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 CONTINENTAL CONGRESSES
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE
ENCYCLOPEDIA
OF THE
CONTINENTAL
CONGRESSES

Volume 1
Volume 1 A–K

978-1-61925-175-5

4919 Route 22, PO Box 56, Amenia, NY 12501 GREY HOUSE PUBLISHING
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continental_congresses_v1.indd 1 3/19/15 12:58 PM

 Encyclopedia
of the
Continental Congresses
 Encyclopedia
of the
Continental Congresses

First Edition

Volume 1
A–K

MARK GROSSMAN
 PUBLISHER: Leslie Mackenzie
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Laura Mars
MANAGING EDITOR: Diana Delgado
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Kristen Thatcher
MARKETING DIRECTOR: Jessica Moody

AUTHOR: Mark Grossman

COMPOSITION: Lumina Datamatics®

Grey House Publishing, Inc.

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Amenia, NY 12501
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(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)
Grossman, Mark.
Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses / — First edition.
2 volumes: illustrations; cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents: Volume 1. A-K—volume 2. L-Z.
ISBN: 978-1-61925-175-5
1. United States. Continental Congress—Encyclopedias. 2. Legislators—United States—Biography. 3. United States—Politics
and government—1775-1783—Encyclopedias. 4. United States—Politics and government—1783-1789—Encyclopedias.
5. Encyclopedias and dictionaries. I. Title.
E303.G76 2015
973.3/12
 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
 Preface
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard ’round the world.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Concord Hymn,” 1837

The story of the Continental Congresses is a During 14 trips to the United Kingdom from
tale not only of the men who served (and those 1996 to 2005, including living in London for a
who declined to serve) as delegates at a time period in 2005, I researched the Continental
when such service meant being targeted by Congress as well as British documents relating
British forces fighting in North America, but to the colonies. The amount of the material used
also of the numerous issues which the nation to research this book is stunning.
had to confront, issues dealing with Native
Hours spent at the British Library, the British
Americans, with the changing role of women
Library Newspaper Library, the British National
in society, with how we handled diplomacy,
Archives, formerly the Public Record Office, and
with American independence, just to name a
Oxford University was time well spent. I also
few, many of which are still part of the political
spent countless hours at the Library of Congress,
and social conversation today, more than 200
the National Archives, the library at the US
years later.
Department of the Interior, all in Washington
D.C., and at the New York Public Library,
The Story Behind the Story Columbia University, the New-York Historical
This reference work is the product of more than Society, and other institutions, including Arizona
25 years of research. In 1987, the nation marked State University in Tempe, and the State Library
the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the of Iowa in Des Moines.
signing of the US Constitution. As part of those
celebrations, The Miami Herald, then one of Leading up to the First Continental Congress
the largest newspapers in the US, printed a Even before the First Continental Congress
series of daily articles, from the start of the year convened in September 1774, the clash between
until September, showing what happened day- the colonies and England was a done deal.
by-day at the Constitution Convention of 1787 Years of growing anger and controversy, starting
in Philadelphia, as part of the series “‘We the after the end of the French and Indian War,
People’: The Constitution—a Celebration.’” As an plagued the relationship between Britain and
historian, I collected each day’s articles. During her colonies. The Stamp Act, The Sugar Act, the
that year, doing cursory research into the events Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party—all were
behind the Convention, I found that there was momentous footsteps in a tale which led to the
no single volume that discussed that event, the shooting at Lexington and Concord on 19 April
people behind it, or what other events and persons 1775. William Eddis, the Surveyor for Annapolis,
had been important at that time. I also noted that who had a front row seat for the conflict that was
no work covered the Continental Congress. Thus, about to reach a tipping point, wrote to a friend
in 1987, the idea for this work was born. in England on 28 May 1774:
Since that time, I put this work on the shelf “All America is in a flame! I hear strange
several times as other projects took precedence. language every day. The colonists are ripe for

xvii
xviiiPreface

any measure that will tend to the preservation “The Continental Congress is now sitting. I
of what they call their natural liberty. I enclose suppose before I hear from you again, a new
you the resolves of our citizens; they have caught form of Government will be established in this
the general contagion. Expresses are flying colony. Great Britain must not make the best
from province to province. It is the universal she can of America. The folly of her Minister
opinion here that the mother country cannot has brought [on] this situation. If she has
support a contention with these settlements, strength sufficient even to depopulate the
if they abide steady to the letter and spirit of colonies, she has not the strength sufficient to
their associations. Where will these matters subjugate them. However, we can yet without
end? Imagination anticipates, with horror, the injuring ourselves offer much to her. The
most dreadful consequences. If the measures great nevertheless advantages derived from
adopted at home are founded on the principles the colonies may, I hope, yet be repaed [sic]
of justice, [the] administration [must] be firm by her from us. The plan for enslaving us, if it
and decisive. If they are not, it will be advisable, had succeeded, would only have put it in the
even on the score of interest, not to abandon the power of the Administration to provide for a
substance for a shadow. True policy will suggest number of their unworthy dependants [sic],
the expediency of embracing a conciliatory whilst the nation would have been deprived
system.” [1] of the most essential benefits which might
have arisen from us by commerce; and the
But no “conciliatory system” would be taxes raised in America would, instead of
forthcoming . . . all that came was war. easing the Mother Country of her burdens,
In mid-1774, to counter the growing crisis, and only have been employed to bring her into
have a “national meeting” of delegates from all bondage.” [3]
thirteen colonies, a “General Congress” was called
While the Continental Congress was not an
for in September 1774. In the first days of what
all-powerful body, nevertheless it was an
would become the First Continental Congress
important congregating place for the men who
in Philadelphia, Massachusetts delegate John
shaped the first years of America’s existence. In
Adams, in a letter to his wife Abigail, noted that
his 1888 work “The Critical Period of American
he was impressed by the gathering of men from
History,” historian John Fiske explained:
all corners of the place known as the American
colonies: “A remarkable body was this Continental
“There is in the Congress a collection of the Congress . . . for the vicissitudes through which it
greatest men upon this continent in point of passed, there is perhaps no other revolutionary
abilities, virtues, and fortunes. The magnanimity body, save the Long Parliament, which can be
and public spirit which I see here make me blush compared to it. For its origin we must look back
for the sordid, venal herd which I have seen in to the committees of correspondence devised
my own Province . . . Be not under any concern by Jonathan Mayhew, Samuel Adams, and
for me. There is little danger from any thing we Dabney Carr. First assembled in 1774 to meet
shall do at the Congress. There is such a spirit an emergency which was generally believed
through the colonies, and the members of the to be only temporary, it continued to sit for
Congress are such characters, that no danger nearly seven years before its powers were ever
can happen to us, which will not involve the clearly defined; and during those seven years
whole continent in universal desolation; and in it exercised some of the highest functions
that case, who would wish to live?” [2] of sovereignty which are possible to any
governing body. It declared the independence
We find these sentiments in the varied of the United States; it contracted an offensive
correspondence of the time. For instance, and defensive alliance with France; it raised
Joseph Warren, who was not a delegate but was and organized a Continental army; it borrowed
an influential member of Massachusetts society large sums of money, and pledged what the
(he would die at Bunker Hill), wrote to Arthur lenders understood to be the national credit
Lee on 16 May 1775: for their repayment; it issued an inconvertible
Prefacexix

paper currency, granted letters of marque, We are all in arms, exercising and training old
and built a navy. All this it did in the exercise and young to the use of the gun. No person goes
of what in later times would have been called abroad without his sword, or gun, or pistols.
‘implied war powers,’ and its authority rested The sound of war echoes from north to south.
upon the general acquiescence in the purposes Every plain is full of armed men, who all wear
for which it acted and in the measures which it a hunting shirt, on the left breast of which
adopted.” [4] are sewed, in very legible letters, ‘Liberty or
Death.’ May God put a speedy and happy end
After a call from all of the colonies for a “General to this grand and important contest between
Congress” to discuss various issues relating the mother and her children. The Colonies do
to the relationship between England and the not wish to be independent; they only deny the
colonies, the delegates met at Carpenters’ right of taxation in the Parliament. They would
Hall, near the State House, in Philadelphia, freely grant the King whatever he pleases to
on 5 September 1774. Peyton Randolph, of request, of their own Assemblies, provided
Virginia, was unanimously elected as President. the Parliament has no hand in the disposing
Charles Thomson was elected as the body’s of it.” [6]
official Secretary, a position he would hold
for the entire existence of the Congress, until Had England been willing to offer conciliation
1789. When the Congress met, there was no with the colonies to end the war, it is probable
war: this would not happen until the following that America might still be colonies of that nation.
May, when shooting began at Lexington and But England wanted America to surrender, and
Concord. The Continental Congress then formed to capitulate to all of the harsh economic and
the Continental Army, established rules for social laws enacted by the British Parliament.
the formation of units and raising monies for This the colonies, and the Continental Congress,
uniforms, guns, ammunition, and salaries for would not do. It was left for a British-born
the troops. Ethan Allen, of Vermont, and his pamphleteer, Thomas Paine, to push for a
group known as “The Green Mountain Boys,” complete separation of America from the land
snuck up on the fortress at Ticonderoga and of his own birth.
seized it on behalf of the American nation which In early 1776, Paine, published “An American
existed in name only. As he later wrote: Crisis,” in which he stated words which would
ring in the ears of those pushing for independence
“I ordered the commander, Captain Delaplace,
from England:
to come forth instantly or I would sacrifice
the whole garrison . . . when I ordered him “These are the times that try men’s souls. The
to deliver me the fort instantly, he asked me summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will,
by what authority I demanded it. I answered in this crisis, shrink from the service of their
him, ‘In the name of the great Jehovah and the country; but he that stands it now, deserves the
Continental Congress.’” [5] love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny,
like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have
Even after Lexington and Concord and
this consolation with us, that the harder the
Ticonderoga, the delegates at the Continental
conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What
Congress wished for reconciliation with England,
we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it
calling on Allen and Benedict Arnold to return
is dearness only that gives every thing [sic]
the captured cannons and arms to the British as
its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper
soon as the hostilities had ended. An anonymous
price upon its goods; and it would be strange
man in Virginia wrote to his friend in Edinburgh,
indeed if so celestial an article as freedom
Scotland, on 1 September 1775:
should not be highly rated. Britain, with an
“As to the present state of Virginia, I refer you army to enforce her tyranny, has declared that
to them. Tears stand in my eyes when I think of she has a right (not only to tax) but ‘to bind us
this once happy land of liberty. All is anarchy in all cases whatsoever,’ and if being bound in
and confusion. A brave people struggling in that manner, is not slavery, then is there not
opposition to the acts of the British Parliament. such a thing as slavery upon earth. Even the
xxPreface

expression is impious; for so unlimited a power little instructed in many of the essential details
can belong only to God.” [7] of that event, so important for every intelligent
citizen to learn. Very few are ignorant of the
Over its 14-plus year history, the Continental
most conspicuous circumstances of that period,
Congress met in various cities, due to British
and all who claim to be well-informed have
military advances, additional strife, or the desire
a correct general knowledge of the history
to see new vistas. From York, Pennsylvania, to
of our war for independence. But few even
Trenton, New Jersey, to its final home in New
of that intelligence class are acquainted with
York City, the delegates shifted their movements
the location of the various scenes depicted
to meet current events, although the moves
by the historian, in their relation to the lakes
imposed great hardships on men who had to
and rivers, towns and cities, whose names
travel sometimes hundreds of miles by carriage,
are familiar to the ears of the present
often without pay, leaving their families for long
generation.” [8]
stretches of time. While most men elected to the
Continental Congress did indeed serve, many In telling this story, I discovered no central
refused, or simply did not show. Cities were repository for a history of the Continental
crowded, and some diseases, like smallpox, were Congress itself, of biographies of the men
rife. The war did not end until 1783, making life who served in it, or of the other people and
an uneasy series of circumstances. The men who places connected to the Continental Congress.
did serve placed their lives, their fortunes, and The leading collections of historical American
their names, in great jeopardy. biographies of the twentieth century, the
The signing and ratification of the US “Dictionary of American Biography” and the
Constitution in 1787 rounds out an historical “Biographical Directory of the US Congress,”
period that lasted for less than 20 years but gave have a random collection of information,
birth to the nation we call the United States of from in-depth biographies to small nuggets
America. That story—the people, places and of information. What was not found in these
events that form the early portion of America’s sources, was found in books, dissertations,
history—is contained in this work. newspaper articles and historical papers.
Now, in the Encyclopedia of the Continental
Congresses, that central repository exists.
Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses
There was indeed a First Continental Congress
Despite this being a work on the Continental
and a Second Continental Congress. The first
Congresses, not on the American Revolution,
parley met from September to October 1774,
some material naturally overlaps. For example,
issuing the “Olive Branch Petition” to try to get
the entry on Commodore Esek Hopkins, who
the British government to lessen their harsh
commanded the Continental Navy, is included
economic measures. A “Continental Association”
because of difficulties he had with the Continental
was also established to enforce a colony-wide
Congress, not because he served in the American
boycott of English goods. The second convening
Revolution.
conference issued a Declaration of Independence
But while this is not a work on the American in 1776, established a framework for a national
Revolution, it does include events involving government with the Articles of Confederation
that conflict that helped shape the atmosphere drafted in 1777, and witnessed the call for a
that established the Continental Congress. In federal convention to formulate a new US
the preface to the 1855 edition of his work, Constitution in 1787. On 3 March 1789, the
“The Pictorial Field-Book of the Revolution,” Continental Congress ended, giving way to the
historian Benson J. Lossing wrote: new US government with George Washington as
its first President.
“The story of the American Revolution has been
well and often told, and yet the most careless How did the body that we examine here come
observer of the popular mind may perceive to be termed as a “Continental” Congress?
that a large proportion of our people are but Historian James Blake wrote:
Prefacexxi

