TABLE OF CONTENTS

Volume 1

Preface ...... xvii Introduction ...... xxv

A Andrew Adams ...... 1 John Adams ...... 3 Samuel Adams ...... 12 Thomas Adams ...... 18 Robert Alexander ...... 19 Andrew Allen ...... 21 John Alsop ...... 24 Benjamin Andrew ...... 27 Annapolis State House ...... 28 John Armstrong, Sr...... 31 John Armstrong, Jr...... 33 Jonathan Arnold ...... 36 Peleg Arnold ...... 38 The Articles of Confederation ...... 41 John Baptista Ashe ...... 46 Samuel John Atlee ...... 48 Crispus Attucks ...... 50

B Reverend Isaac Backus ...... 51 Abraham Baldwin ...... 53 John Banister ...... 57 The Bank of the United States ...... 59 Robert Gibbes Barnwell ...... 62 Dr. Josiah Bartlett ...... 64 John Bubenheim Bayard ...... 69 John Beatty ...... 73 Gunning Bedford ...... 76 Gunning Bedford, Jr...... 78 Thomas Bee ...... 82 Egbert Benson ...... 84 Richard Beresford ...... 87 Edward Biddle ...... 89 William Bingham ...... 90 Jonathan Blanchard ...... 94 Richard Bland ...... 96 Theodorick Bland ...... 99 Timothy Bloodworth ...... 102 William Blount ...... 106 Simon Boerum ...... 110 The Boston Massacre ...... 111 The Boston Port Bill ...... 116

v vi Table of Contents

Elias Boudinot ...... 119 James Bowdoin ...... 124 Carter Braxton ...... 126 John Brown ...... 129 Nathan Brownson ...... 132 John Bull ...... 134 Archibald Stobo Bulloch ...... 135 Thomas Burke ...... 137 Dr. William Burnet ...... 140 Robert Burton ...... 142 Pierce Butler ...... 143

C Lambert Cadwalader ...... 147 Canada and Canadian Relations ...... 149 Capitals of the Continental Congress ...... 155 William Carmichael ...... 161 Carpenters’ Hall ...... 168 Edward Carrington ...... 170 Charles Carroll “Barrister” ...... 175 Charles Frémont Carroll III “of Carrollton”...... 178 Daniel Carroll ...... 183 Richard Caswell ...... 186 Jeremiah Townley Chase ...... 191 Samuel Chase ...... 193 Abraham Clark ...... 199 Matthew Clarkson ...... 201 Joseph Clay ...... 203 William Clingan ...... 206 George Clinton ...... 208 George Clymer ...... 213 The Coercive Acts ...... 216 John Collins ...... 216 The Committee of Five ...... 218 The Committee of Fifty ...... 220 The Committee of Fifty-One ...... 222 The Committee of Safety/Council of Safety ...... 222 The Committee of Secret Correspondence ...... 224 Committees of Correspondence ...... 227 Committee of Foreign Affairs ...... 229 The Conciliatory Resolution of 1775 ...... 229 Silas Condict ...... 230 Benjamin Contee ...... 231 The Continental Association ...... 233 Joseph Platt Cooke ...... 237 John Cooper ...... 239 Ezekiel Cornell ...... 240 Tench Coxe ...... 242 Stephen Crane ...... 245 William Cumming ...... 247 Thomas Cushing ...... 248 Table of Contents vii

D Francis Dana ...... 252 Nathan Dane ...... 255 Second Lord Dartmouth, William Legge ...... 259 John Dawson ...... 259 Elias Dayton ...... 262 Jonathan Dayton ...... 264 Silas Deane...... 267 The Declaration of Independence ...... 274 John De Hart ...... 287 Charles DeWitt ...... 289 Samuel Dick ...... 291 John Dickinson ...... 293 The “Dickinson Draft” of the Articles of Confederation ...... 301 Philemon Dickinson ...... 304 Diplomacy of, and by, the Continental Congress ...... 305 William Henry Drayton ...... 309 James Duane ...... 317 Reverend Jacob Duché ...... 322 William Duer ...... 329 Reverend George Duffield ...... 333 John Dunlap ...... 334 Eliphalet Dyer ...... 337

E Pierpont Edwards ...... 342 Samuel Elbert ...... 346 William Ellery ...... 348 Oliver Ellsworth ...... 352 Jonathan Elmer ...... 357 Espionage Tactics by the Continental Congress ...... 359 The Essex Principles, also known as The Essex Result ...... 363 Nicholas Eveleigh ...... 373

