our affairs? The same was carried in the negative unanimously.

Resolved unanimously, That a Provincial Convention ought to be chosen by the people, for the express purpose of carrying the said resolve of Congress into execution.

As some difficulties may arise respecting the mode of electing Members for the said Convention: Therefore

Resolved unanimously, That the Committee of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia be directed to send the aforementioned resolve of Congress to the several Committees throughout the Province, and to call together a number from the Committee of each County, to hold a Provincial Conference, in order to determine upon the number of which the Convention for framing a new Government shall be composed, and the manner in which they shall be elected.

The Protest of divers of the Inhabitants of this Province, in behalf of themselves and others.

To the Honourable the Representatives of the Province of PENNSYLVANIA:

GENTLEMEN: We, the inhabitants of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, in behalf of ourselves and others, the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, conceive it our duty to represent unto this House as followeth:

That whereas the honourable Continental Congress hath, by a resolve bearing date the 15th instant, recommended the taking up and establishing new Governments throughout all the United Colonies, under the “authority of the people;” and as the chartered power of this House is derived from our mortal enemy the King of Great Britain, and the members thereof were elected by such persons only as were either in real or supposed allegiance to the said King, to the exclusion of many worthy inhabitants whom the aforesaid resolve of Congress hath now rendered electors; and as this House, in its present state, is in immediate intercourse with a Governour bearing the said King’s commission, and who is his sworn representative, holding, and by oath obliged to hold, official correspondence with the Ministers of the said King, and is not within the reach of any act of ours to be absolved therefrom: We, therefore, in this solemn manner, in behalf of ourselves and others, do hereby renounce and protest against the authority and qualification of this House for framing a new Government.

As we mean not to enter into any altercation with this House, we shall forbear enumerating the particular inconsistencies of its former conduct, and content ourselves with declaring that, as a body of men, bound by oaths of allegiance to our enemy, and influenced, as many of its members are, either by connections with or pecuniary employments under the Proprietary of this Province, who is likewise the said King’s representative, it is, to all good intents and purposes, disqualified to take into consideration the late resolve of Congress, and, as a House, is not within the description mentioned in the said resolve, as an “Assembly under the authority of the people” only; and because, likewise, that we have very alarming apprehensions that a new Government, modelled by persons so inconsistently circumstanced, would be the means of subjecting ourselves and our posterity to greater grievances than any we have hitherto experienced.

In thus protesting against the authority of this House for framing a new Government, we mean not to object against its exercising the proper powers it has hitherto been accustomed to use, for the safety and convenience of the Province, until such a time as a new Constitution, originating from and founded on “the authority of the people,” shall be finally settled by a Provincial Convention, to be elected for that purpose, and until the proper officers and representatives of the people shall be chosen agreeable thereto, and qualified to succeed this House; for which purpose an application will be made to the Committee of Inspection and Observation of the City and Liberties of Philadelphia, (whose services, on all occasions, hath been applied to the support of the rights of the people,) for calling a Conference of Committees of the several Counties of this Province, agreeable to the powers it is already invested with for that purpose; which said Conference of Committees shall issue out summonses for electing, by ballot, a Provincial Convention, consisting of at least one hundred members, for the purpose of carrying the said resolve of Congress into execution, as we are fully convinced that our safety and happiness, next to the immediate providence of God, depend on our complying with and supporting firmly the said resolve of Congress, that thereby the union of the Colonies may be preserved inviolate.

Resolved unanimously, That the Chairman be directed to sign and present the said Protest to the honourable House of Assembly.

Resolved unanimously, That we will support the measures now adopted at all hazards, be the consequences what they may.

The thanks of the City and Liberties being presented, by a unanimous vote, to Colonel Roberdeau, for his impartiality and faithful discharge of his trust as Chairman, he was pleased to reply, that he acknowledged the honour done him, and that he esteemed it more than if conferred by a Prince.

The thanks of the City and Liberties were also presented, by a unanimous vote, to their Committee of Inspection and Observation, for their zeal, fidelity, and steady attention to the duties of their important station; and Colonel Thomas Mckean, as Chairman of that Committee, accepted and politely acknowledged the same.

The meeting was conducted with the utmost decorum and harmony.

DANIEL ROBERDEAU, Chairman.

The Protest, agreeable to the resolve, was the same day presented to the Speaker of the honourable House of Assembly.

PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE TO THE COMMITTEES OF THE SEVERAL COUNTIES IN THE PROVINCE.

Philadelphia, May 21, 1776.

GENTLEMEN: We have, in a former letter to you, referred to the Instructions given by the Assembly of this Province to their Delegates, and they are published in the votes of the House; you will, therefore, not be surprised to hear that the Delegates of Pennsylvania did not give their voice in Congress on the question “for establishing Governments throughout the Continent on the authority of the people;” but, by declining to vote on this momentous occasion, did, as far as was in their power, withdraw the Province from this union of the Colonies both in council and action.

By the enclosed papers you will perceive the City and Liberties have been convened, and have expressed their sense on the said resolve of Congress. We judge the number of people met on this occasion exceeded four thousand, and consisted of that class of men which are most to he depended on in times of danger. A change of such importance as that now proposed is not brought about without some contest, arising from the opposition of interests, and the force of prejudice in favour of old and established forms. The Associators will have to contend, in the present instance, against the Proprietaries and all their dependants, influenced by self-interest and holding lucrative offices under them, with all whom they can influence, joined by all the avowed as well as secret enemies of the cause of American freedom. It will, however, be absolutely necessary for us to unite with firmness, and pursue our measures with a steady perseverance, which will undoubtedly carry us through every difficulty that may arise.

This Committee have thought the object before us of such consequence to the safety and happiness of the Province as to induce us to send some of our Committee and fellow-citizens into each County, to incite such of the good people as are friends to liberty, and determined to oppose the cruelty and injustice of Great Britain, to a spirited and manly exertion of their undoubted rights and privileges in the present favourable opportunity of establishing them forever. We have judged this the more necessary, as we are informed the party we have already mentioned as our opponents will be indefatigable in their endeavours to frustrate, by falsehood and every other means in their power, every attempt which shall be made to emancipate the people of this Province from the bondage in which they have been long held.

To point out the necessity, in our present alarming situation with respect to Great Britain, of establishing a form of Government capable of exerting, in the most effectual manner, the whole strength of this Province, in conjunction with the other Colonies, for the common defence, by cold reasoning