stitutional
monarchy; and even John Adams and Jefferson so sincerely shrank back
from the attempt at creating another government in its stead, that, to
the last moment, they were most anxious to avert a separation, if it
could be avoided without a loss of their inherited liberties." (History
of the United States, Vol. VIII., Chap. li., p. 161.)]

[Footnote 389: Allan's American Revolution, Vol. I., pp. 342, 343.

"The interval was employed in unceasing exertions by the friends of
independence to prepare the minds of the people for the necessity and
advantages of such a measure. The press teemed with essays and
pamphlets, in which all the arts of eloquence were used to ridicule the
prejudices which supported an attachment to the King and Government of
England. Among the numerous writers on this momentous question, the most
luminous, the most eloquent, and the most forcible was _Thomas Paine_.
His pamphlet entitled 'Common Sense' was not only read, but understood,
by everybody; and those who regard the independence of the _United
States_ as a blessing will never cease to cherish the remembrance of
_Thomas Paine_. Whatever may have been his subsequent career--in
whatever light his religious principles may be regarded--it should never
be forgotten that _to him, more than to any single individual, was owing
the rapid diffusion of those sentiments and feelings which produced the
act of separation from Great Britain_."--_Ib._, pp. 343, 344.]

[Footnote 390: Frothingham's Rise of the Republic of the United States,
p. 512.]

[Footnote 391: Frothingham's Rise of the Republic of the United States,
Chap. xi., pp. 513-517.]

[Footnote 392: Allan's American Revolution, Chap, xii., pp. 344, 345.

"The question before the Committee was the portion of the _motion
relating to independence_, submitted by the Virginia delegates on the
7th of June. The New York members read their instructions, and were
excused from voting. Of the three delegates from Delaware, Rodney was
absent, Read in the negative, and thus the vote of that colony was lost.
South Carolina was in the negative; and so was Pennsylvania, by the
votes of Dickenson, Willing, Morris, and Humphries, against those of
Franklin, Morton, and Wilson. Nine colonies--New Hampshire, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia, North
Carolina, Georgia--voted in the affirmative. The Committee rose, the
President resumed the chair, and Harrison reported th