Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

19. That the general accounts shall be yearly settled

and reported to the several Assemblies.

20. That a quorum of the Grand Council, empowered

to act with the President-General, do consist of twenty-five

members; among whom there shall be one or more from a

majority of the Colonies.

21. That the laws made by them for the purposes

aforesaid shall not be repugnant, but, as near as may be,

agreeable to the laws of England, and shall be transmitted

to the King in Council for approbation, as soon as may be

after their passing; and if not disapproved within three

years after presentation, to remain in force.

22. That, in case of the death of the President-Gen-

eral, the Speaker of the Grand Council for the time being

shall succeed, and be vested with the same powers and

authorities, to continue till the King’s pleasure be known.

23. That all military commission officers, whether for

land or sea service, to act under this general constitution,

shall be nominated by the President-General; but the

approbation of the Grand Council is to be obtained, before

they receive their commissions. And all civil officers are to

be nominated by the Grand Council, and to receive the

President-General’s approbation before they officiate.

24. But, in case of vacancy by death or removal of any

officer, civil or military, under this constitution, the Gover-

nor of the Province in which such vacancy happens may

appoint, till the pleasure of the President-General and

Grand Council can be known.

25. That the particular military as well as civil estab-

lishments in each Colony remain in their present state, the

general constitution notwithstanding; and that on sudden

emergencies any Colony may defend itself, and lay the

accounts of expense thence arising before the President-

General and General Council, who may allow and order

payment of the same, as far as they judge such accounts

just and reasonable.

Source:

Henry Steele Commager, ed. Documents of American History.

New York: F.S. Crofts & Co., 1934.

James Otis, Speech Opposing

Writs of Assistance, 1761

Legal argument by Boston attorney James Otis, dated February

24, 1761, against the issuance by the British court of exche-

quer of writs of assistance (general search warrants that gave

British customs officers the power to search any house for

smuggled items without showing cause). Though no formal

record of the speech exists, it is known from notes taken by

John Adams. Representing a group of Boston merchants, Otis

argued (before the Superior Court of Massachusetts) that such

writs were unconstitutional and void because they violated

natural law; he argued that a man is “as secure in his house as

a prince in his castle.” Otis’s speech is often, perhaps erro-

neously, credited as the source of the slogan, “Taxation with-

out representation is tyranny.” He lost the case in court but

became an influential pamphleteer.

________________________

_______________________

I was desired by one of the Court to look into the books

and consider the question now before them concerning

“Writs of Assistance.” I have accordingly considered it, and

now appear not only in obedience to your order but like-

wise in behalf of the inhabitants of this town who have pre-

sented another petition, and out of regard to the liberties

of the subject. And I take this opportunity to declare that

whether under a fee or not (for in such a cause as this I

despise a fee), I will to my dying day oppose with all the

powers and faculties God has given me all such instru-

ments of slavery on the one hand and villainy on the other

as this Writ of Assistance is.

It appears to me the worst instrument of arbitrary

power, the most destructive of English liberty and the

fundamental principles of law, that ever was found in an

English lawbook. I must therefore beg Your Honors’

patience and attention to the whole range of an argument

that may perhaps appear uncommon in many things, as

well as to points of learning that are more remote and

unusual, that the whole tendency of my design may the

more easily be perceived, the conclusions better descend,

and the force of them be better felt. I shall not think

much of my pains in this cause, as I engaged in it from

principle.

I was solicited to argue this cause as advocate general,

and because I would not, I have been charged with deser-

tion from my office. To this charge I can give a very suffi-

cient answer. I renounced that office, and I argue this

cause from the same principle; and I argue it with the

greater pleasure, as it is in favor of British liberty, at a time

when we hear the greatest monarch upon earth declaring

from his throne that he glories in the name of Britain, and

that the privileges of his people are dearer to him than the

most valuable prerogatives of his Crown, and as it is in

opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which, in for-

mer periods of history, cost one king of England his head

and another his throne. I have taken more pains in this

cause than I ever will take again, although my engaging in

this and another popular cause has raised much resent-

ment. But I think I can sincerely declare that I cheerfully

submit myself to every odious name for conscience’s sake,

and from my soul I despise all those whose guilt, malice, or

folly has made them my foes. Let the consequences be

what they will, I am determined to proceed. The only prin-

ciples of public conduct that are worthy of a gentleman or

a man are to sacrifice estate, ease, health, and applause,

and even life, to the sacred calls of his country.

222 ERA 2: Colonization and Settlement

These manly sentiments in private life make the good

citizen; in public life, the patriot and the hero. I do not say

that when brought to the test I shall be invincible. I pray

God I may never be brought to the melancholy trial, but if

ever I should, it will be then known how far I can reduce

to practice principles which I know to be founded in truth.

