No More Learning

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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 343
speeches advocating co-operation with Boston, and Dick-
inson should close with a plea for temperate measures.
Whether indeed vanity was the cause of Dickinson's hesi-
tation, or a suspicion of the good faith of the intriguers, is
not clear. At any rate, this plan being agreed upon, Dick-
inson accompanied Thomson that evening, the other men
having gone ahead in order to avoid the appearance of col-
lusion.
A relatively small number, not more than two or three
hundred inhabitants, were in attendance at the meeting;
and the prearranged program was carried through as
planned. After reading the Boston circular letter, Reed
addressed the body with "moderation but in pathetic terms,"
proposing that the governor be asked to call the Assembly
to petition for a redress of grievances; Mifflin spoke next
with "warmth & fire;" Thomson followed with an ardent
plea " for an immediate declaration in favour of Boston &
making common cause with her. " 1 "Great clamour was
raised against the violence of the measures proposed. "
Dickinson now rose and lent his efforts in support of Reed's
motion, speaking with "great coolness, calmness, modera-
tion and good sense. " Dickinson's motives are not clear;
but Governor Penn was probably right when he averred
that: "the movers of this extraordinary measure had not
the most distant expectation of succeeding in it [because of
the certainty of the governor's refusal], but that their real
scheme was to gain time by it to see what part the other
Colonies will take in so critical a conjuncture. "2
A number of persons were present who had never before
attended public meetings, among them the importer, Thomas
Wharton, and Dr. Smith, provost of the College of Phila-
1 Thomson fainted in the midst of his speech, "for he had scarce
slept an hour two nights past. "
14 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 367-368.
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? 344 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
delphia; and these men helped to carry the day for the
Reed-Dickinspn motion. If Thomson was surprised at the
outcome of his scheme, he at least tried to recover such
ground as he could by moving that a committee be ap-
pointed to answer the Boston letter; and when that carried,
a slate of radicals was handed to the chair for submission
to the meeting. A list representing the other party was
submitted at the same time; and great confusion ensued as
to which list should be voted on first. At length it was
proposed that the two lists be combined to compose the com-
mittee; and this was accordingly done, with the under-
standing that the committee should be altered at a later
meeting of inhabitants.
The committee o? nineteen, thus selected, was dominated
by jhe moderate^, and fairly represented the sentiment of
the city. 1 The letter sent to Boston on May 21 frankly re-
flected this cautious spirit. With circumspect phrase, the
committee conceded that Boston was suffering in the com-
mon cause but hesitated to venture further expressions in-
asmuch as "the sense of this large city" had not yet been
ascertained, and even when this were done, the "populous
province" had yet to express itself. They took occasion
to express their distaste for the Boston Tea Party by de-
claring that if compensating the East India Company
"would put an end to this unhappy controversy, and leave
us on the footing of constitutional liberty for the future, it
is presumed that neither you nor we could continue a mo-
ment in doubt what part to act. " Finally, they had " reason
to think" that it would be most agreeable to the p^nplp of
Pennsylvania to summon a general congress to send a peti-
tion of rights to the king, and thgt the. BosT6n plan of non-
intercourse should be reserved as " the last resource. " 2
1 Vide letter of George Clymer; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 406-407.
1 Ibid. , vol. i, pp. 341-342; also Pa. Gas. , June 8, 1774. The letter was
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
345
The radical leaders backed the petition for calling the
Assembly in apparent good faith, in order " to convince the
pacific [Thomson confessed afterward] that it was not the
intention of the warm spirits to involve the province in the
dispute without the consent of the representatives of the
people. " As they expected, the fiqvernor refused the^peti-
iojra, though it was signed by almost nine hundred people. 1
They 1\ow_urged a large meeting of^the Philadelphia pjublic
to choose a new committee and tQ . takeJurther action. . As
showed no disposition f
notices were posted for . a. meeting of . the mechanics of the
city_and_ suburbs on the evening: of June g in order to
organize themselves and to appoint a committee of their
OWJTL This maneuver had the desired effect. When the
twelve hundred workingmen assembled on Thursday night,
the chairman was able to inform them that the Nineteen
had sent word that a mass meeting of the city and county
would be called in the near future to choose " one Grand
Joint Committee. " Whereupon, the gathering decided to
take no action " at present. " a
The moderates determined to control the action of the
mass meeting; and in order to do this it was necessary to
written by Dr. Smith. The Boston Committee of Correspondence re-
sponded in much the same spirit they did to the New York epistle,
which had been written about the same time. Bos. Com. Cor. Papers,
vol. ii, pp. 417-420. Sam Adams wrote privately to Thomson: "The
Trade will fgrpvej ftp Divided when a Sacrifice of their Interest_is
called^f_or. . . . Is it not necessary to push jor a Suspension of Trade
_with Great Britgjii g^ far as it w1ll go, and let~tfie_jeomanry . . "TYe-
altrnrether who will not come into the 'Treasure? "
Writings (Gushing), vol. iii, p. 124. JJote the approving attitude of
the N. Y. Committee with reference to the Philadelphia letter. 4 Am.
