May 21, 1776

On May 20, 1776, thousands of people gathered outside of the Pennsylvania State House in the pouring rain to decide how to respond to the Continental Congress’s recommendation for a new government. One of the outcomes of this meeting was that an election was set for Monday, July 8, to choose representatives from each county for a constitutional convention.

 This protest from “the inhabitants of the city and liberties of Philadelphia, in behalf of ourselves and others, the inhabitants of Pennsylvania,” was meant to explain the necessity of this election to the members of the current colonial government. The power of the Pennsylvania Assembly was “derived from our mortal enemy the King of Great-Britain,” and moreover, “the members thereof were elected by such persons only as were either in real or supposed allegiance to the said King.” These representatives could not be trusted to create a new government “under the ‘AUTHORITY of the PEOPLE.’”

The Pennsylvania Evening Post
Printed by Benjamin Towne

The PROTEST of divers of the Inhabitants of this province, in behalf of themselves and others.

To the Honorable the Representatives of the province of Pennsylvania.
Gentlemen,

WE, the inhabitants of the city and liberties of Philadelphia, in behalf of ourselves and others, the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, conceive it our duty to represent unto this House as followeth:

That whereas the Hon. Continental Congress hath by a resolve bearing date the 15th instant, recommending the taking up, and establishing new governments throughout all the United Colonies, under the “AUTHORITY of the PEOPLE;” and as the chartered power of this House is derived from our mortal enemy the King of Great-Britain, and the members thereof were elected by such persons only as were either in real or supposed allegiance to the said King, to the exclusion of many worthy inhabitants, whom the aforesaid resolve of Congress hath now rendered electors; and as this House, in its present state, is in immediate intercourse with a Governor bearing the said King’s commission, and who is his sworn representative, holding, and by oath obliged to hold, official correspondence with the Ministers of the said King, and is not within the reach of any act of ours to be absolved therefrom—We therefore, in this solemn manner, in behalf of ourselves and others, do hereby renounce and protest against the authority and qualification of this House for framing a new government.

As we mean not to enter into any altercation with this House, we shall forbear enumerating the particular inconsistencies of its former conduct, and content ourselves with declaring that, as a body of men bound by oaths of allegiance to our enemy, and influenced, as many of its members are, either by connections with, or pecuniary employments under the Proprietary of this province, who is likewise the said King’s representative, it is, to all good intents and purposes, disqualified to take into consideration the late Resolve of Congress; and, as an House, is not within the description mentioned in the said Resolve as an “Assembly under the authority of the people” only, and because likewise that we have very alarming apprehensions that a new government modelled by persons so inconsistently circumstanced would be the means of subjecting ourselves and our posterity to greater grievances than any we have hitherto experienced.

In thus protesting against the authority of this House for framing a new government, we mean not to object against its exercising the proper powers it has hitherto been accustomed to use, for the safety and convenience of the province; until such time as a new constitution, originating from, and founded on, “the authority of the people,” shall be finally settled by a Provincial Convention to be elected for that purpose, and until the proper officers and representatives of the people, shall be chosen agreeable thereto and qualified to succeed this House—For which purpose an application will be made to the Committee of Inspection and Observation of the city and liberties (whose services on all occasions hath been applied to the support of the rights of the people) for calling a conference of Committees of the several counties of this province, agreeable to the powers it is already invested with for that purpose, which said conference of Committees shall issue out summonses for electing, by ballot, a Provincial Convention, consisting of at least 100 members, for the purpose of carrying the said resolve of Congress into execution—As we are fully convinced, that our safety and happiness, next to the immediate province of God, depend on our complying with, and supporting firmly the said resolve of Congress, that thereby the union of the colonies may be preserved inviolate.