In the meantime I will proceed to the subject of this writ.

Your Honors will find in the old books concerning the

office of a justice of the peace precedents of general war-

rants to search suspected houses. But in more modern

books you will find only special warrants to search such

and such houses, specially named, in which the com-

plainant has before sworn that he suspects his goods are

concealed, and will find it adjudged that special warrants

only are legal. In the same manner, I rely on it that the writ

prayed for in this petition, being general, is illegal. It is a

power that places the liberty of every man in the hands of

every petty officer. I say I admit that special writs of assis-

tance, to search special places, may be granted to certain

persons on oath; but I deny that the writ now prayed for

can be granted, for I beg leave to make some observations

on the writ itself before I proceed to other acts of Parlia-

ment.

In the first place, the writ in universal, being directed

“to all and singular justices, sheriffs, constables, and all

other officers and subjects”; so that, in short, it is directed

to every subject in the King’s dominions. Everyone, with

this writ, may be a tyrant; if this commission be legal, a

tyrant in a legal manner, also, may control, imprison, or

murder anyone within the Realm. In the next place, it is

perpetual, there is no return. A man is accountable to no

person for his doings. Every man may reign secure in his

petty tyranny and spread terror and desolation around

him, until the trump of the archangel shall excite different

emotions in his soul. In the third place, a person with this

writ, in the daytime, may enter all houses or shops, at will,

and command all to assist him. Fourth, by this writ, not

only deputies but even their menial servants are allowed to

lord it over us. What is this but to have the curse of Canaan

with a witness on us; to be the servant of servants, the most

despicable of God’s creation?

Now, one of the most essential branches of English

liberty is the freedom of one’s house. A man’s house is his

castle; and while he is quiet, he is as well guarded as a

prince in his castle. This writ, if it should be declared legal,

would totally annihilate this privilege. Customhouse offi-

cers may enter our houses when they please; we are com-

manded to permit their entry. Their menial servants may

enter, may break locks, bars, and everything in their way;

and whether they break through malice or revenge, no

man, no court can inquire. Bare suspicion without oath is

sufficient.

This wanton exercise of this power is not chimerical

suggestion of a heated brain. I will mention some facts. Mr.

Pew had one of these writs, and when Mr. Ware succeeded

him, he endorsed this writ over to Mr. Ware, so that these

writs are negotiable from one officer to another; and so

Your Honors have no opportunity of judging the persons to

whom this vast power is delegated. Another instance is

this: Mr. Justice Walley had called this same Mr. Ware

before him, by a constable, to answer for a breach of the

Sabbath-Day acts, or that of profane swearing. As soon as

he had finished, Mr. Ware asked him if he had done. He

replied, “Yes.” “Well, then,” said Mr. Ware, “I will show

you a little of my power. I command you to permit me to

search your house for uncustomed goods”; and went on to

search the house from the garret to the cellar; and then

served the constable in the same manner!

But to show another absurdity in this writ, if it should

be established, I insist upon it every person—by the 14th

Charles II—has this power as well as the customhouse

officers. The words are, “It shall be lawful for any person

or persons authorized. . . .” What a scene does this open!

Every man prompted by revenge, ill humor, or wantonness

to inspect the inside of his neighbor’s house, may get a writ

of assistance. Others will ask it from self-defense; one arbi-

trary exertion will provoke another, until society be

involved in tumult and in blood. [The rest of the speech

exists only in a summary by John Adams.]

A dissertation on the rights of man in a state of nature.

He asserted that every man, merely natural, was an inde-

pendent sovereign, subject to no law but the law written

on his heart and revealed to him by his Maker, in the con-

stitution of his nature and the inspiration of his under-

standing and his conscience. His right to his life, his liberty,

no created being could rightfully contest. Nor was his right

to his property less incontestable. The club that he had

snapped from a tree, for a staff or for defense, was his own.

His bow and arrow were his own; if by a pebble he had

killed a partridge or a squirrel, it was his own. No creature,

man or beast, had a right to take it from him. If he had

taken an eel or a smelt or a sculpin, it was his property. In

short, he sported upon this topic with so much wit and

humor, and at the same time with so much indisputable

truth and reason, that he was not less entertaining than

instructive.

He asserted that these rights were inherent and

inalienable. That they never could be surrendered or

alienated but by idiots or madmen and all the acts of idiots

and lunatics were void and not obligatory, by all the laws of

God and man. Nor were the poor Negroes forgotten. Not

a Quaker in Philadelphia or Mr. Jefferson in Virginia ever

asserted the rights of Negroes in stronger terms. Young as

I was and ignorant as I was, I shuddered at the doctrine he

taught; and I have all my life shuddered, and still shudder,

at the consequences that may be drawn from such

premises. Shall we say that the rights of masters and ser-

vants clash and can be decided only by force? I adore the

The Development of Political, Religious, and Social Institutions in the Colonies 223

idea of gradual abolitions! but who shall decide how fast or

how slowly these abolitions shall be made?

