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A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
Journals of the Continental Congress --MONDAY, JULY 1, 1776
Sundry letters were laid before Congress and read, viz.
One from General Washington, June 27, 1776, accompanied with one from General Ward, of the 20 of same month, to General Washington
One from General Schuyler, 25 June, to do.
One from General Arnold, 25 June, " "
One from General Sullivan to General Schuyler
3 to General Sullivan viz:
One from General Arnold, Chamble, June 13,
One from Lieut Colonel Antill, June 13,
And, one from Colonel Hazen, June 13;
Another letter from General Washington of the 28 June, enclosing sundry papers:
A third letter from General Washington of the 27th, by an Officer who attended to guard Major Rodgers to Philadelphia.
A Letter from the Convention of New Jersey, of the 29th June, and also, from Mr. Tucker, enclosing a letter from two prisoners at Burlington:
A letter from the convention of New Hampshire 17 June:1
[Note 1: 1 These letters of Washington are in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 152, II, folios 103, 115, 123. Two of them are printed inWritings of Washington (Ford), IV, 181, 184. The following locations are to be noted: Schuyler [June 19], in No. 153, II, folio 218; Sullivan [June 19], in No. 153, II, folio 214; Antill, in No. 78, I, folio 5; Hazen, in No. 78, XI, folio 61; New Jersey convention in No. 68, folio 155; Tucker, in No. 78, XXII, folio 63; New Hampshire convention, in No. 64, folio 9.]
A letter from Brigadier General Lewis from Williamsburg, June 17, with some memorandums from Brigadier H. Mercer:
A letter from B[enjamin] Harrison, jun. deputy pay master general of the southern department, with a return of his account to the 22d June.
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Resolved, That an order for 6,000 dollars be drawn on the treasurers, in favour of Mr. Richard Graham, of Virginia, in full of a draught in his favour of the 20th of June, by Brigadier General Lewis; and that the same be charged to the account of the [Benjamin Harrison,] deputy pay master general for the southern department.
A resolution of the convention of Maryland, of the 28 June, was also laid before Congress and read, wherein it is resolved:
In Convention,23 June 1776.
Resolved, Unanimously, That the Instructions given by the Convention December last, (and renewed by the Convention in May,) to the Deputies of this Colony in Congress, be recalled, and the Restrictions therein contained, removed; and that the Deputies of this Colony, attending in Congress, or a Majority of them or of any three or more of them, be authorized and empowered to concur with the other United Colonies, or a Majority of them, in declaring the United Colonies free and independent States; in forming such further Compact and Confederation between them; in making foreign Alliances, and in adopting such other Measures as shall be adjudged necessary for securing the Liberties of America; and this Colony will hold itself bound, by the Resolutions of a Majority of the United Colonies, in the Premises; Provided, the sole and exclusive Right of regulating the internal Government and Police of this Colony be reserved to the People thereof.
Extract from the Minutes,
G.Duvall,
Clerk.
The order of the day being read,
Resolved, That this Congress will resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into consideration the resolution respecting independency:
Resolved, That the Declaration be referred to said committee.
The Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole, ∥After some time,∥ the president resumed the chair. Mr. [Benjamin] Harrison reported, that the committee have had under consideration the matters referred
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to them, and have agreed to the resolution, which they ordered him to report, and desired him to move for leave to sit again.1
[Note 1: 1 A letter from the Provincial Congress of New York to the New York Delegates, dated June 11, against their authority to vote for independence, was read before the Congress in Committee of the Whole. The letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 67, I, folio 228.
The vote of the Maryland Convention was laid before Congress this day, "just as we were entering on the great debate; that debate took up most of the day, but it was an idle mispense of time, for nothing was said but what had been repeated and hackneyed in that room before a hundred times for six months past. In the Committee of the Whole, the question was carried in the affirmative, and reported to the House. A Colony desired it to be postponed until to morrow, when it will pass by a great majority, perhaps with almost unanimity; yet I cannot promise this, because one or two gentlemen may possibly be found who will vote point blank against the known and declared sense of their constituents."John Adams to Samuel Chase, 1 July, 1776.
"I am told that Maryland insists upon one of our delegates having in a manner promised when the point of declaring independence was in debate, that the back lands should be a fund for supporting the war. I have [heard] that a rhetorical expression to that purpose was used by a gentleman on that occasion. [But we] can balance that that account at least bye very serious question more in point, debated in Congress in 1775, when the delegates from Pennsylvania and Virginia proposed that a garrison of 400 men be raised and kept at common expense at Pittsburg to awe the Indians. It was warmly opposed from Maryland upon this ground, that it was a [scheme] of those two States merely to guard their own frontiers in which the others were not concerned, and therefore the expense must be incurred by the former. Their objections prevailed, the motion was rejected, and the two States raised the 200 men [each for] that service soon afterwards."Edmund Pendleton to James Madison, 25 September, 1780.]
The resolution agreed to by committee of the whole being read, the determination thereof was postponed, at the request of a colony, till to morrow.
Resolved, That a Brigadier General, acting in a separate department, be allowed an aid de camp.
A letter of the 29 from General Washington was laid before Congress and read.2
[Note 2: 2 This letter is in thePapers of the Continental Congress, No. 152, II, folio 135. It is printed inWritings of Washington (Ford), IV, 194.]
Resolved, That the letters this day received, be referred to the Board of War.
Resolved, That this Congress will, to Morrow, resolve
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itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their farther consideration the declaration respecting independence.
Adjourned to 9 o'Clock to Morrow.
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