e and contented vassals; when a general
election will be nothing but a general auction of boroughs, and when
the Parliament, the grand council of the nation, and once the
faithful guardian of the State, and a terror to evil ministers, will
be degenerated into a body of sycophants, dependent and venal,
always ready to confirm any measures, and little more than a public
court for registering royal edicts. Such, it is possible, may, some
time or other, be the state of Great Britain. What will, at that
period, be the duty of the colonies? Will they be still bound to
unconditional submission? Must they always continue an appendage to
our government and follow it implicitly through every change that
can happen to it? Wretched condition, indeed, of millions of
freemen as good as ourselves! Will you say that we now govern
equitably, and that there is no danger of such revolution? Would to
God that this were true! But you will not always say the same. Who
shall judge whether we govern equitably or not? Can you give the
colonies any security that such a period will never come? No. THE
PERIOD, COUNTRYMEN, IS ALREADY COME! The calamities were at our
door. The rod of oppression was raised over us. We were roused
from our slumbers, and may we never sink into repose until we can
convey a clear and undisputed inheritance to our posterity! This
day we are called upon to give a glorious example of what the wisest
and best of men were rejoiced to view, only in speculation. This
day presents the world with the most august spectacle that its
annals ever unfolded,--millions of freemen, deliberately and
voluntarily forming themselves into a society for their common
defense and common happiness. Immortal spirits of Hampden, Locke,
and Sidney, will it not add to your benevolent joys to behold your
posterity rising to the dignity of men, and evincing to the world
the reality and expediency of your systems, and in the actual
enjoyment of that equal liberty, which you were happy, when on
earth, in delineating and recommending to mankind?

Other nations have received their laws from conquerors; some are
indebted for a constitution to the suffering of their ancestors
through revolving centuries. The people of this country, alone, have
formally and deliberately chosen a government for themselves, and
with open and uninfluenced consent bound themselves into a social
compact. Here no man proclaims his birth or wealth as a title to