Hacker Chronicles 2/HACKER2.BIN/869.DAR-1774.TXT

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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.