Pennsylvania had been
created in 1681 by a charter given to William Penn by King Charles II. This
gave Penn and his descendants ‘Proprietorship’ or ownership of the government
and all of the land of the colony, which they sold to the arriving
settlers. There was an elected Assembly
but as the colony grew in numbers and westward expansion, and diversity of
nationalities and religion, the membership never accomplished what we would
call ‘reapportionment’.
This resulted in an
Assembly dominated by Quakers and Philadelphia interests which, while it had
sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress, had instructed those
delegates not to support rebellion.
 |
| When the Proprietary Assembly meeting in the Pennsylvania State House concluded its business on June 14, 1776, it intended to return on August 26. It never did. |
An assortment of groups
throughout the colonies, known as ‘committees of correspondence’, ‘committees
of safety’, or the Sons of Liberty maintained organized opposition to
oppressive British measures.
Our John Smilie was
elected by Drumore Township to the Lancaster County Committee of Correspondence
in 1775.
 |
| Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, about 1 ½ block east of the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall), was the meeting place of the Pennsylvania Provincial Conference, June 18 – 25, 1776 |
The committees of Pennsylvania
assembled at Carpenters Hall, Philadelphia, June 18, 1776 and remained in
session until the 25th. John
was one of the delegates from Lancaster County.
Some of the results of the
meeting:
·
Declared the
Proprietary government ended
·
Instructed
Pennsylvania’s delegates to the Second Continental Congress to support independence
·
Set about forming
a new state constitution
·
Began raising
6,000 men for the Continental Army
The following links give
detail to the event:
PA Museum Commission
Independence Hall
Association/USHistory.org
Pennsylvania Magazine of
History and Biography, vol.58, issue 4, October, 1934
Edgar
Williams/Philadelphia Inquirer
disclosure: Edgar Williams (1919 – 1999), the senior
writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer
when he retired in January 1989, continued to write a weekly column and special
interest pieces until his death. He was Edward Black's father-in-law.
Header: left, Carpenters
Hall, Philadelphia, photo by Davidt8, via Wikimedia Commons
center, Congress Hall,
Philadelphia, House of Representatives Chamber, National Park Service photo
right, Grave of John
Smilie, Congressional Cemetery, Washington, DC, photo by Robert C. Keller
