Priestley in October 1775: In the winter of 1775, the Americans invaded newly-British Quebec under generals Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery, expecting to rally sympathetic colonists there. The attack was a failure; many Americans who weren't killed were either captured or died of smallpox. In March 1776, the Continental Army forced the British to evacuate Boston, with George Washington as the commander of the new army. The revolutionaries now fully controlled all thirteen colonies and were ready to declare independence. There still were many Loyalists, but they were no longer in control anywhere by July 1776, and all of the Royal officials had fled. Creating new state constitutions Following the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775, the Patriots had control of Massachusetts outside the Boston city limits, and the Loyalists suddenly found themselves on the defensive with no protection from the British army. In all 13 colonies, Patriots had overthrown their existing governments, closing courts and driving away British officials. They held elected conventions and "legislatures" that existed outside any legal framework; new constitutions were drawn up in each state to supersede royal charters. They proclaimed that they were now states, no longer colonies. On January 5, 1776, New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution. In May 1776, Congress voted to suppress all forms of crown authority, to be replaced by locally created authority. Virginia, South Carolina, and New Jersey created their constitutions before July 4. Rhode Island and Connecticut simply took their existing royal charters and deleted all references to the crown. The new states were all committed to republicanism, with no inherited offices. They decided what form of government to create, and also how to select those who would craft the constitutions and how the resulting document would be ratified. On 26 May 1776, John Adams wrote James Sullivan from Philadelphia warning against extending the franchise too far: The resulting constitutions in states such as Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, New York, and Massachusetts featured: Property qualifications for voting and even more substantial requirements for elected positions (though New York and Maryland lowered property qualifications) Bicameral legislatures, with the upper house as a check on the lower Strong governors with veto power over the legislature and substantial appointment authority Few or no restraints on individuals holding multiple positions in government The continuation of state-established religion In Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, the resulting constitutions embodied: universal manhood suffrage,