June 23: Declaration Could Energize British Opposition to "Present System"

John Adams wrote several letters this date. To John Winthrop, Adams wrote, "It is now universally acknowledged that we are and must be independant states. But Still objections are made to a Declaration of it. It is said, that such a Declaration will arouse and unite Great Britain. But are they not already aroused and united, as much as they will be? Will not such a Declaration arouse and unite the Friends of Liberty...in opposition to the present System?"

Paul H. Smith, ed., Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789: Vol.4: May 16, 1776-August 15, 1776 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1979), page 298.