[124] Upon this passage was based the Sixth Article of the Virginia Association, recommended August 1, by the Convention as follows:—
"6th. We will endeavor to improve our breed of sheep, and increase their number to the utmost extent; and to this end, we will be as sparing as we conveniently can, in killing sheep, especially those of the most profitable kind; and if we should at any time be overstocked, or can conveniently spare any, we will dispose of them to our neighbors, especially the poorer sort of people, on moderate terms."
In time, this passage was copied even more closely in the Association of the Continental Congress at Philadelphia (No. 130 d).
[125] This resolution is found in identical words in the resolutions of Caroline County (Virginia), July 14, 1774; and the sentiment, in more varied forms, appears often in the county meetings. Thus Hanover (Patrick Henry's county) declared: "The African trade for slaves we consider most dangerous to virtue and the welfare of this country. We therefore most earnestly wish to see it totally discouraged."
[126] Mr. Lynch was from South Carolina. This position here taken as to "numbers and property" was taken thirteen years later by South Carolina delegates in the Convention which framed our present Constitution.
[127] This was the "style" of the three "counties" soon to form the state of Delaware.
[128] This convention had finally been called in January by Peyton Randolph, chairman of the preceding convention, according to authorization by body. Cf. introduction to No. 137, above. The work of the Convention is given in No. 139.
[129] Observe the authorization to raise money by taxation,—a special prerogative of government.
[XXIII. INDEPENDENCE]
Cf. American History and Government (§§ 146-150) for additional comment and narrative, and suggestions as to bibliography, on each of the following numbers, 134-139. Many short extracts are there given from documents which, on that account, are not reproduced here,—notably from Paine's Common Sense.