“The voices of the past are frustratingly fixed or known Rules, but the present Opinion of
silent. Records of the deliberations at the First what is decent & proper in the Case before us,
Continental Congress are notoriously thin, which gives much the same, in deed a greater
especially on the decision to adopt that title. Latitude than in debating points of Common
But one delegate, James Duane, noted that in Law in our Courts. Besides the General Business
the first meeting, ‘A Question was then put what which is originated & discussed in Congress, the
Title the Convention should assume & it was House is subdivided into standing Committees
agreed that it should be called the Congress.’ or Boards each of which is to pay their Attention
Closer examination suggests that the adjective to some one [sic] Capital Branch, give Orders
‘continental,’ despite its widespread use, was in the Executive part, and report to Congress
only an unofficial part of the institution’s where its Aid is wanted to regulate and enforce.
title. It does not appear in the majority of the These are as follows[:]
Congress’ broadsides or even in the Articles
of Confederation. How is it that a bunch of 1. [A] Board of Treasury, this should consist of
individuals as diverse and contentious as the one Member from a State, five are a Quorum,
delegates of the First Continental Congress, they Superintend the finances, consider in
a group that began its first meeting with an the first Instance all applications for money,
argument over whether to open with a prayer, & Report what is to be advanced regulate
could silently accede to the notion they were the Striking of Bills, give their Opinion when
a continental body? These delegates, like the Emissions are necessary, & prepare draughts
colonists as a whole, faced challenging hurdles of Resolves for that purpose, consult of &
as they searched for ways to recast or sever propose ways and means for raising Money,
their relationship with Britain. The diversity propose Regulations to prevent Counterfeiting,
both among and within the colonies presented Depreciation of or to Appreciate the Currency
fault lines along which unified resistance could they examine Claims, adjust Accounts & in
break.” [9] general do every thing [sic] in this Branch,
they are assisted by an Auditor General &
To discuss how the Continental Congress worked, Commissioner of Claims,- the Auditor keeps
we turn to a letter, dated 16 August 1778, by Accounts & the Comm’r [Commissioner] examine
Titus Hosmer, a delegate from Connecticut to the particular Articles correct over-charges,
the Continental Congress. Hosmer discussed the reject improper ones & State Balances, all sums
internal workings of that body: to be granted in Advance, on Account or for
“I hope you are determined and preparing to Ballances [sic] due are reported to Congress,
come here as soon as possible [when] you give granted by them, & drawn for by warrant
me leave to introduce you to Congress, & attempt under the Hand of the president.
to give you an imperfect Idea of the Course of 2. [A] board of War, formerly consisting of
Business in Congress and in the several Substitute Members of Congress, now of Commissioners
divisions of Congress. We meet at nine & continue chosen at large, assisted by some Members, the
sitting till two in the after noon [sic], after Objects of their Duty is particularly enumerated
prayers the States are called, nine are a quorum in the Resolve for Constituting & impowering
to proceed on Business, the public Letters are [sic] them which I trust you have Seen, it
first read & disposed of. Next Reports from the extends to the superintending the Departments
Treasury & then Reports from the Board of War. of the Commissary Gen.1. Quartermaster Gen1.
These matters by a standing Order must be gone Clothier Gen1. Adjutant General, Commissary
thro’ [through] before any other Business can be General of Ordnance & Military stores planning
moved, for the Rest points are started, debated, Expeditions & in short every thing [sic] almost
and determined in nearly the same manner as in that related to the Army or Military Operations.
our Assembly, [saying] that much Time is spent,
too much I think in all Conscience in debating 3. Marine Comittee [sic]. [T]his board considers
points of Order, they are referred to the House, of Rules and Regulations for well governing
and the Decision does not seem to depend on any the Navy, the number of Ships & other Vessells
xxiiPreface

[sic] to be built, superintend & direct the Acknowledgments

Building and employing them, examines into all
The material in many of the biographies of the
mismanagement of Officers, directs Enquiries &
men who served in the Continental Congress
Trials furnishes Transports & in short exercises
come from “The Biographical Directory of the
the Office of Lord high Admiral with more
United States Congress.” Printed in numerous
extensive Powers than any Britishoner [sic]
volumes over the years to reflect the growing
ever had & are only checked by the Necessity of
number of Representatives and Senators, it
obtain’g the sanction of Congress to their rules
eventually was placed on the internet; the main
and Regulations which however in general is
page of this invaluable source is http://bioguide.
given of Course, as few Gentlemen have ability
congress.gov/biosearch/biosearch.asp.
or Leisure to Canvass [ ?] their measures, this
Observation may indeed be extended to all the Finally, I would like to thank The British
other Committees General as well as the marine Library, both at the old building at The British
Comittee [sic]. Museum, and the new one at St. Pancras,
where I spent literally thousands of hours over
4. [A] Commercial Comittee [sic]. [A]ll the
nine years copying books, articles, papers, and
Commercial Business of Congress is under their
spending a small fortune doing it. I would like
Direction & is you will find a very extensive &
to thank the myriad members of the staff of that
perplexed branch of Business[.]
noble institution, who put up with my countless
5. [A] Committee of Foreign Affairs, they questions, my numerous book and article
Correspond with our Ministers at foreign requests, and the many times I had paper jams
Courts, with Agents in Europe and with all such in the copy room in the Humanities 2 section of
Gentlemen of Character in foreign parts as are the building. I also thank the staff of the British
disposed to give us Intelligence, they prepare National Archives at Kew (and of the former
Instructions for Ministers & propose proper archives, the Public Record Office in London),
Courts or States to send embassys [sic] to. the New York Public Library, the Library of
Congress, and Arizona State University in
6. [T]he Committee of Foreign Applications,
Tempe, Arizona, as well as the hundreds of
they are Gentlemen acquainted with the French
people around the world who supported this
or other European Languages, and receive
effort. Without these magnificent institutions,
Applications from foreign officers, proposals,
their staff, and their collections, this work would
Schemes, & projects from a Shoal of Europeans
still be on the drawing board.
who wish to fish for Wealth or Honour [sic] in
our troubled Waters
[1] Eddis, William, “Letters from America, Historical and
7. [A] Medical Committee, who superintend Descriptive; Comprising Occurrences from 1769, to 1777,
the medical Department in the Army, & are Inclusive. By William Eddis, Late Surveyor of the Customs, &c.
consulted by & direct the Director General. At Annapolis, in Maryland” (London: Printed for the Author, and
Sold by C. Dilly, in the Poultry, (1792), 158-61.
These Committees proceed in general upon the [2] John Adams to Abigail Adams, 8 September 1774, in
present State of Information & decide upon the Edmund Cody Burnett, ed., “Letters of Members of the
Continental Congress” (Washington, DC: Published by the
Circumstances of each particular Case without Carnegie Institution of Washington; eight volumes,
any general or established Rules, at least if 1921-36), I:20.
they have such Rules I have not been able to [3] Joseph Warren to Arthur Lee, 16 May 1775, in Frank
Arthur Mumby, “George III and the American Revolution:
find them, some of them are Temporary & The Beginnings” (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1925),
will end with the War, others are in their 406-07.
Nature permanent, these last it is an object [4] Fiske, John, “The Critical Period of American History,
1783-1789” (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1899),
with Congress, when they can find Time to put 92-93.
into Commission & critically to limit, define & [5] Lossing, Benson J., “The Pictorial Field-Book of the
regulate their Jurisdiction.” [10] Revolution: Or, Illustrations, by Pen and Pencil, of the History,
Prefacexxiii

Biography, Scenery, Relics, and Traditions of the War for (Washington: Published by M. St. Clair Clarke and Peter Force;
Independence” (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers; two ten volumes, 1837-53), IV:III:620.
volumes, 1855), I:125. Historian Paul F. Boller, Jr., states that [7] “The Life of Thomas Paine, Secretary for Foreign Affairs
Allen made this quote up. Boller writes, “Some of the men who to Congress in the American War; Author of ‘Common Sense,’
were at the fort with Allen later said the Vermonter had shouted, ‘Rights of Man,’ Etc. Interspersed with Sundry Letters, &c. Not
‘Come out of here, you damned old Rat.’ Others remembered Before Published, and Containing His Last Will and Testament,
his exclamation: ‘Come out of there, you sons of British whores, Verbatim; With Notices of the American and French Revolutions.
or I’ll smoke you out.’” See Paul F. Boller, Jr., and John George, Compiled from Authentic Documents. ” (Glasgow [Scotland]:
“They Never Said It: A Book of Fake Quotes, Misquotes, and Printed and Published by Muir, Gowars, * Co. 42, Argyll-Street,
Misleading Attributions” (Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford Opposite the Buck’s Head, 1833), 8.
University Press, 1989), 4. [8] Lossing, Benson J., “The Pictorial Field-Book of the
[6] Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in Virginia to his Revolution,” op.cit., 4.
Friend in Edinburgh, Scotland, dated Middlesex, September 1, [9] Drake, James D., “Appropriating a Continent: Geographical
1775 in Peter Force, ed., “American Archives: Consisting of a Categories, Scientific Metaphors, and the Construction of
Collection of Authentick Records, State Papers, Debates, and Nationalism in British North America and Mexico,” Journal of
Letters and Other Notices of Publick Affairs, the Whole Forming World History, XV:3 (September 2004), 325.
a Documentary History of the Origin and Progress of the North [10] Smith, Paul H., ed., “Letters of Delegates to Congress,
America Colonies; of the Causes and Accomplishment of the 1774-1789” (Washington, DC: Library of Congress; 26 volumes,
American Revolution; and of the Constitution of Government for 1976-2000), X:450.
the United States, to the Final Ratification Thereof. In Six Series”
 Introduction
In the Grey House tradition of providing the passage of The Sugar Act and the Currency
reference works that offer unparalleled Act, both of which led to protest in the colonies.
information and insight, we are pleased It ends in 1789, when the U.S. Senate and House
to present a new first edition–Encyclopedia of Representatives met in New York City, marking
of the Continental Congresses–the most the official end to the Continental Congress. These
comprehensive look at the subject ever 131 entries are detailed and informative.
presented.
Primary Documents
This work includes not only detailed essays of
those members who served in the First and The 31 Primary Documents in this section offer
Second Continental Congress, but also of those additional insight into this period of American
individuals who had an impact on the workings history in general, and the workings of the
of this formative body, despite not having served. Continental Congress in particular. These fully
Here you will read about members, men who reprinted documents include speeches, letters,
were elected but declined to serve, women resolutions, declarations, and more. Here you
who influenced important issues, the many men will find the usual suspects, like John Henry’s
who fought for freedom at great personal risk, and famous speech, as well as more obscure
advocates of the cause—the man who printed the documents, like a letter from John Adams
Declaration of Independence, the tavern owner describing his journey to the First Continental
who hosted early meetings of the Congress, and Congress. All documents include a brief but
the farmer who encouraged his neighbors to illuminating introductory note.
stand firm against unjust taxes. In addition to
these detailed biographies, this reference work Appendices
includes in-depth accounts of places, battles, laws,
treaties, and court cases that were significant to These six appendices offer interesting details in
the workings of the Continental Congress. an easy-to-find format:

As the author’s Preface indicates, finding the A–Delegates to the Continental Congress by
comprehensive story of the Continental Congress State
was not easy. Personal records were scattered B–Signers of the Declaration of
and poorly kept, and official material was not Independence by Occupation
consistent. This compilation is one of a kind. C–Signers of the Articles of Confederation by
State
A to Z Listings D–Presidents of the Continental Congress
E–Places and Times of Sessions of the
The Table of Contents lists the 509 entries in the Continental Congress
Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses, F–Statistics on the Thirteen Colonies
from Andrew Adams to John Joachim Zubly.
Browsing down the list, you’ll note an impressive Bibliography
collection of topics, including The Bank of the
United States, Relations with France, Lexington This comprehensive Bibliography groups
and Concord, Nassau Hall, and The Olive Branch material by type. The majority of the entries
Petition. All entries include either a photo or are listed under Books and Articles. However,
a state seal, italicized excerpts from relevant a significant number of resources fall under
documents, and footnotes. additional categories: Unpublished Dissertations,
Master’s Theses, and Other Works; Newspapers
and Magazines Used; Continental Congress
Historical Timeline
and Other Federal Colonial Documents; U.S.
Following the A to Z listings, the back matter starts Government Documents post 1789; Colonial
with an Historical Timeline, beginning in 1764 and and State Government Documents; Other U.S.

xxv
xxviIntroduction

Government Documents; British Government individuals, places, battles, acts, and other items
Documents; and Manuscript Collections. of interest to the Continental Congresses.
Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses is
Subject Index
also available as an ebook. For more information,
This detailed Subject Index helps readers quickly visit www.greyhouse.com.
find just what they are looking for, including
 A
Andrew Adams (1736–1797) married Eunice Buel, and they would have one
child, a son, also named Andrew Adams.
Adams served in numerous elected and
appointed positions in Connecticut. He also
served as a member of the Connecticut Council
of Safety for two years. When the war against
Britain broke out in 1775, he volunteered
for service in the Connecticut militia, seeing
action and rising to the rank of Colonel. He
then returned to Connecticut, where he was
elected to the state House of Representatives,
serving from 1776 to 1781, and serving as the
Speaker of that body in 1779 and 1780. More
importantly, Adams served as a delegate to the
Continental Congress in 1778. And while he
did not sign the Declaration of Independence,
he was a signatory to the Articles of
Confederation in 1778. In his history of the
men and correspondence of those delegates
who served in the Continental Congress,
historian Edmund Cody Burnett explains that
Andrew Adams served as a delegate to the Adams was elected on 11 October 1777 but
Continental Congress from Connecticut (1778), “did not attend in 1777.” [3] According to the
was a signer of the Articles of Confederation “Biographical Directory of the United States
(1778), and, just prior to his death, served as Congress, 1774-2005,” Adams is listed as a
a member of the Connecticut Supreme Court member of the Continental Congress, having
(1789-97), rising to serve as chief justice of that served, according to the directory, in 1778,
body (1793-97) [1]. the same year that he signed the Articles of
Born in Stratford, Connecticut, on 7 January 1736, Confederation, the first official governmental
Adams was, according to the small biography of blueprint of the new American nation that
him put together in an 1856 work, “[b]eing of came into existence in 1783. [4]
a very respectable family.” [2] According to the Andrew Adams was considered a leading player
Daughters of the American Revolution, Adams in not only Connecticut politics of the period,
was the son of Samuel Adams, no apparent but in national politics as well. In August 1778,
relation to the Samuel Adams who played such a Jonathan Trumbull, the governor of Connecticut
pivotal role in the period before and during the and the older brother of Continental Congress
American Revolution, and his wife Mary (née delegate Joseph Trumbull, wrote to Roger
Fairchild) Adams. As other young men during Sherman, Titus Hosmer, and Adams, on the
this time, he apparently received a “classical military movements being conducted in the area
education” (the description of studies dealing of what is now the states of New England:
with history, languages, and other subjects),
and graduated from Yale College (now Yale Our expectations from the expedition against Rhode
University), in Connecticut in 1760. Four years Island are again like[ly] to be blasted. The French
later, in 1764, Adams began the practice of law in fleet, which have suffered considerably from the late
the city of Litchfield, Connecticut, and he soon very unusual gale of wind, have taken a resolution
became one of that city’s leading attorneys. He to go for Boston to refit and repair their damages.
2 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

