July 4, 1776

Abraham Clark, one of the pro-independence delegates New Jersey sent to the Continental Congress in June, wrote to Elias Dayton, a colonel in Continental Army, “Our Seeming bad Success in Canada, I dare say gives you great uneasiness…. In the Course of Such a War we must expect some Losses. We are told a Panick Seized the Army. If so it hath not reached the Senate. At the Time our Forces in Canada were retreating before a Victorious Army, while Genl. Howe with a Large Armament is Advancing towards N. York, Our Congress Resolved to Declare the United Colonies Free and independent States.”


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), 378.