Note 403 — Chapter XXVI
Reading edition
History of the United States, Vol. III., Chap. xxxiii., pp. 137, 138.
On the 18th of June, 1776, about two weeks before adopting the Declaration of Independence, Congress "Resolved,—That no man in these colonies charged with being a Tory, or unfriendly to the cause of American liberty, be injured in his person or property, unless the proceeding against him be founded on an order of Congress or Committee," etc. But this resolution amounted practically to nothing. It seems to have been intended to allay the fears and weaken the opposition of loyalists, but contributed nothing for their protection, or to mitigate the cruel persecutions everywhere waged against them.