The letters that accompanied the gifts, and the grateful answers from the Boston Committee, would fill a large volume.
“Boston is suffering in the common cause,” said her sister Colonies.
“If need be,” said George Washington of Virginia, “I will raise one thousand men, subsist them at my own expense, and march myself at their head, for the relief of Boston.”
James Parton, and Other Sources (Retold)
A FAMOUS DATE
September 5, 1774! What a famous date in American history! And in the history of the whole World!
On that day, met for the first time, the Continental Congress of America.
From Colony after Colony, the delegates came riding into Philadelphia. George Washington of Virginia came with fiery Patrick Henry, and Edmund Pendleton, “one of Virginia’s noblest sons.” There came Cæsar Rodney, “burley and big, bold and bluff,” with Thomas McKean and George Read, all from the three counties on the Delaware, and Roger Sherman with Silas Deane of Connecticut, and John Jay and Livingston of New York. From Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina, the eager delegates came riding into the City of Brotherly Love. And, of course, John Adams and Samuel Adams, representing the suffering Colony of Massachusetts Bay, were on hand when Congress opened.
Among its first acts, the First Continental Congress sent a letter to General Gage; an address to the People of Great Britain; one to the People of Quebec; and a Petition to King George, setting forth the grievances of the American Colonists, the violations of their rights as free Englishmen, and asking for justice, but strongly urging a renewal of harmony and union between the Colonies and the Mother Country, England.
American histories tell how King George disregarded that Petition. American histories, also, tell how William Pitt and other great English statesmen, nobly defended America, as you may see if you read the story of William Pitt, on page [93].