Author: Publisher:
ISBN: 9781331913672
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 722
Book Description
Excerpt from Names of Persons Who Took the Oath of Allegiance to the States of Pennsylvania: Between the Years 1776 and 1794 As early as May, 1776, the Continental Congress declared that it was "irreconcilable to reason and good conscience that the American people should take the oaths for the support of government under the crown of Great Britain," and that it was "necessary that every kind of authority under the crown should be suppressed." The struggle which ensued between those in the Proprietary interest, represented principally by the members of the Assembly, and the Whigs of the Revolution, was bitter, but the plan of the latter for the calling of a Convention was finally successful. At a conference of the committees of observation for the different counties held at Carpenter's Hall's on the 18th of June, 1776, it was resolved that it "was necessary to call a Provincial Convention to form a new government in the authority of the people only, and the following religious test was proposed to the members threeof; "I ---, do profess in God the Father and in Jesus Christ His Eternal Son, the true God. and in the Holy Spirit one God blessed evermore, and do acknowledge the sacred Scriptures of the Old and New Testament to be given by Divine inspiration." Notwithstanding the spirit of intolerance which actuated the adoption of this oath, immediate efforts were taken fora proper representation of every county in the State. The Convention met on the 15th of July, the members without hesitancy taking the prescribed test, and "during its session it not only discussed and perfected the measures necessary in the adoption of a Constitution, but assumed the supreme authority in the State, and legislated upon matters foreign to the object for which it was convened. Among other matters this body appointed a Council of Safety, to carry on the executive duties of the government, approved of the Declaration of Independence, and appointed justices of the peace who were required before assuming their functions to each take an oath of renunciation of the authority of George III, and one of allegiance to the State of Pennsylvania. The old Assembly which had adjourned on the 14th of June to meet on the 14th of August, could not obtain a quorum, and adjourned again to the 23d of September. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.