Author: Edward Dudley Boylston

Publisher:

Published: 2015-08-05

Total Pages: 58

ISBN-13: 9781332224050

Excerpt from Historical Sketch of the Hillsborough County Congresses, Held at Amherst: With Other Revolutionary Records "To guard effectually against the gathering storm, a union of the colonies was thought absolutely necessary; and recourse was had to the same measure which had formerly been tried in cases of common danger, to hold a Congress of delegates from each colony. "The enemies of America have uniformly censured this measure as unprecedented, illegal and dangerous. That it was dangerous to the designs of the British administration, is admitted; but for that reason to us it was the means of safety. Though it was not supported by any written law, yet it was evidently founded on self-preservation, the first law of nature. But that it was unprecedented, is a very great mistake. From the middle of the preceding century, the united colonies of New-England held annual, or semi-annual meetings of commissioners, on their common concerns, for above forty years. From the reign of Queen Anne to that of George the the Second, governors, and delegates from councils and assemblies, occasionally met in central places, to hold conferences relative to the operations of war, or treaties with the Indians. These meetings, usually called by the name of Congresses, though unknown, or disregarded in Britain, were familiar to the people of America; and what could be a more natural or obvious step, in a time of common danger, than to assemble by deputies, and confer on the means of of safety? Precedents were numerous, that governors and delegates had held these assemblies, when their interests were united; what then should hinder the people from following the example, when their interest required them to meet, without their governors, who were endeavoring to maintain a separate interest?" - Belknap's Hist. N. H., Vol. 2, pp. 284 and 285. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.