a. It was only on this
irrevocable decision as to independence that they were slow to act.

[Sidenote: The middle colonies.]

But in the course of the month of June their responses to the invitation
of Congress came in,--from Delaware on the 14th, from New Jersey on the
22d, from Pennsylvania on the 24th, from Maryland on the 28th. This
action of the middle colonies was avowedly based on the ground that, in
any event, united action was the thing most to be desired; so that,
whatever their individual preferences might be, they were ready to
subordinate them to the interests of the whole country. The broad and
noble spirit of patriotism shown in their resolves is worthy of no less
credit than the bold action of the colonies which, under the stimulus of
direct aggression, first threw down the gauntlet to George III.

On the 1st of July, when Lee's motion was taken up in Congress, all the
colonies had been heard from except New York. The circumstances of this
central colony were peculiar. We have already seen that the Tory party
was especially strong in New York. Besides this, her position was more
exposed to attack on all sides than that of any other state. As the
military centre of the Union, her territory was sure to be the scene of
the most desperate fighting. She was already threatened with invasion
from Canada. As a frontier state she was exposed to the incursions of
the terrible Iroquois, and as a sea-board state she was open to the
attack of the British fleet. At that time, moreover, the population of
New York numbered only about 170,000, and she ranked seventh among the
thirteen colonies. The military problem was therefore much harder for
New York than for Massachusetts or Virginia. Her risks were greater than
those of any other colony. For these reasons the Whig party in New York
found itself seriously hampered in its movements, and the 1st of July
arrived before their delegates in Congress had been instructed how to
vote on the question of independence.

[Sidenote: Difficulties in New York.]

Richard Henry Lee had been suddenly called home to Virginia by the
illness of his wife, and so the task of defending his motion fell upon
John Adams who had seconded it. His speech on that occasion was so able
that Thomas Jefferson afterward spoke of him as "the Colossus of that
debate." As Congress sat with closed doors and no report was made of
the speech, we have no definite knowledge of its arguments. Fifty y