Richard Henry Lee made the motion, which was seconded by Mr. Adams, "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States." The debate continued to the 10th, and was then postponed to the 1st of July. A committee of five, consisting of Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Sherman, and Livingston, was appointed to draw up a declaration of independence. At the request of Mr. Adams, the instrument was written by Jefferson, and was adopted, as is known, on the 4th, but not without some strong opposition. The opposing arguments were met by Mr. Adams, in a speech of unrivalled power. Of him Mr. Jefferson said: "The great pillar of support to the declaration of independence, and its ablest advocate and champion on the floor of the House, was John Adams; he was the colossus of that Congress; not graceful, not eloquent, not always fluent in his public addresses, he yet came out with a power, both of thought and expression, which moved his hearers from their seats."

In November, 1777, Silas Deane, who had been sent commissioner, with Franklin and A. Lee, to the French court, having been recalled, Mr. Adams was appointed in his place; but the treaty of commerce and alliance having been signed before his arrival, he soon returned. In 1779, he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to negotiate a peace with Great Britain, and had authority to form a commercial treaty with that nation. He was associated with Franklin, Jay, and Laurens, and the mission was successful in forming a definite treaty of peace, which was ratified January 14, 1784. He returned to Boston in 1788, after an absence of nine years. Congress had before passed a resolution of thanks for his able and faithful discharge of various important commissions. He was elected the first Vice-President of the United States in 1789, and was re-elected the second term; consequently, he was President of the Senate during the whole of the administration of Washington, whose confidence he enjoyed in the highest degree. Having been elected President to succeed Washington, he entered upon his duties March 4, 1797. In 1801, he was succeeded by Mr. Jefferson, who was elected by a majority of one vote.

1 The following admirable letter was addressed by Mrs. Adams to her husband, on his being elected President of the United States:

QUINCY, February 8th, 1797.

"The sun is dressed in brightest beams,

To give thy honors to the day."

And may it prove an auspicious prelude to each ensuing season! You have this day to declare yourself head of a nation. "And now, O Lord, my God, thou hast made thy servant ruler over the people. Give unto him an understanding heart, that he may know how to go out and come in before this great people; that he may discern between good and bad; for who is able to judge

After March, 1801, Mr. Adams lived in retirement at Quincy, occupied in agricultural pursuits, though occasionally addressing various communications to the public. In 1820, at the age of 85, he was president of the convention for revising the constitution of Massachusetts. In 1825, he enjoyed the singular happiness of seeing his son, John Quincy Adams, elevated to the office of President of the United States. Mr. Adams had given evidence that he was drawing near his end in June, 1826. On the morning of the 4th of July, he was roused by the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon; and when asked if he knew what day it was, he replied, "Oh, yes! it is the glorious Fourth-God bless it! God bless you all!" In the forenoon, the orator of the day, his parish minister, called to see him, and found him seated in an arm-chair, and asked him for a sentiment to be given at the public table. He replied, "I will give you-'Independence forever!'" In the course of the day, he said, "It is a great and glorious day;" and just before he expired, exclaimed, "Jefferson survives," showing that his thoughts were dwelling on the scene of 1776. But Jefferson was then dead, having expired at one o'clock. Mr. Adams died at twenty minutes past six P. M.

It is useless to expatiate upon the character of John Adams, for it is inseparably interwoven with the most momentous period of our country's history. With the exception of Washington, no one stood higher, no one did more to shape the institutions of our country, no one exerted a mightier or more extended influence for good; and his name will ever be venerated by all succeeding generations.'

MEDITATES THE CHOICE OF HERCULES."

The other night the choice of Hercules came into my mind, and left impressions there which I hope will never be effaced,

this thy so great a people?"—were the words of a royal sovereign; and not less applicable to him who is invested with the chief magistracy of a nation, though he wear not a crown, nor the robes of royalty.

My thoughts and my meditations are with you, though personally absent; and my petitions to Heaven are that "the things which make for peace may not be hidden from your eyes." My feelings are not those of pride or ostentation, upon the occasion. They are solemnized by a sense of the obligations, the important trusts, and numerous duties connected with it. That you may be enabled to discharge them with honor to yourself, with justice and impartiality to your country, and with satisfaction to this great people, shall be the daily prayer of your A. A.

Read The Works of John Adams: with a Life of the Author; Notes and Illustrations by his grandson, Charles Francis Adams," 10 volumes. From his Diary, dated Braintree, January 3d, 1759.

nor long unheeded. I thought of writing a fable on the same plan, but accommodated, by omitting some circumstances and inserting others, to my own ease.