Arch. , vol. i, p. 298.
1 Stille, op. cit. , pp. 344-345; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 391-392.
1 Pa. Gaz. , June 15, 1774; also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 405-406.
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? 346 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
gain the support of the body of the Quakers who " had an
aversion to town meetings & always opposed them. " There-
fore the Nineteen called into an informal caucus six repre-
sentatives of each religious society in the city; and this
body agreed upon the presidents of the meeting, the speak-
ers "who were obliged to write down what they intended
to say & submit their several speeches to the revision of the
presidents," the nature of the resolutions to be adopted,
and, finally, the personnel of the new committee. 1 Upon
their ticket they thoughtfully placed seventeen members of
the existing committee,2 including Dickinson as chairman,
and chose twenty-seven others from their respective relig-
ious organizations. From another point of view, the list
contained a clear majority of moderate merchants and pro-
fessional men, but the radical leaders still held membership
and at least six mechanics were included. The spirit con-
trolling the proposed membership was well expressed by
Thomas Wharton when he explained that the reason he
permitted his name to be used was "a sincere desire in
myself to keep the transactions of our city within the limits
of moderation and not indecent or offensive to our parent
state. " 8
In view of these preparations, the meeting of the city
and county on June 18 was hardly more than a formality,
although probably only a handful of the great throng real-
1 Thomson's account in Stille, op. cit. , p. 344; Thomas Wharton's
account, Pa. Mag. , vol. xxxiii, pp. 436-437; Dr. Smith's Notes and
Papers (Hist. Soc. Pa. Mss. ), pp. 9-11.
1 Joseph Fox and John Cox were left out.
1 Pa. Mag. , vol. xxxiii, pp. 436, 439. Likewise, Dr. Smith declared,
on a later occasion, that he would remain on the committee as long as
he could be "of any Use in advising Measures consistent with the
Principles I profess and that Allegiance and subordination which we
owe to the Crown and Empire of Great Britain. " Notes and Papers,
pp. 17-18.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
347
ized it. Two resolutions were adopted, declaring that Bos-
ton was suffering in the common cause and that a congress
of deputies from the colonies was the proper way of ob-
taining redress of grievances. No mention was made of
the Boston proposal for non-intercourse. The ticket of
forty-four names, prepared by the caucus, was elected with
little difficulty, although it would appear that James Pem-
berton, a pillar of the Society of Friends, withdrew his
name at once, thus leaving forty-three. 1 This committee
was instructed to correspond with the rural counties and
with the sister provinces, and to devise a means of choosing
delegates to the Continental Congress. The next few weeks
saw the establishment of committees of correspondence in
most of the counties and the adoption of resolutions for an
interprovincial congress as proposed by the Forty-Three at
iladelphia. 2
Forty-Three were as moderate in temper as the
Fifty-One of New York and strove for the same objects.
But under the gracious leadership of the chairman, John
Dickinson, a sharp clash was avoided between the Radical
minority of the committee and the dominant element] and
indeed the two factions found it to their interest to unite
forces, upon most occasions, against a common enemy.