F The Fairfax County Resolves ...... 377 John Fell ...... 381 William Few, Jr...... 384 The Henry Fite House ...... 388 William Fitzhugh ...... 389 Thomas Fitzsimons ...... 391 William Fleming ...... 393 William Floyd ...... 396 Nathaniel Folsom ...... 398 James Forbes ...... 401 The Department of Foreign Affairs ...... 402 Uriah Forrest ...... 408 Abiel Foster ...... 410 Relations with France ...... 413 Benjamin Franklin ...... 415 The “Franklin Draft” of the Articles of Confederation ...... 424 viii Table of Contents

Fraunces Tavern ...... 425 Frederick Frelinghuysen ...... 428 The French Arms Tavern ...... 431 George Frost ...... 433

G Christopher Gadsden ...... 436 Joseph Galloway ...... 441 Leonard Gansevoort ...... 449 John Gardner ...... 450 Joseph Gardner ...... 452 David Gelston ...... 454 George William Frederick, King George III of Great Britain and Ireland ...... 456 George Germain, 1st Viscount Sackville ...... 462 Elbridge Gerry ...... 466 John Lewis Gervais ...... 474 William Gibbons ...... 478 John Taylor Gilman ...... 482 Nicholas Gilman ...... 485 Robert Goldsborough ...... 488 Mary Katherine Goddard ...... 491 Nathaniel Gorham ...... 497 William Grayson ...... 500 Great Seal of the United States ...... 504 Cyrus Griffin ...... 509 Second Earl of Guilford ...... 515 James Gunn ...... 515 Button Gwinnett ...... 517

H John Habersham ...... 521 Joseph Habersham ...... 526 John Hall ...... 528 Lyman Hall ...... 531 Alexander Hamilton ...... 536 John Hancock ...... 546 Edward Hand ...... 553 John Hanson ...... 557 Samuel Hardy ...... 563 John Haring ...... 565 Cornelius Harnett ...... 568 Benjamin Harrison ...... 572 William Harrison, Jr...... 578 John Hart ...... 580 The Hartford Convention ...... 582 John Harvie ...... 588 Benjamin Hawkins ...... 591 Jonathan J. Hazard ...... 597 William Hemsley ...... 600 James Henry ...... 602 John Henry, Jr...... 603 Table of Contents ix

Patrick Henry ...... 606 William Henry ...... 613 Joseph Hewes ...... 616 Thomas Heyward, Jr...... 621 Stephen Higginson ...... 627 Whitmell Hill ...... 632 Michael Hillegas, Jr...... 634 James Hillhouse ...... 638 William Hillhouse ...... 640 William Hindman ...... 642 Samuel Holten ...... 646 William Hooper ...... 650 Esek Hopkins ...... 655 Stephen Hopkins ...... 660 Francis Hopkinson ...... 664 Josiah Hornblower ...... 671 Titus Hosmer ...... 674 Hospital Department of the US Continental Army ...... 677 William Churchill Houston ...... 680 John Houstoun ...... 684 William Houstoun ...... 688 John Eager Howard ...... 691 David Howell ...... 694 Richard Howly [Howley] ...... 699 Daniel Huger ...... 701 Charles Humphreys ...... 703 Benjamin Huntington ...... 707 Samuel Huntington ...... 711 Richard Hutson ...... 716

I Independence Hall ...... 721 Jared Ingersoll ...... 723 The Intolerable Acts ...... 727 William Irvine ...... 735 Ralph Izard ...... 738

J David Jackson ...... 744 Jonathan Jackson ...... 745 John Jay ...... 747 Thomas Jefferson ...... 753 Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer ...... 760 Thomas Johnson ...... 765 William Samuel Johnson ...... 769 Samuel Johnston ...... 771 Allen Jones...... 774 Joseph Jones, Sr...... 776 Noble Wimberly [Wymberley] Jones ...... 779 Samuel Jones ...... 782 Willie Jones ...... 783 x Table of Contents

K John Kean ...... 786 Dyre Kearney ...... 788 Rufus King ...... 789 Francis Kinloch ...... 792 James Kinsey ...... 795 Volume 2

