| To print: Click here or Select Print on the File menu. |
OCTOBER 14, 1774
Whereas, since the close
of the last war, the British parliament, claiming a power, of right, to bind
the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some acts,
expressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under various presences, 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 theiroffices, have been made dependant on the crown alone for their
salaries, and standing armies kept in times of peace:
And whereas 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 harbour of Boston,
in the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New England;" another entitled,
"An act for the better regulating the government of the province of 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 theMassachusetts-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; andtheir dutiful,
humble, loyal, and 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:
Resolved,
N.C.D. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty and property: and they have
never ceded to any foreign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without
their consent.
Resolved, N.C.D. 2. 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.
Resolved, N.C.D. 3. 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
circumstancesenable them to exercise and enjoy.
Resolved,
4. 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 bonfide, 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.
Resolved,
N.C.D. 5. 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, accordingto the course of that law.
Resolved, N.C.D. 6. 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.
Resolved, N.C.D. 7. 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.
Resolved,
N.C.D. 8. 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.
Resolved, N.C.D. 9. 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.
Resolved, N.C.D. 10. 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 legislature.
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,
N.C.D. That the following acts of parliament are infringements and violations
of the rights of the colonists; and that the repeal of them isessentially
necessary, in order to restore harmony between Great Britain and the American
colonies, viz.
The several acts of Geo.
III. ch. 15, and ch. 34.-5 Geo. III. ch.25.-6 Geo. ch. 52.-7 Geo.III. ch.
41 and ch. 46.-8 Geo. III. ch. 22. which impose duties for the purpose of
raising a revenue in America, extend the power 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 ofAmerican rights.
Also 12 Geo. III. ch. 24,
intituled, "An act for the better securing his majesty's dockyards, magazines,
ships, ammunition, and stores," which declares a new offence 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 offence 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 ofparliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the
harbour of Boston, for altering the charter and government of Massachusetts-Bay,
and that which is entitled, "An act for the better administration of
justice, etc."
Also
the act passed in 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 total 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 in 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 such army is kept, is
against law.
To these grievous acts
and measures, Americans cannot submit, but in hopes 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: 1. 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: and 3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable
to resolutions already entered into.
Close This
Window