numbers effectually resist the operation of an act of Congress, in its application to a particular individual, with the avowed purpose of making the same resistance to the same act in its application to all other individuals, this is levying war against the United States, and is nothing less than treason. Now, I understand that the persons concerned in this outrage in Boston avow openly their full purpose of preventing, by arms, or by the power of the multitude, the exe cution of process for the arrest of an alleged fugitive slave in any and all cases whatever. I am sure, Gentlemen, that shame will burn the cheeks, and indignation fill the hearts, of nineteen twentieths of the people of Boston, at the avowal of principles and the commission of outrages so abominable. Depend upon it, that, if the people of that city had been informed of any such purpose or design as was carried into effect in the court house in Boston, on Saturday last, they would have rushed to the spot, and crushed such a nefarious project into the dust. The vast majority of the people of Boston must necessarily suffer in their feelings, but ought not to suffer at all in their character or reputation for loyalty to the Constitution, from the acts of such persons as composed the mob. I venture to say, that when you hear of them next, you will learn that, personally and collectively, as individuals, and also as represented in the city councils, they will give full evidence of their fixed purpose to wipe away, and obliterate to the full extent of their power, this foul blot on the good name of their city.

And now, Gentlemen, when projects of dissolution have taken so much of form and pressure in public bodies in the South, when lawless violence, trampling on the public authorities, stalks forth so boldly in the North, you will see that your work, highly prosperous thus far, is nevertheless not yet concluded. It is wise and patriotic, therefore, that you commemorate your love of country, strengthen your resolution to maintain the Constitution, the Union, and the laws, by uniting to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of the great Father of his Country. You do well to call to memory his services, to revive in your own bosoms his love

of liberty and order, and to draw in patriotic inspirations from his principles and his example. For these principles and this example, there will be found respect and admiration every where, where there is a true love for the institutions of the country. And every American may well doubt the patriotism of his own heart, when he finds that in that heart veneration for Washington begins to be languishing and dying away.

Gentlemen, the path of duty before you, and before me, is plain and broad; it is to do our duty, and our whole duty, thoroughly and fearlessly; it is to embrace the free institutions of our country, and to hold them up, with all our might, as if it were our last struggle upon earth. And then, if the blood of civil war shall flow, it will not stain our garments. If disgraceful outrages, gaining strength by indulgence and temporary success, shall proceed from stage to stage, till they destroy the lives of men, women, and children, pull down and demolish the temples of justice, and even wrap cities in flames, you and I, and our character and memory, both now and with posterity, will at least escape the consuming conflagration of reproach.

I am, Gentlemen, your much obliged servant,

DANIEL WEBSTER.

DECLARATION

OF

INDEPENDENCE.

PROCEEDINGS IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED COLONIES RESPECTING "A DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED."

IN THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED COLONIES.

Tuesday, June 11, 1776.

Resolved, That the committee, for preparing the Declaration, consist of five:- the members chosen, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. John Adams, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. R. R. Livingston.

Monday, July 1, 1776.

The order of the day being read,

Resolved, That this Congress will resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into consideration the resolution respecting independency.

That the declaration be referred to said committee.

The Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole. After some time the President resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported, that the committee had come to a resolution, which they desired him to report, and to move for leave to sit again.

The resolution agreed to by the committee of the whole being read, the determination thereof was, at the request of a colony, postponed until to-morrow.

Resolved, That this Congress will, to-morrow, resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into consideration the declaration respecting independence.

Tuesday, July 2, 1776.

The Congress resumed the consideration of the resolution reported from the committee of the whole; which was agreed to as follows: :

Resolved, That these United Colonies are, and, of right, ought to be, Free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connexion between them, and the State of Great Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved.

Agreeable to the order of the day, the Congress resolved iself into a committee of the whole; and, after some time, the President resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported, that the committee have had under consideration the declaration to them referred; but, not having had time to go through the same, desired him to move for leave to sit again.

Resolved, That this Congress will, to-morrow, again resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their further consideration the declaration respecting independence.

Wednesday, July 3, 1776.

Agreeable to the order of the day, the Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their further consideration the declaration; and, after some time, the President resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported, that the committee, not having yet gone through it, desired leave to sit again.

Resolved, That this Congress will, to-morrow, again resolve itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their further consideration the Declaration of Independence.

Thursday, July 4, 1776.

Agreeably to the order of the day, the Congress resolved itself into a committee of the whole, to take into their further consideration the Declaration; and after some time the President resumed the chair, and Mr. Harrison reported that the committee had agreed to a declaration, which they desired him to report.

The Declaration being read, was agreed to as follows:

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which

have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let

facts be submitted to a candid world:

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their