This event will put our army on too precarious a Connecticut. Today, that burial ground is
footing to remain long on an island; unless some officially known as the West Cemetery, still
sudden and desperate attempt is made (which I located in Litchfield. In 1909, historian Dwight
wish them to avoid) I think their operation against C. Kilbourn wrote that, at that time, Adams’
the enemy must cease and their whole attention tombstone in the West Burying Ground was
be turned to getting themselves safe landed on the “a rapidly crumbling marble slab.” The stone
continent. I wish this may be affected without loss, read, “In memory of the Hon. Andrew Adams,
I was in hopes the fleet would have run themselves Esq., Chief Judge of the Superior Court, who
into New London [Connecticut], where I think their died November 27, 1797, in the 63d year of
damages might be repaired with safety to them, and his age. Having filled many distinguished
the same time their lying in harbour so contiguous offices with great ability and dignity, he was
to Rhode Island might have proved a security to the promoted to the highest judicial office in the
operations of the army. But they are gone, and with State, which he held for several years, in which
them are fled our fond hopes of success from this his eminent talents shone with uncommon
enterprise. This event will put a new aspect on our lustre, and were exerted to the great advantage
affairs. The Lord reigneth is our hope; let it be our of the public and the honor of the High
trust and confidence. [5] Court in which he presided. He made an early
profession of religion, and zealously sought to
Adams and Hosmer, from their posts as protect its true Interests. He lived a Life and
delegates to the Continental Congress from died the Death of a Christian. His filial Piety
Philadelphia, answered the governor’s message: and paternal tenderness are held in sweet
“The desire we have of preserving every Remembrance.” [8]
appearance of attention in our correspondence
with your Excellency induces us to embrace
this opportunity to write to Major Bigelow [6],
though nothing very material hath come to [1] Adams biography from “Biographical Directory of the
our knowledge worthy to be communicated. United States Congress, 1774-2005” (House Document 108-222)
(Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 2005), 541.
The finances of the States are at present [2] Marshall, James V., “The United States Manual of Biography
the principal subject of the deliberations of and History” (Philadelphia: James B. Smith & Co., 1856), 136.
Congress. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday of [3] See the short entry on Adams in Edmund Cody Burnett, ed.,
“Letters of Members of the Continental Congress” (Washington,
every week are set apart for this purpose; but
DC: Published by the Carnegie Institution of Washington; eight
little progress is yet made. A plan of organizing volumes, 1921-36), II:xxxix.
a Board of Treasury is laid before Congress, [4] “Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-
and is to be taken into consideration this day. 2005. The Continental Congress, September 5, 1774, to October
21, 1788, and The Congress of the United States, From the First
It is long and complex-time will not allow us to Through the One Hundred Eighth Congresses, March 4, 1789, to
attempt giving you an abstract of it.” [7] January 3, 2005, Inclusive” (Washington, DC: Government Print-
ing Office, 2005), 541.
In 1789, a year after leaving the Continental [5] Trumbull to Sherman, Hosmer, and Adams, 25 August 1778,
Congress, Adams was named by Governor in “The Papers of Jonathan Trumbull” in “Collections of the Mas-
sachusetts Historical Society, Seventh Series, Vol. II” (Boston:
Trumbull as a member of the Connecticut
Published by the Society, 1902), 256-57.
Executive Council. That same year, Trumbull [6] No name is given here for this “Major Bigelow”; however,
appointed Adams to a seat as a judge on the Benedict Arnold mentions in his Memoirs that a “Major Bigelow”
Supreme Court of Connecticut. Rising to become served as the head of the 15th Massachusetts Regiment, and lists
of officers of this unit show a Colonel Timothy Bigelow to have
one of the leading counselors on that court, in been at its command, so it may be assumed that the unnamed
1793 Adams was named as chief justice, a post Bigelow may be him.
he held until his death. [7] Adams and Hosmer to Trumbull, 29 August 1778, in “The
Papers of Jonathan Trumbull,” 257-59.
Adams died in Litchfield, Connecticut, on 26 [8] Kilbourn, Dwight C., “The Bench and Bar of Litchfield County,
Connecticut, 1709-1909: Biographical Sketches of Members. His-
November 1797 at the age of 63. His remains
tory and Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School. Historical Notes”
were interred, according to his Congressional (Litchfield, CT: Published by the Author, 1909; reprint, Clark, NJ:
biography, in the East Cemetery in Litchfield, The Lawbook Exchange, 2002), 217.
John Adams (1735–1826)3

John Adams (1735–1826) family of Massachusetts, compiled a genealogical

history of the clan in 1898. According to this
history, Henry Adams, a native of Devonshire,
left with his family for the New World about
1630, settling in and becoming one of the original
landowners in the town of Braintree, which was
in 1639. His great-great-grandson, John Adams,
would one day serve as president of the country
that Henry Adams sailed to in that third decade
of the seventeenth century. John Adams (1691-
1760), the father of John Adams, was a deacon
and a shoemaker in Braintree. Although he had
not desired to be involved in religion, his own
father had insisted that he follow in the footsteps
of his own uncle, Joseph Adams, who had been
a noted clergyman in the area. As such, the elder
John Adams had attended Harvard College (now
Harvard University), and had become a leader in
his church [1].
In 1871, Charles Francis Adams, the grandson
of the subject of this biography, explained, “It is
in the order of the dispensations of Providence
to adapt the characters of men to the times in
which they live. The grandfather of John Adams
had given to the eldest of his twelve children a
The influence and range of service that John college education for his only inheritance. And
Adams offered to the building of the American a precious inheritance it was; it made him for
nation is incalculable. A diplomat, a writer nearly seventy years an instructor of religion and
and diarist, an agitator and a lawyer, a farmer virtue. And such was the anticipation and design
and politician, he rose to become one of the of the father of John Adams, who, not without
leading members of the Continental Congress some urgent advice and even solicitation,
and, in 1788, was elected the first vice president prevailed upon his son to prepare himself for
of the United States. In 1796 he was elected college.” [2] On his mother’s side, John Adams
the nation’s second president, after George was descended from a family that included
Washington, but served only one term before Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, who introduced the first
losing in an acrimonious defeat to his former inoculations for smallpox into the American
ally and friend, Thomas Jefferson, in 1800. colonies.
The two men, who reconciled in the years Adams wrote about his family in his diary, now
before they both died on the same day—4 July housed at the Massachusetts Historical Society:
1826, the 50th anniversary of the signing of the
Declaration of Independence—were considered
My Father by his Industry and Enterprize soon became
elder statesmen in the second decade of the 19th
a Person of more Property and Consideration in the
century, giving their nation important leadership
Town than his Patron had been. He became a Select
when it needed it the most.
Man, a Militia Officer and a Deacon in the Church.
The son of John Adams and his wife, Susanna He was the honestest Man I ever knew. In Wisdom,
(née Boylston) Adams, and the eldest of three Piety, Benevolence and Charity In proportion to his
sons, John Adams was born in Braintree (now Education and Sphere of Life, I have never seen his
Quincy), about 10 miles south of Boston, in the Superiour . . . My Mother was Suzanna Boylston a
Massachusetts Bay Colony, on 19 October 1735. Daughter of Peter Boylston of Brooklyne, the oldest
Andrew Adams, a member of the famed Adams son of Thomas Boylston a Surgeon and Apothecary
4 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

who came from London in 1656, and married a Woman much younger cousin found each other, despite
by the Name of Gardner of that Town, by whom he had their age difference of nine years [7]
Issue Peter my Grandfather, Zabdiel the Physician,
who first introduced into the British Empire the Born as Abigail Smith on 11 November 1744
Practice of Inocculation for the Small Pox, Richard, in Weymouth, Massachusetts, she, like her
Thomas and Dudley and several Daughters. [3] husband, had a father actively involved in the
church, although the Reverend William Smith
gave his daughter the upbringing few at that
Following in his father’s footsteps, John Adams
time enjoyed. However, he did not believe that
studied at Harvard, and among his instructors
women should be educated, and it was left to
there was Josiah Quincy (1709-1784), a noted
Abigail to educate herself. She became an active
educator and merchant who became a close
writer, encapsulating most of her life in letters
friend and correspondent with Benjamin
and diaries. She read the great philosophers of
Franklin, but who would become embittered
history and taught herself French. Just prior to
and estranged from his own son, also named
her death, she told her family to “Pray, burn all
Josiah Quincy (1744-1775), who would take
my Letters,” but her wishes were ignored, and
up the fight for American independence in
today we have the rich history of the love shown
opposition to his father. Tasked with presenting
between John and Abigail Adams through their
the grievances of his fellow colonists to the
voluminous correspondence. The two met while
English government, he sailed for America but
John was courting Abigail’s cousin, and, from
died before he could reach land at the age of
John’s letters, we find that he did not find her,
31. [4] In 1755, John Adams was presented with
at least at first, a particularly interesting person.
a bachelor of arts degree from Harvard; three
It was through John’s good friend William
years later, in 1758, the same school awarded
Cranch, who was courting and would later
him a master of arts degree. William Cranch,
marry Abigail’s older sister Mary in 1762, that
who would later serve as an official reporter
Adams became more acquainted with Abigail.
of the US Supreme Court, wrote in 1827, “It
He quickly found her expansive knowledge,
is said that, while at college, he [Adams] was
rare for a woman in those days, to be most
distinguished by great assiduity in his studies,
attractive to him. And thus began a romance
a retentive memory, acuteness of reasoning,
that would last until Abigail’s passing in 1818.
originality and boldness of thought, strength
Even when the two were separated—during
of language, and an openness and honesty of
John’s service in the Continental Congress, as
character, which could neither assume, nor
well as his work as a diplomat in Europe, and
tolerate disguise.” [5]
continuing throughout his time first as vice
Adams’ grandson, Charles Francis Adams, who president until the end of his sole term in office
had a storied career as a diplomat in service to as president—the two corresponded. In all, from
the American government, most notable during 1762 until 1801, they penned some 1,160 letters
the American Civil War, wrote in a memoir of his to each other, all of which survive. The love that
grandfather published in 1856, “From the time these two people showed for each other, as their
of the admission of Mr. Adams to the bar, he nation struggled to become an independent
resided at his father’s house, in Braintree; and, country, is as much a part of history as any
after the decease of his father, which happened official correspondence a politician may turn
on the 25th of May 1761, he remained with his out. In one letter, dated 4 October 1762, Adams,
mother, until his marriage, in 1764.” [6] John addressing Abigail as “Miss Adorable,” penned
Adams also would live nearly a decade longer to her, “By the same Token that the Bearer
than the woman who was to become his wife, hereof satt up with you last night I hereby order
mate, and lifelong partner in everything he would you to give him, as many Kisses, and as many
do, Abigail Smith Adams. Before his marriage Hours of your Company after 9 OClock as he
to Abigail Smith, Adams had been engaged to shall please to Demand and charge them to my
Abigail’s older cousin, Hannah Quincy, but that Account. This Order, or Requision call it which
had ended. Somehow Adams and Hannah’s you will is in Consideration of a similar order
John Adams (1735–1826)5

Upon Aurelia for the like favour, and I presume I he explained in a letter. “I suspected that this
have good Right to draw upon you for the Kisses was the explosion which had been intentionally
as I have given two or three Millions at least, wrought up by designing men, who knew
when one has been recd, and of Consequence the what they were aiming at, better than the
Account between us is immensely in favour of instruments employed. If these poor tools
yours.” [8] Historian Rosemary Keller, in a 1977 should be prosecuted for any of their illegal
dissertation on Abigail Adams, explained: conduct they must be punished. If the soldiers
in self-defense should kill any of them, they
In 1763, Abigail Smith and John Adams were engaged
must be tried, and if truth was respected, and
in a courtship of more profound consequences than
the law prevailed, must be acquitted.” [10]
their stern Puritan forebears could have conceived.
Their marriage, which took place the next year, A 19th century magazine, The New-England
developed into one of the remarkable unions in history Galaxy and United States Literary Advertiser,
and culminated over several generations in America’s explained in its edition of 10 June 1825:
most distinguished family line. Even in their early
love letters, the nineteen-year-old parson’s daughter The tragedy of the 5th of March, 1770, denominated,
demonstrated why she was an exceptional woman in the language of that period, “The Boston
of her day who would become the firm force behind Massacre,” had wrought the whole people of
the rise of this family dynasty. In a letter written in Massachusetts, and above all the inhabitants of
September 1763 to the aspiring lawyer, nine years her Boston, to the highest pitch of rage and indignation.
senior, he reflected that “they were both cast in the The populace breathed only vengeance. Even minds
same mould [sic].” While his might be of a “harder better instructed, and of higher principles than the
smile,” she surmised that they probably possesse “an multitude, in the excitement of the moment, could
eaquil [sic] quantity of Steel.” [9] not endure the doctrine, that it was possible for the
armed soldiers to fire and kill unarmed citizens, and
John Adams would probably have remained as commit a crime less than murder. Political animosity
a lawyer, perhaps a famous one, in Boston, if not and natural antipathy to troops stationed in the
for the events of 5 March 1770, which catapulted metropolis, sharpened this vindictive spirit. The
Adams, as well as the American colonies, on a friends of the government were either silent, or only
path towards war with England. A number of expressed regret and lamentation at the event. The
colonists assembled and surrounded a British friends of freedom were loud in their indignation,
soldier who was guarding the customs house and clamorous for that justice which declares, that
in Boston. Panicked, the sentry’s commander, “blood shall be the penalty for blood.” [11]
Capt. Thomas Preston, sent reinforcements
to help the lone soldier. Whether or not the Adams took the side of the soldiers, and, with the
soldiers felt their lives in danger, or if the aid of his cousin, Samuel Adams, defended the
angry crowd reacted when they were unarmed, soldiers in court and got an acquittal. Historians
will never be known. What is known is that have long pondered just why John Adams,
some of the troops fired into the crowd, killing who would become one of those colonists who
five and wounding several others. Now known helped to break away from England five years
as the Boston Massacre, the riot caused intense later, would side with British troops over his
hatred of the British and threatened to ignite fellow colonists. In 1787, Adams wrote to a
potential warfare. John Adams, almost alone friend, Benjamin Hichborn, “I begin to suspect
in his thinking, came to the defense of the that some Gentlemen who had more Zeal than
British troops, believing that they had been Knowledge in the year 1770 will soon discover
provoked. “Endeavors had been systematically that I had good Policy, as well as sound Law
pursued for many months by certain busy on my side, when I ventured to lay open before
characters to excite quarrels, reencounters our People the Laws against Riots, Routs, and
[sic] and combats, single or compound, in the unlawful assemblies. Mobs will never do—to
night, between the inhabitants of the lower govern States or command armies. I was as
class, and the soldiers, and at all risks to sensible of it in 1770 as I am in 1787. To talk of
enkindle an immortal hatred between them,” Liberty in such a state of things!” [12]
6 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

Perhaps around this time—there is no exact then departed Braintree, his wife and his family,
date of its occurrence—Adams was involved on 10 August 1774 for the trip to Philadelphia.
in an incident that demonstrates his general On 29 September, he wrote to William Tudor on
demeanor. As noted in a letter to The Times the conditions in that city:
of London in 1851: “When John Adams was
a young man he was invited to dine with the You can have no adequate Idea of the Pleasures of
Court and Bar at the house of Judge Paine, an the Difficulties of the Errand I am now upon. The
eminent Loyalist, at Worcester. When the wine Congress is Such an Assembly as never before came
was circulated round the table Judge Paine together on a Sudden, in any Part of the World.
gave as a toast, ‘the King.’ Some of the Whigs Here are Fortunes, Abilities, Learning, Eloquence,
were about to refuse to drink it; but Mr. Adams Acuteness equal to any I ever met with [in] my Life.
whispered to them to comply, saying, ‘We shall Here is a Diversity of Religious Educations, Manners,
have an opportunity to return the compliment.’ Interests, Such as it would Seem almost impossible to
At length, when John Adams was desired to give unite in any one Plan of Conduct. Every Question is
a toast, he gave ‘the Devil.’ As the host was about discussed with a Moderation, and an Acuteness and
to resent the supposed indignity, his wife calmed a minuteness equal to that of Queen Elizabeths [sic]
him, and turned the laugh upon Mr. Adams by privy Council. This occasions infinite Delays. We are
immediately saying, ‘My dear, as the gentlemen under Obligations of Secrecy in every Thing except
has seen fit to drink to ‘our’ friend, let us by no the Single Vote which you have Seen approving the
means refuse, in our turn, to drink to ‘his.’” [13] Resolutions of the County of Suffolk. What Effect this
Vote may have with you is uncertain. What you will
Despite his defense of the British soldiers in do, God knows. You Say you look up to the Congress.
Boston, Adams was nevertheless a harsh critic It is well you Should: but I hope you will not expect
of the policies of the so-called “Mother Country,” too much from Us. [15]
and he spoke out against them. When tensions
between England and her colonies had reached During his time in that First Continental
a decisive point, calls went out from individual Congress, Adams made his mark by proposing
colonies for a meeting of delegates from the the naming of George Washington as the
colonies to shape their own policies in defiance commander-in-chief of the Continental Army,
of the Crown and Parliament. In June 1774, the and he worked to help draft, with his friend,
Massachusetts House elects John Adams, his Thomas Jefferson, the document that came to
cousin Samuel Adams, and Thomas Cushing be known as the Declaration of Independence.
as three of the colony’s five delegates (a fourth, As well, he helped to draft the “Model Treaty
Robert Treat Paine, did attend, but the fifth, of 1776.” Historian Felix Gilbert wrote, “The
James Bowdoin, did not) to a “Continental American-French alliance, concluded in 1778,
Congress” to be held in the “national capitol” was a further significant step toward traditional
of Philadelphia. As historian William Dehler diplomacy. Astonishment has frequently been
wrote in 1939, “Fearing that the Royal Governor expressed about the success of the American
[Gen. Thomas Gage of the British army] would negotiators in getting their ideas excepted by
dissolve their assembly, the member of the Europe’s most powerful monarchy. Indeed, the
Massachusetts House of Representatives Treaty of Amity and Commerce between France
ordered the doors of the chamber to be locked, and the United States followed closely by the
June 17, 1774 . . . By an overwhelming majority Model Treaty of 1776 with its new and radical
they voted to send delegates to Philadelphia principles for commerce and navigation.” [16]
to consult with the delegates from the other
During his time in the Continental Congress,
colonies and to determine ‘wise’ and proper
Adams remained a writer of many letters—to
measures . . . for the recover and establishment
friends, to intimates, and to others. In a letter,
of their just rights & liberties, civil and religious,
discovered in England in 1931, addressed to
and the restoration of union & harmony between
Archibald Bulloch, the governor of Georgia on 1
Great Britain and the Colonies.” [14]
July 1776, he wrote, “This morning is assigned
Adams finished his circuit duties (the court for for the greatest debate of all—a Declaration that
all of New England was in present-day Maine), these Colonies are free and independent States
John Adams (1735–1826)7

