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Friends and Countrymen: Three years have now passed away, since the commencement of the present war: a war without parallel in the annals of mankind. It hath displayed a spectacle, the most solemn that can possibly be exhibited. On one side, we behold fraud and violence laboring in the service of despotism; on the other, virtue and fortitude supporting and establishing the rights of human nature.

You cannot but remember how reluctantly we were dragged into this arduous contest; and how repeatedly, with the earnestness of humble intreaty, we supplicated a redress of our grievances from him who ought to have been the father of his people. . . . Every effort was vain. For, even whilst we were prostrated at the foot of the throne, that fatal blow was struck, which hath separated us for ever. . . .

We were then quite defenceless. Without arms, without ammunition, without clothing, without ships, without money, without officers skilled in war; with no other reliance but the bravery of our people and the justice of our cause. We had to contend with a nation great in arts and in arms, whose fleets covered the ocean, whose banners had waved in triumph through every quarter of the globe. However unequal this contest, our weakness was still farther increased by the enemies which America had nourished in her bosom. Thus exposed, on the one hand, to external force and internal divisions; on the other, to be compelled to drink of the bitter cup of slavery, and to go sorrowing all our lives long; in this sad alternative, we chose the former. . . .

But, however great the injustice of our foes in commencing this war, it is by no means equal to that cruelty with which they have conducted it. The course of their armies is marked by rapine and devastation. Thousands, without distinction of age or sex, have been driven from their peaceful abodes, to encounter the rigors of inclement seasons; and the face of Heaven hath been insulted by the wanton conflagration of defenceless towns. Their victories have been followed by the cool murder of men, no longer able to resist; and those who escaped from the first act of carnage, have been exposed, by cold, hunger, and nakedness, to wear out a miserable existence in the tedious hours of confinement, or to become the destroyers of their countrymen, of their friends, perhaps, dreadful idea! of their parents or children. Nor was this the outrageous barbarity of an individual, but a system of deliberate malice, stamped with the concurrence of the British legislature, and sanctioned with all the formalities of law. Nay, determined to dissolve the closest bonds of society, they have stimulated servants to slay their masters in the peaceful hour of domestic security. And, as if all this were insufficient to slake their thirst of blood, the blood of brothers, of unoffending brothers, they have excited the Indians against us; and a general, who calls himself a Christian, a follower of the merciful Jesus, hath dared to proclaim to all the world, his intention of letting loose against us whole hosts of savages, whose rule of warfare is promiscuous carnage, who rejoice to murder the infant smiling in its mother's arms, to inflict on their prisoners the most excruciating torments, and exhibit scenes of horror from which nature recoils. . . .

. . . [T]hey now endeavor to ensnare us with the insidious offers of peace. . . . What, then, is their intention? Is it not to lull you with the fallacious hopes of peace, until they can assemble new armies to prosecute their nefarious designs? If this is not the case, why do they strain every nerve to levy men throughout their islands? Why do they meanly court every little tyrant of Europe to sell them his unhappy slaves? Why do they continue to embitter the minds of the savages against you? Surely this is not the way to conciliate the affections of America. Be not, therefore, deceived. You have still to expect one severe conflict. Your foreign alliances, though they secure your independence, cannot secure your country from desolation, your habitations from plunder, your wives from insult or violation, nor your children from butchery. Foiled in their principal design, you must expect to feel the rage of disappointed ambition. Arise then! to your tents, and gird you for the battle! It is time to turn the headlong current of vengeance upon the head of the destroyer. . . .

After the unremitted efforts of our enemies, we are stronger than before. Nor can the wicked emissaries who so assiduously labor to promote their cause, point out any one reason to suppose that we shall not receive daily accessions of strength. They tell you, it is true, that your money is of no value, and your debts so enormous they can never be paid; but we tell you that, if Britain prosecutes the war another campaign, that single campaign will cost her more than we have hitherto expended. And yet these men would prevail upon you to take up that immense load, and for it to sacrifice your dearest rights. For, surely, there is no man so absurd as to suppose that the least shadow of liberty can be preserved in a dependent connexion with Great Britain. . . .

It becomes you deeply to reflect on this subject. Is there a country on earth which hath such resources for the payment of her debts as America? such an extensive territory? so fertile, so blessed in its climate and productions? Surely there is none. Neither is there any to which the wise Europeans will sooner confide their property. What, then, are the reasons that your money hath depreciated? Because no taxes have been imposed to carry on the war: because your commerce hath been interrupted by your enemy's fleets: because their armies have ravaged and desolated a part of your country: because their agents have villainously counterfeited your bills: because extortioners among you, inflamed with the lust of gain, have added to the price of every article of life; and because weak men have been artfully led to believe that it is of no value. How is this dangerous disease to be remedied? Let those among you who have leisure and opportunity, collect the moneys which individuals in their neighborhood are desirous of placing in the public funds. Let the several legislatures sink their respective emissions, that so, there being but one kind of bills, there may be less danger of counterfeits. Refrain a little while from purchasing those things which are not absolutely necessary, that so those who have engrossed commodities may suffer (as they deservedly will) the loss of their ill-gotten hoards, by reason of the commerce with foreign nations, which their fleets will protect. Above all, bring forward your armies into the field. Trust not to appearances of peace or safety. Be assured that, unless you persevere, you will be exposed to every species of barbarity. But, if you exert the means of defence which God and nature have given you, the time will soon arrive when every man shall sit under his own vine and under his own fig-tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.
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View the original document from the Journals of the Continental Congress in A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation. Use your browser's Back Button to return to this point.