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DECLARATION AND RESOLVES OF THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
OCTOBER 14, 1777
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 their offices, 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 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, 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 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 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, according to 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 is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between
Great Britain and the American colonies, viz.
The several acts of George III ch. 15, and ch. 34.-5 George III
ch.25.-6 George III ch. 52.-7 George III ch. 41 and ch. 46.-8 George 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 of
American rights.
Also George III. ch. 24, intitled, "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 of 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 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.
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