ears
afterwards, shortly after John Adams's death, Daniel Webster wrote an
imaginary speech containing what in substance he _might_ have said. The
principal argument in opposition was made by John Dickinson, who thought
that before the Americans finally committed themselves to a deadly
struggle with Great Britain, they ought to establish some stronger
government than the Continental Congress, and ought also to secure a
promise of help from some such country as France. This advice was
cautious, but it was not sound and practical. War had already begun, and
if we had waited to agree upon some permanent kind of government before
committing all the colonies to a formal defiance of Great Britain, there
was great danger that the enemy might succeed in breaking up the Union
before it was really formed. Besides, it is not likely that France would
ever have decided to go to war in our behalf until we had shown that we
were able to defend ourselves. It was now a time when the boldest advice
was the safest.

[Sidenote: The Declaration of Independence, July 1 to 4, 1776.]

During this debate on the 1st of July Congress was sitting as a
committee of the whole, and at the close of the day a preliminary vote
was taken. Like all the votes in the Continental Congress, it was taken
by colonies. The majority of votes in each delegation determined the
vote of that colony. Each colony had one vote, and two-thirds of the
whole number, or nine colonies against four, were necessary for a
decision. On this occasion the New York delegates did not vote at all,
because they had no instructions. One delegate from Delaware voted yea
and another nay; the third delegate, Caesar Rodney, had been down in the
lower counties of his little state, arguing against the loyalists. A
special messenger had been sent to hurry him back, but he had not yet
arrived, and so the vote of Delaware was divided and lost. Pennsylvania
declared in the negative by four votes against three. South Carolina
also declared in the negative. The other nine colonies all voted in the
affirmative, and so the resolution received just votes enough to carry
it. A very little more opposition would have defeated it, and would
probably have postponed the declaration for several weeks.

The next day Congress took the formal vote upon the resolution. Mr.
Rodney had now arrived, so that the vote of Delaware was given in the
affirmative. John Dickinson and Robert Morris stayed away, so th