Reprinted from ( JCC , 4:357–358); Dft not found.

The chronology of the important resolution which, with its preamble, urged the colonies to establish independent governments is confused. We know that the initial resolution came from the committee of the whole, but just when it was originally reported is uncertain. On 6 May the congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole to consider “the state of the United Colonies.” Its chairman, Benjamin Harrison, reported “after some time” that the committee had come into “sundry resolutions, which he laid before Congress,” but the “Corrected Journal” adds, “was ordered to report when the house should be ready to receive them.” The implication is that resolutions were ready but not read on that date. Moreover, we do not know whether the resolution on independent governments was one of the several mentioned. Later the same day Harrison asked for permission for the committee to meet again on the same general topic—the state of the United Colonies. Per-12mission granted, the committee met again on 8 May, when Harrison reported “that they have had under consideration the matters referred to them, but not having come to any resolution thereon, have desired him to move for leave to sit again.” On 9 May the committee chairman reported its conclusions, but consideration of the report was postponed until the 10th. On that day the report was accepted. It recommended to the several effective governing bodies in the colonies that, “where no government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs have been hitherto established,” they “adopt such government as shall . . . best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents” and America. Immediately afterward, it was voted to name JA, Edward Rutledge, and Richard Henry Lee as a committee to draft a preamble ( JCC , 4:329, 330, 338, 340, 342). Undoubtedly JA played an important role in securing the passage of the resolution on independent governments, but no evidence other than a somewhat confused autobiographical statement supports the claim that he wrote it. He did, however, write the preamble, first reported on 13 May and passed on the 15th ( Diary and Autobiography , 3:335, 385; JCC , 4:351, 357–358). JA's notes on the extensive and sharp debate which it provoked are in Diary and Autobiography , 2:238–240. The resolution and its preamble were printed in the Pennsylvania Gazette, 22 May. The impact of the resolution and preamble is succinctly summarized in Edmund C. Burnett, The Continental Congress, N.Y., 1941, p. 159–161.

In Thoughts on Government JA had made a point of having commissions and writs issued in the name of a colony (ante 27 March–April 1776, below).

Dft in JA's hand (PCC, No. 19, VI, f. 211). This is a separate slip made part of the full committee report, which is in the hand of Robert R. Livingston. JA's amendment, whose wording was altered as indicated in the notes (below), was used as a substitute for the original paragraph 10. The full report, showing revisions, is in JCC , 4:375–378.

On 14 May the congress appointed a committee composed of William Livingston, Thomas Jefferson, and JA to take into consideration letters from Washington of 11 May, from Schuyler of 3 May, and from Capt. Daniel Robertson, a British prisoner of war, of 9 May. On 16 May letters from Schuyler 13and Washington, of 10 and 15 May respectively, and of the Commissioners to Canada of 1 May were referred to the same committee. On 18 May the committee was enlarged to include Robert Morris, James Duane, Richard Henry Lee, Edward Rutledge, and Robert R. Livingston when additional letters were received: from Washington, of 17 May, and from the Commissioners, of 6, 8, and 10 May. On 21 May the committee reported its deliberations on those letters received by the congress on the 16th and 18th of May. Congressional discussion continued on 22 May, when the congress took action on the proposed resolves (Force, Archives , 4th ser., 6:396; JCC , 4:352, 358–359, 362–363, 374, 375–378).

The substitution for “We are” of “this might not discourage our Operations, Congress being” is in the hand of Duane ( JCC , 4:377, note 3).

The substitution for “sent to Boston” of “Employ'd by the President in New England,” as well as the words “or Persons” and “or agents,” is in the hand of John Hancock (same, p. 378, note 1).

The intent of JA's amendment was to soften the original flat statement that hard money could be secured only with “great difficulty” and that future supplies were “very precarious.” Moreover, the original statement left the Commissioners to devise a way to overcome the shortage (same, p. 377).