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- DECLARATION AND RESOLVES OF THE FIRST
- CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
- OCTOBER 14, 1774
-
- Declaration of rights in Congress, at Philadelphia
-
-
- Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British parlia-
- ment, 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 country.
-
- And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges, who be-
- fore held only estates at will in their offices, have been made
- dependant on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing
- armies kept in time of peace: And whereas it has been lately
- resolved in parliament, that by force of statute, made in the
- thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, colon-
- ists may be transported to England, and tried there upon accu-
- sations for treasons and misprisions, or concealments of trea-
- sons 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 merchan-
- dise, at the town, and within the harbour of Boston, in the
- province of Massachusetts-Bay in North America;" another enti-
- tled, "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 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 pro-
- vision for the government of the province of Quebec, etc." All
- which statutes are impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as un-
- constitutional, 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, 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, Mass-
- achusetts-Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connect-
- icut, 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, constitu-
- ted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit in general Con-
- gress, 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 Eng-
- lishmen, 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, liber-
- ty 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 immigration 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.
-
- Resolved, N. C. D. 4. That the foundation of English liberty,
- and of all free government, is a right in the people to par-
- ticipate 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 hereto-
- fore used and accustomed: But, from the necessity of the case,
- and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheer-
- fully 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 commer-
- cial 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 rev-
- enue on the subjects, in America, without their consent.
-
- Resolved, N. C. D. 5. That the respective colonies are enti-
- tled 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.
-
- Resolved, 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of
- the English statutes, as existed at the time of their coloniza-
- tion; 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 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 inter-
- course 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 is essentially necessary, in order to
- restore harmony between Great Britain and the American colonies,
- viz. The several acts of 4 Geo. III. ch. 15, and ch. 34. -5
- Geo III. ch 25. -6 Geo. III. 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 admir-
- alty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the American
- subject of trial by jury, authorise 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 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 de-
- prives the American subject of a constitutional trial by jury of
- the vicinage, by authorising 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 or parliament,
- 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 neighbor-
- ing British colonies, by the assistance of whose blood and trea-
- sure the said country was conquered from France.
-
- Also the act passed in the same session, for the better provi-
- ding suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his majes-
- ty's service, in North America.
-
- Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of these colo-
- nies, 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 pre-
- sent, only resolved to pursue the following peaceful measures:
-
- 1. To enter into non-importation, non-consumption, and non-export-
- ation agreement or association.
-
- 2. To prepare an address to the people of Great Britain, and a me-
- morial to the inhabitants of British America: and
-
- 3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable to resolu-
- tions already entered into.
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