By September 1776 the Americans rejected any peace short of independence

Evidence

The three-hour-long conference left little legacy beyond a memorable witticism. Lord Howe opened the meeting by speaking of his love for America and the king’s desire to grant colonial reforms. According to the report to Congress by the American conferees, he offered “no explicit proposition of peace” without submission to British rule. To this, the conferees reported, “We gave it as our opinion to his lordship that a return to the domination of great Britain was not now to be expected” in light of Britain’s past failures to address colonial grievances. This effectively ended the meeting, though Adams reported Howe adding that he would lament America’s fall “like the Loss of a Brother,” to which Franklin purportedly replied, “My Lord, We will do our Utmost Endeavours, to save your Lordship that mortification.” — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 252

Categorization

• XREF: Shows how, eight weeks after the Declaration, the conferees refused even to discuss submission — tying the drafting of July 4 to its immediate military-political consequence. Useful for the course’s treatment of how first principles harden into negotiating positions.
• CANDY: Franklin’s quip — offering to spare Howe the ‘mortification’ of lamenting America’s fall like a brother’s loss — is a short, self-contained, tweetable morsel of wit.