From individual independence he proceeded to as-

sociation. If it was inconsistent with the dignity of human

nature to say that men were gregarious animals, like

wild geese, it surely could offend no delicacy to say they

were social animals by nature, that there were natural sym-

pathies, and, above all, the sweet attraction of the sexes,

which must soon draw them together in little groups, and

by degrees in larger congregations, for mutual assistance

and defense And this must have happened before any for-

mal covenant, by express words or signs, was concluded.

When general councils and deliberations commenced,

the objects could be no other than the mutual defense and

security of every individual for his life, his liberty, and his

property. To suppose them to have surrendered these in

any other way than by equal rules and general consent was

to suppose them idiots or madmen whose acts were never

binding. To suppose them surprised by fraud or compelled

by force into any other compact, such fraud and such force

could confer no obligation. Every man had a right to tram-

ple it underfoot whenever he pleased. In short, he asserted

these rights to be derived only from nature and the Author

of nature; that they were inherent, inalienable, and inde-

feasible by any laws, pacts, contracts, covenants, or stipu-

lations which man could devise. These principles and these

rights were wrought into the English constitution as fun-

damental laws. And under this head he went back to the

old Saxon laws and to Magna Carta and the fifty confirma-

tions of it in Parliament and the executions ordained

against the violators of it and the national vengeance which

had been taken on them from time to time, down to the

Jameses and Charleses, and to the position of rights and

the Bill of Rights and the revolution.

He asserted that the security of these rights to life, lib-

erty, and property had been the object of all those strug-

gles against arbitrary power, temporal and spiritual, civil

and political, military and ecclesiastical, in every age. He

asserted that our ancestors, as British subjects, and we

their descendants, as British subjects, were entitled to all

those rights by the British constitution as well as by the law

of nature and our provincial character as much as any

inhabitant of London or Bristol or any part of England,

and were not to be cheated out of them by any phantom of

“virtual representation” or any other fiction of law or poli-

tics or any monkish trick of deceit and hypocrisy.

He then examined the Acts of Trade, one by one, and

demonstrated that, if they were considered as revenue

laws, they destroyed all our security of property, liberty, and

life every right of nature and the English constitution and

the charter of the province. Here he considered the dis-

tinction between “external and internal taxes,” at that time

a popular and commonplace distinction. But he asserted

that there was no such distinction in theory or upon any

principle but “necessity.” The necessity that the commerce

of the Empire should be under one direction was obvious.

The Americans had been so sensible of this necessity that

they had connived at the distinction between external and

internal taxes, and had submitted to the Acts of Trade as

regulations of commerce but never as taxations or revenue

laws. Nor had the British government till now ever dared to

attempt to enforce them as taxations or revenue laws.

The Navigation Act he allowed to be binding upon us

because we had consented to it by our own legislature.

Here he gave a history of the Navigation Act of the first of

Charles II, a plagiarism from Oliver Cromwell. In 1675,

after repeated letters and orders from the King, Governor

Leverett very candidly informs His Majesty that the law

had not been executed because it was thought unconstitu-

tional, Parliament not having authority over us.

Source:

James Otis, The Annals of America. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Bri-

tannica, 1926–87.

224 ERA 2: Colonization and Settlement

The Establishment of Colonies and Settlements;

Settlers and Native Americans in the Colonies

Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America.

New York: Knopf, 1986.

Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Cen-

turies of Slavery in America. Cambridge, Mass.: Bel-

knap Press of Harvard University, 2000.

Timothy H. Breen, Puritans and Adventurers: Change and

Persistence in Early America. New York: Oxford Uni-

versity Press, 1980.

Colin G. Calloway, New Worlds for All: Indians, Euro-

peans, and the Remaking of America. Baltimore, Md.:

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Lois Green Carr et al., eds., Colonial Chesapeake Society.

Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press,

1988.

John Demos, A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Ply-

mouth Colony. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970.

———, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from

Early America. New York: Knopf, 1994.

UGGESTED

EADING

Suggested Reading 225

David W. Galenson, White Servitude in Colonial America.

New York: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Gerald W. Mullen, Flight and Rebellion: Slave Resistance

in Eighteenth-Century Virginia. New York: Oxford

University Press, 1972.

Gary Nash, Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of Early

America. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974.

