October 7

"We were about one third Tories, and one third timid, and one third true blue."

John Adams, 2nd President, 1797-1801- From a letter written to his friend, Benjamin Rush, on March 19, 1812. In 1812, as a second war with Great Britain was brewing, Adams briefly reflects on the beginnings of American Independence as he tells of the the first and second Continental Congresses in 1774 and 1775. Many were the events leading up to sentiment which lead to the eventual Declaration on Independence in 1776. One of which was the passing of the Stamp Act in 1765, which levied taxes on the colonies in an attempt to recoup revenue which the british government had spent "defending" the colonies in the French and Indian War. The colonists boycotted British goods in protest leading to the repeal of the Stamp Act, but further British measures resulted in more protests and a deterioration in the relationship between the colonists and Great Britain. Britain stated they had every to set laws and tax the colonists, who responded with the cry of "No taxation without representation." British troops were sent to the colonies eventually leading to the Boston "massacre" in 1770 and in 1773, the Boston Tea Party further fueled the animosity. The British, closed down Boston Harbor, demanded repayment, and restricted town meetings in the state to only one per year. Other colonies, believed that an attack or restriction on one colony was an attack on all colonies. In June, 1774, a resolution from a town meeting in Philadelphia "called for a congress with representatives from each of the colonies to convene and discuss the matter further." ( http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/proc_in_pa_1774.asp) On September 5, 1774, 56 delegates from 12 colonies met and "reaffirmed the colonists’ rights as Englishmen— including the protection of life, liberty, and property and the right to representation." (from "The Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, passed on October 14, 1774".) No official discussion of independence was brought to the table until later as each side became more determined. In this context, almost forty years later, Adams writes to Rush, a fellow delegate of the second Continental Congress and fellow signer of The Declaration Of Independence. "...I lament my dear friend, that you were not in the Congress in 1774 and 1775. A thousand things happened there that no man now living knows but myself...1774 was the most difficult and important year of all. We were about one third tories, one third timid, and one third true blue." (The color of the uniform of the Continental army.) "We had a code of fundamental laws to prepare for a whole continent of incongruous colonies. It was done; and the Declaration of Independence of 1776 was no more than a repetition the principles, the rights and wrongs asserted and adopted in 1774." (Old Family Letters: Copied from the Originals for Alexander Biddle...J.B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, 1892) Adams seems to not give much credit to Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Adams and Jefferson had been at political odds with each other for over ten years but eventually reconciled and exchanged a large volume of correspondence to each other until they both passed away on the same day- July 4, 1826.