George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 5, 13th edition.

[334] demand his resignation. His illness obtained for him

chap. XVIII.} 1765. Oct.

some forbearance; but his written promise was extorted, not to do any thing that should have the least tendency to put the Stamp Act into execution in Pennsylvania or Delaware; and he announced to the governor his ‘resignation.’ ‘If Great Britain can or will suffer such conduct to pass unpunished,’ thus he wrote to the Commissioners of Stamps, ‘a man need not be a prophet, nor the son of a prophet, to see clearly that her empire in North America is at an end.’

On Monday, the seventh of October, delegates chosen by the House of Representatives of Massachusetts, of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina; delegates named by a written requisition from the individual representatives of Delaware and New Jersey, and the legislative Committee of Correspondence of New-York, met at New-York, in Congress. New Hampshire, though not present by deputy, yet agreed to abide by the result; and they were gladdened during their session by the arrival of the express messenger from Georgia sent near a thousand miles by land to obtain a copy of their proceedings.¹

The members of this first Union of the American people were elected by the representatives of the people of each separate colony. While they formed one body, their power was derived from independent sources. Each of the colonies existed in its individuality; and notwithstanding great differences in their respective population and extent of territory, as they met in Congress they recognised each other as equals,