Printed in the Journals of the Continental Congress, 2:81.

William Hooper (1742–1790), a Boston native and 1760 graduate of Harvard, moved to North Carolina in 1764. He practiced law there but was disbarred for one year after publishing a series of articles against the Crown. Hooper was a member of the Colonial Assembly of North Carolina (1773–1776) and one of the province’s delegates to the Continental Congress (1774–1777), where he signed the Declaration of Independence ( DAB ).

The resolve for a fast that was reported back to Congress on June 12 included a supplication “to the all-wise, omnipotent, and merciful Disposer of all events ... to bless our rightful sovereign, King George the third, and to inspire him with wisdom to discern and pursue the true interest of all his subjects, that a speedy end may be put to the civil discord between Great Britain and the American colonies, without farther effusion of blood.” The full text appears in the Journals of the Continental Congress , 2:87–88.