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Sanderson's Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence
Sanderson's Biography of the Signers to the Declaration of Independence Author:John Sanderson Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: It was not only within the walls of the state house of Philadelphia, that his influence was felt on this momentous occasion. Pennsylvania and Maryland still with... more »held their assent from the proposed separation from Great Britain; and it was necessary to procure from those colonies, some expression of public will, in accprd with those demonstrations which had been made in most of the others. Among his most intimate personal friends were Dr. Rush and Mr. Samuel Chase, with both of whom he had contracted an attachment that endured throughout his life, and caused him always to speak of them in the highest terms of praise. At this juncture these friends moved in concert, though in different scenes. Mr. Chase, whose zeal was not surpassed, left his seat in congress and hastened to Maryland, where, in conjunction with Mr. Charles Carroll and other patriots, he stirred up such a number of county meetings in favour of the cause, that the convention were overpowered, and, on the twenty-eighth of June, Mr. Chase wrote to Mr. Adams from Annapolis—"Friday evening, nine o'clock. I am this moment from the house, to procure an express to follow the post, with ai? unanimous vote of our convention for independence. See the glo rious effect of county instructions. The people have fire; it is no smothered." In the mean time, Dr. Rush, in pursuance of the same pre-con cert, moved in the Pennsylvania conference for an expression of a similar sentiment. The Pennsylvania vote in favour of indepen dence preceded that of Maryland only four days, and the feelings of all the colonies had now been authentically expressed. On the second day of July, Mr. Adams had the satisfaction t see the triumph of his exertions, and the fulfilment of his arden' wishes, in the vote for independence, which, on the four...« less