is used for the first
time in connection with American affairs. As the final struggle with
France for the possession of America was about to begin, a "Congress" of
twenty-five of the leading men from seven different colonies met at
Albany. They were called, primarily, for the purpose of making a treaty
with the Iroquois Indians. This object secured, the resolution was then
unanimously adopted that "A union of all the colonies is at present
absolutely necessary for security and defense." Franklin's famous plan
providing for a permanent federation of all the colonies was also
adopted. When submitted to the colonies, it failed to receive the
ratification of a single one. Nor was it acceptable to the English
government. Said Franklin, "The assemblies all thought there was too
much prerogative, and in England it was thought to have too much of the
democratic."

The Stamp Act Congress, 1765.--After the passing of the stamp act
by the English government, the Massachusetts house of representatives
invited the other colonial assemblies to send delegations to a general
congress. Nine colonies responded by sending twenty-eight men to the
congress in New York City, October 7, 1765.[6] During the session of two
weeks, these delegates drafted petitions to the English government and
declared that the rights of the colonists were the same as those of the
natural-born subjects of England. It is noteworthy that representatives
had again assembled on the motion of the colonists themselves. The
growth of common interests was well expressed by Christopher Gadsden of
South Carolina, when he said: "There ought to be no New England man, no
New Yorker, known on the continent; but all of us Americans."

[Footnote 6: Virginia, New Hampshire, Georgia, and North Carolina
sympathized with the movement, but did not send delegates.]

Committees of Correspondence.--Nine years were to go by before the
meeting of another congress, but the colonists were prepared for a
united effort at the end of this period. No sooner were the contents of
the Townshend acts of 1767 known than Massachusetts issued a circular
letter to the other colonies, asking for combined action against all
such unconstitutional measures. The other colonial assemblies agreed
with Massachusetts. Another movement which made the Revolution possible
was begun by Samuel Adams. In November, 1772, he prevailed upon the
Boston town meeting to appoint a committee which should carry on a
corre