Independence (75 page)

54
.
Am Archives
4th series, 6:867–68, 1029–30, 1628–29, 1491; Maier,
American Scripture
, 59–68; Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant to JA, June 15, 1776,
PJA
4:316. The “all independent souls” quotation can be found in Larry R. Gerlach,
Prologue to Independence: New Jersey in the Coming of the American Revolution
(New Brunswick, N.J., 1976), 337.

55
. Merrill Jensen,
The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763–1776
(New York, 1968), 685–87; Maier,
American Scripture
, 65–66; William Hogeland,
Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1–July 4, 1776
(New York, 2010), 143–62; Richard Alan Ryerson,
The Revolution Is Now Begun: The Radical Committees of Philadelphia, 1765–1776
(Philadelphia, 1978), 208–37;
Am Archives
4th series, 6:755, 962–63; Joseph E. Illick,
Colonial Pennsylvania: A History
(New York, 1976), 301; JA to Warren, May 20, 1776,
PJA
4:195.

56
. Richard Lightfoot Lee to Richard H. Lee, June 30, 1776,
LDC
4:342–43; Bruce Bliven,
Under the Guns: New York, 1775–1776
(New York, 1972), 318; Barnet Schecter,
The Battle for New York: The City at the Heart of the American Revolution
(New York, 2002), 100; John J. Gallagher,
The Battle of Brooklyn, 1776
(Edison, N.J., 2002), 67.

57
. JA to John Sullivan, June 23, 1776,
PJA
4:330; JA to Nathanael Greene, June 22, 1776, ibid., 4:324.

58
. JA to John Winthrop, June 23, 1776,
PJA
4:331–32; Hewes to James Iredell, June 28, 1776,
LDC
4:332; Rutledge to Jay, June 29, 1776, ibid., 4:337.

CHAPTER 13: “MAY HEAVEN PROSPER THE NEW BORN REPUBLIC”: SETTING AMERICA FREE

1
. JA to Archibald Bulloch, July 1, 1776,
PJA
4:352.

2
. JA to AA, April 15, 23, 28, 1776,
AFC
1:383, 391–92, 401.

3
. JA to AA, April 28, May 17, 1776,
AFC
1:401, 410.

4
. TJ to William Fleming, July 1, 1776,
PTJ
1:411–13.

5
. David Hawke,
A Transaction of Free Men: The Birth and Course of the Declaration of Free Men
(New York, 1964), 177.

6
. Josiah Bartlett to Nathaniel Folsom, July 1, 1776,
LDC
4:348; John Penn to Samuel Johnson, June 28, 1776, ibid., 4:333; Penn to [?], June 28, 1776, ibid., 4:334.

7
.
DAJA
2:115n; John Ferling,
Setting the World Ablaze: Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and the American Revolution
(New York, 2000), xviii–xix.

8
.
JCC
5:503;
Am Archives
4th series, 6:1726–27; GW to Hancock, June 29, 1776,
PGWR
5:147–49.

9
.
JCC
5:503; Garry Wills,
Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence
(Garden City, N.Y., 1978), 4.

10
. Milton E. Flower,
John Dickinson: Conservative Revolutionary
(Charlottesville, Va., 1983), 153–57.

11
. JA to Zabdiel Adams, June 21, 1776,
AFC
2:20; JA to Chase, July 1, 1776,
PJA
4:353; Gerry to Warren, July 2, 1776,
LDC
4:370.

12
. For Dickinson's speech, see John Dickinson's Notes for a Speech in Congress, [July 1, 1776],
LDC
4:351–56, 356n.

13
. JA, Autobiography,
DAJA
3:395–97; TJ to Samuel Wells, May 12, 1819, Paul Leicester Ford, ed.,
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
(New York, 1892–99), 10:131; Thomas Jefferson, To the Editor of the
Journal de Paris
, August 29, 1787,
PTJ
12:63.

14
. JA to Chase, July 1, 1776,
PJA
4:354.

15
. The quotations can be found in John Hazleton,
The Declaration of Independence: Its History
(New York, 1906), 161–62; John Ferling,
John Adams: A Life
(reprint, New York, 2010), 169.

16
. Jefferson, To the Editor of the
Journal de Paris
, August 29, 1787,
PTJ
12:63.

17
. David Freeman Hawke,
Honorable Treason: The Declaration of Independence and the Men Who Signed It
(New York, 1976), 163.

