May 20, 1776: John Adams to James Warren

John Adams was glad to meet Button Gwinnett and Lyman Hall, Esquires, delegates from Georgia, and glad to learn that their colony authorized them to vote as seemed proper to them. Adams wrote, "Every Post and every Day rolls in upon Us Independance like a Torrent. The Delegates from Georgia made their Appearance, this Day, in Congress, with unlimited Powers, and these Gentlemen themselves are very firm."

Despite the vulnerability of Georgia, to potential British allies like the Creek and Cherokee Nations, the Georgia Provincial Congress reminded the delegates "to keep in view the general Utility, remembering that the Great and Righteous Cause in which we are engaged is not Provincial but Continental."

The Georgia Congress credentials for the delegates to the "Grand Continental Congress" concluded, "We therefore, Gentlemen, shall rely upon your Patriotism, Abilities, Firmness and Integrity, to propose, join and concur in all such measures as you shall think calculated for the common good...."

Paul Herbert Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol. 4: May 16-August 14, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 40; Worthington Chauncey Ford, ed.,Journals of the Continental Congress 1774-1789: Vol. 4: January 1-June 4, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1906), page 367, note 1.