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A History | Constitutional Convention and the Continental Congress |
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress - October 14, 1774
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress - 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 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, 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 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 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 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.
Taken from: Journals of Congress (ed. 1800), I. pp. 26-30.
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