Marcus Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea:

Merchant Seamen, Pirates, an the Anglo-American

Maritime World, 1700–1750. New York: Cambridge

University Press, 1987.

Laurel T. Ulrich, Good Wives: Image and Reality in the

Lives of Women in Northern New England,

1650–1750. New York: Knopf, 1982.

The Development of Political, Religious, and

Social Institutions in the Colonies

Philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census.

Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969.

Gregory Evans Dowd, A Spirited Resistance: The North

American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815. Bal-

timore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.

Jack P. Greene, Pursuits of Happiness: The Social Devel-

opment of Early Modern British Colonies and the

Formation of American Culture. Chapel Hill, N.C.:

University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

Peter Charles Hoffer, The Devil’s Disciples: Makers of the

Salem Witchcraft Trials. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hop-

kins University Press, 1996.

Ronald Hoffman and Peter J. Albert, eds., Religion in a Re-

volutionary Age. Charlottesville, Va.: University Press

of Virginia, 1994.

David S. Lovejoy, The Glorious Revolution in America.

New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Free-

dom. New York: W.W. Norton, 1975.

Margaret Ellen Newell, From Dependency to Indepen-

dence: Economic Revolution in Colonial New En-

gland. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998.

Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witch-

craft Crisis of 1692. New York: Knopf, 2002.

Carl Ubbelohde, The American Colonies and the British

Empire, 1607–1763. New York: Crowell, 1968.

226

ERA 3

Revolution and New Nation

(1763–1820s)

This era holds major significance primarily as the time in

which the United States was founded and its seminal doc-

uments created. We continually refer to our founders and

their thoughts to determine how those documents should

be interpreted today. Therefore, understanding this era is

crucial both in its own right and for evaluating American

law, politics, and society as they have evolved over the next

centuries.

The first section features the documents that highlight

the road to revolution: the British efforts to tax and other-

wise rein in their unruly colonists and the colonists’

response. In reviewing this section, we should remember

that the colonial assemblies and groups like Sam Adams’s

Sons of Liberty were located on the more settled eastern

seaboard. Frontier people did not always agree with them,

and colonial assemblies often ignored their problems.

Some frontier people, though, took to arms, such as the

North Carolina Regulators.

More than a year before the 13 colonies declared their

independence from Great Britain, the fighting began. It is

at that point that the second section, on the American Rev-

olution, begins. Among the documents are those express-

ing an initial reluctance to become independent and

Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” which asserted that no

alternative to independence is realistic. Once the Conti-

nental Congress declared independence, the documents

feature issues related to war, including the alliance with

France. The famous “Remember the Ladies” letter of Abi-

gail Adams to her husband, John Adams, represents those

who were left behind.

The final two sections, on the formation of the new

government and the establishment of political parties

begin, with the failed attempt to build the new nation from

semiautonomous sovereign states held together by a weak

executive and central government. The Articles of Con-

federation embodied that vision. Its greatest success may

well have been the Northwest Ordinance, which provided

the means for governing territories and eventually bring-

ing them in as equal states. When problems of taxation and

interstate commerce threatened the viability of the arti-

cles, the Constitutional Convention was held. It produced

the U.S. Constitution, what may be the most successful

governmental compact in world history, one copied by

other new nations. Although a Bill of Rights had to be

added in order to insure its passage and a civil war had to

be fought in order to preserve it as the foundation of

American government, the Constitution has endured with

few amendments. The discussion of its provisions, repre-

sented here by the Federalist papers, resonates today as

Americans relate modern problems and current values to

★

the ideas of the founders. This section and the next also

show attempts by the founders and early government to

deal with issues such as slavery and the situation of Native

Americans. The needs and potential rights of both blacks

and Indians were sacrificed to the creation of a nation

embracing all 13 colonies and the desires of its leaders.

Nevertheless, the vision of “all men . . . created equal” has

endured, despite the persistence of prejudice against men

of color and all women.

The first congress and the first presidential adminis-

tration fleshed out the Constitution in ways that also pro-

vide guidance for solving modern problems. Most signifi-

cant for the executive are the policies that produced a

strong central government, such as the cabinet, and the

absorption of state debts. Under Chief Justice John Mar-

shall, the Supreme Court also upheld a strong federal sys-

tem, and this section features some of its most significant

early decisions. The last section also recounts the develop-

ment of political parties, something not anticipated in the

Constitution.

