The gathered soldiers took an oath of allegiance to Kosciuszko. The officers and government officials all filed into city hall. One of the angry burghers suggested that they take down the portrait of King Stanislaw hanging on the wall and throw it away. The consensus was that it would be a petty act, so Stanislaw’s face was left on the wall, staring down on them as they plotted his overthrow.14 One after another they all took the quill pen, dipped it into the inkwell, and signed their names under the Act of Insurrection. Copies were sent out to foreign newspapers and the governments of France,
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