. A history of the United States. 111. li, Room in which the Declaration was Signed liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which the colonistshad claimed for themselves all along, and added a start-ling Ust of charges against the king. These were given asthe reason for seeking independence. Perhaps some of thecharges were not fair, for Jefferson was making a plea, andnot writing a history. Most of them, however, were true. The Royalists or Tories. — About one-third of the inhab-itants of the thirteen colonies opposed separation from GreatBritain. In New York and Pennsylvania the loyaHsts andpa
. A history of the United States. 111. li, Room in which the Declaration was Signed liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which the colonistshad claimed for themselves all along, and added a start-ling Ust of charges against the king. These were given asthe reason for seeking independence. Perhaps some of thecharges were not fair, for Jefferson was making a plea, andnot writing a history. Most of them, however, were true. The Royalists or Tories. — About one-third of the inhab-itants of the thirteen colonies opposed separation from GreatBritain. In New York and Pennsylvania the loyaHsts andpatriots were about equally divided. The Quakers wereopposed to war for any purpose. Many loyalists declared 192 THE BIRTH OF A NEW NATION that if the colonies should win their independence from GreatBritain, they would only fall victims to discord and desola-tion. The loyahsts thought the patriot leaders self-seekinglawyers and shop-keepers, or debtors who wished to escapepaying their British Independence Hall, PiiiLADELPHiAWhere the Continental Congress met Making New Governments. — The decision to separatefrom Great Britain compelled the colonists to remodel theirprovincial governments. Each colony now became a royal governors and other officers had already fled toEngland or taken refuge with the nearest British garrisons orfleets. William Frankhn, the royalist governor of New Jersey,though the son of Benjamin Frankhn, had been seized bythe revolutionists and sent to a Connecticut prison. Notonly must the vacant offices be filled, but the governmentsmust be changed in part. John Adams said that the manu-facture of governments was as much talked of as saltpeterhad been at the outbreak of war when powder was needed. The only governments which required little change werethose of Connecticut and Rhode Island. There the people COLONIAL CONSTITUTIONS 193
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