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Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British
parliament, claiming a power of right to bind the people of America by statute
in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some acts expressly imposed taxes on them,
and in others, under various pretenses, but in fact for the purpose of raising
a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these colonies, established
a board of commissioners with unconstitutional powers, and extended the
jurisdiction of courts of Admiralty not only for collecting the said duties,
but for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county.
And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges who
before held only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependent on
the Crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in times of peace.
And it has lately been resolved in Parliament, that by force of a statute made
in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of king Henry the Eighth, colonists may
be transported to England, and tried there upon accusations for treasons and
misprisions, or concealments of treasons committed in the colonies; and by a
late statute, such trials have been directed in cases therein mentioned.
And whereas, in the last session of Parliament, three
statutes were made; one entitled "An act to discontinue, in such manner and for
such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading, or
shipping of goods, wares and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbor of
Boston in the province of Massachusetts-bay, in North America;" another,
entitled "An act for the better regulating the government of the province of
the Massachusetts-bay in New England;" and another, entitled "An act for the
impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned for any
act done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots
and tumults, in the province of the Massachusetts-bay, in New England." And
another statute was then made, "for making more effectual provision for the
government of the province of Quebec, etc. All which statutes are impolitic,
unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most dangerous and
destructive of American rights.
And whereas, Assemblies have been frequently dissolved,
contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate on
grievances; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, & reasonable petitions to the
crown for redress, have been repeatedly treated with contempt, by His Majesty's
ministers of state:
The good people of the several Colonies of New Hampshire,
Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island and Providence plantations, Connecticut, New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle Kent and Sussex on Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, justly alarmed at these
arbitrary proceedings of parliament and administration, have severally elected,
constituted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit in general Congress, in
the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment, as that their
religion, laws, and liberties, may not be subverted:
Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now assembled,
in a full and free representation of these Colonies, taking into their most
serious consideration the best means of attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the
first place, as Englishmen their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for
asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties, declare,
- That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in North
America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English
constitution, and the several charters or compacts, have the following Rights:
- That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies,
were at the time of their emigration from the mother country, entitled to all
the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural born subjects within
the realm of England.
- That by such emigration they by no means forfeited,
surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were, and their
descendants now are entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them,
as their local and other circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy.
- That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free
government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative
council: and as the English colonists are not represented, and from their local
and other circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the British
parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in
their several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can
alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only
to the negative of their sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used
and accustomed. But, from the necessity of the case, and a regard to the mutual
interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such acts
of the British parliament, as are bona fide restrained to the regulation of our
external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the
whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its
respective members excluding every idea of taxation, internal or external, for
raising a revenue on the subjects in America without their consent.
- That the respective colonies are entitled to the common
law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of
being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that
law.
- That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the
English statutes, as existed at the time of their colonization; and which they
have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local
and other circumstances.
- That these, his majesty's colonies, are likewise
entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by
royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws.
- That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider
of their grievances, and petition the King; and that all prosecutions,
prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal.
- That the keeping a Standing army in these colonies, in
times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony in which
such army is kept, is against law.
- It is indispensably necessary to good government, and
rendered essential by the English constitution, that the constituent branches
of the legislature be independent of each other; that, therefore, the exercise
of legislative power in several colonies, by a council appointed during
pleasure, by the crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive to the
freedom of American legislation.
All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of
themselves, and their constituents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their
indubitable rights and liberties; which cannot be legally taken from them,
altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent, by their
representatives in their several provincial legislatures.
In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringements
and violations of the foregoing rights, which, from an ardent desire that
harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we
pass over for the present, and proceed to state such acts and measures as have
been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system formed to enslave
America.
Resolved, That the following acts of Parliament are
infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists; and that the
repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between
Great Britain and the American colonies, viz.:
The several Acts of 4 Geo. 3, ch. 15 & ch. 34; 5 Geo.
3, ch. 25; 6 Geo. 3, ch. 52; 7 Geo. 3, ch. 41 & 46; 8 Geo. 3, ch. 22; which
impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, extend the
powers of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the
American subject of trial by jury, authorize the judges' certificate to
indemnify the prosecutor from damages that he might otherwise be liable to,
requiring oppressive security from a claimant of ships and goods seized before
he shall be allowed to defend his property; and are subversive of American
rights.
Also the 12 Geo. 3, ch. 24, entitled "An act for the
better preserving his Majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and
stores," which declares a new offense in America, and deprives the American
subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the
trial of any person charged with the committing any offense described in the
said act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried for the same in any shire
or county within the realm.
Also the three acts passed in the last session of
parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor of Boston, for
altering the charter & government of the Massachusetts bay, and that which
is entitled "An Act for the better administration of Justice," &c.
Also the act passed the same session for establishing the
Roman Catholic Religion in the province of Quebec, abolishing the equitable
system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the great danger, from
so great a dissimilarity of Religion, law, and government, of the neighboring
British colonies by the assistance of whose blood and treasure the said country
was conquered from France.
Also the act passed the same session for the better
providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his Majesty's service
in North America.
Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of these
colonies, in time of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that
colony in which the army is kept, is against law.
To these grievous acts and measures Americans cannot
submit, but in hopes that their fellow subjects in Great Britain will, on a
revision of them, restore us to that state in which both countries found
happiness and prosperity, we have for the present only resolved to pursue the
following peaceable measures: 1st. To enter into a non-importation,
non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement or association. 2. To prepare an
address to the people of Great Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of
British America, & 3. To prepare a loyal address to his Majesty, agreeable
to resolutions already entered into.
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