In this diary excerpt John Rowe mentions that he was offered and refused, being "much engaged," the position of moderator of the town meeting. He goes on to report that "the Governor [Thomas Gage] Disolvd the Assembly" and that, in response, the General Court chose five delegates- James Bowdoin, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine and Thomas Cushing- to attend the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. Unknown to Rowe at the time, Bowdoin would decline the position, due to his own ill health and that of his wife, and be replaced by John Hancock.