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with those concerned in it. Another stipulated not only for non-intercourse with the inhabitants of any colony that did not accede to or might hereafter violate this Association, but for holding them "as unworthy the rights of freemen, and as inimical to the liberties of their country." Another provides that a committee be chosen in every county, city, and town, by those who are qualified to vote for the representatives in the Legislature, whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct of all persons touching this Association;" and these committees were instructed to publish in the "Gazette" the names of violators of the Association, to the end that they might be "universally condemned as the enemies of American liberty." The Committees of Correspondence were charged to inspect the entries at the custom-houses. Thus the Association was virtually law bearing on the individual; and a penalty was affixed to all violations of it.

The close of the labors of this Congress was thus announced in the journals: "Last week, the grand Continental Congress ended, they having, in a manner highly honorable to themselves and their constituents, and serviceable to their country, finished the important business on which they were appointed and met to deliberate and determine for a great and increasing nation. The world has hardly ever seen any assembly that had matters of greater conse

quence before them; that were chosen in a more honorable manner, were better qualified for the high trust reposed in them, executed it in a more faithful, judicious, and effectual manner, or were more free and unanimous in their conclusions than this.”

There remains the crowning action. This Association was ratified or adopted by every colony but Georgia and New York, and in these colonies by some of the parishes and towns. The Connecticut Assembly approved of the Association, and directed the towns to comply with the recommendations of the Congress. In Virginia the freeholders met in their several counties and voted that the Association should be their sole rule of conduct, and pledged themselves, "by the sacred ties of honor, virtue, and love of country," to observe it. Some of the towns of New Jersey instructed their committees "to follow the direction of the Association as much as if it were a law of the province." The action was similar in all the colonies. It was to the point, as expressed in the resolves of one of the counties, that the Association ought to be considered as the rule of their conduct in all matters respecting their political engagements. This adoption of the Association virtually installed a new and independent authority,—a government through congresses and committees. In these proceedings the spirit exhibited in the municipalities was the same, whether they had grown up

under charter, proprietary or royal forms of government, and whether the individual or denominational sympathies were Congregational, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, or Quaker. Underlying all were Christian brotherhood, sympathy in fundamental political ideas, and enthusiasm for the rights of human nature.

The Association has been termed "A compact formed for the preservation of American rights;" "A league of the continent, which first expressed the sovereign will of a free nation in America," and "The commencement of the American Union." It was substantially the first enactment of a general law by the American people. It was termed "The Association of the United Colonies." To Congress was then delegated the power to deal with Great Britain, so far as the matters of peace and war were concerned. This power may be said to have been renewed, rather than to have been revoked. The British administration, on several occasions, attempted to deal with the colonies separately by appealing to the assemblies; but, from this time down to the peace, in every case the advances were indignantly repelled. All propositions relating to national affairs were referred to the Continental Congress.

This year, therefore, is the centenary of the embodiment of mighty forces in our political system. The sentiment of union rose paramount over all provincialisms and antagonisms. It was made a

reality. It was as much a fact as the connected land. Its behests were obeyed as though they were the law. On the flag of that day was the motto "Union and Liberty." It denoted forces working together. The feeling was union and liberty now and forever. That generation realized that there could be no union without liberty, and no genuine liberty without the power there is in union to protect it.

There was also the dawn of our nationality. It appears everywhere in the political utterances. It imbues the great proceedings that united all hearts in the ties of a common fraternity. It is seen in the pledges of fidelity to fundamental political ideas. It culminated in the great determination to support the people of Massachusetts in resisting by force the overthrow of her liberties. The hour for the use of national power had come, and it found an American manhood prepared to meet the highest duties of the citizen.

During a period of ten months there was a continuous stream of donations flowing into Boston for the relief of its poor. The spirit that dictated this action is seen in the letters that accompanied the gifts. They remained in manuscript more than three-quarters of a century. They show how deep the conviction of that generation was that American liberty should have the protection of American law. This record is as a window admitting a view of their inner life; reveal

ing their thought, their hope, their faith, their passion, their love; showing how they felt as countrymen, and what they regarded as their country. Nothing could be more generous than the expression of admiration, or more tender than the offerings of sympathy, or more free from calculation than the enthusiasm for principle, or more solemn than the pledge of fortune or life, or more reverent than the trust in Providence. The noble record portrays the brotherhood that constituted the real union of the colonies. It admits posterity into the heart of the Revolution. It is a Christian prologue grandly spoken on the entrance of the United Colonies into the family of nations. This constitutes the rarity of the spectacle. The love and tenderness and sympathy were as conspicuous as the political action was sublime. This was the Union, this was our country, as it came from the hand of God.

Let all who would know our history pause long on this great year. Dr. Ramsay felt the luxury of the hour, and has described it simply and beautifully. He says that "A noble spirit spread from breast to breast, and from colony to colony, beyond the power of human calculation. The time having come for the people to pass from the control of the mother country, the Governor of the Universe, by a secret influence on their minds, disposed them to union." The same influence impelled them all to march on

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