I have been an American from the day I was born in 1731. It was in West River, Anne Arundel County, Maryland where I grew up. I decided to get an education and after completing my preliminary study I grew a taste for religious speculating. After that I decided to go into law and practice in Philadelphia. In 1757 I was chosen to be on the assembly of Pennsylvania and was on it till the Revolution. In 1766 I was voted unanimously as the Pennsylvania Assemblies speaker until about 1774. Between that time I attended Princeton where I was given the degree of LL.D. I also made several speeches including many in opposition to John Dickinson, I, being in favor of changing the government from proprietary to the royal form. Chief Justice Allen and I spoke to the Provincial congress trying to influence them in favor of the king. When the colonies began to struggle I felt sympathy for the crown and became an active Troy. .
In 1774 I became a member of the congress and proposed a new type of government consisting of a president general, and a grand council. The president general would be appointed by the king and was to hold office as long as the king was pleased with him. The grand council would be chosen every three years and was chosen be the colonial assemblies. Soon after presenting the idea I published "A Candid Examination of the Mutual Claims of Great Britain and the Colonies: with a Plan of Accommodation on Constitutional Principals." I served only one year for congress, 1775, they rejected my plan and I was unable to maintain neutrality in the Revolution. I then joined Sir William Howe after the British occupied Philadelphia and acted as civil administrator during the British occupation of the city. I joined the British army and moved to England where I became the spokesman of American Loyalist. By 1788 the General Assembly of Pennsylvania had convicted me of high treason and confiscated all my estates.
