n was already broken, and
they could greet one another that morning with something of the
freedom and good fellowship of boon companions. Moreover, they were
then ready to proceed to business under the advantage of having
arranged beforehand an outline of what was first to be done. It had
been discovered, apparently, that the first serious question which
would meet them after their formal organization, was one relating to
the method of voting in the Congress, namely, whether each deputy
should have a vote, or only each colony; and if the latter, whether
the vote of each colony should be proportioned to its population and
property.

Having arrived at the hall, and inspected it, and agreed that it would
serve the purpose, the delegates helped themselves to seats. Then Mr.
Lynch of South Carolina arose, and nominated Mr. Peyton Randolph of
Virginia for president. This nomination having been unanimously
adopted, Mr. Lynch likewise proposed Mr. Charles Thomson for
secretary, which was carried without opposition; but as Mr. Thomson
was not a delegate, and of course was not then present, the doorkeeper
was instructed to go out and find him, and say to him that his
immediate attendance was desired by the Congress.

Next came the production and inspection of credentials. The roll
indicated that of the fifty-two delegates appointed, forty-four were
already upon the ground,--constituting an assemblage of representative
Americans, which, for dignity of character and for intellectual
eminence, was undoubtedly the most imposing that the colonies had ever
seen. In that room that day were such men as John Sullivan, John and
Samuel Adams, Stephen Hopkins, Roger Sherman, James Duane, John Jay,
Philip and William Livingston, Joseph Galloway, Thomas Mifflin, Caesar
Rodney, Thomas McKean, George Read, Samuel Chase, John and Edward
Rutledge, Christopher Gadsden, Henry Middleton, Edmund Pendleton,
George Washington, and Patrick Henry.

Having thus got through with the mere routine of organization, which
must have taken a considerable time, James Duane, of New York, moved
the appointment of a committee "to prepare regulations for this
Congress." To this several gentlemen objected; whereupon John Adams,
thinking that Duane's purpose might have been misunderstood, "asked
leave of the president to request of the gentleman from New York an
explanation, and that he would point out some particular regulations
which he had in his mind." In reply