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On May 15, 1776, as the result of various earlier applications and especially of one from certain Whigs in New York, the Congress recommended to the assemblies and conventions of the Colonies where no Government sufficient to the exigencies of their affairs had been established, "to adopt such government as shall, in the opinion of the repre sentatives of the people, best conduce to the happiness of their constituents in particular and of America in general." The pre amble to this resolution set forth as facts the statements that the Colonies had been excluded from the protection of the Crown, that no answer had been given to their petitions for redress, and that the whole force of the kingdom was to be used for their destruc tion, and therefore that it was no longer reasonable or honest for the colonists to take the oaths or affirmations necessary for the support of Government under the Crown. Though the preamble was warmly debated, it was adopted. And this act marked a turn ing-point, for the progress of events from that time to the Declara tion of Independence was rapid and decisive. The Colonies—now becoming States—one after another, in response to letters from Philadelphia, empowered their delegates to concur in declaring in dependence. On June 7, R. H. Lee of Virginia introduced in Con gress a resolution "that these United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states," that it was expedient forthwith to take effectual measures for securing foreign allies, and that a plan of confederation should be formed. The debate showed that the delegates from the middle colonies and South Carolina could not act, and the decision was postponed for three weeks. In the interval steps were taken to draft a plan of treaties and articles of confederation. A board of war and ordnance, the earliest germ
of an executive department, was also created by Congress.
At the end of the three weeks the delegates from all the Colonies except Georgia, South Carolina and New York had received in structions favourable to independence. The two former left their delegates free, and under the influence of the British attack on Charlestown they voted for independence. News had just come that Howe had landed with a large force at Sandy Hook. Under the impression of these stirring events the Declaration, substantially in the form given to it by Thomas Jefferson, was agreed to (July 4, 1776), only three adverse votes being cast. The delegates from New York took no part, but a few days later the act was approved by the convention of that State. The signing of the document by the members took place at a later time. Thus triumphed the tendencies toward self-government which had been predominant in the continental Colonies from the first, and which the system of imperial control had only superficially modified and restrained. But the most significant part of the document for the future was the preamble, in which the democratic aspirations of the new nation were set forth, the spirit to which Thomas Paine had just made so powerful an appeal in his Common Sense. Governments, it was said, derive their just powers from the consent of the gov erned, and when any system becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to abolish it and to institute a new Gov ernment, establishing itiupon such principles and under such forms as seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. (See