has been reported by a Committee, appointed reasoning and persuasion often succeeded in
some weeks ago for that purpose, and this day, carrying measures which were at first sight of an
or to-morrow, is to determine its fate.” [17] unpopular stature.” [19]
In a letter to Joseph Ward, the Muster-Master From 1774 to 1777, Adams worked himself into
General of the Continental Army, later the near exhaustion. Not being able to go home for
Commissary-General of Prisoners, Adams, from any length of time because of the distance of the
Philadelphia, wrote: journey back to Massachusetts, and not being
able to see his wife and correspond with her only
It is a great work to fortify Boston harbour, and will through numerous letters, all served to nearly
require many men—But however, I am not sufficiently destroy his health. In 1777, he retired from the
informed to judge of the propriety of this measure— Continental Congress, when he was named as a
if there is the least reason to expect that Howe’s joint commissioner to go to England to negotiate a
army will return to Boston, it was wrong to remove peace with the British government. He took along
so many men so soon, but it is hard to believe that with him his eldest son, John Quincy Adams, to
that army will very suddenly return to that place. The France to see that country and to gain foreign
Militia of that Province are tremendous to the enemy, experience, experience that the younger Adams
and well they may be, for I believe they don’t know utilized in eventually serving as secretary of state
of each other . . . Every motive of self-preservation, and, then, as president of the United States.
of honour, profit, and glory, call upon our people to The defeat of the British Army at Saratoga in
fortify the harbour so as to be impregnable. It will September 1777 left little doubt as to what would
make a rendezvous for men of war and privateers, happen between the American representatives
and a mart of trade. [18] and those representing Britain in Paris for the
peace talks: the Americans had the upper hand
Adams became disgusted with that First Con­ and would not settle for anything less than full
tinental Congress, which did little more than independence. The British had little choice but to
advocate the refusal of merchants in the sign the treaty. Adams returned to Massachusetts
colonies to not purchase British goods shipped in August 1779, where, now living not in a colony
into the individual colonies. Many of his fellow but in one of the 13 American states, he assisted
delegates saw him and others like him as in writing the state constitution. Adams melded
radicals who merely wanted to break away the document to reflect his own belief in what
from England and declare independence. This he wrote in a letter as the state government
frustrated Adams. being a “government of laws, and not of men.”
At the Second Continental Congress, the follow- Writing to fellow Continental Congress delegate
up meeting of delegates, Adams took charge. (and later vice president) Elbridge Gerry, Adams
This second congress met following the opening explained, “I am clear for three branches in the
shots of what would become the American legislature, and the committee have reported as
Revolution, which began at the Massachusetts such, though awkwardly expressed . . . We have
towns of Lexington and Concord. With this so many men of wealth, of ambitious spirits, of
new attitude, that colonists now had to intrigue, of luxury and corruption, that incessant
fight, and needed to get their independence, factions will disturb our peace without it, and,
Adams and others like him were able to shift indeed, there is too much reason to fear, with it.
control of that second congress to their way The executive, which ought to be the reservoir of
of thinking. Benjamin Rush, a fellow delegate wisdom, as the legislature is of liberty, without
from Pennsylvania, wrote, “He was a most this weapon of defence, will be run down like a
sensible and forcible speaker. Every member of hare before the hunters. But I have not time to
Congress in 1776 acknowledged him to be first enlarge.” [20]
in the house. Dr. Brownson (of Georgia) used Before his draft constitution could come up for
to say when he spoke, he fancied an angel was a vote, Adams was named by the Continental
let down from heaven to illumine the Congress. Congress to go to France to sign a peace
He saw the whole of a subject as a single and commercial treaty with Britain. He took
glance, and by a happy union of the powers of along his sons, John Quincy Adams and
8 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

Charles Adams. The talks broke down over us, is commerce, not politics, much less war.
Adams’ insistence that Britain recognize the America has been the sport of European wars
independence of the United States. Adams and politics long enough.” [22]
also clashed with the French Foreign Minister, Adams remained in Europe until 1788,
the Comte Charles Gravier de Vergennes, negotiating for additional loans from Holland,
when Adams refused to call on the Continental gaining diplomatic recognition from several
Congress to repay French debts in America in European nations and serving, from 1785 until
full instead of depreciated currency, arguing 1788, as the first US minister to the Court of
that France, as the first ally of the new nation, St. James, the post known today as the US
would gain exponentially in trading that Ambassador to the United Kingdom. With his
Britain could not secure. Adams wrote to work in Europe finished he sailed for home, this
Vergennes, “No man is more ready than I time with his wife and children by his side.
am to acknowledge the obligations we are
under to France; but the flourishing state of While he had been gone, the nation had completed
her marine and commerce, and the decisive and confirmed the new US Constitution, which
influence of her councils and negociations [sic] set up national elections for president and vice
in Europe, which all the world will allow us to president in 1788. Adams was named as one of
be owing, in a great measure, to the separation the first candidates for president of the United
of America from her inveterate enemy, and to States. Although he was extremely popular in the
her connexions [sic] with the United States, country as a whole, he could not overcome the
shall that the obligations are mutual. And no popularity of General George Washington, and
foreign merchants ought to expect to be treated Adams received 34 of the 69 available electoral
in America better than her native merchants, votes, giving him the vice presidency. Adams
who have hazarded their property through the wrote, “I know not how it is, but in proportion
same perils of the seas and of enemies.” [21] as danger threatens I grow calm. I am very
apprehensive that a desperate anti-federal party
Unable to get France to move any further, will provoke all Europe by their insolence. But my
Adams left for Holland, where he also received country has, in its wisdom, contrived for me the
diplomatic recognition of the United States, as most insignificant office that ever the invention
well as a much-needed loan from the Dutch. In of men contrived or his imagination conceived;
November 1782 he returned to France, after the and as I can do neither good nor evil, I must be
British relented and decided to sign the peace borne away by others and meet the common
treaty with their former colonies in exchange fate.” [23] Although Adams felt that he had been
for an end to the war and commercial relations. installed into a meaningless office, nevertheless
While fellow delegate (and US minister to he worked closely with President Washington
France) Benjamin Franklin had already ironed to formulate policy for the new nation. Most of
out much of what would be the final treaty, his time was taken by serving as president of the
he wanted more protections for France, but US Senate, where he set a record of breaking
Adams worked closely with one of the British ties in votes. In 1792, Adams was reelected vice
negotiators, Richard Oswald, to forge an president with Washington, this time receiving
agreement. Explaining the situation in a letter 77 of the possible 134 electoral votes, defeating
to the president of the Continental Congress, New York governor George Clinton. Four years
Samuel Huntington, Adams wrote, “We ought, later, when Washington begged off a third term,
therefore, to be cautious how we magnify our Adams was the candidate of the Federalist
ideas, and exaggerate our expressions of the Party. Although he ran with a vice presidential
generosity and magnanimity of any of these candidate, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, prior
powers. Let us treat them with gratitude, but to the passage of the 11th amendment to the US
with dignity. Let us remember what is due to Constitution candidates ran separately, with the
ourselves and to our posterity, as well as to two top vote-getting candidates being elected.
them. Let us, above all things, avoid as much as While Adams received the most electoral votes—
possible entangling ourselves with their wars or 71—it was Anti-Federalist candidate Thomas
politics. Our business with them and theirs with Jefferson, who had once been a close friend of
John Adams (1735–1826)9

Adams, who received the second most number Adams, construction of the first warships that
of electoral votes, 68, and was elected vice would give the United States power on the
president. seas; among these was the USS Constitution,
also known as “Old Ironsides,” which is still
During the four years of his administration, in existence and is retired as a visitor’s site in
Adams found himself in one controversy after Charlestown, Massachusetts.
another. Just days after he took office in
March 1797, Adams learned that France had Perhaps the most controversial matter during
begun to seize American trading ships that Adams’ administration was the passage in
were sailing for England, and that Charles Congress of the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798.
Cotesworth Pinckney, the US Minister to These pieces of legislation, enacted in response
France, had been dismissed from representing to the French Revolution which overthrew the
his country before the French government. The government as well as the monarchy led by King
country prepared for war with France. Adams Louis XVI, were actually four pieces of separate
convened his cabinet and sent John Marshall legislation passed by the Federalist-dominated
and Elbridge Gerry to join Pinckney in France Congress. It ordered the imprisonment or
to negotiate with the French government an end deportation of those considered “dangerous to the
to the crisis. When Marshall and Gerry reached peace and safety of the United States,” extending
France and joined Pinckney, they found that the period of residency needed for American
they were refused a meeting with the French citizenship from five to fourteen years. The most
Foreign Minister, the Marquis de Tallyrand. controversial of these laws was the Sedition Act,
Instead, the French government sent four or, as it was known, “An act for the punishment
emissaries—Lucien Hauteval, Jean Hottinger, of certain crimes again the United States.” The
Nicholas Hubbard, and Pierre Bellamy— act set penalties against persons who would
to meet with the American delegates. They “unlawfully combine or conspire together, with
presented the three Americans with conditions intent to oppose any measure or measures of the
that had to be met before they could meet government of the United States, which are or
Talleyrand: The United States would have to shall be directed by proper authority, or to impede
give France a low interest loan, would have to the operation of any law of the United States, or
pay any claims lodged by American merchants to intimidate or prevent any person holding a
for ships and goods seized by France, and pay place or office in or under the government of the
a large bribe directly to Talleyrand himself. United States, from undertaking, performing, or
The three Americans, shocked and disgusted executing his trust or duty . . . ” [24] Writing to
at the terms, refused. Marshall and Pinckney Vice President Thomas Jefferson on 20 May 1798,
returned to the United States, while Gerry James Madison stated, “The Alien bill proposed in
remained in France to try to help stop a war the Senate is a monster that must forever disgrace
from breaking out. When Adams heard of the its parents. I should not have supposed it possible
disgraceful way the three Americans had been that such a one could have been engendered in
treated, he prepared for war. The nation as a either House and still persuade myself that it
whole was stunned; the four Frenchmen (for cannot possibly be fathered by both. It is truly to
some reason, only three seem to have been be deplored that a standing army should be let in
named) were given the nicknames “X, Y, and upon us by the absence of a few sound votes. It
Z,” and the meeting was called the XYZ Affair. may however all be for the best.” [25]
While a land war never occurred, fighting
among American and French ships did occur. The laws became an integral issue in the 1800
The crisis led to intense negotiations, leading president campaign, a rematch of the 1796
to the Convention of 1800, also known as the contest between Adams and Jefferson. The
Treaty of Mortefontaine. vice president’s supporters used the Alien &
Sedition Acts as a cudgel against the president,
It was because of this so-called “Quasi-War” with both sides employing vile threats and
with France that led the government to establish cursing few campaigns have ever seen. In the
a Department of the Navy, and initiated, under end, Adams lost to Jefferson, 73 electoral votes
10 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

to 65, and, after one term, Adams was retired for the third time, the best letter that was ever
from office. written by an octogenarian, dated June 1 . . . I
have not sprained my wrist, but both my arms
Returning to Braintree, Adams enjoyed the first
and hands are so overstrained that I cannot
break from service in more than 30 years.
write a line . . . I cannot mount my horse, but
He and his wife Abigail, their children, and
I can walk three miles over a rugged, rocky
grandchildren, all congregated at the Adams’
mountain, and have done it within a month;
residence. Adams himself remained connected
yet I feel when sitting in my chair as if I
to politics, writing books and articles and letters
could not rise out of it; and when risen, as if
on numerous subjects. As evident from all of
I could not walk across the room. My sight is
his writings and correspondence, Adams was
very dim, hearing pretty good, memory poor
a staunch opponent of slavery. In a letter that
enough.” [27]
Adams wrote from Quincy, Massachusetts, on
18 June 1819, he summed up his feelings about On 4 July 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the
the practice: signing of the Declaration of Independence,
both men were near death. At 1 p.m., Jefferson
The turpitude, the inhumanity, the cruelty and the expired, at age 84. Adams, in Braintree, wanted
infamy of the African commerce in slaves, have been to see the fireworks that evening. He told his
so impressively represented to the public, by the attendant, “It is a great and glorious day.” His
highest powers of eloquence, that nothing I could last words were, “Jefferson survives.” He did not
say would increase the just odium in which it is know that the Sage of Monticello had preceded
and ought to be held. Every measure of prudence, him in death. Adams was 91.
therefore, ought to be assumed, for the eventual total
The former president, like Jefferson, was
extirpation of slavery from the United States . . . .
universally mourned in the nation he had served
I have, through my whole life, held the practice of
for so long. The American Mercury of Hartford,
slavery in such abhorrence that I have never owned
Connecticut, stated in an editorial, “That bold
a negro, or any other slave, though I have lived
and energetic spirit which inspired the councils
for many year [sic] in times when the practice was
of America with the determination to become
not disgraceful; when the best men of this vicinity
independent has ascended on high, and that
thought it not inconsistent with their characters,
eloquent tongue which urged its declaration on
and when it has cost me thousands of dollars for
the fourth of July, 1776, on the fourth of July,
the labor and subsistence of freemen, which I might
1826, was palsied in death.” [28] The Daily
have saved by the purchase of negroes when they
National Intelligencer of Washington, D.C. said,
were very cheap.” [26]
“The angel of death seems to have been walking
with him for months, but was not permitted by
Even while Jefferson was in office, the two men Omnipotence to call him away until the Jubilee
reconciled their differences, becoming, over the of American Liberty had fully come, and not
next two decades, close friends, as evidenced then, until his soul had been cheered with the
from their voluminous correspondence that loud acclamation of a joyous People for the
survives. They wrote about a number of issues, blessings of the day.” [29]
including the political scene in America. They
shared intimate moments in each others’ lives, Historian Francis Russell, in his sweeping
and comforted each other as loved ones passed history of the Adams family, penned this about
away, including Adams’ wife, Abigail, in 1818. John Adams:
Four years later, Jefferson wrote to Adams, “It
is very long, my dear sir, since I have written As [the] Second President of the United States, John
to you. My dislocated wrist is now become Adams in his single term has been overshadowed by
so stiff that I write slowly and with pain, and both his predecessor and successor. Yet this chubby,
therefore write as little as I can. Yet it is due to opinionated New Englander, stubborn and egotistical,
mutual friendship to ask once in a while how was truly a Founding Father, one of the handful of men
you do.” Adams replied, “Half an hour ago, I without whom it would be impossible to imagine later
received, and, this moment, have heard read America. Washington, reserved and aloof, even while
John Adams (1735–1826)11

