Dickinson, staking all on the petition, was distressed at the rash
talk that went on out of doors; and in this respect, no one distressed
him more than his old friend, John Adams, who thought and said that
a petition was a waste of time and who was all for the most vigorous
measures (such, doubtless, as Demosthenes might have counseled),--the
seizure of all crown officers, the formation of state governments, the
raising of an army, and negotiations for obtaining the assistance of
France. When Mr. Dickinson, having marshaled his followers from
the middle colonies and South Carolina, got his petition before the
Congress, John Adams, as a matter of course, made "an opposition to it
in as long a speech as I commonly made... in answer to all the arguments
that had been urged." And Adams relates in his "Diary" how, being
shortly called out of Congress Hall, he was followed by Mr. Dickinson,
who broke out upon him in great anger. "What is the reason, Mr. Adams,
that you New-England men oppose our measures of reconciliation? There
now is Sullivan, in a long harangue, following you in a determined
opposition to our petition to the King. Look ye! If you don't concur
with us in our pacific system, I and a number of us will break off from
you in New England, and we will carry on the opposition by ourselves in
our own way." At that moment it chanced that John Adams was "in a very
happy temper" (which was not always the case), and so, he says, was able
to reply very coolly. "Mr. Dickinson, there are many things that I can
very cheerfully sacrifice to harmony, and even to unanimity; but I am
not to be threatened into an express adoption or approbation of measures
which my judgment reprobates. Congress must judge, and if they pronounce
against me, I must submit, as, if they determine against you, you ought
to acquiesce."

The Congress did decide. It decided to adopt Mr. Dickinson's petition;
and to this measure John Adams submitted. But the Congress also decided
to raise a Continental army to assist Massachusetts in driving
the British forces out of Boston, of which army it appointed, as
Commander-in-Chief, George Washington, Esq.; and in justification of
these measures it published a "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity
of Taking up Arms":

"Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources
are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly
attainable.... Fortified with these animating reflections, we.