SAMUEL ADAMS.





TO THE LEGISLATURE OF MASSACHUSETTS.

MAY 31, 1796.

[Independent Chronicle, June 2, 1796; two texts are in the
Massachusetts Archives.]

FELLOW CITIZENS,

It is not my intention to interrupt your business by a lengthy Address.
I have requested a meeting with you at this time, principally with a
view of familiarizing the several branches of government with each
other, of cultivating harmony in sentiment upon constitutional
principles, and cherishing that mutual friendship which always invites
a free discussion in matters of important concern.

The Union of the States is not less important than that of the several
departments of each of them. We have all of us recently laid ourselves
under a sacred obligation to defend and support our Federal and State
Constitutions: A principal object in the establishment of the former,
as it is expressed in the preamble, was "to form a more perfect Union:"
To preserve this Union entire, and transmit it unbroken to posterity,
is the duty of the People of United America, and it is for their
lasting interest, their public safety and welfare. Let us then be