ABSTRACT
From July of the Olive Branch Petition, 1775, until July of the Declaration of Independence, 1776, Americans spent an agonizing year. King George rejected their final peace offering, scorning any proposed settlement from a "rebel" Congress. The condition of non-government, or at best extra-legal government, in which the states existed was anath ema to Adams' lawyer's soul. It was a hazardous tightrope to try to walk, a temptation to evil on the part of rebels, mobs and general malcontents. Moreover, without state governments Adams could hardly see how the Colonies might call themselves independent. The confusion that gripped the states could not continue much longer. One by one, each colony now requested Congress to recommend a form of government that it might adopt. Massachusetts, torn asunder as it had been for months, was the first of the Colonies to cry for help in its predicament. Congress gave to New Hampshire a more liberal direction than it had given to Massachusetts.
