PREFACE.
The following Journal of the first Congress, or Convention, of the American colonies, to oppose the tyrannical Acts of Great Britain, was found (with the official signature of John Cotton, Clerk,) among the papers of the Hon. Cæsar Rodney, the Delegate from Delaware, by his nephew, Cæsar A. Rodney, Esq., and was by him handed to Mr. Niles, of the "National Register," for publication, in the year 1812, after having been long sought for in vain by the statesmen of that day. Of this interesting and fortunate discovery, Mr. Niles gives a brief account, which he has prefixed to the first page of the Journal. To this statement of Mr. Niles, the present editor has only to add, on the authority of the late Henry Cruger, of this city, (who was in 1774 the defender of our Rights in the British Parliament,[1]) that the first movement toward this Convention was made by two gentlemen of New York city, Mr. John Cruger and Mr. Robert Livingston, the former of whom was at that time Mayor of the city, and Speaker of the House of Assembly, and took a leading part in every patriotic movement of his day. These gentlemen (with three others) had been appointed a committee[2] of the House of Assembly to correspond, as well with their agent in Great Britain, as with the Assemblies of the other Colonies, on the subject of opposing the Stamp Act, and other oppressive Acts of Parliament. In the discharge of these duties, Mr. Cruger and Mr. Livingston took great interest, and prosecuted their correspondence with great zeal and assiduity, urging upon the Colonial Assemblies the necessity of holding a Convention of Delegates, to remonstrate and protest against the continued violation of their Rights and Liberties. In compliance with these suggestions, the subject was earnestly discussed in the Assembly of Massachusetts, and a circular letter issued by that body to the Legislatures of the sister Colonies, recommending that the proposed Congress be held in the city of New York on the first Tuesday of October, 1765. At this time and place, the Delegates accordingly assembled, although it was an earlier day than had at first been contemplated, and before the regular sessions of the Assemblies in some of the Colonies took place, to allow of their making an official