Let Virtue address me: "Which, dear youth, will you prefer, a life of effeminacy, indolence, and obscurity, or a life of industry, temperance, and honor? Take my advice; rise and mount your horse by the morning's dawn, and shake away, amidst the great and beautiful scenes of nature that appear at that time of the day, all the crudities that are left in your stomach, and all the obstructions that are left in your brains. Then return to your studies, and bend your whole soul to the institutes of the law and the reports of cases that have been adjudged by the rules in the institutes; let no trifling diversion, or amusement, or company, decoy you from your book; that is, let no girl, no gun, no cards, no flutes, no violins, no dress, no tobacco, no laziness, decoy you from your books. (By the way, laziness, languor, inattention, are my bane. I am too lazy to rise early and make a fire; and when my fire is made, at ten o'clock, my passion for knowledge, fame, fortune, for any good, is too languid to make me apply with spirit to my books, and by reason of my inattention my mind is liable to be called off from law by a girl, a pipe, a poem, a love-letter, a spectator, a play, &c. &c.) But keep your law book or some point of law in your mind at least six hours in a day. (I grow too minute and lengthy.) Labor to get distinct ideas of law, right, wrong, justice, equity; search for them in your own mind, in Roman, Grecian, French, English treatises of natural, civil, common, statute law; aim at an exact knowledge of the nature, end, and means of government; compare the different forms of it with each other, and each of them with their effects on public and private happiness. Study Seneca, Cicero, and all other good moral writers; study Montesquieu, Bolingbroke, Vinnius, &c., and all other good civil writers."

Here are two nights and one day and a half spent in a softening, enervating, dissipating series of hustling, prattling, poetry, love, courtship, marriage; during all this time I was seduced into the course of unmanly pleasures that Vice describes to Hercules, forgetful of the glorious promises of fame, immortality, and a good conscience, which Virtue makes to the same hero as rewards of a hardy, toilsome, watchful life in the service of mankind. I could reflect with more satisfaction on an equal space of time spent in a painful research of the principles of law, or a resolute attempt of the powers of eloquence. But where is my attention? Is it fixed from sunrise to midnight on

Grecian, Roman, Gallic, British law, history, virtue, eloquence? I don't see clearly the objects that I am after; they are often out of sight; motes, atoms, feathers, are blown into my eyes and blind me. Who can see distinctly the course he is to take and the objects that he pursues, when in the midst of a whirlwind of dust, straws, atoms, and feathers?

THE FOURTH OF JULY.

FROM A LETTER DATED THE THIRD OF JULY.

Yesterday' the greatest question was decided which ever was debated in America, and a greater, perhaps, never was nor will be decided among men. A resolution was passed, without one dissenting colony, "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, and as such they have, and of right ought to have, full power to make war, conclude peace, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which other States may rightfully do." You will see, in a few days, a Declaration setting forth the causes which have impelled us to this mighty revolution, and the reasons which will justify it in the sight of God and man. A plan of confederation will be taken up in a few days.

When I look back to the year 1761, and recollect the argument concerning writs of assistance in the superior court, which I have hitherto considered as the commencement of this controversy between Great Britain and America, and run through the whole period, from that time to this, and recollect the series of political events, the chain of causes and effects, I am surprised at the suddenness, as well as greatness of this revolution. Britain has been filled with folly, and America with wisdom; at least, this is my judgment. Time must determine. It is the will of Heaven that the two countries should be sundered forever. It may be the will of Heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting, and distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, it will have this good effect at least. It will inspire us with many virtues, which we have not, and correct many errors, follies, and vices which threaten to disturb, dishonor, and destroy us. The furnace

1

The practice has been to celebrate the 4th of July, the day upon which the form of the Declaration of Independence was agreed to, rather than the 2d, the day upon which the resolution, making that declaration, was determined upon by the Congress.

of affliction produces refinement in states as well as individuals. And the new governments we are assuming in every part, will require a purification from our vices, and an augmentation of our virtues, or they will be no blessings. The people will have unbounded power, and the people are extremely addicted to corruption and venality, as well as the great. But I must submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe.

FROM ANOTHER LETTER OF THE SAME DATE.

But the day is past. The second day of July, 1776, will be the most memorable epocha in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of the continent to the other, from this time forward forevermore.

You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil, and blood, and treasure that it will cost us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet, through all the gloom, I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is more than worth all the means; and that posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God we shall not.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1743-1826.

THOMAS JEFFERSON, descended from a family which had been long settled in his native State, was born at Shadwell, Albemarle County, Virginia, on the 2d of April, 1743. After finishing his collegiate course of education at William's and Mary's College, he commenced the study of the law with the celebrated George Wythe, afterwards chancellor of the State. He was called to the bar in 1766; but the clouds that indicated the coming revolution were gathering faster and faster in the political horizon, demanding the clearest and coolest heads as well as the most intrepid spirits, to take the management of