In October 1774, John Hancock, President of the Provincial Congress in Massachusetts, declared:
“We think it is incumbent upon this people to humble themselves before God on account of their sins, for He hath been pleased in His righteous judgment to suffer a great calamity to befall us, as the present controversy … And to implore the Divine Blessing upon us, that by the assistance of His grace, we may be enabled to reform whatever is amiss among us.”