176 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



ittip-bt be ranked among the free and indepen=8 

 aeiiL American Stales ; and delegates therefrom^ 

 be admitted to a seat in Congress. This dec- 

 laration and petition was signed, and presented 

 to Congress in behalf of the inhabitants, by 

 four of the most respectable members of the 

 convention ; Jonas Fay, Thomas Chittenden^ 

 Heman Allen, and Reuhen Jones.* 



No measure was ever more necessary, or 

 more happily chosen, than this. Newhumpshire 

 had v/holly rejected them. They never had 

 submitted to the government of New York^ 

 but stedfastly opposed her authority. By the 

 dissolution of all connexion with the crown of 

 Great Britain, they concluded they wer^ no 

 longer subject to the claims of New York, foun- 

 ded on tlie arbitrary decisions of that crown. 

 The period was now come, when as they exi 

 pressed it, they were reduced to a state of na- 

 ture. Some form of government, must be a- 

 dopted. They had the same right to assume 

 the powers of government, that the Congress 

 had. The step seemed to be absolutely neces- 

 sary for the immediate safety and protection of 

 the people : And now was the time, when the 

 powers of government could be assumed, with 

 B the greatest safety and advantage. To be ir- 

 resolute or timid, was to lose an opportunity, 

 which might never return : And whatever opj 

 position might be made to their measures, they 

 could meet it with greater force, when they had 

 declared themselves a free and independent 

 state, and knew by what authority they acted. 

 Every part of the United States^ was at that 



* Appendix, No. IX. 



