CHAPTER XXVII 



THE EARLY YEARS OF THE WAR OF SEPARATION, 

 1775 TO 1777 



We hold these truths to be self-evident : that all men are created 

 equal ; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalien- 

 able rights ; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 

 happiness ; that to secure these rights governments are instituted 

 among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ; 

 that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these 

 ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute 

 a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and 

 organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely 

 to effect their safety and happiness. From the Declaration of Inde- 

 pendence, 1776. 



There is not a single instance in history in which civil liberty was 

 lost and religious liberty preserved entire. J. WITHERSPOON, preaching 

 at Princeton, May 17, 1776. 



We shall fight for democracy ; for the universal dominion of right, 

 by such a concert of free peoples as will bring peace and safety to all 

 nations and make the world itself at last free. President WOODROW 

 WILSON, 1917. 



ON March 21, 1775, Franklin set sail from Portsmouth, 

 taking his final leave 1 of the parent country he " once 

 held so dear," and with him passed the last and only 

 hope of a peaceful settlement. Six weeks he spent upon 

 the sea, occupying himself in writing a detailed "Account 

 of the Negotiations in London for effecting a Reconcilia- 

 tion between Great Britain and the American Colonies," 

 which is one of the main sources of the present narrative. 

 Then he turned with philosophic calm to make those 

 observations on the temperature and course of the Gulf 

 Stream which have helped to render his name famous in 



1 He spent a few days at Southampton on his way home from France in 

 1785- 



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