L Lancaster Court House ...... 797 John Langdon ...... 798 Woodbury Langdon ...... 802 Edward Langworthy ...... 804 John Ten Eyck Lansing, Jr...... 806 John Laurance ...... 809 Henry Laurens ...... 812 Richard Law ...... 819 Arthur Lee ...... 820 Francis Lightfoot Lee ...... 824 Henry Lee ...... 828 Richard Henry Lee...... 830 Thomas Sim Lee ...... 835 William Lee ...... 837 William Legge, Second Earl of Dartmouth ...... 840 Daniel Leonard ...... 843 Francis Lewis ...... 843 Lexington and Concord ...... 846 Ezra L’Hommedieu ...... 853 The Library of the Continental Congress ...... 855 Samuel Livermore ...... 857 Philip Livingston ...... 861 Robert R. Livingston ...... 867 Walter Livingston ...... 874 William Livingston ...... 878 Edward Lloyd ...... 884 Pierse Long ...... 886 James Lovell ...... 890 Isaac Low ...... 896 John Lowell ...... 900 Loyalists ...... 904 The Lundin Letter ...... 911 Thomas Lynch ...... 914 Thomas Lynch, Jr...... 917

M James Madison ...... 919 James Manning ...... 926 Henry Marchant ...... 929 The Massachusetts Convention ...... 933 Table of Contents xi

Massachusettensis vs. Novanglus ...... 935 John Mathews ...... 938 Timothy Matlack...... 942 Eleazer McComb ...... 945 Alexander McDougall ...... 948 James McHenry ...... 952 Lachlan McIntosh ...... 957 Thomas McKean ...... 961 James McLene ...... 965 The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence...... 966 James Mercer ...... 969 John Francis Mercer ...... 972 Samuel Meredith ...... 976 Arthur Middleton ...... 979 Henry Middleton ...... 984 Thomas Mifflin ...... 989 Nathan Miller ...... 994 Nathaniel Mitchell ...... 996 Stephen Mix Mitchell ...... 999 The Model Treaty ...... 1002 James Monroe ...... 1004 John Montgomery ...... 1010 Reverend Joseph Montgomery ...... 1012 William Montgomery ...... 1014 Cadwalader Morris ...... 1016 Gouverneur Morris ...... 1019 Lewis Morris ...... 1024 Robert Morris ...... 1027 John Morton ...... 1031 Isaac Motte ...... 1034 Daniel Mowry, Jr...... 1036 Frederick Augustus Conrad Muhlenberg ...... 1039

N Abner Nash ...... 1042 Nassau Hall, Princeton, New Jersey ...... 1046 Native Americans and Their Relations with the Continental Congress ...... 1048 Thomas Nelson, Jr...... 1053 New York City, City Hall ...... 1056 The Nicola Affair ...... 1058 The Nonexportation Agreement of 1774 ...... 1060 The Nonimportation Agreement of 1774 ...... 1063 Frederick North, Lord North, Second Earl of Guilford ...... 1066 The Northwest Ordinance ...... 1070

O The Olive Branch Petition ...... 1075 Henry Osborne ...... 1077 Samuel Osgood ...... 1079 Samuel Allyne Otis ...... 1083 xii Table of Contents

P William Paca ...... 1088 Mann Page ...... 1092 Ephraim Paine ...... 1095 Robert Treat Paine...... 1098 Thomas Paine ...... 1104 The Treaty of Paris ...... 1110 John Parker ...... 1116 George Partridge ...... 1117 William Paterson ...... 1121 John Patten ...... 1125 Dr. Nathaniel Peabody ...... 1127 William Peery ...... 1130 Philip Pell, Jr...... 1133 Edmund Pendleton ...... 1135 Nathaniel Pendleton ...... 1138 John Penn ...... 1141 Pennsylvania State House ...... 1145 Richard Peters, Sr...... 1145 Charles Pettit ...... 1148 Philadelphia State House ...... 1152 William Leigh Pierce, Jr...... 1152 Charles Pinckney ...... 1154 George Plater ...... 1160 Zephaniah Platt ...... 1163 Richard Potts ...... 1166 The Post Office Department ...... 1168 The Powder Alarm ...... 1172 Presidents of the Continental Congress ...... 1175 Princeton, New Jersey ...... 1191 The Prohibitory Act ...... 1191

