Colonies moved toward independence uncertain whether local or congressional action made them sovereign

Evidence

Although Jefferson claimed not to have followed political developments closely while at home, he had read Common Sense, knew about critical events in Norfolk and Boston, and recognized that support for separation had grown in Virginia and Congress. During March, South Carolina adopted a republican constitution to replace its royal patent. In April, North Carolina approved resolves directing its delegates in Congress to concur with other colonies in declaring independence and began drafting a new constitution. These documents listed enough grievances against the king to justify separating from Britain without stating whether their adoption alone made the colony independent or whether Congress also needed to act for the colonies as a whole. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 189

Categorization

• XREF: The sovereignty question - colony vs. Congress declaring independence - prefigures later federalism debates over where ultimate authority lies. — connects to: Independence required each colony to first form its own republican government — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 162; American independence emerged from a continental shift from rights to revolution — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 30