George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 7, 4th edition.

[127]

On Monday the fifth day of September, the mem-

Chap. XI.} 1774. Sept.

bers of congress, meeting at Smith's tavern, moved in a body to select the place for their deliberations. Galloway, the speaker of Pennsylvania, would have had them use the State House, but the carpenters of Philadelphia offered their plain but spacious hall; and from respect for the mechanics, it was accepted by a great majority. The names of the members were then called over, and Patrick Henry, Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Jay, Gadsden, John Rutledge of South Carolina, the aged Hopkins of Rhode Island, and others, representing eleven colonies, answered to the call. Peyton Randolph, late speaker of the assembly of Virginia, was nominated president by Lynch of Carolina, and was unanimously chosen. The body then named itself ‘the congress,’ and its chairman ‘the president.’ Jay and Duane would have selected a secretary from among the members themselves, but they found no support; and on the motion of Lynch, Charles Thomson was appointed without further opposition. The measures that were to have divided America bound them closely together. Colonies differing in religious opinions and in commercial interests, in every thing dependent on climate and labor, in usages and manners, swayed by reciprocal prejudices, and frequently quarrelling with each other respecting boundaries, found themselves united in one representative body, and deriving from that union a power that was to be felt throughout the civilized world.

Then arose the question, as to the method of voting. There were fifty-five members; each colony