This week in Revolutionary War history, let’s check up on what was going on 250 years ago in New England and the northern Thirteen Colonies. Last week, General George Washington sat in and spoke at meetings of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. There, he pressed for support as the congress voted to send more men and arms to guard the faltering northern front. Various towns in the colonies, mainly in Massachusetts, have declared their independence from Britian, as delegates in congress itself openly speak of uniformly doing the same.
On June 7, 1776, Washington has been back in New York for a day when Brigadier General John Sullivan writes from Sorell, Canada (today Sorel-Tracy). He asks for direct assistance from the general, wondering “if it be possible for your Excellency or General Lee to come here – I am well persuaded that Canada would be ours from the moment of your Excellency’s arrival.” Washington does not offer a known reply, though he does stay in New York, taking command of the city’s defenses.e a
That same day, he announces in his General Orders that Horatio Gates of Essex, England be promoted to Major General and Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania be promoted to Brigadier General in the “Army of the United Colonies.” Neither Gates nor Mifflin have yet to make a name for themselves, though both will become prominent figures as the war progresses, with the latter being a signatory of the United States Constitution.
Historians do not look upon June 7 for the previous events, however. Crucially, that fated Friday would be the day Virginia Delegate Richard Henry Lee formally put forward the topic of independence on the floor of Congress. Following the May 15 Virginia Convention passed in Williamsburg, the Lee Resolution brought that zeal to Philadelphia. In it, Lee states, “That these United Colonies are, and of right 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, totally dissolved.” John Adams of Massachusetts seconded the motion, and thus, Congress was officially locked in discussions regarding formal independence from Britian.
Washington, unaware of the discussions in Philadelphia, jockeys between messages from Canada and attempting to prioritize the defense of New York City. On June 10 in the north, British General William Howe, following months of preparations (since the evacuation from Boston on March 17), departs Halifax, Nova Scotia with 9,000 troops destined for New York. At the same time, General Henry Clinton is enroute with an expedition of British and Hessian troops to the Carolinas.
On June 11, the Continental Congress is locked in discussions regarding independence and creates a new committee: the Committee of Five. This committee is composed by five congressional delegates from across the colonies: John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert Livingston of New York, and Roger Sherman of Connecticut. The committee operated largely away from both the public and government eye, with no minutes being recorded of their meetings.
The committee was created to present the congress with a declaration of independence. Having read many of Jefferson’s works, Adams recommended he be the author of the first draft, which he and Franklin would later edit. Though the final draft would be different, it was around this time that these words were written:
“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the Earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these Truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
The first draft would be written at Jefferson’s apartment at 700 Market Street, Philadelphia and would be presented to Congress in a couple weeks, on June 28.
This Week in Revolutionary War History
By Sam Bishop