This common foe, of which there was no exact counterpart
in New York, was the strongly consolidated conservative
group entrenched in the lower house of the Assembly under
the leadership of Joseph Galloway, the speaker. Galloway
1 His name is included in 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 426-428, but not in
the newspaper accounts: Pa. Gas. , June 22, 1774; Pa. Journ. , June 22;
Pa. Packet, June 27. For Pemberton's sentiments, vide statement of
Quakers, May 30, 1774; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 365-366, and his letter
in Sharpless, Quakers in Revolution, pp. 107-109.
* From June 18 to July 13 committees were appointed in the counties
of Chester, Northampton, Berks, York, Bucks, Lancaster, Bedford,
Cumberland and Chester. Vide files of Pa. Gas. , and Pa. Journ.
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? 348 THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
had long been an opponent of Dickinson in provincial poli-
tics over the issue of proprietary vs. royal government for
Pennsylvania; he had upon one occasion declined a chal-
lenge from Dickinson, but the two men fought many a
wordy duel in broadside and newspaper. 1 Like many an-
other gentleman of wealth and prestige who chose the
British side when the war broke out, Galloway believed in
the justice of many of the American demands.
He was a
constructive critic of the colonial policy of the home gov-
ernment and believed that alleviation could, and should
properly, come only through the traditional and legal chan-
nel of legislative memorials to Parliament. Efforts at pop-
ular control through extra-legal action were to him a species
of anarchy, and he held himself aloof from all popular
movements whatever their purpose. 2 Confronted with a
popular movement of continental proportions and alarmed
by the vigorous and unusual measures of Parliament against
1 Baldwin, E. H. , "Joseph Galloway, the Loyalist Politician," Pa.
Mag. , vol. xxvi, particularly pp. 161-191.
1 Says Galloway's biographer: "With a conservatism natural to
wealth, and with inherited aristocratic tendencies, Mr. Galloway ob-
served with no small concern the growth of republican ideas. That
there could be any true liberty, or any safety even, under a democracy,
or what he considered was nearly, if not quite, the same thing, mob
rule, he believed impossible. It was with no small degree of appre-
hension, therefore, that he viewed the growing differences between
Great Britain and her Colonies. With a property-holder's natural
aversion to taxation, and with a realization of the injustice which
might result from measures of taxation by Parliament, he aided in all
ways that he considered proper to remove the causes of complaint.
The very suggestion that the remedy for the troubles lay in independ-
ence was repugnant to him. The remedy lay rather in a closer union
with the mother country. The political experiences of Mr. Galloway in
Pennsylvania made him naturally suspicious of the intentions of the
noisy elements among the people, and he soon came to the conclusion
that ultimate independence was their aim; at least their conduct could
lead to nothing else. Hence he determined to exert his best efforts
to prevent such a deplorable occurrence. " Ibid. , p. 440.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 349
Boston, Galloway was now willing to favor an interprovin-
cial congress if it should be composed of delegates chosen
by the members composing the popular branches of the sev-
eral provincial legislatures. Such a congress, he believed,
might formulate a plan of " political union between the two
countries, with the assent of both, which would effectually
secure to Americans their future rights and privileges. " 1
^he policy of the Forty-Three was to conciliate and unite
all factions in the province in support of the approaching
congress. Therefore, although the mere existence of an
extra-legal committee represented a principle hateful to the
Galloway partyjthe Forty-Three adopted a plan of action
which enlisted the co-operation of Galloway almost in spite
of himself. The Forty-Three had been instructed by the
public meeting to devise a means of ascertaining the sense
of the province and of electing delegates to the Continental
Congress. At a meeting on June 27, they decided that they
would ask Speaker Galloway to call the members of the
House together for an unofficial session to consider the
alarming situation, and that they would summon, for the
same time, a convention of county committees "to consult
and advise on the most expedient mode of appointing dele-
gates for the general congress and to give their weight to
such as may be adopted. "2 This latter body, the radical
leaders had already learned " under colour of an excursion
of pleasure," * would be definitely radical in its composition,
for in it the western counties would have a much larger
voice than under the unfair system of representation main-
1 Vide letter signed by Galloway and three others as members of the
committee of correspondence of the Assembly. Pa. Gas. , July 13, 1774;
also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 485-486. Cf. the scathing comment of a
New York newspaper writer. Ibid. , vol. i, p. 486 n.
