people, by direct grant from themselves, shall give it to a general American government. There is yet no republic of America. There are yet no citizens of America. There are only citizens of thirteen respective nations, which nations are allied in an existing war. The affairs of the allied nations are being directed by a committee of delegates from the different nations, called the Congress. The first Committee or Congress of that kind, known in history as the First Continental Congress, had met at Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774, and “recommended peaceful concerted action against British taxation and coercion.” The second Committee, known as the Second Continental Congress, had assembled, also at Philadelphia, on May 10, 1775, and had assumed direction of the war. CHAPTER II THE STATE GOVERNMENTS FORM A UNION OF STATES We have now lived with the American of an earlier generation through the days in which he ceased to be a subject of any government, and in which he established forever in America the basic law that no government can exercise or possess any ability to interfere with his individual freedom except by direct grant from its citizens. We have seen him, in each of the former colonies, create a nation, become one of its citizens and, with his fellow citizens of that nation, give to its government _some_ ability _of that kind_. When we recall it to be the tribute of history that _these_ Americans were better acquainted with the science of government than any other people in the world, it is well to reflect for a moment upon the significant exhibition of that knowledge during the days through which we have just lived with them. When the suggestion came from Philadelphia, in the summer of 1776, that the Americans in each former colony constitute a government for their own nation and give to it a limited ability to govern themselves in restraint of their individual freedom, it is recorded history that Americans generally knew that a gift _of that kind_ to government could never be validly made by governments. It “was felt and acknowledged by all” that only its own citizens ever could grant ability _of that kind_ to any government.