the manufacture of saltpetre, and to locate a magazine for military stores on the Wissahickon. The assembly appointed him one of the Committee in April, 1776, and in August he was elected its vice-president. As presiding officer he issued in November two proclamations, printed in the form of handbills, one of which announced to the citizens that the enemy were advancing, and that only the most vigorous measures could prevent the city from falling into their hands, “We therefore entreat you by the most sacred of all bonds, the love of virtue, of liberty, and of your country, to forget every distinction, and unite as one man in this time of extreme danger. Let us defend ourselves like men determined to be free.” The other was addressed to the colonels of battalions, and informing them that General Howe with his army was already at Trenton, continued, “This glorious opportunity of signalizing himself in defense of our country, and securing the rights of America forever, will be seized by every man who has a spark of patriotism in his bosom.” In March, 1776, he was elected a member of the Assembly from the city of Philadelphia, and later a member of the Convention which met July 15th, 1776, and drafted the first Constitution for the State of Pennsylvania. No delegate to the Convention was intrusted with more important duties than he, and frequently he presided over its deliberations. He was one of the committee which drafted the frame of government, and subsequently, together with Benjamin Franklin and William Vanhorn, he revised its language. A committee of which he was a member prepared an address to the people setting forth the reasons for the different actions which had been taken. On the 8th of April, 1777, David Rittenhouse, Owen Piddle, Joseph Dean, Richard Bache, and John Shee were appointed a board of war for the State of Pennsylvania;