President, became a symbol, a presence sufficient tion, Containing Unpublished Documents of John Adams, and
Explanatory Notes” (Albany, NY: Joel Munsell, 1870), 18.
to chill the hand of anyone presumptuous enough to [11] “Extracts from the Memoirs of Josiah Quincy, Jr.,” New
slap him on the back. The Father of his Country stood England Galaxy and United States Advertiser [Boston, Massa-
apart from ordinary humanity. Adams was all too chusetts], 10 June 1825, 1.
obviously human, from his outer appearance to his [12] Adams to Benjamin Hichborn, 27 January 1787, in Charles
Francis Adams, ed., “The Works of John Adams, Second Presi-
tactlessly assertive manner, cranky, jealous, yet with dent of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and
a razor-sharp intellect and a keen awareness of his Illustrates” (Boston: Little, Brown and Company; 10 volumes,
own weaknesses. An English diplomat considered him 1850-56), IX:551.
[13] “An Anecdote of John Adams,” The Times [London, United
the most ungracious man he had ever encountered. Kingdom], 28 July 1851, 3
Benjamin Franklin thought him “always an honest [14] Dehler, William A., “John Adams in the Continental Con-
man, often a wise one, but sometimes in some things gress” (unpublished Master of Arts degree, Loyola University,
1939), 1.
absolutely out of his senses.” The three-branched [15] Adams to William Tudor, 29 September 1774, in Robert
system of American constitutional with its built-in Joseph Taylor, ed., “Papers of John Adams” (Cambridge, MA: The
system of checks and balances owes more to him Belknap Press of The Harvard University Press; sixteen volumes,
perhaps than to any other one man. Though he 1977), III:176.
[16] Gilbert, Felix, “To the Farewell Address: Ideas of Early
was equally opposed by Jefferson’s democratic and American Foreign Policy” (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University
Hamilton’s aristocratic extremists, he did establish Press, 1961), 84.
governmental precedents at a time when it was a [17] “A John Adams Letter: The Declaration of Independence,”
The Times [London, United Kingdom], 3 June 1931, 18.
question whether the American experiment would [18] “Literature. Relics of Seventy-Six: Comprising Original
survive. [30] Valuable Letters and Documents Found Among the Papers of the
Late Col. Joseph Ward, ‘Muster-Master-General of the Continen-
See also: Samuel Adams; The Boston Massacre tal Army,’ and Subsequently ‘Commissary-General of Prison-
ers.’ Third Paper. Letters of John Adams,” The Literary World,
CLXXIX (18 September 1852), 179-80.
[19] Biddle, Louis Alexander, “A Memorial Containing Travels
Through Life or Sundry Incidents in the Life of Dr. Benjamin
[1] Adams, Andrew N., compiler and ed., “A Genealogical History of Rush. Written by Himself. Also Extracts from His Commonplace
Henry Adams, of Braintree, Mass., And His Descendents; also John Book, as well as a Short History of the Rush Family in Pennsylva-
Adams, of Cambridge, Mass., 1632-1897” (Rutland, VT: Published nia” (Privately Printed, 1905), 103.
by the Author [by] The Tuttle Company, Printers, 1898), 3-4. [20] Adams, Charles Francis, “The Works of John Adams, Second
[2] Adams, Charles Francis, “The Life of John Adams. Begun President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Note
by John Quincy Adams. Completed by Charles Francis Adams” and Illustrations” (Boston: Little, Brown and Company; two vol-
(Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.; two volumes, 1871), I:16. umes, 1856), IX:506.
[3] See L.H. Butterfield, ed., “The Diary and Autobiography of [21] Adams to the Count de Vergennes, 22 June 1780, in Sparks,
John Adams” (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of the Harvard Uni- Jared, ed., “The Diplomatic Correspondence of the American
versity Press; four volumes and a supplement, 1961-66), III:256. Revolution: Being the Letters of Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane,
[4] For information on Josiah Quincy and his son, see Josiah John Adams, John Jay, Arthur Lee, William Lee, Ralph Izard,
Quincy, “Memoir of the Life of Josiah Quincy Jun. of Massachu- Francis Dana, William Carmichael, Henry Laurens, John Laurens,
setts: By His Son, Josiah Quincy” (Boston: Published by Cum- M. Dumas, and Others, Concerning the Foreign Relations of the
mings, Hilliard & Company, 1825), 5. United States during the Whole Revolution; Together with the
[5] Cranch, William, “Memoir of the Life, Character, and Writ- Letters in Reply from the Secret Committee of Congress, and the
ings of John Adams; Read, March 16, 1827, in the Capitol, in the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. Also, the Entire Correspondence
City of Washington, at the Request of The Columbian Institute, of the French Ministers, Gerard and Luzerne, with Congress”
and Published by Their Order” (City of Washington: S.A. Elliott, (Washington, DC: Published by John C. Rives; six volumes, 1857),
Printer, Eleventh Street, Near Pennsylvania Avenue, 1827), 12. III:158-59.
[6] Adams, Charles Francis, “The Works of John Adams, Second [22] Adams to Samuel Huntington, 17 April 1780, in Adams,
President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Note Charles Francis, “The Works of John Adams, Second President of
and Illustrations” (Boston: Little, Brown and Company; two the United States: With a Life of the Author, Note and Illustra-
volumes, 1856), I:45. tions” (Boston: Little, Brown and Company; two volumes, 1856),
[7] Whitney, Janet, “Abigail Adams” (Boston: Little, Brown & VI:151.
Company, 1947), 10. [23] Adams to “My Dearest Friend” [Abigail Adams], 19 Decem-
[8] John Adams to Abigail Adams, 4 October 1762, in Margaret ber 1793, in Adams, Charles Francis, ed., “Letters of John Adams,
A. Hogan and C. James Taylor, eds., “‘My Dearest Friend’: Letters Addressed to his Wife” (Boston: Charles C. Little and James
of Abigail and John Adams” (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Brown; two volumes, 1841), II:133.
Press, 2007), 4. [24] “An Act in addition to the act, entitled ‘An act for the pun-
[9] Keller, Rosemary Skinner, “Abigail Adams and the American ishment of certain crimes against the United States’ in Richard
Revolution: A Personal History” (Ph.D. dissertation, The Univer- Peters, ed., By Authority of Congress. The Public Statute at Large
sity of Illinois at Chicago Circle, 1977), 2. of the United States of America, From the Organization of the
[10] John Adams, quoted in Frederic Kidder, “History of the Government in 1789, to March 3, 1845. Arranged in Chronologi-
Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770; Consisting of the Narrative of cal Order. With References to the Matter of Each Act and to the
the Town, the Trial of the Soldiers: and a Historical Introduc- Subsequent Acts on the Same Subject, and Copious Notes of the
12 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

Decisions of the Courts of the United States, Construing Those serve, like John Adams, as a delegate to the
Acts, and Upon the Subjects of the Laws. With an Index to the
Contents of Each Volume, and a Full General Index to the Whole
Continental Congress, and was a signer of the
Work, in the Concluding Volume. Together with The Declaration Declaration of Independence, his also served as
of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Constitu- both lieutenant governor, and then governor, of
tion of the United States; and Also, Tables, in the Last Volume,
Massachusetts.
Containing Lists of the Acts Relating to the Judiciary, Imposts and
Tonnage, the Public Lands, Etc.” (Boston: Charles C. Little and
James Brown, 1845), I:596. A native of Massachusetts like his Adams’
[25] James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 20 May 1798, in “Let- brethren, Samuel Adams was born in his
ters and Other Writings of James Madison, Fourth President of the
United States. In Four Volumes. Published by Order of Congress”
family’s home on Purchase Street in Boston on
(Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.; four volumes, 1865), II:142. 27 September 1722, the son of Samuel Adams
[26] “John Adams on Slavery,” The New-York Evangelist, 6 and his wife Mary (née Fifield) Adams. Historian
March 1845, 1-2.
George A. Simmons wrote in 1877, “His father
[27] “Thomas Jefferson and John Adams in 1822,” Potter’s Amer-
ican Monthly, IV:42 (June 1875), 413-14. was a man of good social and political standing,
[28] “Death of John Adams,” American Mercury [Hartford, Con- universally esteemed and respected; his mother,
necticut], 11 July 1826, 3. a woman of rare piety and dignity.” [1] Historian
[29] “Death of John Adams,” Daily National Intelligencer
[Washington, DC], 4 July 1826, 3. James K. Hosmer also wrote in 1877, “The
[30] Russell, Francis, “Adams, an American Dynasty” (New York: progenitor in America of the Adams family, so
American Heritage Publishing Co., 1976), 1-2. numerous and famous, was Henry Adams, who,
with a family of eight children, settled at an
early period near Mount Wollaston in Quincy.
The inscription on his tombstone, written by
Samuel Adams (1722–1803) President John Adams, describes him as having
come from Devonshire, in England. English
families of the name trace their descent from
a remote Welsh ancestor; there is a possibility,
therefore, of a mixture of Celtic blood in the
stock.” [2] Of Mary Adams, historian Ira Stoll
stated, “Samuel Adams’ mother, Mary, is
described by one Adams biographer as a woman
‘of severe religious principles.’ Beyond that Mary
Adams suffered the loss of nine of her twelve
children, little is known of her.” [3]
The elder Samuel Adams was a large landowner
and investor in buildings and real estate in the
Massachusetts Colony, as well as operating his
own brewery. He was also elected to several
colonial offices, including as a selectman and
a member of the Massachusetts Provincial
Assembly. His son, the subject of this biography,
was slated to enter the ministry, and he was
trained for location when he was sent to study
at Harvard College (now Harvard University).
He graduated from that institution in 1740;
three years later he received a master’s degree
in theology. However, that appears to be the
last time that Adams contemplated a life in the
ministry. He never lost his ties to religion, later
A lthough he had a lengthy political career in writing in a letter that he could “dwell on the
his native Massachusetts, Samuel Adams spent Importance of Piety & Religion, of Industry &
much of his life in the shadow of his cousin, Frugality, of Prudence, Economy, Regularity &
John Adams. And while Samuel Adams rose to an even Government, all which are essential to
Samuel Adams (1722–1803)13

the Well being of a Family.” [4] Unable to find a The death of his father gave Samuel Adams
vocation, Adams studied the law for a short time a new impetus. He had come to believe that
before going to work as a clerk in the counting the British administration in the colonies was
house of one Thomas Cushing. Adams finally corrupt, incompetent, and unjust, and he set
relented and joined his family brewing business, out to find ways to chip away at the power of
where he worked from 1756 to 1760. He also the colonial government. In 1749 he married
worked as a tax collector. Elizabeth Checkley; the couple would have two
In the 1740s, family matters clashed with the children prior to her death in 1757. In 1764,
political arena. The elder Adams was the owner Adams married Elizabeth Wells, but they had no
and director of a large land bank that gave children together.
out loans for land and building purchases in In 1765, Adams was elected as a member of the
Massachusetts. However, in an effort to force Massachusetts General Court, the lower house of
potential landowners to get their money from the Massachusetts colonial legislature, to fill the
England rather than from colonial banks, in 1741, vacancy left by the death of Oxenbridge Thacher.
after years of restrictions imposed by London on Adams served there until 1774; in 1766, when
all colonial currency, Britain banned the issuance he was reelected, the General Court named him
of all paper money by the colonies. When the elder as the clerk of that body. Adams took a leading
Adams joined with a group of merchants to issue role in opposing the harsh economic and other
their own currency, the royal governor, Jonathan matters enacted by the British Parliament in
Belcher, opposed the plan and, to strike back at London against the colonies. When Governor
Adams, fired him from his position as a justice of Francis Bernard supported these measures,
the peace. A new royal governor, William Shirley, Adams delivered a speech in the General Court
also opposed Adams, and when the colonial giving his views on these subjects. He said:
legislature named the elder Adams for a seat
on the Governor’s Council, an advisory body, Furthermore, your Excellency tells us that the right
in 1746, Shirley vetoed the move. By this time, of the Parliament to make laws for the American
however, Shirley, his entire administration, as Colonies remains indisputable in Westminster.
well as British rule, were growing more and more Without contending this point, we beg leave just to
unpopular in Massachusetts. Desiring to enter the observe that the charter of this Province invests the
political realm, the younger Adams was elected General Assembly with the power of making laws for
by the Boston Town Meeting in March 1747 as its internal government and taxation; and that this
a clerk of the town market. At the same time, charter has never yet been forfeited. The Parliament
Adams joined with several friends to found The has a right to make all laws within the limits of
Independent Advertiser, a journal that opposed their own Constitution. Among these, is the right of
the Shirley administration, with Adams serving as representation in the same body which exercises
editor. The first issue appeared in January 1748 the power of taxation. There is a necessity that the
and remained as a weekly until it went out of subjects of America should exercise this power within
business in 1750. Both Adams’ were thorns in the themselves, otherwise they can have no share in that
side of the royal government. Governor Shirley most essential right, for they are not represented in
later wrote in a letter asking “where the Devil this Parliament, and indeed we think it impracticable.
brace of Adamses come from.” [5] Your Excellency’s assertion leads us to think that of a
The elder Adams, perhaps from the effects of different mind with regard to this very material point,
fighting to stave off the collapse of his family’s and that you suppose we are represented; but the
assets from British rule, died on 8 March 1748, sense of the nation itself seems always to have been
two months shy of his fiftieth birthday. Although otherwise. The right of the Colonies to make their own
there is no evidence that his son wrote his laws and tax themselves has been never, that we know
eulogy, The Independent Advertiser wrote that of, questioned; but has been constantly recognized by
he was “one who well understood and rightly the King and Parliament. The very supposition that
pursued the Civil and Religious Interests of the Parliament, though the supreme power over the
this People.” It called him “a true New-England subjects of Britain universally, should yet conceive of
Man” and “an Honest Patriot.” [6] a despotic power within themselves, would be most
14 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

