Both were learned and able lawyers. They were
natives and inhabitants, respectively, of those two of the colonies
which at the revolution were the largest and most powerful, and which
naturally had a lead in the political affairs of the times. When the
colonies became in some degree united, by the assembling of a general
congress, they were brought to act together in its deliberations, not
indeed at the same time, but both at early periods. Each had already
manifested his attachment to the cause of the country, as well as his
ability to maintain it, by printed addresses, public speeches, extensive
correspondence, and whatever other mode could be adopted for the purpose
of exposing the encroachments of the British parliament, and animating
the people to a manly resistance. Both, were not only decided, but
early, friends of independence. While others yet doubted, they were
resolved; where others hesitated, they pressed forward. They were both
members of the committee for preparing the declaration of independence,
and they constituted the sub-committee appointed by the other members to
make the draft. They left their seats in congress, being called to other
public employment, at periods not remote from each other, although one
of them returned to it afterward for a short time.
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