1 Pa. Gas. , June 29, July 6, 1774; Lincoln, Revolutionary Movement
in Pa. , pp. I73-I75.
1 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p. 434. Vide also ibid. , p. 726.
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? 350
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1769-1776
tained by the House of Representatives. 1 Thus, their ob-
ject was to leave the actual appointment of the delegates to
the members of the House, as the Galloway party wished,
but, through the popular convention, to dictate the terms
upon which the delegates should be chosen.
The governor made unnecessary the informal assembling
of the House by summoning a legislative session for Mon-
day, July 18, on the pretext of some Indian disturbances.
When, therefore, the Forty-Three sent their circular letter
to the counties, they noted this fact, and asked the provin-
cial convention to assemble on July 15 "in order to assist
in framing instructions, and preparing such matters, as
may be proper to recommend" to the members of the
House. " 2 For the next several weeks, newspaper articles
served to keep alive the public interest and to indicate the
trend of public opinion. ? A Philadelphian" argued against
non-importation as a mode of opposition because the bur-
den would fall wholly on the drygoods importers whereas
the interests of all were involved. *_J " Brutus" believed
that the plan, proposed by the Boston circular letter, was
dictated more by " heated zeal than by approved reason and
moderation," and maintained that the proper course would
be for Congress to petition the British government for re-
dress. 4 But, according to " Sidney," those who espoused
the method of petition were "men who prefer one cargo
of British goods to the salvation of America," and he de-
manded an immediate non-importation. 5 "Anglus Ameri-
canus" would also include a non-exportation, particularly
1 For the "rotten borough" system in Pennsylvania, vide Adams, J. ,
Works, vol. x, pp. 74-75; Lincoln, op. cit. , pp. 40-52.
2 Pa. Gas. , July 6, 1774. 8 Ibid. , Aug. 17, 1774.
* Ibid. , July 20, 1774. 5 Pa. Journ. , Aug. 31, 1774.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES
351
to the West Indies. 1 Rural opinion was well expressed by
Edward Shippen when he advocated a total non-importa-
tion and non-exportation, insisting that the Boston Port
Act contained the names of all the provinces, "only they
are written in lime juice and want the heat of fire to make
them legible. " 2 On July 11 the mechanics and small
tradesmen of Philadelphia held a meeting to urge another
mass meeting of the city and county, at which the Penn-
sylvania delegates should be given unrestricted power to
agree to a trade suspension by the congress. But the
Forty-Three saw in this gathering a design to undermine
their authority, and nothing came of the matter. 8
The provincial convention assembled at Carpenters' Hall
on Friday, July 15, with one or more deputies from every
county in the province. * Thomas Willing was chosen chair-
man, Charles Thomson, clerk. The dominant voice of the
rural members was at once insured by an agreement that
the voting should be by counties. The work of the first day
consisted in the adoption of a platform, or set of resolu-
tions, which voiced the opinion of the convention in a sig-
nificant way. "Unanimously" the convention resolved
that it was their " earnest desire that the Congress should
first try the gentler mode" of petitioning for redress be-
fore resorting to "a suspension of the commerce of this
large trading province. " "By a great majority" it was
voted that, notwithstanding, if Congress should deem a
1 Pa. Journ. , June 29, 1774.
1 Balch, T. , Letters and Papers Relating Chiefly to the Provincial
History of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1855), pp. 238-239.
1" Russel" in Pa. Gas. , July 20, 1774. "An Artisan" in ibid. , Aug.
31, and "A Mechanic" in Pa. Packet, Sept. 5, argued boldly for a new
committee.
*For the proceedings of the convention, vide Pa. Gas. , July 27, 1774;
also 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, pp. 555-593-
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? 352
THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763. 1776
non-importation and non-exportation against Great Britain
expedient, the people of the province would join the other
leading provinces in that measure. "By a majority" it
was resolved that, if any further proceedings of Parliament
should cause Congress to take more drastic steps than a
suspension of trade with Great Britain, the inhabitants
would do all in their power to support the action of Con-
gress. The convention agreed unanimously upon resolves
for the maintenance of the customary prices during a non-
importation, and for a boycott of any province, town or
individual failing to adopt the plan agreed upon by Con-
gress.
