oblivion, shall bury in forgetfulness every former dissention. Let the names of Whig and Tory be extinct ; and let none other be heard among us, than those of a good citizen, an open and resolute friend, and a virtuous supporter of the rights of mankind and of the free and independant states of America.
[Thomas Paine], Appendix to Common Sense ; appended to Common Sense: addressed to the Inhabitants of America. . . . Written by an Englishman (Philadelphia, 1776), 66-71 passim.
187. Difficulties in Framing a State Constitution (1776)
New Hampshire was the first colony to draw up a constitution. This piece illustrates the foundation of the system of formal state constitutions. — Bibliography : Winsor, Narrative and Critical History VI, 268-274; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 143. — Compare with earlier colonial governments, Part III above.
In Congress, at Exeter, January 5, 1776.
WE, the Members of the Congress of the Colony of New-Hampshire, chosen and appointed by the free suffrages of the people of said Colony, and authorized and empowered by them to meet together, and use such means, and pursue such measures, as we should judge best for the publick good ; and, in particular, to establish some form of Government, provided that measure should be recommended by the Continental Congress ; and a recommendation to that purpose having been transmitted to us, from the said Congress, have taken into our serious consideration the unhappy circumstances into which this Colony is involved, by means of many grievous and oppressive acts of the British Parliament, depriving us of our native and constitutional rights and privileges ; to enforce obedience to which acts, a powerful fleet and army have been sent into this country by the Ministry of Great Britain, who have exercised a wanton and cruel abuse of their power, in destroying the lives and properties of the Colonists, in many places with fire and sword, taking the ships and lading from many of the honest and industrious inhabitants of this Colony employed in commerce, agreeable to the laws and customs a long time used here.
