the better securing his majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores,": which declares a new offence in America, and deprives the American subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the trial of any person, charged with the committing any offence described in the said act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried for the same in any shire or county within the realm. Also the three acts passed in the last session of parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of Boston, for altering the charter and government of Massachusetts-Bay, and that which is entitled, ":An act for the better administration of justice, etc.": Also the act passed in the same session for establishing the Roman Catholic religion, in the province of Quebec, abolishing the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the great danger (from so total a dissimilarity of religion, law and government) of the neighboring British colonies, by the assistance of whose blood and treasure the said country was conquered from France. Also the act passed in the same session, for the better providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his majesty's service, in North-America. Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of these colonies, in time of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against law. To these grievous acts and measures, Americans cannot submit, but in hopes their fellow subjects in Great Britain will, on a revision of them, restore us to that state, in which both countries found happiness and prosperity, we have for the present, only resolved to pursue the following peaceable measures: 1. To enter into a non-importation, non- consumption, and non-exportation agreement or association. 2. To prepare an address to the people of Great-Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of British America: and 3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable to resolutions already entered into.² NON-IMPORTATION WE, his Majesty's most loyal Subjects, the Delegates of the several Colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three Lower Counties of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, deputed to represent them in a Continental Congress, held in the city of Philadelphia, on the fifth day of September, 1774, avowing allegiance to his Majesty, our affection and regard for our fellow-subjects in Great-Britain and elsewhere, affected with the deepest anxiety, and most alarming apprehensions at those grievances and distresses, with which his Majesty's American subjects are oppressed, and having taken under our most serious deliberation, the state of the whole continent, find, that the present unhappy situation of our affairs, is occasioned by a ruinous system of Colony Administration adopted by the British Ministry about the year 1763, evidently calculated for enslaving these Colonies, and with them, the British Empire. In prosecution of which system, various Acts of Parliament have been passed for raising a revenue in America, for depriving the American subjects, in many instances, of the constitutional trial by jury, exposing their lives to danger, by directing a new and illegal trial beyond the seas, for crimes alledged to have been committed in America; and in prosecution of the same system, several late, cruel, and oppressive Acts have been passed respecting the town of Boston and the Massachusetts-Bay, and also an Act for extending the province of Quebec, so as to border on the western frontiers of these Colonies, establishing an arbitrary government therein, and discouraging the settlement of British subjects in that wide extended country; thus by the influence of civil principles and ancient prejudices to dispose the inhabitants to act with hostility against the free Protestant Colonies, whenever a wicked Ministry shall chuse so to direct them. To obtain redress of these grievances, which threaten destruction to the lives, liberty, and property of his Majesty's subjects in North-America, we are of opinion, that a non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement, faithfully adhered to, will prove the most speedy, effectual, and peaceable measure: and therefore we do, for ourselves, and the inhabitants of the several Colonies, whom we represent, firmly agree and associate under the sacred ties of virtue, honour, and love of our country, as follows: I. That from and after the first day of December next, we will not import into British America, from Great-Britain or Ireland, any goods, wares or merchandize whatsoever, or from any other place any such goods, wares or merchandize, as shall have been exported from Great-Britain or Ireland; nor will we, after that day, import any East India tea from any part of the world; nor any molasses, syrrups, paneles, coffee, or piemento, from the British plantations, or from Dominica; nor wines from Madeira, or the Western Islands; nor foreign Indigo. II. That we will neither import, nor purchase any slave imported, after the first day of December next; after which time, we will wholly discontinue the slave trade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it. III. As a non-consumption agreement, strictly adhered to, will be an effectual security for the observation of the non-importation, we, as above, solemnly agree and associate, that, from this day, we will not purchase or use any tea imported on account of the East-India Company, or any on which a duty hath been or shall be paid; and from and after the first day of March next, we will not purchase or use any East-India tea whatever; nor will we, nor shall any person for or under us, purchase or use any of those goods, wares, or merchandize, we have agreed not to import, which we shall know, or have cause to suspect, were imported after the first day of December, except such as come under the rules and directions of the tenth article herein after mentioned. IV. The earnest desire we have, not to injure our fellow-subjects in Great-Britain, Ireland, or the West-Indies, induces us to suspend a non-exportation until the tenth day of September 1775: at which time if the said Acts and parts of Acts of the British Parliament herein after mentioned, are not repealed, we will not, directly or indirectly, export any merchandize or commodity whatsoever, to Great-Britain, Ireland, or the West-Indies, except rice to Europe. V. Such as are merchants, and use the British and Irish Trade, will give orders, as soon as possible, to their factors, agents, and correspondents, in Great-Britain and Ireland, not to ship any goods to them, on any pretence whatsoever, as they cannot be received in America; and if any merchant, residing in Great-Britain or Ireland, shall directly or indirectly ship any goods, wares, or merchandize, for America, in order to break the said non-importation agreement, or in any manner contravene the same on such unworthy conduct being well attested it ought to be made public; and, on the same being so done, we will not from thenceforth have any commercial connexion with such merchant. VI. That such as are owners of vessels will give positive orders to their Captains or Masters, not to receive on board their vessels any goods prohibited by the said non-importation agreement, on pain of immediate dismission from their service. VII. We will use our utmost endeavours to improve the breed of sheep and increase their numbers to the greatest extent; and to that end, we will kill them as sparingly as may be, especially those of the most profitable kind; nor will we export any to the West-Indies, or elsewhere; and those of us who are or may become over-stocked with, or can conveniently spare any sheep, will dispose of them to our neighbours, especially to the poorer sort, on moderate terms. VIII. That we will in our several stations encourage frugality, economy, and industry; and promote agriculture, arts, and the manufactures of this country, especially that of wool; and will discountenance and discourage every species of extravagance and dissipation, especially all horse-racing, and all kinds of gaming, cock-fighting, exhibitions of shews, plays, and other expensive diversions and entertainments. And on the death of any relation or friend, none of us, or any of our families, will go into any further mourning dress, than a black crape or ribband on the arm or hat for gentlemen, and a black ribband and necklace for ladies, and we will discontinue the giving of gloves and scarfs at funerals. IX. That such as are venders of goods or merchandize, will not take advantage of the scarcity of goods that may be occasioned by this association, but will sell the same at the rates we have been respectively accustomed to do, for twelve months last past.