18
. JA, Autobiography,
DAJA
3:379.

19
. Jefferson, Notes of Proceedings in the Continental Congress, [June 7–August 1, 1776],
PTJ
1:314.

20
. JA to Chase, July 1, 1776,
PJA
4:353.

21
.
JCC
5:506–7;
Am Archives
4th series, 6:1727–28.

22
. Peter Stone and Sherman Edwards,
1776: A Musical Play
(New York, 1964), 47.

23
. JA, Diary, September 3, 1774,
DAJA
2:121; Caesar Rodney to John Haslet[?], May 17, 1776, in George Herbert Ryden, ed.,
Letters to and from Caesar Rodney
, (reprint, New York, 1970), 80; Rodney to Thomas Rodney, May 8, 1776, ibid., 75; Rodney to Rodney, July 10, 1776,
LDC
4:433; Hawke,
Honorable Treason,
155–57. See also William Baskerville Hamilton,
Anglo-American Law on the Frontier: Thomas Rodney and His Territorial Cases
(Durham, N.C., 1953), which discusses the several accounts of Rodney's activities on pages 21–22.

24
. John Munroe,
Colonial Delaware
(Millwood, N.Y., 1978), 249–50.

25
. Rodney to Rodney, July 4, 1776,
LDC
4:388; Thomas McKean to Caesar A. Rodney, September 22, 1813, ibid., 4:388n.

26
. Hawke,
Honorable Treason
, 106.

27
. Merrill Jensen,
The Founding of a Nation: A History of the American Revolution, 1763–1776
(New York, 1968), 383–84, 655–56.

28
. JA, Autobiography,
DAJA
3:360.

29
. Jefferson, Notes of Proceedings in the Continental Congress, [June 7–August 1, 1776],
PTJ
1:314.

30
. Quoted in Hawke,
Transaction of Free Men
, 137.

31
. Flower,
John Dickinson
, 166.

32
. Morris to Joseph Reed, July 21, 1776,
LDC
4:510–11.

33
. Charles Page Smith,
James Wilson: Founding Father, 1742–1798
(Chapel Hill, N.C., 1956), 78–84;
LDC
4:273–74n.

34
. Delegates' Certification of James Wilson's Conduct in Congress, June 20, 1776,
LDC
4:271–73.

35
. JA, Autobiography,
DAJA
3:350.

36
. JA, Diary, September 15, 1775,
DAJA
2:172; Braxton to Carter, April 14, 1776,
LDC
3:522–23. Unless otherwise noted, all the profiles of the members of Congress are drawn from Hawke,
Honorable Treason
.

37
. Clark to Elias Dayton, July 4, 1776,
LDC
4:379.

CHAPTER 14: “THIS WILL CEMENT THE UNION”: AMERICA IS SET FREE

1
. JA wrote two letters to his wife on this day. See JA to AA, July 3, 1776,
AFC
2:27–28, 30.

2
.
JCC
5:510.

3
.
Am Archives
4th series, 6:1728, 1731–32.

4
. GW to Hancock, July 3, 1776,
PGWR
5:191, 193.

5
. Pauline Maier,
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1997), 144.

6
. Maier,
American Scripture
, 145–46.

7
. TJ, Notes of Proceedings in the Continental Congress, [June 7–August 1, 1776],
PTJ
1:314–15. TJ did not specify the Rhode Islanders as among those who wished to strike the section on African slavery, though he wrote in his notes that “our Northern brethren also … felt a little tender … for tho' their people have very few slaves themselves yet they had been pretty considerable carriers of them to others.”

8
. This section on Congress's editing of the draft declaration draws on Maier,
American Scripture
, 143–48, which in magnificent detail chronicles each and every alteration made by Congress.

9
. The best accounts concerning how Congress edited the draft document are Julian Boyd,
The Declaration of Independence: The Evolution of the Text as Shown in Facsimiles of Various Drafts by Its Author
(Washington, D.C., 1943); Carl Becker,
The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the History of Political Ideas
(reprint, New York, 1960), 160–71; and Maier,
American Scripture
, 235–41.

10
. See Paul Leicester Ford, ed.,
The Writings of Thomas Jefferson
(New York, 1892–99), 10:120n. BF made clear in his prefatory remarks that his parable was also intended to persuade TJ that any work of a “draughtsman … to be reviewed by a public body” would inevitably face rough sledding.

