National Republican., 1879-07-28

tics. OF these governments only two existed
at the time Of the revolution, viz: Maryland,
held by Lord Baltimore, and Pennsy lyania aud
Delaware, held By William Penn.
Third, charter governments. These were
great political corporations created by letters
patont or grants from tho Crown, which con-
ierred upon the grantees and their associates
not only the soil within their territorial limits
but also all the high powers of legislation and
government. Tho only charter governments
existing at the time of tho revolution were
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
1t must be borne in mind that the Governors
OF this latter were appointed by the Crown.
The charter governments differed from tho
others principally in this, that they were not
Immediately under the authority of the Crown
nor bound by any of its acts which were incou.
sistent with their charters whereas the others
were entirely subjected to the authority of the
Crown.
As the Colonial Congress is a very important
factor in our governmental history desire, for
obvious reasons, to give the origin and follow
1t, as u was practically continuous.
On the recommendation of the General As.
scmbly (the delegates of which were chosen
directly by tho pooplc) of Massachusetts, Bay,
one of the only three that could claim
an approximation to Independence or sovor.
eighty, the first general Congress of the col.
onics was held Mt Carpenters Hall, in Phila-
dclphia, September 5, 177l. Delegates to it
were chosen in tho various colonies, some by
the legislative body, some by the popular
branch thereof, and some by conventions of the
people, according to the several means and 10.
cal circumstances of each colony. They adopted
such measures as the exigency of the occasion
seemed to require, and proposed another Con-
gress for like purposes TO assemble in May, 1775.
IL was in this first Congress that Patrick Henry
spoke 80 truly, rs well as patriotically, when
he exclaimed: "All America is thrown into one
lam HQ Npr n
boundaries OF colonies? They are thrown
down. The distinctions between Yirginians,
Pennsylvanians, New Workers, and New Eng
landois are no more am not Nirginian,
but an American"
The next Congress assembled at Philadel-
pha May 10, 1775. The delegates were chosen
principally by conventions of the people of tho
colonies. The most important acts of this
Congress were the organization of the colonial
army the adoption, July 6, 1775, of n mani
fcsto setting forth the causes which had COM
pelled them to resort to arms the admission
of the thirteenth colony, Georgia, in Septcm-
Der, l775, and the Declaration of independence
July 4, 1776, which made the union of the col
onies a fat occompH. From the latter date to
March, 1881, was tho first period of our Gov
| crnmcnt and was generally known rs the
| revolutionary union of the colonies.
These events in colonial history are referred
| to as illustrative of the supreme administra.
cised by the colonial Congress, without any
| formal delegation Of such prerOgatives to that
| body by the colonies, beyond the appointment
| of delegates to the convention which com posed
it. Their powers were nowhere limited They
originated from necessity, and were only lin.
| tied by events. 1t was the initial revolution
airy condition of their governmental history
which preceded and eventually produced the
| necessity of u more substantial National or
| ganization.
| There probably never was an exercise of the
| prerogativcs of sovereignty more complete or
| supreme than that now assumed by the col
onial Congress. 1t virtually placed whole
continent in arms and subjected the whole
| American people, AS it We're, to martial law.
The fact that it thus assumed to itself, and ex-
| ercised these attributes of sovereignty, while
the colonies themselves were yet acknowl-
|'edged dependencies of the British Crown, is
| worthy of remembrance.
The league of union under the martial man
ifesto by which the colonies combined to re-
sist tho expressions of the crown, needed q
head wherein to concentrate its powers and
by which its operations should be directed and
controlled. This necessity originated the
Congress. When that Congress suppressed the
exercise OF all authority under the crown in
America, and assumed to itself the prerogi-
tives of sovereignty by the highest exercise OF
supreme power, that of declaring war, II
placed each of the colonies under the necessity
of choosing between one of only two alterna-
tives, viz: Suljecton to its supremacy, or de-
pendence on Great Britain. TO refuse one
was TO choose the other.
. The assumption of independence was a de-
claration, not an achievements; declaration in
confederacy, not in severalty Hence there
was no such thing us sovereignty in any colony
by itself. The idea of several sovereignty
and independence had no existence either in
side or outside the first federative league
..fG GN.,Nn Ill
based not upon any original or inherent SOW
ereiguty in tho colonies or States as severaltes
but on the compact of confederation, from
which alone, as colonies OF States, they de
J rived their essential origin, Independence, and
protection. w. s. 9.