-And if any vender of goods or merchandize, shall sell any such goods on higher terms, or shall in any manner, or by any device whatsoever, violate or depart from this agreement, no person ought, nor will any of us deal with any such person, or his or her factor or agent, at any time thereafter, for any commodity whatever. X. In case any merchant, trader, or other persons shall import any goods or merchandize after the first day of February next, the same ought forthwith, at the election of the owner, to be either re-shipped or delivered up to the committee of the county or town wherein they shall be imported, to be stored at the risk of the importer, until the non-importation agreement shall cease, or be sold under the direction of the committee aforesaid; and in the last mentioned case, the owner or owners of such goods, shall be reimbursed (out of the sales) the first cost and charges; the profit, if any, to be applied towards relieving and employing such poor inhabitants of the town of Boston, as are immediately sufferers by the Boston port bill; and a particular account of all goods so returned, stored, or sold, to be inserted in the public papers; and if any goods or merchandizes shall be imported after the said first day of February, the same ought forthwith to be sent back again, without breaking any of the packages thereof. XI. That a Committee be chosen in every county, city, and town, by those who are qualified to vote for Representatives in the legislature, whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this association; and when it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of a majority of any such Committee, that any person within the limits of their appointment has violated this association, that such majority do forthwith cause the truth of the case to be published in the Gazette, to the end that all such foes to the rights of British America may be publickly known, and universally contemned as the enemies of American liberty; and thenceforth we respectively will break off all dealings with him or her. XII. That the Committee of Correspondence in the respective Colonies do frequently inspect the entries of their custom-houses, and inform each other from time to time of the true state thereof, and of every other material circumstance that may occur relative to their association. XII. That all manufactures of this country be sold at reasonable prices, so that no undue advantage be taken of a future scarcity of goods. XIV. And we do further agree and resolve, that we will have no trade, commerce, dealings or intercourse whatsoever, with any Colony or Province, in North-America, which shall not accede to, or which shall hereafter violate this association, but will hold them as unworthy of the rights of freedmen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country. And we do solemnly bind ourselves and our Constituents, under the ties aforesaid, to adhere to this association until such parts of the several Acts of parliament passed since the close of the last war, as impose or continue duties on tea, wine, molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, sugar, piemento, indigo, foreign paper, glass, and painters colours, imported into America, and extend the Powers of the Admiralty Courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the American Subject of trial by jury, authorize the judge's certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might otherwise be liable to from a trial by his peers, require oppressive security from a claimant of ships or goods seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, are repealed.-And until that part of the Act of the 12 G.III chap. 24, entitled, ":An Act for the better securing his Majesty's dock-yards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores,": by which any persons charged with committing any of the offences therein described, in America, may be tired in any shire or county within the realm, is repealed-And until the four Acts passed in the last session of parliament, viz. That for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of Boston-That for altering the charter and government of the Massachusetts Bay-And that which is intitled ":An Act for the better administration of justice,": &c.-and that, ":For extending the limits of Quebec, &c.": are repealed. And we recommend it to the Provincial Conventions, and to the Committees in the respective Colonies, to establish such farther regulations as they may think proper, for carrying into execution this Association. The foregoing Association being determined upon by the Congress, was ordered to be subscribed by the several Members thereof; and thereupon we have hereunto set our respective names accordingly.
New-Hampshire. John Sullivan, Nat. Folsom. Massachusetts Bay. Thomas Cushing, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine. Rhode-Island. Stephen Hopkins, Sam. Ward. Connecticut. Eliphalet Dyer, Roger Sherman, Silas Deane. New-York. Isaac Low, John Alsop, John Jay, James Duane, William Floyd, Henry Wisener, S. Bocrum. New-Jersey. James Kinsey, William Livingston, Stephen Crane, Richard Smith. Pennsylvania. Joseph Galloway, John Dickinson, Charles Humphreys, Thomas Miffin, Edward Biddle, John Morton, George Ross. New-Castle, &c. Caesar Rodney, Thomas McKeane, George Read. Maryland. Matthew Tilghman, Tho. Johnson, William Pace, Samuel Chase. Virginia. Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, P. Henry, jun. Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton. North-Carolina. William Hooper, Joseph Hawes, R. Caswell. South-Carolina. Henry Middleton, Tho. Lynch, Christopher Gadsden, John Rutledge, Edward Rutledge. ©1998 National Humanities Institute Now if you are still with
me after all that... and that is a very long page to read! Well, if
you have been keeping track of the years, you'll remember that
Nathaniel was born in 1726. This "stuff" meaning the
Constitutional Conventions, he as not completely through with them until
everything was done and over with. Elected president pro
tempore of the last Constitutional Convention, he had the honor of signing
the announcement of the adoption of this Constitution in 1783. Also in
1783, he was made a chief justice for the state of New Hampshire, a
position he held until his death in 1790. Actually, for the rough
life that he led, Nathaniel did a great job. In 1783 he was 57 years
old, and that was pretty old, actually, for those days. He died at
63 years of age. Not bad for someone who spent a lot of time being
an adventurer. Nathaniel sounds like a very neat person.
On to the more Patriot Adventure! Or, back to LIST Copyright
2002, all rights reserved Page design: Some
graphics by:
|
||||||