disrespectful; and we have it to your Excellency’s in London. The letter outlined Parliament’s
consideration, whether to suppose an indisputable attempt to control the colonial legislatures
rights in any government to tax the subjects without and deny colonists their natural rights as
their consent, does not include the idea of such a British subjects. For Adams and the Assembly,
power. [7] Parliament expressed disdain for the colonial
temperament.” [9] Adams’ letter appeared in
The British—in London, as well as their The Boston Gazette and Country Journal for
representatives in the colonies—did not listen, 4 April 1768. In the letter, Adams wrote:
or care to listen, to the concerns of the colonists. Since the last sitting of the General Court, divers
In 1764, the British Parliament passed the Sugar [various] Acts of Parliament relating to the
Act, a revision of the Sugar and Molasses Act Colonies have arrived here: And as the people of
of 1733. Also known as the American Revenue this Province had no share in the framing [of] those
Act, this law enacted a tax in the colonies on laws, in which they are so deeply interested, the
sugar, wine, and other commodities. This was House of Representatives [of the colony], who are
quickly followed a year later by the Stamp constitutionally entrusted by them, as the guardians
Act, also known as the Duties in American of their rights and liberties, have thought in their
Colonies Act, which raised prices on all paper indispensable duty carefully to peruse them, and
products utilized in the colonies: this included having so done, to point out such matters in them as
newspapers, paper for letter writing, ship and appear which to be grievous to their constituents, & to
merchants’ bills of sale, and even playing cards. seek redress. The fundamental rules of the constitution
Instead of ameliorating the growing anger of are the grand security of all British subjects, and it is a
the colonists, the acts pushed them even further security which they are equally entitled to, in all parts
towards a potential movement of independence of his Majesty’s extended dominions. The supreme
from London—ideas which up until that time legislature in every free state derives its power from
had been whispered only by those considered the constitution, by the fundamental rules of which
too radical in the colonies to be listened to. it is bounded and circumscribed. As a legislative
Samuel Adams was named as one of the leaders power is essentially requisite, where any powers of
of a group called “The Sons of Liberty,” which government are exercised, it is conceived, the several
would work to fight the oppressive laws. legislative bodies in America were erected, because
Samuel’s cousin John Adams wrote in his diary, their existence, and the free exercise of their power
“About this time I called upon my friend, Samuel within their several limits, are essentially important
Adams, and found him at his desk. He told me and necessary, to preserve to his Majesty’s subjects in
the town of Boston had employed him to draw America the advantages of the fundamental laws of
instructions for their representatives; that he the constitution. [10]
felt an ambition which was very apt to mislead
a man; that of doing something extraordinary;
Adams served in the various offices he held until
and he wanted to consult a friend who might
June 1774, when the Massachusetts General
suggest some thoughts to his mind. I read his
Court elected him and five other men—his cousin,
instructions, and showed him a copy of mine.
John Adams, James Bowdoin (who ultimately
I told him I thought his very well as far as
declined the honor), John Hancock, Thomas
they went, but he had not gone enough. Upon
Cushing, and Robert Treat Paine—as delegates
reading mine, he said he was of my opinion, and
to the new Continental Congress, a body formed
accordingly took into his some paragraphs from
among the colonies to draft articles in protest of
mine.” [8]
the harsh economic measures instituted by the
In 1768, even after the Parliament repealed British Parliament. Traveling to Philadelphia,
the harsh economic measures known as the at that time the economic center of the colonies,
Townshend Acts, Adams felt that the British Adams soon became one of the leaders of that
government continued its policy of disrespect body. Historian Matthew Seccombe explained,
to its colonies and the colonists. Historian “While the prestige of Massachusetts and
Michael P. Kane wrote, “Adams wrote to Dennis the relative harmony in Congress were due
DeBerdt, the [Massachusetts] colony’s agent mainly to this basis concensus [sic], clever
Samuel Adams (1722–1803)15

maneuvering played its part, and here Samuel Members, added to the Necessity and Importance of
Adams was at his best. Congress showed its their visiting their several Colonies and attending their
colors at the start by assembling in Carpenters’ respective Conventions, have induced them to make
Hall, a whig stronghold, and choosing as [its] a Recess during the sultry Month of August. My Stay
secretary Charles Thomson, ‘the Saml. Adams with you must be short, for I suppose the Congress will
of Phyladelphia [sic].’ Two congressmen struck meet again early in September . . . [13]
a discordant note, however, when they claimed
that the religious diversity of the members would Regarding the resolution that Adams mentions
prevent them from conducting common prayers. in this letter, historian Edmund Cody Burnett
Combining a plea for unity with a favor for his explains, “No record has been found showing in
Anglican southern friends, Adams rose and said what connection this resolution was drawn up or
that ‘he was no Bigot, and could hear a Prayer whether it was ever actually proposed, but it is
from a Gentleman of Piety and Virtue, who was placed here as probably belonging to this period
at the same Time a Friend to his Country.’” [11] of protest and declaration.” [14]
Adams and his fellow Massachusetts delegates Although he was now considered a traitor to his
were considered to be traitors to the Crown as “country,” Adams seems to have also attracted
soon as London heard of their selection to the some admirers in England. The Hibernian
Continental Congress. A letter that appeared in Magazine, a British publication, published in
The New-York Journal, written by the Earl of their edition of February 1776 a biography of
Dunmore stated: Samuel Adams:

From unquestionable authority I learn, that about a Samuel Adams, Esq. is a gentleman who has made a
fortnight ago, dispatches were sent from hence by a great figure in America, and who has take so active a
sloop of war to General [Thomas] Gage, containing, part in all her disputes with the mother-country, that
among other things, a royal Proclamation, declaring he was joined Mr. [John] Hancock, in being the only
the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, and some persons refused pardon on returning to their duty
others, in the different Colonies actual rebels; to the British administration, in the proclamation
with a blank commission to try and execute such of issued last summer by general [Thomas] Gage. He
them as he can get hold of; with this is sent a list of is a man of fortune, a native of New England, about
names, to be inserted in the commission as he made fifty-four years of age, and early inbibed [with] a
judge expedient. I do not know them all, but Messrs. love for constitutional liberty, which love he carried
Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Payne to a degree of enthusiasm, that would out permit him
[sic], and John Hancock, of Massachusetts Bay; John to be a silent spectator of the disputes which arose
Dickenson, of Philadelphia; Peyton Randolph, of first about the stamp act, and since on the tea. He
Virginia; and Henry Middletown, of South Carolina, took every opportunity to warn his countrymen of
are particularly named, with many others. This black the dangers arising to their liberties; and however
list [sic], the General will, no doubt, keep to himself, some may think the question problematical, yet he
and unfold it gradually, as he finds it convenient. [12] always acted from principle, if he is evening [sic]
mistaken, he has a just claim to the title of an honest
Despite being on this deadly blacklist, Adams
man.” [15]
attended the Continental Congress from its
earliest days. Adams wrote to his wife, Elizabeth Adams appeared before the Continental
(whom he called Betsy), from Philadelphia on Congress on 1 August 1776 to deliver an oration
30 July 1775 to tell her about the goings-on in on the role of religion in daily life. The speech
the body: was so well received that it was printed in
My dear Betsy[,] pamphlet form. Adams rose before his fellow
delegates and said:
As I have no doubt but the Congress will adjourn in a
few days, perhaps tomorrow, I do not expect to have I would gladly have declin’d an honor to which I
another opportunity of writing to you before I set off find myself unequal. I have not the Calmness and
for New England. The arduous Business that has been impartiality which the infinite importance of this
before the Congress and the close Application of the occasion demands. I will out deny the Charge of
16 Encyclopedia of the Continental Congresses

my Enemies that Resentment for the accumulated would hear the colonists’ cries and respond to
Injuries of our Country, and an Ardour for her Glory, them, with no necessity for a second meeting—
riing [sic] to Enthusiasm, may deprive me of that Adams returned home to Massachusetts, where
accuracy of Judgment and expression which Men of he was elected as a delegate to the Massachusetts
cooler passions may possess. Let me beseech you to Provincial Congress, a colonial body that would
hear me with Caution; to examine without prejudice, work on issues exclusive to that Massachusetts
and to correct the mistakes into which I may be Bay. He ultimately returned to Philadelphia
hurried by my Zeal . . . [o]ur Fore-Fathers, consented for the Second Continental Congress, serving
to be subject to the Laws of Great-Britain. I will not as a colonist and British subject until 4 July
at present dispute it nor mark our the limits and 1776, when the Declaration of Independence
Conditions or their submission; but will it be denied was signed, forever breaking the ties between
that they contracted to pay obedience, and to be London and the colonies. Adams was a signatory
under the controul [sic] of Great Britain, because it to that document, and he penned, to friends,
appear’d to them most beneficial in their then present a series of letters detailing his thoughts on the
Circumstances and Situation? We, my Countrymen, signing of this historic document. To Joseph
have the same right to consult and provide for our Hawley, his fellow Continental Congress delegate
happiness, which they had to promote theirs. If they from Massachusetts, he wrote, “The Congress
had a view to posterity in their Contracts, it must have has at length declared the Colonies free and
been to advance the felicity of their Descendents. If independent States. Upon this I congratulate
they err’d in their expectations and prospects, we can you, for I know your heart has long been set
never be condemned for a Conduct which they would upon it. Much I am afraid has been lost by
have recommended, had they foreseen our present delaying to take this decisive Step. It is my
condition. [16] opinion that if it had been done Nine months ago
we might have been justified in the Sight of God
During the First Continental Congress,
and Man, three Months ago.” [17] To delegate
Adams served on a committee which, as his
Richard Henry Lee, from Virginia, he penned,
speech above illustrates, served to publish
“Our Declaration of Independency has given
the documentation on the rights of all of the
Vigor to the Spirit of the People. . . . [A] Plan for
colonies and their inhabitants. At the same
Confederation has been brot [sic] into Congress
time, this committee also demanded of London,
wich [sic] I hope will be speedily digested and
prior to the start of the shooting war that
made ready to be laid before the several States
opened up into the American Revolution, that
for their approbation. A Committee has now
they have the same rights as British subjects
under Consideration the Business of foreign
as those people who lived in England. He
Alliance.” [18] Finally, to James Warren, he
wholeheartedly supported his colony when they
stated, “Our Declaration of Independence has
passed the so-called “Suffolk Resolves,” a series
already been attended with good Effects. It is
of resolutions by the city of Boston and other
fortunate beyond our Expectation to have the
towns in Suffolk County in Massachusetts, which
Voice of every Colony in favor of so important a
called for total disobedience and opposition
Question.” [19]
to the harsh economic measures enacted by
the British Parliament against the colonies,
Adams also seems to have escaped the clutches
particularly Massachusetts Bay. Adams was
of British General Thomas Gage, with his “list”
one of its supporters when it was introduced
of traitors, who apparently crossed Adams
in the Continental Congress, to be passed
and John Hancock off as he feared that their
as a “national” law. When fellow delegates
capture would ultimately result in bloodshed by
Joseph Galloway of Pennsylvania introduced
civilians against British troops who occupied,
a resolution which would have conceded
at differing periods, Boston and New York.
that colonial rights were to be superseded by
Gage also might have considered that he could
the Parliament, Adams was one of the most
possibly deal with Adams if the British needed
outspoken in opposition.
a leader trusted by the colonists to speak to.
When that First Continental Congress dissolved Such a need never arose, however. In that
in October 1775—the hope was that London Second Continental Congress, Adams served
Samuel Adams (1722–1803)17

on the Board of War and Ordinance, which introductory remarks to a resolution that the
oversaw the management and supply as well as members of the House of Representatives of
other matters in the Continental Army. [20] He the United States should wear crape on the
remained in the Second Continental Congress left arm for one month, in consequence of the
until 1781, when he refused additional terms decease of the late patriot, Samuel Adams,
and returned home to Massachusetts. Despite observed, that the latter ‘made an early and
swearing off any further elective office, as decided stand against British encroachment,
soon as he returned home Adams was elected while souls more timid, were trimbling [sic]
to a seat in the Massachusetts state Senate, and irresolute.’ From the attachment of Mr.
and, in that body, he was elected as its Randolph to ‘the greatest Man in America,’
president. In 1788, following the writing of a there is no reason to conclude that any sarcasm
new Federal Constitution for the new national was levelled at living patriots, in his remarks.”
government, Adams served as a member of the [22] In a eulogy, the Republican Farmer of
Massachusetts state constitutional convention, Danbury, Connecticut, said, “He lived to
which ultimately ratified the document. Under see his enemies confounded, his political
the new Constitution, national elections for principles triumphant, and his most fervent
the new US House of Representatives and US wishes accomplished. His name and his virtue
Senate were held that same year; Adams ran will be revered by a greatful posterity, when
for a House seat, but lost to Fisher James, the ephemeral politicians of the present day,
who later served in the US Senate. In 1789, who have rudely assailed his character and
however, Adams was elected as the lieutenant his theory, shall be remembered only in the
governor of Massachusetts, under Governor remembrance of their vices. His glory shall
John Hancock, replacing Lieutenant Governor ‘flourish in immortal youth,’ when their ashes
Benjamin Lincoln, who retired after one term. shall be scattered by the wind of Heaven, and
Adams served in the second position in state their names shall have perished from the face
government until 1793, when Hancock died, of the Earth!” [23]
and Adams served as the interim governor. The
In addition to Samuel Adams being remembered
following year, he was elected to a term of his
because a best selling beer bears his name, he
own, and he remained in office until January
deserves attention for his career in politics,
1797, when he retired.
his service to his nation in time of peace and
Samuel Adams died at his home in Boston war, his writings, and his speeches. He is
on 2 October 1803, a little more than a week overshadowed by his much more famous cousin,
after his 79th birthday. He was laid to rest John Adams, who rose to become president
in a simple grave in Boston’s famed Granary of the United States. Historian Pauline Maier
burial ground, not far in the same cemetery wrote, “When John Adams reflected on how
where the five victims of the Boston Massacre future historians would remember his cousin
are laid to rest as well. His second wife, Samuel, he was filled with forebodings. Samuel
Elizabeth Welles Adams, survived him by five Adams’s character ‘will never accurately be
years. The Boston Commercial Gazette said known to posterity,’ he wrote, ‘as it was never
of the deceased patriot, “[y]esterday morning, sufficiently known to its own age.’ And on
between the hours of 8 and 9, the Death of October 3, 1803, the day after Samuel Adams’s
the Hon. Samuel Adams, Esq. late Governor death, a Salem clergyman confided very similar
of this Commonwealth, was announced to the observations to his diary. Adams seemed to
inhabitants, by the toling of all the bells in town. have ‘an impenetrable secrecy,’ the Reverend
Mr. Adams long a valetudinarian [defined as “a William Bentley claimed; he was ‘feared by his
person unduly anxious about their health”]; enemies’ yet remained ‘too secret to be loved by
[he] had experienced much of the indisposition his friends.’” [24]
and bodily pain, natural to the infirmity of
age—He had reached his 82d year.” [21] The
Charleston Courier of South Carolina noted, [1] Simmons, George A., “Samuel Adams,” The Pennsylvania
“Mr. [John] Randolph [of Virginia], in his Magazine of History and Biography, I:1 (1877), 439.
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"Just tell him. And make it convincing. And, if he really cares about
you—See what happens." She rose from her place. "It'll look funny if I
leave alone. Walk me to the street?"
Once outside, she glanced about, uneasily. "It's after ten. Got to find a
place to hide before Ultrablack."
"But listen—!" Lloyd said, abruptly realizing the grim night that lay in
store for her, with blinding blackness like a palpable pall in the
streets, and only Goons rolling through the empty streets. "You've got
to have someplace to go!"
"Is there someplace? Without a Voteplate?" she said with weary
rhetoric. "I think not. Thanks. Goodnight. And goodbye."

She started off down the street. Lloyd hesitated a moment then
rushed after her. "Wait, I'll hide you."
"Why should you take such a risk, for me?" she said.
"It's not for you," Lloyd said, telling as the full truth something that
was only part of the whole. "It's for me. Purely selfish. I risk more if
you're caught tonight. When they question you, under truth drugs,
about your escape from the Temple—and I'm sure that has them
curious—you will be unable to avoid implicating me."
"Is—Is that your only reason? Your own skin?" she said.
"Yes," he said, forcing conviction into the word.
She shrugged and took his arm. "A fugitive can't afford to be choosy. I
have no prospect of escape but you. I'll let you hide me ... if it'll make
you feel safer."
Lloyd nodded, and started toward the lift that would take the two of
them up to the Hundred-Level. It was only as they got aboard, and
he'd keyed the lift-switch with his Voteplate, that he thought to ask,
"By the way—What's your name?"
"Andra," she said. "Andra Corby."
"A nice name. I like it," said Lloyd. "I wasn't sure if you'd tell me your
name."
Andra shrugged. "It'll be in tomorrow's papers, anyway."
Lloyd looked at her uncomfortably, but she was staring straight ahead
at the grillwork gate of the lift.