Events Leading Up to the American Revolution 227

Events Leading Up to the American Revolution

The Proclamation of 1763

Royal order issued by Britain’s King George III on October

7, 1763, in an effort to placate the Native Americans in

the American colonies after the French and Indian War

(1756–63). It organized Britain’s American holdings (those

lands acquired in the peace with France and not administered

by the 13 colonies) into four governments—for East and West

Florida, Grenada, and Quebec—and established the lands

west of the Appalachian Mountains as a vast Native American

reservation barred to colonial white settlers (those already

there were ordered to leave). Land titles secured from western

Native Americans were revoked, and the profitable Native

American fur trade was placed under royal license. The

proclamation was strongly denounced by many colonists,

who disregarded the newly established native borders. As a

result, Britain failed to enforce its authority in the western

areas, and Native-settler tensions continued into the Ameri-

can Revolution. It was overturned by the Treaty of Fort Stan-

wix between the British and the Iroquois in 1768, which

opened Indian hunting grounds to white settlement. In 1784,

also at Fort Stanwix, the United States and the New York Iro-

quois signed a new treaty confirming American rights to set-

tle on this land. However, the Ohio Indians refused to endorse

it. The following year, the Cherokee peoples and the com-

missioners of the United States signed a treaty at Hopewell,

South Carolina, confirming Cherokee rights to most lands

held in 1777. The treaty gave the United States sovereignty

over the tribe and control of its trade. It was the first general

treaty signed by the United States and established definite

boundaries for Native American lands. Similar treaties with

the Choctaw and Chickasaw peoples were signed at Hope-

well the following year.

________________________

_______________________

Whereas we have taken into our royal consideration the

extensive and valuable acquisitions in America, secured to

our Crown by the late definitive treaty of peace concluded

at Paris the 10th day of February last; and being desirous

that all our loving subjects, as well of our Kingdom as of

our colonies in America, may avail themselves, with all

convenient speed, of the great benefits and advantages

which must accrue therefrom to their commerce, manu-

factures, and navigation; we have thought fit, with the

advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our Royal Procla-

mation, hereby to publish and declare to all our loving

subjects that we have, with the advice of our said Privy

Council, granted our letters patent under our great seal of

Great Britain, to erect within the countries and islands

ceded and confirmed to us by the said treaty, four distinct

and separate governments, styled and called by the names

of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and Grenada. . . .

And to the end that the open and free fishery of our

subjects may be extended to and carried on upon the coast

of Labrador and the adjacent islands, we have thought fit

. . . to put all that coast, from the river St. John’s to Hud-

son’s Straits, together with the islands of Anticosti and

Madelaine, and all other smaller islands lying upon the

said coast, under the care and inspection of our governor

of Newfoundland.

We have also . . . thought fit to annex the islands of St.

John and Cape Breton, or Isle Royale, with the lesser

islands adjacent thereto, to our government of Nova

Scotia.

We have also . . . annexed to our province of Georgia

all the lands lying between the rivers Altamaha and St.

Mary’s. And . . . so soon as the state and circumstances of

the said colonies will admit thereof, they shall, with the

advice and consent of the members of our Council, sum-

mon and call general assemblies within the said govern-

ments respectively, in such manner and form as is used and

directed in those colonies and provinces in America, which

are under our immediate government. And we have also

given power to the said governors, with the consent of our

said councils and the representatives of the people, so to

be summoned as aforesaid, to make, constitute, and ordain

laws, statutes, and ordinances for the public peace, wel-

fare, and good government of our said colonies, and of the

people and inhabitants thereof, as near as may be agree-

able to the laws of England, and under such regulations

and restrictions as are used in other colonies.

And, in the meantime and until such assemblies can

be called as aforesaid, all persons inhabiting in, or resort-

ing to, our said colonies may confide in our royal protec-

tion for the enjoyment of the benefit of the laws of our

Realm of England. . . .

We have also thought fit . . . to give unto the governors

and councils of our said three new colonies upon the con-

tinent full power and authority to settle and agree with the

inhabitants of our said new colonies, or to any other per-

son who shall resort thereto, for such lands, tenements,

and hereditaments as are now, or hereafter shall be, in our

power to dispose of; and . . . to grant to any such person or

persons upon such terms and under such moderate

quitrents, services, and acknowledgments as have been

appointed and settled in other colonies, and under such

other conditions as shall appear to us to be necessary and

expedient for the advantage of the grantees and the

improvement and settlement of our said colonies.

And whereas we are desirous, upon all occasions, to

testify our . . . approbation of the conduct and bravery of

the officers and soldiers of our armies, and to reward the

same, we do hereby command and empower our gover-

nors of our said three new colonies and other our gover-

nors of our several provinces on the continent of North

America to grant, without fee or reward, to such reduced

officers as have served in North America during the late

war, and are actually residing there, and shall personally

apply for the same . . . quantities of land subject, at the

expiration of ten years, to the same quitrents as other lands

are subject to in the province within which they are

granted, as also subject to the same conditions of cultiva-

tion and improvement. . . .

