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 ofpeace:
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,
That the inhabitants of the English colonies in orth-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.