Most of the next four days was consumed in consider-
ing and amending a draft of instructions for the delegates,
which had been prepared in advance by a sub-committee of
the Forty-Three, of which Dickinson was the leading spirit.
Finally, on Wednesday, the twentieth, a set of resolutions
was agreed upon, which displayed many internal evidences
of a conflict of interest among the members. The lengthy
document was addressed to the House of Representatives,
and commenced with a Dickinsonian essay on the rights of
the colonies and a request that the House should appoint
delegates to the impending congress. 1 The draft of instruc-
tions was transmitted " in pursuance of the trust imposed"
on them by the inhabitants of the several counties qualified
to vote--a delicate intimation of the common source of
authority of the two bodies. The instructions themselves
bear comparison with the resolutions adopted on the first
day of the convention. After naming a comprehensive list
of grievances extending back into the years, it was de-
1 According to Thomson's account, the convention resolved "at the
same time, in case the Assembly refused, to take upon themselves to
appoint deputies. " Still*, op. cit. , p. 346. This does not appear in the
extract of the proceedings accessible; but in any case it undoubtedly
represented the temper of the convention.
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? CONTEST IN COMMERCIAL PROVINCES 353
clared that the minimum demands of Congress should in-
clude the repeal of British measures "relating to [the
quartering of] the troops; internal legislation; imposition
of taxes or duties hereafter; the thirty-fifth of Henry the
Eighth, chapter the second; the extension of Admiralty
Courts; the port of Boston and Province of Massachusetts
Bay. " In return for these concessions, the Americans
should agree to settle a certain annual revenue on the king
and "to satisfy all damages done to the East India Com-
pany. "
With regard to the best method of obtaining redress, the
delegates were advised to advocate a petition to the British
government; but if Congress should decide upon an imme-
diate severance of all trade, "we have determined, in the
present situation of publick affairs, to consent to a stop-
page of our commerce with Great Britain only. " Should a
partial redress be granted, the boycott should be modified
in proportion to the degree of relief afforded; on the other
hand, should Parliament pass further oppressive acts, the
inhabitants of the province would support such action as
Congress might adopt more drastic than a suspension of
trade. Finally, the convention informed the House of
Representatives that, " though we have, for the satisfaction
of the good people of this Province, who have chosen us
for this express purpose, offered to you such instructions as
have appeared expedient to us, yet it is not our meaning
that, by these or by any you may think proper to give them,
the Deputies appointed by you should be restrained from
agreeing to any measures that shall be approved by the
Congress. " It was this last clause which, no doubt, recon-
ciled the radicals in the convention to a pseudo-endorsement
of half-way expedients, which the experience of former
years had, in their judgment, decisively discredited. As
for the personnel of the delegates, the convention contented
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? THE COLONIAL MERCHANTS: 1763-1776
itself with proposing the names of three of its members,
Dickinson, Willing and James Wilson, with the suggestion
that the House should select these three together with four
of its own members. 1
On the next day, Thursday the twenty first, the conven-
tion went in a body to the chamber of the House of Repre-
sentatives and presented their resolutions and instructions. 2
Without according any further formal recognition to the
doings of the convention, the House resolved to take under
consideration on the following day the letters received in
behalf of a general congress from the committees of cor-
respondence of the assemblies of Massachusetts, Rhode
Island and Virginia. On the eve of the morrow's session, a
broadside emanating from the Galloway party was handed
to the members of the House. The paper drew its inspira-
tion from the quotation of Hume's with which it opened:
"All numerous Assemblies, however composed, are mere
mobs, and swayed in their debates by the least motive . . .
An absurdity strikes a member, he conveys it to his neigh-
bours and the whole is infected. . . . The only way of
making people wise, is to keep them from uniting into large
Assemblies. " By what legal authority, it was asked, has
the convention assembled? " We know not where such
precedents may terminate; setting up a power to controul
you, is setting up anarchy above order--IT 1s THE BEGIN-
NING OF REPUBLICANISM. " *
1 This transaction does not appear in the familiar extract of the pro-
ceedings, but it is sufficiently well authenticated; 4 Am. Arch. , vol. i, p.
607 n. ; "Censor" in Pa.