And whereas it is just and reasonable and essential to

our interest and the security of our colonies that the sev-

eral nations or tribes of Indians with whom we are con-

nected, and who live under our protection, should not be

molested or disturbed in the possession of such parts of

our dominions and territories as, not having been ceded to

or purchased by us, are reserved to them, or any of them,

as their hunting grounds; we do therefore, with the advice

of our Privy Council, declare it to be our royal will and

pleasure that no governor or commander in chief, in any of

our colonies of Quebec, East Florida, or West Florida, do

presume, upon any pretense whatever, to grant warrants of

survey or pass any patents for lands beyond the bounds of

their respective governments, as described in their com-

missions; as also that no governor or commander in chief

of our other colonies or plantations in America do presume

for the present, and until our further pleasure be known,

to grant warrants of survey or pass patents for any lands

beyond the heads or sources of any of the rivers which fall

into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest; or

upon any lands whatever which, not having been ceded to

or purchased by us, as aforesaid, are reserved to the said

Indians or any of them.

And we do further declare it to be our royal will and

pleasure, for the present as aforesaid, to reserve under our

sovereignty, protection, and dominion, for the use of the

said Indians, all the land and territories not included

within the limits of our said three new governments, or

within the limits of the territory granted to the Hudson’s

Bay Company; as also all the land and territories lying to

the westward of the sources of the rivers which fall into the

seas from the west northwest as aforesaid. And we do

hereby strictly forbid, on pain of our displeasure, all our

loving subjects from making any purchases or settlements

whatever, or taking possession of any of the lands above

reserved, without our special leave and license for that

purpose first obtained.

And we do further strictly enjoin and require all per-

sons whatever who have either willfully or inadvertently

seated themselves upon any lands within the countries

above described, or upon any other lands which, not hav-

ing been ceded to or purchased by us, are still reserved to

the said Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove them-

selves from such settlements.

And whereas great frauds and abuses have been com-

mitted in the purchasing lands of the Indians, to the great

prejudice of our interests and to the great dissatisfaction

of the said Indians; in order, therefore, to prevent such

irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indi-

ans may be convinced of our justice and determined res-

olution to remove all reasonable cause of discontent, we

do, with the advice of our Privy Council, strictly enjoin

and require that no private person do presume to make

any purchase from the said Indians of any lands reserved

to the said Indians within those parts of our colonies

228 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

where we have thought proper to allow settlement; but

that if at any time any of the said Indians should be

inclined to dispose of the said lands, the same shall be

purchased only for us, in our name, at some public meet-

ing or assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that

purpose by the governor or commander in chief of our

colony, respectively, within which they shall lie. And in

case they shall lie within the limits of any proprietary gov-

ernment, they shall be purchased only for the use and in

the name of such proprietaries, conformable to such

directions and instructions as we or they shall think

proper to give for that purpose.

And we do, by the advice of our Privy Council, declare

and enjoin that the trade with the said Indians shall be free

and open to all out subjects whatever, provided that every

person who may incline to trade with the said Indians do

take out a license for carrying on such trade, from the gov-

ernor or commander in chief of any of our colonies,

respectively, where such person shall reside, and also give

security to observe such regulations as we shall at any time

think fit, by ourselves or commissaries to be appointed for

this purpose, to direct and appoint for the benefit of the

said trade. And we do hereby authorize, enjoin, and re-

quire the governors and commanders in chief of all our

colonies, respectively, as well those under our immediate

government as those under the government and direction

of proprietaries, to grant such licenses without fee or

reward, taking special care to insert therein a condition

that such license shall be void and the security forfeited in

case the person to whom the same is granted shall refuse

or neglect to observe such regulations as we shall think

proper to prescribe as aforesaid.

Source:

James Otis. The Annuals of America, vol. 2, 1755–83. Chicago:

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1926–87, pp. 84–86.

Stamp Act, 1765

Act passed by the British Parliament to go into effect on

November 1, 1765, in order to raise revenue to pay the costs

of governing and protecting the American colonies. A number

of other acts passed by Parliament after the French and Indian

War (1756–1763) had angered the colonists but were not con-

sidered abrogations of the rights of Englishmen. These include

the Proclamation of 1763 and the British Currency Act of

1764. The latter prohibited the American colonies from issu-

ing paper money. At the time, British traders (especially in Vir-

ginia) complained about being paid in depreciated American

paper currency. The act also banned the use of colonial cur-

rency for payment of imported British goods. It resulted in a

severe money shortage.