CHAPTER 3
Grace Horton appraised herself in the mirror, and was not pleased
with what she saw. "Face it, Grace," she said aloud. "You are
positively hopeless." She tilted her head to one side. "Well, nearly
hopeless." Her eyes were good, that was something. Wide, gray and
thickly lashed, they were her best feature. Her nose was just too snub
to be pert. Her mouth, though her lips were generous, and her teeth
well-aligned, had too much slack at the outer edges. She either held it
in a perpetual smile—"An easy way to be mistaken for an idiot," she
remarked bitterly—or it sagged. Her hair, an unfortunate mustard-
and-brass shade, would not hold a curl for more than two hours at the
outside. "All I need," she decided ruefully, "is a brand-new head."
Grace leaned away from the mirror to consult the alarm clock which
lay almost hidden behind an impressive array of cosmetics. Five till
eleven. "He's not coming," she said to her image. "Give it up girl. He
said he'd come, and he probably meant it when he said it, but he's
not coming." She turned from the mirror and began to undress,
beside the single three-quarter-sized bed. "And why should he
come?" she asked herself tiredly. "He doesn't love you. He never—to
his credit, damn it—said he did, either. Hive Law requires that all
males shall marry by the age of twenty-five, or be taken for
Readjustment. Bachelors are not good for racial survival, unquote.
Unwed girls may list themselves in the classified section of the phone
book, along with their qualifications, then start sweating it out by the
phone. So I did, so he called me, so we're engaged. But that doesn't
mean we have to like it. Or that he has to, anyhow. And I'm not sure
that I do."
Grace toyed a moment with the idea of submitting herself for
Readjustment, then gave it up. "A new face wouldn't help," she
decided. "What I need is a new outlook. Besides, what have I got to
crab about? I'm engaged, I'm only twenty-four, and someday I'll be
the wife of Secondary Speakster of the Hive. So hurray for me," she
added, listlessly, as she flipped the coverlet back, and hopped into
bed. She lay there in the glaring Light-of-Day, waiting for Ultrablack.
When it came, in a soundless rush of darkness, she spoke just once
more. "But why didn't he come!"

CHAPTER 4
"Didn't you tell your future daughter-in-law she'd been reassigned to a
new Temple Day?" asked the President. "She went last night,
regardless."
The man addressed, Lloyd Bodger, Senior, scratched his head.
"Seems to me I did, Fred. I could have forgotten, of course."
Fredric Stanton, President and Prime Speakster of the Hive, nodded
and shrugged the topic away. "Probably hated to miss a chance to be
with your boy. Nice kid, that Lloyd."
"Thanks," Bodger said dryly, keeping a firm eye on his superior.
Stanton was buttering him up to something, he knew. "Full of youthful
spirits, too, your boy. I can easily understand why he might—well—
grow overly romantic."
"Come to the point, Fred," said Bodger. "Lloyd's behavior can't hurt
you unless it hits your only sensitive area: your public image. So
what's he done? Drunk too much, pinched a waitress's rump,
scratched a four-letter word on a Temple?"
"Don't take this too lightly, fellow Speakster," said Stanton,
purposefully. "Running the Hive is like walking on eggs in hot cleats.
You're either careful or things get a mite sticky."
"We always have the Goons," said Bodger.
"A Hive full of ten million back-broken corpses isn't much of a
domain," snapped the President. "Have you forgotten that extra-
marital peccadillos are frowned upon in Hive society? People who
play around get hospitalized, quick."
"So what has all this to do with my son?" demanded Bodger.
"He was seen, last night, bringing his fiancee up to this level, shortly
before Ultrablack."
Bodger sighed, then nodded slowly and leaned back in his chair. "And
the girl?" he said grimly.
"So far as I know, she's still on your premises. I think you had better
have a talk with her. And your son."
"I'm sorry, Fred," said Bodger. "I'll make certain there is no
recurrence."
"You'd better," said the President. "If I topple, you're on the next
pedestal down. I might drag you along, just by inertia." He turned and
left the office with cold dignity.
"Crap!" the elder Bodger spat aloud. "I've told that kid to toe the mark
in public!"

CHAPTER 5
Bodger had only a short distance to walk to Unit B from his office. His
temper, despite his efforts at self-control, was seething dangerously
when he entered his foyer. He crossed the mammoth parlor toward
the archway at its rear, where a short corridor led to the sleeping
quarters. Bodger arrived at the door of his son's bedroom. Then, with
his hand upon the knob, he froze, and a ghastly pallor spread itself
across his rugged features.
A hand came up swiftly to his stomach, holding it, pressing inward
against the sudden spasm he had felt, and he stepped swiftly across
the few remaining feet of carpeted hallway to the door of his own
room, through it, and swiftly into his personal bathroom, locking the
thick door behind him. The room was swimming like a thing seen
through warm oil as he slid open the mirrored panel of the medicine-
chest and removed a large jar of pale granulated crystals. Violently
nauseated, he managed to unscrew the lid and dump a handful of the
crystals into the water tumbler. He ran the warm water into the
tumbler—it would dissolve the crystals faster—and drank the now-
glutinous solution. Then the tumbler fell from his weak, perspiring
fingers and smashed into spicules in the basin. He took no notice,
hands rigid against the rim of the basin, shoulders shaking
uncontrollably, his large, grey-thatched head sunken wearily upon his
chest. He stood like that for two minutes, until the room began to
settle down, and its outlines took on solidity once more.
"A close one," he muttered, aloud.
When the eyes that met his in the glass were no longer bleared with
sick pain, he combed his hair neatly, and impatiently began to remove
his sweat-soaked shirt and necktie. Before returning to his bedroom
to change into fresh dry garments, he slid the mirrored panel closed.
It clicked sharply and locked. Countersunk into the tiled wall, there
was no indication that such a space existed behind it. Only Bodger,
Senior, knew which tiles to depress in which order to open that panel.
In a disease-free society, a medicine-chest was taboo; it implied that
its user had no faith in the Government-run hospitals. Bodger went
into his bedroom, dropping the damp shirt and tie atop the clothes
hamper in the closet. There was an ancient leather bag, with
shoulder-strap, on the closet floor. Bodger carried this out into the
room, opened the flap.
When a small light glowed on the indicator panel, he lifted a short
metal rod, and played the end of it slowly back and forth just below
his fleshy ribs. The light flickered on and off steadily. Bodger looked
sharply at the needle of a dial beside the light. "Thank heaven," he
whispered, and returned case and contents to the closet. Then, after
laying out a set of dry things, he considered a moment, ran a hand
testily over his stomach region, and grunted in annoyance. He was
still slightly over-wrought; he could feel the juices inside him itching to
spurt into his bloodstream and arouse him into his erstwhile pitch of
anger. It wouldn't do. It wouldn't do at all.
Angered at his own infirmity, he nevertheless set the alarm for an
hour's time ahead, in case he dozed, then lay back on the bed and
closed his eyes.

In the adjoining room, where the door to the hallway was securely
bolted, Lloyd Bodger, Junior, stood up near the wall, in a stance he'd
held for many minutes, the side of his head pressed tightly against
the plastic paneling. "I think he's lying down," he whispered. "I heard
the bedsprings creak."
Andra Corby, her face lowered against the knees which she hugged
to her chest on the bed, shivered a bit, then straightened her long,
smooth legs until she was simply pillow-propped against the
headboard once more, and her arms had refolded across her breast.
"Are you sure?" she asked tautly. "The longer I stay here, the more
frightened I become."
Lloyd spun to face her, almost angrily. "Will you stop that relentless
nobility! I'm doing this for my own skin, remember? I don't care what
happens to you; I care what happens to me if something happens to
you!"
"Your father," she said, enunciating with icy calm and slow clarity, "is
going to hear you...."
Lloyd controlled himself, his fists knotting at his sides.
Seeing he was relaxing, Andra said, a little less frigidly, "I thought—I
thought he was coming in here."
"He stopped outside my door, all right ..." Lloyd mused. "Then went to
his room in a rush. I don't get it."
He listened some more at the wall. Behind him, Andra giggled,
suddenly. He glanced at her. "What—?"
"I just thought—What if your father's on the other side, listening to
hear what you're doing. I'm just picturing two grown men, frowning in
earnest concentration, their ears separated by a few inches of plastic,
and it's funny."
"Not if you're correct, it isn't," said Lloyd, and Andra stopped smiling.
"As soon as he hears you, the jig's up."
"Maybe—" She leaned forward with eager hope. "Maybe it would be a
good thing, Lloyd. He's a powerful man in the Hive. If he knew your
problem, he could use his influence to do something, couldn't he?"
"My father loves me, sure," said Lloyd, with a wry quirk to his lips.
"But I don't think he loves anything so much as his position in our
society. My consorting with a fugitive might put the kibosh on the next
election."
Just then the phone rang and Lloyd couldn't avoid knocking Andra to
the floor in his effort to get the receiver off the hook before the bell
could shatter the silence once more.
"Hello?" he said, extending an upright palm toward Andra to beg her
continued silence.
"Lloyd?" said a subdued, tense female voice.
"Grace!" he said, remembering his promise to come by with her card.
"What—What do you want?"
"I've got to see you, Lloyd," she said. "About last night."
"When?" he asked.
"As soon as you can make it."
"Well—Maybe in ..." Lloyd peered across the room at his bureau
clock. Almost noon. Non-essential lift usage precluded until after the
twelve-to-one lunch period. If he hurried, he could key the lift-switch
before the ban. Lifts in use were never disempowered. "If I catch the
lift, fifteen minutes. Otherwise not till after one."
"... All right."
Lloyd grabbed his jacket from the back of a chair. Andra stood up,
apparently unharmed, and slid into her shoes. "Where are we going?"
she asked, smoothing her dress.
Lloyd looked at her. He hadn't considered—"I guess you'd better
come with me," he said. "I'd hate you caught in the house. In my
bedroom especially."
There were seconds to spare when he closed the gate and thumbed
Grace's level, the ninety-third. Anyone was permitted to travel to a
level beneath their own. To go higher, you needed a duly authorized
Voteplate, or an invitation from a higher-level dweller. The lift dropped
smoothly down inside the shaft. Half-way to Grace's level, a red light
glowed on the level-indicator. When they reached their getting-off
place, the buttons would function no more until one o'clock. It saved
needless crowding if lunching workers remained on their own levels.
Otherwise, if a line were too long, a worker might be tempted to try
his luck lower down, and if too many decided simultaneously, the
bland flow of human traffic might be imbalanced, agglomerated
beyond the capacity of the transportation systems. Inefficiency would
result, with people returning late to their work, restaurants having too
much leftover food, or not enough to go around. The Hive was too
delicately geared for imbalance. So the lifts went off during lunch.
"Grace Horton must be trusted," Andra said suddenly. "Look, Lloyd,"
she clutched his arm, forcing him to meet her gaze and listen. "If she
hasn't found out, fine. Even Goons can't find out what a person
doesn't know. But if she has found out someone else used her cards
—And called you, instead of reporting it to the authorities.... Then she
can be trusted to hear about me."
"I hope you're right," said Lloyd. The gate opened.
"We'll never find out standing here," said Andra. "Come on, Lloyd."
She started out ahead of him. He pondered the courage of this small
blonde girl, then felt a wave of shame at his own cowardice. He was
in this up to his earlobes already. No amount of explaining could ever
make up his hours of ignoring the basic laws of the Hive. And he
simultaneously realized two things: If Andra's theories were all wrong,
he would merely be Readjusted and returned to his life same as
before. And if they were correct—What difference did it make how
long he dallied with the Hive's opposition? You could only be
destroyed once, and even his delay in shouting the alarm when he'd
recognized Andra as the fugitive was grounds for a medical check-up.
"What the hell," Lloyd said miserably to himself. He was no safer
standing on the cross-sector walk than in the depths of dark intrigue
with Andra.

CHAPTER 6
"BODGER!... Bodger!"...
A hand was shaking his shoulder roughly, the elder Bodger realized
with annoyance. His eyes focused on the face of Fredric Stanton.
Bodger shrugged the hand away, and sat up groggily.
"As I always suspected," he said, brushing at the crusted salt on his
chest, "the Hive can't run an hour without me at the helm." He got to
his feet and stretched.
Stanton, frowning at his sarcasm, let it pass without comment; he had
a more important topic to discuss. "The tally of last evening's Vote
just came in to my office," he said tightly. "It was a near-complete poll,
only a few thousand missing."
Bodger, still trying to get his mind readjusted to the idea of being wide
awake again, started toward the bathroom and a warm shower,
muttering, "Hooray for progress. Is that any reason to waken a man
—"
"Bodger—!"
He stopped at the open door to the bathroom and turned his head
toward the President. "All right, out with it." Without knowing how,
exactly, Bodger knew it was about Lloyd again. And worse than
before.
Stanton reached inside his suitjacket and withdrew a folded legal
paper, a black-lettered stiff document with an illuminated margin of
pale orange. "I have here," he said, watching Bodger's face, "an order
for Readjustment. It just came up the tube from the Brain. Do I have
to read you the name of the Kinsman on it?"
"Good lord," Bodger whispered. "What—What could he possibly have
done to—?"
"As I said, there was a Vote last night. The proposition was a simple
one: "Shall, in the interests of good government, the draft age be
lowered to fifteen?" You want to know how Lloyd voted?"
"Not con?! He has more brains than to—I've told him all the catch-
phrases that demand a pro Vote. Is there any possibility of—?"
"Error?" Stanton smiled bitterly. "You of all people should know better.
It was Lloyd's plate in the slot when the Vote was cast, all right. The
Brain can't be wrong on that. The alternative solutions to the problem
—alternatives to his making a deliberate Vote against the interests of
good government, I mean—are very few: One—He was not paying
attention to the screen. Two—He struck the con button by accident.
Three—He let somebody else use his plate. Any one of which
reasons is in itself grounds for Readjustment!"
"Fred, you wouldn't...."
"Of course not, Bodger. I had the incident erased from the memory
circuits immediately. This is the only copy of his Readjustment order.
You can keep it, tear it up—Frame it, if you like! That's not why I'm
here."
"You don't have to tell me," Bodger sighed. "In the past sixteen hours,
the son of the Secondary Speakster has blithely violated the social
and political ethics of the Hive, to the extent that his destruction—"
"Bodger!" Stanton flared. "You have a rotten habit of—"
"Pretty words don't alleviate the truth of the situation. You know, and I
know, what Readjustment is! A one-way trip down the incinerator
chute!"
"All right, we know it! So shut up about it, and let's keep it to
ourselves! What I'm here to find out is—What the hell are you going
to do about this idiot son of yours? This is twice he's had to be
covered for, in a damned short time, Bodger. I can't spend my time
rescuing Lloyd from something I'm starting to think he may well
deserve!"
"Aw, Fred, you wouldn't let—"
"The hell I wouldn't! I like Lloyd, and I like you, but if it starts shaking
up my position in the Hive, the two of you can go to blazes! Do I
make myself clear?"
"I—I'll talk to him, Fred, really I will."
"You mean you haven't!?" Stanton exploded. "What's the idea of
coming home here in the middle of the day, then? I thought you were
going to—" He took a closer look at the other man, then scowled.
"Say, are you all right, Bodger? Your color's kind of funny. You're not
... sick?"
"Of course not!" Bodger snapped. "I'm shaken, if you must know. I
came right home here to chew Lloyd out for last night's episode with
the Horton girl, and when I couldn't find him, I got so mad that I
thought I'd better lie down and cool off. I don't want a scene if I meet
him in a public place. That would get the word out in a hurry, wouldn't
it!"
"Still, you look kind of—" Stanton halted, and gave the subject up with
a sigh. "Maybe I'd be, too, if I got a couple of jolts like you did. Okay,
Bodger. See you back at the office, later." He turned and went out.

