Note 666 — Chapter III

This Congress issued a very strong declaration "of the causes and necessity of taking up arms." It sought by clear statements "to quiet the minds of our friends and fellow-subjects. We do not mean to dissolve the union. Necessity has not driven us into that desperate measure. We have not raised armies with the ambitious designs of separation from Great Britain, and establishing independent states." This hesitating and vacillating course of the first two congresses would naturally encourage the British ministry in the belief, first, that the colonists were by no means of one mind as to valid reasons for a united opposition to government; and second, that the strength of the existing feelings of loyalty and attachment, backed by efficient policy, would withstand any looking towards independence.