The Stamp Act, passed strictly to raise revenue, however,

highlighted the British belief in their power to tax the colonies

without providing them with governmental representation. Sup-

ported by George Grenville, Britain’s chancellor of the exche-

quer (treasury department), it required stamps to be placed on

all legal and commercial documents (licenses, liquor permits,

newspapers, pamphlets, almanacs, advertisements, and so on)

and various articles (such as dice, and playing cards). In Octo-

ber 1765 delegates from nine colonies met in New York City for

the Stamp Act Congress, declaring in the Declaration of Rights

and Grievances that the British Parliament did not have the

power to impose taxes on the Americans without approval from

the colonial legislatures. When the Stamp Act went into effect,

not only did the colonists refuse to buy and use the stamps, but,

in several colonies, they burned the ships that carried them,

harassed the stamp distributors, and rioted.

________________________

_______________________

An Act

For granting and applying certain Stamp Duties, and

other Duties, in the British Colonies and Plantations in

America, towards further defraying the Expenses of

defending, protecting and securing the same; and for

amending such Parts of the several Acts of Parliament

relating to the Trade and Revenues of the said Colonies and

Plantations, as direct the Manner of determining and

recovering the Penalties and Forfeitures therein men-

tioned.

Whereas by an Act made in the last Session of Parlia-

ment, several Duties were granted, continued, and appro-

priated, towards defraying the Expenses of defending

protecting, and securing, the British Colonies and Planta-

tions in America: And whereas it is just and necessary, that

Provision be made for raising a further Revenue within

Your Majesty’s Dominions in America, towards defraying

the said Expenses: We, Your Majesty’s most dutiful and

loyal Subjects, the Commons of Great Britain in Parlia-

ment assembled, have therefore resolved to give and grant

unto Your Majesty the several Rates and Duties herein

after mentioned; and do most humbly beseech Your

Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the

King’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and

Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Com-

mons, in this Parliament assembled, and by the Authority

of the same, That from and after the First Day of Novem-

ber, one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five, there shall

be raised, levied, collected, and paid unto his Majesty, his

Heirs, and Successors, throughout the Colonies and Plan-

tations in America which now are, or hereafter may be,

under the Dominion of his Majesty, his Heirs, and Succes-

sors.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

Events Leading Up to the American Revolution 229

ten, or printed, any Declaration, Plea, Replication, Rejoin-

der, Demurrer, or other Pleading, or any Copy thereof, in

any Court of Law within the British Colonies and Planta-

tions in America, a Stamp Duty of three Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Special Bail and Appearance upon

such Bail in any such Court, a Stamp Duty of two Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Petition, Bill, Answer, Claim, Plea,

Replication, Rejoinder, Demurrer, or other Pleading in

any Court of Chancery or Equity within the said Colonies

and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of one Shilling and Six

Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Copy of any Petition, Bill, Answer,

Claim, Plea, Replication, Rejoinder, Demurrer, or other

Pleading in any such Court, a Stamp Duty of three Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Monition, Libel, Answer, Allegation,

Inventory, or Renunciation in Ecclesiastical Matters in any

Court of Probate, Court of the Ordinary, or other Court

exercising Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction within the said

Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of one Shilling.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Copy of any Will (other than the Pro-

bate thereof) Monition, Libel, Answer, Allegation,

Inventory, or Renunciation in Ecclesiastical Matters, in

any such Court, a Stamp Duty of six Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Donation, Presentation, Collation, or

Institution of or to any Benefice, or any Writ or Instrument

for the like Purpose, or any Register, Entry, Testimonial, or

Certificate of any Degree taken in any University,

Academy, College, or Seminary of Learning, within the said

Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of two Pounds.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Monition, Libel, Claim, Answer, Alle-

gation, Information, Letter of Request, Execution,

Renunciation, Inventory, or other Pleading in any Admi-

ralty Court within the said Colonies and Plantations, a

Stamp Duty of one Shilling.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which any Copy of any such

Monition, Libel, Claim, Answer, Allegation, Information,

Letter of Request, Execution, Renunciation, Inventory, or

other Pleading, shall be ingrossed, written, or printed, a

Stamp Duty of six Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Appeal, Writ of Error, Writ of Dower,

Ad quod damnum, Certiorari, Statute Merchant, Statute

Staple, Attestation, or Certificate, by any Officer, or Exem-

plification of any Record or Proceeding in any Court what-

soever within the Colonies and Plantations (except

Appeals, Writs of Error, Certiorari, Attestations, Certifi-

cates, and Exemplification’s, for or relating to the Removal

of any Proceedings from before a single Justice of the

Peace) a Stamp Duty of ten Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Writ of Covenant for levying of Fines,

