of his fellow-citizens. He watched with much solicitude the rapid strides which the oppressions of Great Britain were making in this country, and having expressed his sentiments fearlessly, his townsmen elected him a member of the General Court of the province, in 1773. There he soon became a bold and energetic leader, ingenious in devising plans of operation, and judicious and zealous in their execution. He was connected with John Adams and others in carrying through resolutions that had been offered in the General Court, having reference to the removal of Governor Hutchinson from office.*

Mr. Gerry was active in all the leading political movements in Massachusetts until the War broke out. He was a member of the first Provincial Congress of that province, and was one of the most efficient opposers of Governor Gage. He was a member of the Provincial Congress at the time of the battle of Bunker Hill. The night preceding that event, he and General Warren slept together in the same bed. They bade each other an affectionate farewell in the morning, and separated, Mr. Gerry to go to the Congress, sitting at Watertown, and Dr. Warren to be slain upon the battle-field.

In January, 1776, Mr. Gerry was elected a delegate to the Continental Congress. There his commercial knowledge proved very useful, and he was put upon many com

* Governor Hutchinson, who had already become very obnoxious to the people, became insupportable after the discovery of some letters of his to the English Ministers, recommending the enforcement of rigid measures against the Americans, and the curtailment of the privileges of the colonies. These letters were put into the hands of Dr. Franklin, then Colonial Agent in England, and by him they were immediately transmitted to the General Court of Massachusetts. They produced great excitement, and a petition was adopted and forwarded to the Ministers, asking for the removal of Hutchinson. It was on the occasion of Dr. Franklin's presenting this petition to the English Privy Council, thas he was so violently assailed by Wedderburn, the Solicitor General. Franklin made no reply, but on going to his lodgings, he took off his suit of clothes, and declared that he would never put it on again until he had signed "America's Independence, and England's degradation." When, nearly ten years afterward, he signed the treaty of peace between the two governments, he again put on that suit of clothes.

mittees where such knowledge was needed. He had been previously elected a Judge of the Court of Admiralty, but preferring a more active life, he declined the appointment. He was a warm supporter of the resolution of Mr. Lee, declaring the United States free and independent, and he signed his name to the Declaration on the second of August, following its adoption.

In 1777, Mr. Gerry was appointed one of a committee to visit Washington at his headquarters at Valley Forge. The report of that committee had a great effect upon Congress, and caused more efficient measures to be taken for the relief and support of the army. In 1780 he retired from Congress to look after his private affairs, but was re-elected in 1783. In all the financial operations of that body, Mr. Gerry was indefatigably engaged. In 1785 he again retired from Congress, and fixed his residence in Cambridge.

Mr. Gerry was a member of the Convention of Massachusetts which adopted the present Constitution of the United States. He was so opposed to many of its leading features that he never subscribed his name to it, but when it became the fundamental law of the land, he did all in his power to carry out its provisions. He was twice elected a member of the House of Representatives of the United States under it, and after faithful services he again retired to private life.

Mr. Adams, when President, knew and appreciated the abilities of Mr. Gerry, and he called him forth from his domestic quiet, by nominating him one of three envoys to the Court of France. The joint mission was not received by that government, but Mr. Gerry was accepted, and this made him very unpopular with a large portion of the people of the United States. Mr.

a 1798.

*The joint commission consisted of Elbridge Gerry, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and John Marshall, (the late Chief Justice.) The relations between the two

Af

Gerry considered it his duty to remain, and did so. ter his return from France, the Republicans* of Massachusetts nominated him for Governor. He failed the first time, but was elected the next. In 1811, he was nominated for, and elected, Vice President of the United States.

a 1810.

While in the performance of his duties at the seat of government, he was suddenly seized with illness, and died on the twenty-third of November, 1814, at the age of seventy years. He was entombed in the Congressional Cemetery, and a handsome monument was erected to his memory by Congress.

governments were not at all friendly at that time, and Messrs. Pinckney and Marshall were ordered to leave the country. Mr. Gerry was desired to remain. The Federalists of the United States, who were opposed to the French, strongly condemned Mr. Gerry for remaining, while the Republicans, who sympathized with the French Revolutionists, applauded him. At that time, however, the Federalists were a powerful majority, and hence Mr. Gerry disappointed the great majority of his intelligent countrymen. The feeling of hostility toward France, at that time, was very acrimonious on the part of the Federalists; for the meddling impertinence of Citizen Genet, the French Minister, had roused a feeling of indignation against him and his people that can hardly be conceived at the present day. Hoping to gain for his country the aid and friendly alliance of the United States, he sought to involve us in a war with Great Britain; and he actually issued Letters of Marque to vessels of war, to sail from American ports and cruise against the English and other enemies of France. This brought forth from President Washington a proclamation of neutrality. Genet then threatened to appeal to the people of the United States. Finally, Washington became tired of his officiousness, and demanded and obtained his recall. But he left behind him a violence of party spirit between the Federalists and Republicans, unknown until then.

* At this time party spirit continued to run very high between the Federalists and Republicans, the two great political parties of the Union. The more progressive policy of the republican party, was so consonant with the spirit of the people, that it increased rapidly from its birth, and finally became so powerful, that Federalism, as a watchword of party, and in truth the Federal party became extinct in 1819.

*

of Providence, Rhode Island, on the seventh of March, 1707. His mother was the daughter of one of the first Baptist ministers of Providence. The opportunities for acquiring education at the time of Mr. Hopkins' childhood," were rare, but his vigorous intellect, in a measure, became a substitute for these opportunities, and

The town was subsequently divided, and the portion in which Mr. Hopkins was born is now called Scituate.

44

he became self-taught, in the truest sense of the word. Mr. Hopkins was a farmer until 1731, when he removed to Providence and engaged in mercantile business. In 1732, he was chosen a representative for Scituate in the General Assembly, and was re-chosen annually until 1738. He was again elected in 1741, and was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives. From that time until 1751, he was almost every year a member and speaker of the assembly. That year he was chosen Chief Justice of the Colony.

Mr. Hopkins was a delegate to the Colonial Convention held in Albany in 1754.* He was elected Governor of the Colony in 1756, and continued in that office almost the whole time, until 1767. During the French war, Governor Hopkins was very active in promoting the enlistment of volunteers for the service, and when Montcalm seemed to be sweeping all before him at the north,† Hopkins raised a volunteer corps, and was placed at its head; but its services were not needed, and it was disbanded.

He early opposed the oppressive acts of Great Britain, and in 1774, he held three offices of great responsibility, which were conferred upon him by the patriots-namely: Chief Justice of Rhode Island, representative in the Provincial Assembly, and delegate to the Continental Congress. At this time he introduced a bill into the Assembly of Rhode Island, to prevent the importation of slaves; and to show that his professions, on this point,

* This Convention was called for the purpose of concerting measures to op. pose more effectually the encroachments of the French settlers, and to hold a conference with the Six Nations of Indians. Dr. Franklin was a member of that Convention and submitted a plan of union for the colonies which contained all the essential features of our present Constitution.

† Montcalm was commander of the French force that invaded the northern portions of New York, in 1757. He was driven back to Canada, and was attacked by the English, under Wolfe, upon the Plains of Abraham, at Quebec, where he was mortally wounded.