cting independence were moved and
seconded, which were referred to a committee of the whole on the 8th
and 10th, on which latter day it was resolved to postpone a decision on
the first resolution or main question until the 1st July, but that no
time might be lost in case the Congress agree thereto that a committee
be appointed to prepare a declaration to the effect of that resolution.
On the 11th June, 1776, Congress appointed a committee to prepare and
digest a plan of confederation for the colonies. On the 12th July the
committee reported a draft of articles, which were severally afterwards
debated and amended until the 15th November, 1777, when they were
adopted. These articles were then proposed to the legislatures of the
several States, with a request that if approved by them they would
authorize their delegates to ratify the same in Congress, and, which
being done, to become conclusive. It was not until the 21st of March,
1781, as already observed, that they were ratified by the last State
and carried into effect.

On the 4th July, 1776, independence was declared by an act which
arrested the attention of the civilized world and will bear the test
of time. For force and condensation of matter, strength of reason,
sublimity of sentiment and expression, it is believed that no document
of equal merit exists. It looked to everything, and with a reach,
perspicuity, and energy of mind which seemed to be master of everything.

Thus it appears, in addition to the very important charge of managing
the war, that Congress had under consideration at the same time the
Declaration of Independence, the adoption of a confederation for the
States, and the propriety of instituting State governments, with the
nature of those governments, respecting which it had been consulted by
the conventions of several of the colonies. So great a trust was never
reposed before in a body thus constituted, and I am authorized to add,
looking to the great result, that never were duties more ably or
faithfully performed.

The distinguishing characteristic of this movement is that although the
connection which had existed between the people of the several colonies
before their dismemberment from the parent country was not only not
dissolved but increased by that event, even before the adoption of the
Articles of Confederation, yet the preservation and augmentation of that
tie were the result of a new creation, and proceeded altogether from
the peopl