Writ of Entry for suffering a Common Recovery, or

Attachment issuing out of, or returnable into, any Court

within the said Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of

five Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Judgment, Decree, Sentence, or Dis-

mission, or any Record of Nisi Prius or Postea, in any

Court within the said Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp

Duty of four Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Affidavit, Common Bail or Appear-

ance, Interrogatory Deposition, Rule, Order, or Warrant

of any Court, or any Dedimus Potestatem, Capias, Sub-

poena, Summons, Compulsory Citation, Commission,

Recognizance, or any other Writ, Process, or Mandate,

issuing out of, or returnable into, any Court, or any Office

belonging thereto, or any other Proceeding therein what-

soever, or any Copy thereof, or of any Record not herein

before charged, within the said Colonies and Plantations

(except Warrants relating to Criminal Matters, and Pro-

ceedings thereon or relating thereto) a Stamp Duty of one

Shilling.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any License, Appointment, or Admission

of any Counselor, Solicitor, Attorney, Advocate, or Proctor,

to practice in any Court, or of any Notary within the said

Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of ten Pounds.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Note or Bill, which shall be signed for

any Kind of Goods, Wares, or Merchandise, to be exported

from, or any Cocket of Clearance granted within the said

Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of four Pence.

230 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, Letters of Mart, or Commissions for Pri-

vate Ships of War, within the said Colonies and

Plantations, a Stamp Duty of twenty Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Grant, Appointment, or Admission of

or to any public beneficial Office or Employment, for the

Space of one Year, or any lesser Time, of or above the

Value of twenty Pounds per Annum Sterling Money, in

Salary, Fees, and Perquisites, within the said Colonies and

Plantations (except Commissions and Appointments of

Officers of the Army, Navy, Ordinance, or Militia, of

Judges, and of Justices of the Peace) a Stamp Duty of ten

Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which any Grant of any Lib-

erty, Privilege, or Franchise, under the Seal of any of the

said colonies or Plantations, or under the Seal or Sign

Manual of any Governor, Proprietor, or public Officer

alone, or in Conjunction with any other Person or Persons,

or with any Council, or any Council and Assembly, or any

Exemplification of the same, shall be ingrossed, written, or

printed, within the said Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp

Duty of six Pounds.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any License for Retailing of Spirituous

Liquors, to be granted to any Person who shall take out the

same, within the said Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp

Duty of twenty Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any License for Retailing of Wine, to be

granted to any Person who shall not take out a License for

Retailing of Spirituous Liquors, within the said Colonies

and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of four Pounds.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any License for Retailing of Wine, to be

granted to any Person who shall take out a License for

Retailing of Spirituous Liquors, within the said Colonies

and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of three Pounds.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Probate of a Will, Letters of Adminis-

tration, or of Guardianship for any Estate above the Value

of Twenty Pounds Sterling Money, within the British

Colonies and Plantations upon the Continent of America,

the Islands belonging thereto, and the Bermuda and

Bahama Islands, a Stamp Duty of five Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any such Probate, Letters of Administration,

or of Guardianship, within all other Parts of the British

Dominions in America, a Stamp Duty of ten Shillings.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Bond for securing the Payment of any

Sum of Money, not exceeding the Sum of ten Pounds Ster-

ling Money, within the British Colonies and Plantations

upon the Continent of America, the Islands belonging

thereto, and the Bermuda and Bahama Islands, a Stamp

Duty of six Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Bond for securing the Payment of any

Sum of Money above ten Pounds, and not exceeding the

Sum of twenty Pounds Sterling Money, within such

Colonies, Plantations, and Islands, a Stamp Duty of one

Shilling.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, written,

or printed, any Bond for securing the Payment of any Sum

of Money above twenty Pounds, and not exceeding forty

Pounds Sterling Money, within such Colonies, Plantations,

and Islands, a Stamp Duty of one Shilling and six Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet of Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any Order or Warrant for surveying or set-

ting out any Quantity of Land, not exceeding one hundred

Acres, issued by any Governor, Proprietor, or any Public

officer alone, or in Conjunction with any other Person or

Persons, or with any Council, or any Council and Assem-

bly, within the British Colonies and Plantations in Amer-

ica, a Stamp Duty of six Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any such Order or Warrant for surveying or

setting out any Quantity of Land above one hundred, and

not exceeding two hundred Acres, within the said Colonies

and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of one Shilling.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

ten, or printed, any such Order or Warrant for surveying or

setting out any Quantity of Land above two hundred, and

not exceeding three hundred and twenty Acres, and in pro-

portion for every such Order or Warrant for surveying or

setting out every other three hundred and twenty Acres,

within the said Colonies and Plantations, a Stamp Duty of

one Shilling and six Pence.

For every Skin or Piece of Vellum or Parchment, or

Sheet or Piece of Paper, on which shall be ingrossed, writ-

Events Leading Up to the American Revolution 231

Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

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