Framing Its First Constitution
In its initial sessions, the Fifth Provincial Congress largely followed the pattern of its predecessors, focusing on the urgent wartime tasks of raising, organizing, and sustaining New Hampshire’s troops. That focus shifted dramatically on December 27, 1775, when delegates introduced a measure concerning the colony’s future government. After deliberation, the Congress resolved to “take up Government in such mode & Form as this Congress shall hereafter think fit” and appointed a committee of fifteen to draft a plan for governing during the ongoing conflict with Great Britain. The committee included Hon. Matthew Thornton, Meshech Weare, Ebenezer Thompson, Wyseman Clagett, Benjamin Giles, Phillips White, John Hurd, Israel Morey, Samuel Sherburne, Clement March, John Dudley, James Britton, Nora Emery, Jonathan Blanchard, and Jonathan Lovewell. Although this larger committee produced no formal report, the momentum toward self-rule was unmistakable.
On the afternoon of the following day, the Congress appointed a smaller committee – ”Thornton, Weare, Thompson, Clagett, and Giles” with explicit instructions to immediately prepare and present a draft constitution for the colony’s rule and government, setting New Hampshire on a decisive path toward constitutional independence.
Bibliography
- Walker, Joseph Burbeen. New Hampshire’s Five Provincial Congresses, July 21, 1774–January 5, 1776: A Paper Read in Part at a Meeting of the New Hampshire Historical Society, January 11, 1905; with an Appendix Containing Brief Notices of Persons Mentioned Therein. Concord, NH: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1905. (Archives.org)
- New Hampshire. (18671943). Provincial and state papers. Concord, V7, pp 690-710. (HathiTrust.org)
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