Q The Quebec Act ...... 1196

R David Ramsay ...... 1199 Edmund Jenings Randolph ...... 1204 Peyton Randolph ...... 1211 George Read ...... 1215 Jacob Read ...... 1220 Joseph Reed ...... 1224 James Randolph Reid ...... 1229 Religion and the Continental Congress ...... 1230 Samuel Rhoads ...... 1236 Richard Ridgely ...... 1239 Daniel Roberdeau ...... 1240 Caesar Rodney ...... 1244 Thomas Rodney ...... 1248 John Rogers ...... 1253 Jesse Root ...... 1255 Table of Contents xiii

David Ross, Jr...... 1258 George Ross ...... 1259 Benjamin Rumsey ...... 1262 Benjamin Rush ...... 1263 Edward Rutledge ...... 1268 John Rutledge ...... 1272

S James Schureman ...... 1278 Philip John Schuyler ...... 1280 Gustavus Scott ...... 1285 John Morin Scott ...... 1287 Dr. Nathaniel Scudder ...... 1290 James Searle ...... 1292 Secrecy in the Continental Congress ...... 1295 The Secret Journal of the Continental Congress ...... 1295 Theodore Sedgwick ...... 1298 Joshua Seney ...... 1301 Jonathan Dickinson Sergeant ...... 1303 William Sharpe ...... 1307 Shays’ Rebellion ...... 1309 Roger Sherman ...... 1315 Dr. William Shippen ...... 1322 John Sitgreaves ...... 1324 Slavery and the Continental Congress ...... 1326 James Smith ...... 1332 Jonathan Bayard Smith ...... 1335 Melancton Smith ...... 1337 Meriwether Smith ...... 1340 Richard Smith ...... 1342 Thomas Smith ...... 1345 William Smith ...... 1348 The Solemn League and Covenant ...... 1349 Richard Dobbs Spaight ...... 1353 Joseph Spencer ...... 1358 The Stamp Act Congress ...... 1361 The Stars and Stripes ...... 1365 The State House, Philadelphia ...... 1368 Arthur St. Clair ...... 1368 The Staten Island Conference ...... 1374 John Stevens ...... 1376 Charles Stewart ...... 1378 Richard Stockton ...... 1381 Thomas Stone ...... 1384 Jonathan Sturges ...... 1387 James Sullivan ...... 1389 John Sullivan ...... 1392 John Swann ...... 1398 James Sykes ...... 1399 John Cleves Symmes ...... 1401 xiv Table of Contents

T George Taylor ...... 1405 Edward Telfair ...... 1408 Thanksgiving, Resolution by the Continental Congress ...... 1411 George Thatcher/Thacher ...... 1413 Charles Thomson ...... 1416 Dr. Matthew Thornton ...... 1421 Matthew Tilghman ...... 1425 Dr. James Tilton ...... 1429 Paul Trapier ...... 1433 John Treadwell ...... 1434 The Treaty of Paris ...... 1436 Treaty of Alliance with France ...... 1439 Trenton, New Jersey ...... 1442 Joseph Trumbull ...... 1444 Dr. Thomas Tudor Tucker ...... 1446

V Nicholas Van Dyke...... 1449 James Mitchell Varnum ...... 1451 John Vining ...... 1454

W James Wadsworth ...... 1457 Jeremiah Wadsworth ...... 1459 John Walker...... 1462 George Walton ...... 1464 John Walton ...... 1469 Artemas Ward ...... 1470 Samuel Ward ...... 1474 George Washington ...... 1477 John Wentworth, Jr...... 1482 Samuel Wharton ...... 1484 William Whipple ...... 1487 Dr. James White ...... 1490 Phillips White ...... 1493 Right Reverend William White ...... 1495 John Williams, V ...... 1497 William Williams ...... 1499 Hugh Williamson ...... 1501 Thomas Willing ...... 1504 James Wilson ...... 1506 Paine Wingate ...... 1509 Henry Wisner ...... 1510 John Witherspoon ...... 1512 Oliver Wolcott ...... 1516 Joseph Wood ...... 1518 Turbutt Wright ...... 1520 Henry Wynkoop ...... 1522 George Wythe ...... 1525 Table of Contents xv

Y Abraham Yates ...... 1530 Peter Waldron Yates ...... 1532 York, Pennsylvania, Courthouse ...... 1533

Z John Joachim Zubly ...... 1537

Historical Timeline ...... 1539 Primary Documents ...... 1549 Appendixes ...... 1614 Bibliography ...... 1628 Index ...... 1700