America’s First Break with Britain
On January 5, 1776, six months before Jefferson set pen to paper in Philadelphia, history was quietly made in the town of Exeter, New Hampshire. Meeting as the Fifth Provincial Congress, delegates adopted a constitution that severed all ties with royal authority, the first written constitution by any of the thirteen colonies. Though framed as a temporary wartime measure, it effectively became America’s first declaration of independence. This bold step was born out of lived experience: New Hampshire militia had secured powder and munitions from Fort William & Mary, marched to Lexington and Concord and stood firm at Bunker Hill. Combined with the collapse of the royal government, these sacrifices propelled the colony toward self-rule. Sometimes called the New Hampshire Constitution of 1776, this document marked the moment the colony ceased operating under the Royal Governor’s authority and built its own political framework. Its adoption both reshaped New Hampshire’s future, and influenced the broader Revolution. Serving as a model for other colonies, it laid a foundation for the evolution of American constitutionalism.
From Unrest to Rebellion
The 1770s were turbulent years in New Hampshire. Like their neighbors in Massachusetts, the people bristled under Britain’s Intolerable Acts and the increasingly heavy hand of their Royal Governor John Wentworth. As royal authority began to wane, local committees of Correspondence and Safety stepped in to handle civic and military matters. Everything from taxation to readiness for war continued to be debated at Town meetings. At the same time, the Provincial Congress, a body wholly separate from the royal government, steadily grew in authority.
Tensions had escalated in December 1774, when Paul Revere rode north to Portsmouth with a warning: British ships were coming to seize the gunpowder stored at Fort William & Mary. Local Patriots stormed their fort, carried away the munitions, and left the royal power in New Hampshire clearly weakened.
When the first shots rang out at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, New Hampshire men shouldered their muskets and marched south to join the fight. Just two months later at Bunker Hill, Colonel John Stark’s Regiment held the line at Breed’s Hill until their powder was exhausted. Though the colonists suffered heavy losses, their fierce stand proved the colonial militia could meet the King’s seasoned Regulars on equal terms.
The ensuing Siege of Boston made it clear that the conflict had become a full-scale war and that British control in New England was no longer secure. The effect on the home front was profound. New Hampshire families watched their sons, husbands and fathers march off to battle, some never to return. The urgency of the struggle left little doubt: they could no longer rely on a distant king or a a powerless royal governor.
The Collapse of Royal Authority
By the summer of 1775, Governor John Wentworth’s authority had collapsed. Patriots had seized militia stores, organized local defenses, and openly defied his directives. On August 23, 1775, Wentworth fled Portsmouth aboard a British ship, effectively leaving New Hampshire without any functioning royal government.
That December, the Continental Congress in Philadelphia acknowledged the collapse of royal authority across several colonies and urged them to “. . . take such measures as are necessary to establish governments of their own … in the best manner possible, consistently with their rights and liberties.”
A Constitution Born in Exeter
Heeding this advice, New Hampshire’s Fifth Provincial Congress convened in Exeter, New Hampshire on December 21, 1775, to draft a constitution. This body framed the a document to be adopted as a temporary form of government during “the present unhappy and unnatural contest with Great Britain.” On January 5, 1776, this constitution was completed and adopted. As noted in the official text, it was not submitted to a popular vote, but rather enacted by the Provincial Congress itself.
Although meant to be temporary, it carried enormous weight. This document created a two-house legislature; Towns elected representatives to the lower House, and that body in turn chose members for the upper Council. Together, these chambers wielded both legislative and executive power. Instead of a governor, the Council selected a President, who acted as chief executive but remained firmly under legislative control. Judges and other officers were appointed by the legislature as well.
What this Constitution left out was just as striking. There was no Bill of Rights, no sweeping preamble, and no nod to the authority of the Crown. It was not lofty prose; it was practical governance, designed to keep order, raise troops, levy taxes, and sustain the war effort.
A Declaration in All But Name
Though the New Hampshire Constitution of 1776 avoided the word “independence,” its meaning was unmistakable. By claiming authority from “the free suffrages of the people” rather than from the king, New Hampshire had severed its constitutional connection to Britain. This was months before Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence.
When Virginia and other colonies began drafting constitutions in the summer of 1776, they were following the path first blazed in Exeter. New Hampshire had shown that a colony could survive – and govern – without royal sanction.
Reception and Response
For many in New Hampshire, the new government was a point of pride. Towns had already been sending men and supplies to the front; now they had a government to direct those sacrifices. Loyalists grumbled, particularly around Portsmouth where royal ties were strongest, but the tide had turned.
The Continental Congress watched with interest. If New Hampshire could successfully run its own affairs, so could the others. The New Hampshire Constitution gave tangible proof that the colonies were capable of self-rule, not just in theory but in practice.
Legacy of a First
The New Hampshire Constitution of 1776 was the first state constitution in America. It remained in effect throughout the Revolutionary War until 1784, when a more permanent constitution, with a stronger executive and a Bill of Rights, replaced it.
Its importance, however, extended far beyond New Hampshire. This New Hampshire Constitution became a model for the other twelve colonies, demonstrating that legitimate, functional governments could be built without reference to the Crown. The basic principles; government grounded in the people’s consent, a legislature in command, and authority derived from the community rather than a monarch, were echoed in the state constitutions that followed.
Most of all, it proved that independence was more than a dream. It was already happening.
Conclusion
When New Hampshire’s Provincial Congress met in Exeter that cold January of 1776, its members could never have known that history would one day call their work America’s first Declaration of Independence. They only knew their government had collapsed, their men were fighting and dying, and their colony needed leadership.
What they created was more than a stopgap. It was a radical statement: that the people of New Hampshire could govern themselves. In doing so, they lit the path the other colonies would soon follow, leading straight to Philadelphia and the Declaration of Independence.