Bodger stood listening until he heard the front door close. Then, still
shirtless, he went into the hallway and threw open the door of Lloyd's
room without knocking. It was empty. But there was the elusive
memory of a sweet fragrance still hovering in the air there.
Bodger swore softly, and returned to his own room to shower and
dress. He had some heavy thinking to do.
When, minutes later, he was refreshed, dressed, and ready to appear
in public again, he'd made a decision. He needed to discover the root
of Lloyd's dangerous behavior. And the likely person to know
something about it would be Lloyd's fiancee, Grace Horton.
Bodger left his Unit and started toward the lift. It was still short of one
o'clock, but the Voteplate of the Secondary Speakster cut through a
lot of mechanical red tape.
The lift arrived at Hundred-Level within seconds after his nocking his
plate beside the call-button. He got aboard and began the descent
toward Ninety-Three.

CHAPTER 7

Robert Lennick leaned far back in his swivel chair, and sighed a deep
sigh at the ceiling, being careful it would not be heard by the party on
the other end of the wire.
"Now, listen, sweetheart," he said. "You are good. Got that? Good,
with a capital tremendous. But you don't click in urban dramas. You're
too—" He didn't want to say tall, or gigantic, though these words were
more readily at tongue-tip. "—too Junoesque for the parts we're
casting.... No, I mean it. You just—Well, you're just not the housewife
type, darling!"
The speaker crackled in his ear for another minute, and Lennick sat
and studied the piled-up scripts in his in-box with wearily narrowed
eyes. When his chance came again, he said, "No, not today. I'm
sorry, Lona, really I am.... It's impossible, that's why.... All right, if you
have to know—We're shooting Fredric Stanton, that's why—"
The speaker's reply to the phrase made some of the color wash out
of Lennick's smooth-shaven face, and this time he interrupted with a
snarl. "You better watch it, Lona, baby! A smartaleck pun like that can
get you sent to the hospital. You know damned well I mean we're
going to photograph him.... Okay, but simmer down, huh?!... Okay,
baby, I will.... Yes, as soon as anything, anything at all in your line
comes by my desk.... Word of honor.... Sure thing.... Yeah, that'd be
lovely. We'll do it sometime.... Okay, Lona—Lona.... I said—.... O-kay,
Lona!" He spat out the last words, and clamped the phone into the
cradle with vicious pleasure. "Dumb broad!" he mumbled, then got up
and opened the door to his anteroom.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Frank," he said to the tall, gangly youth
who rose from a chrome-and-plastic chair and came into the main
office.
The man called Frank sank into a chair and fiddled idly with a button
on his shirt until Lennick had the door closed again. When the
youthful producer was once more back in his swivel chair, eyeing his
visitor, Frank lost his casual air and locked eyes with him,
disconcertingly steady blue eyes, and Lennick had to fight an impulse
to wince.
"Trouble?" he said, after a moment.
Frank knitted his brows, and cupped his upper lip in the moist curve
of his lower before replying, without emotion, "Depends." He fiddled
with the button again, then gave it up and stood. He preferred pacing
as he talked. "It's—Well, it's about Andra, Bob."
Lennick stiffened. "They got her...?" His relief was only a conditional
relaxation when the other man shook his head; he was keyed to
tighten up again without notice. "So where is she? How is she?"
"Fine, to answer your second question. I don't know the answer to the
first, though I could make some guesses. The thing is—We better get
the word out to the others not to try and contact her."
"Not to—!?" said Lennick, stunned. "But she needs help, bad. She
has to hide until we can—!... Frank, what's the matter? You look so
damned funny!"
"Okay, I'll level with you, Bob." Frank stood at the front of the desk
and leaned his hands on the blotter, staring down at the anxious face
of his friend. "Last night, after her escape, Andra tried to hide in the
Temple, up on ninety-five. The Goons were right after her, Bob. There
wasn't even any Service because of her. Every person in that Temple
was checked—one by one—for Voteplates. She had one, Bob. She
got out."
"That's crazy!" Lennick gasped. "Where in hell—? Frank, I saw them
collect her Voteplate after the accident. She couldn't have gotten it
back. And she couldn't have a spare, I know, so—?" He saw the
uneasiness still in the man Frank's features, and was quiet. "There's
more...?"
"After her escape," Frank said flatly, taking no joy in telling the tale,
"She met a man, outside the arcade, went with him for cocktails, then
up to his level. That's the last she was seen, Bob. It was the Hundred-
Level. None of us are authorized to go that high without escort."
"But who the hell did Andra know on the top?" Bob blurted. "She's
given autographs to a few higher-ups, but—"
"It was Lloyd Bodger, Junior, Bob. They acted like old friends. Now do
you see why I think it's unwise if she's contacted?"

Lennick suddenly surged from his chair and nearly tore the shirtfront
from his visitor in an angry fist, as he yanked the other's face close to
his own. "You can't mean that about Andra, Frank. You know her!
You've worked with her—And I ... I know her better than anyone,
Frank. She's not a traitor. She wouldn't betray us."
"I wish," said Frank, calmly ignoring the enraged aspect of Lennick's
attitude, "you'd put your heart back where it belongs and think it over
just once with your brains...."
Bright beads of moisture suddenly appeared in Lennick's eyes, and
he released his grasp of the other man's shirt and sank down into his
chair, burying his face upon his arms. "There's an explanation," he
mumbled into the blotter. "I know there is. She wouldn't—" he lifted
his head, suddenly hopeful. "Frank, we're still here! If she told all she
knew, we'd be atomized by now, right?"
Frank looked uncertain. "Maybe. At least—It's a point in her favor. I
don't know. You've got me shook, now." He sat back down and
pondered, shaking his head slowly back and forth. "If she isn't
hollering for the Goons—What's she doing with Junior? A guy like
that doesn't take perfect strangers up to his place, does he?"
"I don't believe that part at all," said Lennick. "She may've gotten off
before he did."
"The indicator went right on up without stopping. My witness'll swear
to it. Right to top level, just before Ultrablack."
"Maybe she's under arrest, going for questioning," Lennick parried
weakly. "It could be, you know."
"Why up there? Goons carry Truth Serum. Besides, the witness
further states that they didn't look like anything but a couple of
chummy dates. Real chummy."
"How about if—Maybe he was helping her? Andra's not a bad
looker.... If she turned on the tears—"
"You've been reading your own scripts, friend," said Frank, not
unkindly. "This is reality we're dealing with, not never-never-land on
film. This Lloyd Bodger, Junior is not the boy-most-likely when it
comes to helping anti-Hive people. Face it, Bob. Something's up."
"So why, I repeat, aren't we all on our way down the chute costumes,
cameras and all?"
"That's the only thing that doesn't make sense," Frank admitted. "And
the only thing that prevents me hiring a sniper to knock her off."
"You'd do that?" said Bob. "To Andra?"
"For the time being, we'll let it ride," Frank decided on the doorstep. "It
may be handing ourselves over on a silver salver, but—We'll let it
ride. Till we hear from her. And she'd better make it convincing."
"I know she'd tell me the truth—Whatever it is," said Bob, then
regretted his rhetorical lapse into doubt. But Frank let it pass, and
simply said, with a fleeting smile of compassion, "If I were you, I'd
take that Goon's advice, from yesterday when Andra was carted off:
Get engaged to somebody else."
"I want to talk to her," Bob insisted.
"If it was your neck, fine. Talk. But it's all our necks. I can't risk it."
"You could fix it, Frank. You could find out where she is, a way to get
there. Come along, even, so I don't fumble the ball. Please, Frank?
I've got to know...."
"Bob, if you knew what you were asking—!" Then the taut, painful set
of his friend's features cracked away some of his veneer, and he
slumped wearily against the jamb, fiddling with that button again. "So
maybe insanity's catching, or something," he said after a pause.
"You'll help me?"
"I'm not absolutely sure I can, Bob. But—Tell you what.... Buzz me
about nine tonight. I might have an idea."
"Thanks," Bob said. "You're—You're a nice guy, Frank."
Frank turned and walked across the anteroom and out, without
replying. Robert Lennick settled back in the swivel chair again, this
time not at all relaxed.

CHAPTER 8
"Now, in this scene, sir, you're instructing the Temples through the
Speaksters, in your capacity as Prime Speakster," Robert Lennick
was explaining, as Fredric Stanton nodded over the pages of script.
Frank, the director, stood by impatiently while his boss explained the
setup of the scene they were to shoot.
"I think I understand," Stanton said finally. "Where do I go, now?" An
aide led the President toward the waiting set. When he was out of
earshot, Frank inclined his head toward Lennick, and whispered,
"Never mind buzzing me tonight, Bob. Meet me here, at your office,
just before Ultrablack."
"Before Ultrablack?!" Lennick said, aghast. "How will we—?"
"Leave it to me, okay?" said Frank, impatiently. "I'll get you to Andra,
wherever she is. I want to see her myself."
Lennick could only stand stupefied as the tall, angular form of the
director moved off toward the waiting cameras and crew. Then he
grunted in frustration and turned back toward his office. The presence
of Stanton made his mind return to the day before, when Andra was
captured by the Goons, and it bothered him to dwell on it. An
accident. A stupid accident on the set. She'd entered to do her scene,
had caught her foot on a hidden guy-wire, and had fallen, still holding
the tray of drinks she'd been supposed to serve to her co-stars. And
the ragged edge of a shattered goblet had raked across her forearm.
Not deep, not at all. Just a long, blood-oozing scratch. The Goons
had been there almost on the instant, commandeering her Voteplate,
taking her off for "treatment." And she'd looked to him for help, help
he could not give, dared not give. And when she saw she was
suddenly friendless—She'd broken and run. The Goons hadn't
expected such a reaction. Before they could relay the situation to the
Brain and get their instructions, Andra had dodged out by a corridor
too narrow for them to follow, in all their ponderous girth and height,
and had vanished completely. Later that day, a Goon Squad had
come to the studio and widened the corridor, and one other like it, to
preclude such a thing ever occurring again.
Lennick was worried at Andra's not contacting him. She might think
he couldn't be trusted, the way he'd let the Goons take her. But what
did she expect a man to do against armed Goons? She'd only have
had the dubious pleasure of seeing him dance to death with a
hideous smile on his face, while a Snapper Beam broke his spine in
two.
It made Lennick's head hurt to think about it, so when he got to his
office, he started reading some new scripts. In a society where the
possession of medicine is a crime, it didn't pay to have a headache.
Or to let on you had one. But he couldn't erase the look he'd seen in
her eyes when they were taking her away.

CHAPTER 9
Arriving at the door to Grace Horton's Unit, Lloyd paused with his
finger not quite pressing the bell. "This won't be pleasant," he warned.
"I've never done anything like this before—getting involved with you, I
mean—and I don't think Grace is going to like it. I can't much blame
her, either."
He stopped as the door opened. Grace Horton stood there, clad only
in a fragile garment of light silk, her up-turned face warm and eager.
Beyond her, Lloyd saw the tray with a bottle, ice, and two glasses.
There was soft music playing from somewhere in the Unit. He felt his
face go red.
"Grace—I want you to meet Andra, Andra Corby."
Grace looked past him for the first time, and saw the other woman. A
tiny spasmodic reaction tightened her face and some of the color
drained away. Then she said, with rigid composure, "Come in. Come
in, won't you?" Unconsciously, she held the folds of her garment
tightly at the throat with one hand, as if to make her covering more
substantial, as she stepped aside to let them pass.
"Excuse me," she blurted suddenly, after shutting the door, and
rushed into her bedroom. The music emanating from there cut off,
abruptly, and then Grace reappeared in the doorway, her lips curled in
a smile that would not quite come off. "I thought—I thought you'd miss
the lift," she said, in an obvious extemporization that was
embarrassing to all three persons. "That's why I'm—not quite
dressed, yet. I thought I'd be ready after one, when you—" Her eyes
fell on the tray, with its solitary preparation for two, and her voice
choked off in the middle of a syllable.
Then she took a breath, walked into the parlor, and sat down
gracefully on the arm of the sofa. "Well," she said brightly, "now
what'll we lie about?!"
"I'm so very sorry, Grace," Lloyd said contritely. "I ... I would've told
you Andra was coming, if I'd known. We only decided after I'd hung
up—"
Grace's eyebrows rose just a fraction. "Andra was at your home when
I called?" She rose, suddenly. "I think I'd better get another glass from
the kitchen. I have the feeling we're all of us going to need strength."
Lloyd and Andra looked at one another, then sat gloomily down in
armchairs deliberately far apart, and waited for Grace's return. When
she came back with the third glass, she was a bit more composed.
"Now," said Grace, after draining half her glass, "we can talk."
There was a silence, then Lloyd broke it, awkwardly, with, "You said—
You wanted to see me here, right away."
"I called you about the Temple Service last night, Lloyd—I see by
your face that you do know something about it. Good. Maybe you can
tell me what—Don't look so shaken."
"I—Okay. You caught me off-balance, I guess."
"I must have. You look like you were just kicked in the stomach. Well,
then, tell me: What happened last night?"
"How did you know anything happened?" Lloyd asked.
"A call from the top level this morning. I was warned not to attend on
the wrong night in the future, and told I was being let off the hook—
though they phrased it more politely, of course—because I was
engaged to the son of the Secondary Speakster."
"Did you—? What did you say? To their call?" Lloyd asked, knotting
up inside.
Grace folded her arms and leaned back. "I'm no dope, Lloyd. I knew
you had my Voteplate, and were bringing it to me last night. That is—"
she interjected with chagrin "—I thought you'd be over last night with
it. When you didn't come, and I got this call, from top level, I kind of
figured you were in dutch, somehow, and played along. I apologized
for my error, and promised it wouldn't happen again—I see, by the
way you two just let your breaths out, that I did the right thing.... Or
did I? I take it Andra was the one who used my plate?" Lloyd nodded,
miserably.
Grace thought this over, watching the two of them, then leaned
forward and touched Lloyd's fingers where they curled tightly around
the end of the chair arm. "Apparently, I have salvaged everybody's
chestnuts. Would it be asking too much if I wondered what the hell
my reasons were?"
"I'll explain," Lloyd said. "That is, as best I can. My motivations are
still a bit obscure even to myself."
Grace flicked a glance at Andra, sitting small and lovely and feminine
in the chair. "Are they!" she said, a spark of intuition putting her
almost with complete accuracy ahead of Lloyd's still-untold tale.
"Maybe I can figure them out for you after I hear your story, then."
"Okay, Grace," Lloyd said gratefully, missing her inflection. He
proceeded to tell her the story, from the time he'd gone to the Temple
up until the present moment, eliding only the fact that Andra had
spent the night in his room. He used the phrase "up at my Unit" and
hoped it wouldn't be proved any deeper than that. When he'd
finished, Grace looked dazed.
"You mean—You believe all that, Lloyd?" she said. "I used to have
great respect for your sanity, but—This thing about no hospitals,
about bumping off the Kinsmen to keep the population level down—
It's crazy, Lloyd. Look, your father's one jump from the Presidency.
Has he ever, in all the years of your life, even hinted such a thing to
you?"
"No, of course not, but—"
"Yet you take the word of a fugitive, an obvious mental case who
doesn't know what's good for her—!"
"May I say something in my defense?!" Andra protested.
"You may not," said Grace, then turned back to Lloyd as though
Andra had ceased to exist anymore. "How could a man with your
intelligence—"
"Hold it!" Lloyd snapped. "Hold it right there. I'm not a complete fool,
Grace. Sure I had doubts. But there are some things Andra said that
bother me. And I thought up a few puzzlers myself. Like war.