In the more enduring passages there are four fundamental ideas which,from the standpoint of the old system of government,were the essence of revolution:（1）all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights including life,liberty,and the pursuit of happiness;（2.the purpose of government is to secure these rights;（3）governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed;（4）whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute new government,laying its foundations on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.Here was the prelude to the historic drama of democracya challenge to every form of government and every privilege not founded on popular assent.
The Establishment of Government and the New AllegianceThe Committees of Correspondence.As soon as debate had passed into armed resistance,the patriots found it necessary to consolidate their forces by organizing civil government.This was readily effected,for the means were at hand in town meetings,provincial legislatures,and committees of correspondence.The working tools of the Revolution were in fact the committees of correspondencesmall,local,unofficial groups of patriots formed to exchange views and create public sentiment.As early as November,1772,such a committee had been created in Boston under the leadership of Samuel Adams.It held regular meetings,sent emissaries to neighboring towns,and carried on a campaign of education in the doctrines of liberty.
The Colonies of North America at the Time of the Declaration of IndependenceUpon local organizations similar in character to the Boston committee were built county committees and then the larger colonial committees,congresses,and conventions,all unofficial and representing the revolutionary elements.Ordinarily the provincial convention was merely the old legislative assembly freed from all royalist sympathizers and controlled by patriots.Finally,uponthese colonial assemblies was built the Continental Congress,the precursor of union under the Articles of Confederation and ultimately under the Constitution of the United States.This was the revolutionary government set up within the British empire in America.
State Constitutions Framed.With the rise of these new assemblies of the people,the old colonial governments broke down.From the royal provinces the governor,the judges,and the high officers fled in haste,and it became necessary to substitute patriot authorities.The appeal to the colonies advising them to adopt a new form of government for themselves,issued by the Congress in May,1776,was quickly acted upon.Before the expiration of a year,Virginia,New Jersey,Pennsylvania,Delaware,Maryland,Georgia,and New York had drafted new constitutions as states,not as colonies uncertain of their destinies.Connecticut and Rhode Island,holding that their ancient charters were equal to their needs,merely renounced their allegiance to the king and went on as before so far as the form of government was concerned.South Carolina,which had drafted a temporary plan early in 1776,drew up a new and more complete constitution in 1778.Two years later Massachusetts with much deliberation put into force its fundamental law,which in most of its essential features remains unchanged today.
The new state constitutions in their broad outlines followed colonial models.For the royal governor was substituted a governor or president chosen usually by the legislature;but in two instances,New York and Massachusetts,by popular vote.For the provincial council there was substituted,except in Georgia,a senate;while the lower house,or assembly,was continued virtually without change.The old property restriction on the suffrage,though lowered slightly in some states,was continued in full force to the great discontent of the mechanics thus deprived of the ballot.The special qualifications,laid down in several constitutions,for governors,senators,and representatives,indicated that the revolutionary leaders were not prepared for any radical experiments in democracy.The protests of a few women,like Mrs.John Adams of Massachusetts and Mrs.Henry Corbin of Virginia,against a government which excluded them from political rights were treated as mild curiosities of no significance,although in New Jersey women were allowed to vote for many years on the same terms as men.
By the new state constitutions the signs and symbols of royal power,of authority derived from any source save "the people,"were swept aside and republican governments on an imposing scale presented for the first time to the modern world.Copies of these remarkable documents prepared by plain citizens were translated into French and widely circulated in Europe.Therethey were destined to serve as a guide and inspiration to a generation of constitutionmakers whose mission it was to begin the democratic revolution in the Old World.
The Articles of Confederation.The formation of state constitutions was an easy task for the revolutionary leaders.They had only to build on foundations already laid.The establishment of a national system of government was another matter.There had always been,it must be remembered,a system of central control over the colonies,but Americans had had little experience in its operation.When the supervision of the crown of Great Britain was suddenly broken,the patriot leaders,accustomed merely to provincial statesmanship,were poorly trained for action on a national stage.