that one honest man was worth more to society than “all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.” Persuasively he presented the alternatives – continued submission to a tyrannical king and an outworn government or liberty and happiness as a self-sufficient, independent republic. Circulated throughout the colonies, the pamphlet helped to crystallize conviction and to rally the undecided to the cause of separation.
There still remained the task of gaining the approval of each colony to a formal declaration of separation. There was common agreement that the Continental Congress should take no such definitive step as independence without first receiving explicit instructions from the colonies. But the Congress daily heard of the establishment of other new extralegal colonial governments and of delegates being authorized to vote for independence. At the same time, the