The making of the American nation; a history for elementary schools . tu-ation, made arrange-ments for a colonialcongress. It wasthought that a goodplan of action mightbe devised by an as-sembly of this ,1774,the first ContinentalCongress met insecret session in Phil-adelphia, in a smallhall belonging to theSociety of the colonies, ex-cept Georgia, hadelected delegates weredirected to consider the most effectual manner of regulatingthe commercial connection with the mother country, so a,s toprocure redress for Massachusetts, and also to procure the
The making of the American nation; a history for elementary schools . tu-ation, made arrange-ments for a colonialcongress. It wasthought that a goodplan of action mightbe devised by an as-sembly of this ,1774,the first ContinentalCongress met insecret session in Phil-adelphia, in a smallhall belonging to theSociety of the colonies, ex-cept Georgia, hadelected delegates weredirected to consider the most effectual manner of regulatingthe commercial connection with the mother country, so a,s toprocure redress for Massachusetts, and also to procure the returnof harmony and union. ^ 1 The Congress was composed of able men. Among the more distinguishedmembers were George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, andPeyton Randolpli of Virginia ; Samuel and John Adams of Massachusetts ; JohnDickinson and Thomas Mifflin of Pennsylvania ; Roger Sherman of Connecticut;Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island; Samuel Chase and Thomas Jefferson of Mary-land ; Caesar Rodney of Delaware; Edward Rutledge and Christopher Gadsden. Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia. 134 THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN NATION The Declaration of Rights. — The Congress passed a resolutionapproving of the conduct of Massachusetts ; it passed also theDeclaration of Rights, a memorial setting forth the rights andprivileges claimed by the people. It asserted : — That the people of the colonies were entitled to life, liberty, andproperty ; and that they had never ceded to a sovereign powerthe right to dispose of any of these, with or without theirconsent. That the right of England to raise a revenue in America byany plan of taxation was most emphatically denied. That the people of the colonies were entitled to the commonlaw of England, and especially to trial by a jury, and to allthe privileges granted them by royal charters. Two of the foregoing claims are worthy of attention. At firstthe colonists were not opposed to paying taxes which were leviedby themselves, but when
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