11
. TJ to Lee, July 8, 1776,
PTJ
1:456; Lee to TJ, July 21, 1776, ibid., 1:471.

12
. JA to Pickering, August 6, 1822, in
WJA
2:514n.

13
. TJ, Notes of Proceedings in the Continental Congress, [June 7–August 1, 1776],
PTJ
1:315;
LDC
4:381–82n.

14
. Rodney to Thomas Rodney, July 4, 1776,
LDC
4:388; ibid., 4:390n.

15
. Paine, Diary, July 4, 1776,
LDC
4:386; Paine to Joseph Palmer, July 6, 1776, ibid., 4:399; Ellery to Benjamin Ellery, July 10, 1776, ibid., 4:430; Gerry to Warren, July 5, 1776, ibid., 4:392; SA to Hawley, July 9, 1776, ibid., 4:416; JA to Mary Palmer, July 5, 1776,
AFC
2:34; JA to AA, July 3, 1776, ibid., 2:30.

EPILOGUE

1
. Pauline Maier,
American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1997), 153; David Hawke,
A Transaction of Free Men: The Birth and Course of the Declaration of Independence
(New York, 1964), 186.

2
. Hawke,
Transaction of Free Men
, 207–8; John Hazleton,
The Declaration of Independence: Its History
(New York, 1906), 242, 156–57; Gerry to Joseph Trumbull, July 8, 1776,
LDC
4:406; JA to Chase, July 9, 1776,
PJA
4:372.

3
. Silas Deane to C. W. F. Dumas, August 18, 1776,
Am Archives
5th series, 1:1021; Claude Crespigny to Ralph Izard, August 25, 1776, ibid., 1:1148; Hazleton,
Declaration of Independence
, 258–81.

4
. GW, General Orders, July 9, 1776,
PGWR
5:246; ibid., 5:247n; GW to Hancock, July 10, 1776, ibid., 5:258; Lt. Col. Thomas Seymour to Gov. Jonathan Trumbull, July 11, 1776,
Am Archives
5th series, 1:205; Col. Thomas Hartley to Gen. Gates, ibid., 1:630.

5
. AA to JA, July 21, 1776,
AFC
2:56.

6
. Jay Fliegelman,
Declaring Independence: Jefferson, Natural Language, and the Culture of Performance
(Stanford, Calif., 1993), 4–28. The quotation can be found on page 10.

7
. Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg,
Madison and Jefferson
(New York, 2010), 36–39.

8
. Maier,
American Scripture
, 157–59;
Am Archives
5th series, 1:847.

9
. Hazleton,
Declaration of Independence
, 266–71, 561; Maier,
American Scripture
, 157; Stanley Weintraub,
Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire, 1775–1783
(New York, 2005), 70–71.

10
. Joseph Barton to Henry Wisner, July 9, 1776,
Am Archives
5th series, 1:139; Meshech Weare to President of Congress, July 16, 1776, ibid., 1:381; Col. Ogden to Aaron Burr, July 26, 1776, ibid., 1:603; GW, General Orders, July 9, 1776,
PGWR
5:246; AA to JA, July 21, 1776,
AFC
2:56.

11
. Action of the New York Provincial Convention, July 9, 1776, in Alexander C. Flick, ed.,
The American Revolution in New York
(reprint, Port Washington, N.Y., 1967), 325; N.Y. Convention to Congress, July 11, 1776,
Am Archives
5th series, 1:205; Bartlett to Langdon, July 15, 1776,
LDC
4:459.

12
.
JCC
5:590–91.

13
. Rush to JA, July 20, 1811, in John A. Schutz and Douglass Adair, eds.,
The Spur of Fame: Dialogues of John Adams and Benjamin Rush, 1805–1813
(San Marino, Calif., 1966), 183.

14
. JA to AA, July 15, 1776,
AFC
2:49; Gerry to Samuel and John Adams, July 21, 1776,
PJA
4:402.

15
. Hazleton,
Declaration of Independence
, 193–219.

16
.
LDC
3:xvi–xxii, 4:xv–xxi, 5:xvi–xxiii.

17
. The Howes' appraisal is quoted in Weintraub,
Iron Tears
, 69.

18
. Lord Howe to GW, July 13, 1776,
PGWR
5:296, 296–97n; Gen. Howe to GW, July 16, 1776, ibid., 341–42, 342n; Memorandum of an Interview with Lieutenant Colonel James Paterson, July 20, 1776, ibid., 5:398–401, 401–3n.