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Resolved unan, That this assembly deeply feels the

suffering of their countrymen in the Massachusetts-Bay,

under the operation of the late unjust, cruel, and oppres-

sive acts of the British Parliament—that they most thor-

oughly approve the wisdom and fortitude, with which

opposition to these wicked ministerial measures has hith-

erto been conducted, and they earnestly recommend to

their brethren, a perseverance in the same firm and tem-

perate conduct as expressed in the resolutions determined

upon, at a [late] meeting of the delegates for the county

of Suffolk, on Tuesday, the 6th instant, trusting that the

effect [s] of the united efforts of North America in their

behalf, will carry such conviction to the British nation, on

the unwise, unjust, and ruinous policy of the present ad-

ministration, as quickly to introduce better men and wiser

measures.

Resolved unan, That contributions from all the

colonies for supplying the necessities, and alleviating the

distresses of our brethren at Boston, ought to be contin-

ued, in such manner, and so long as their occasions may

require.

Ordered, That a copy of the above resolutions be

transmitted to Boston by the president.

Ordered, That these resolutions, together with the

resolutions of the County of Suffolk, be published in the

newspapers.

The committee appointed to examine & report the

several statutes, which affect the trade and manufacturers

of the colonies, brought in their report, which was ordered

to lie on the table.

Source:

Worthington Chaunecy Ford. Journals of the Continental Con-

gress, 1774–1789. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1968.

Plan of Union, 1774

Proposal submitted to the First Continental Congress, meeting

in Philadelphia on September 28, 1774, by Joseph Galloway of

Pennsylvania. Favored by moderates at the Congress as a

means of resolving the conflict between Britain and the

colonies, the plan recommended the establishment of an Amer-

ican legislature equal to Parliament that would deal with gen-

eral American affairs. The proposed governmental structure

would include a Grand Council, whose members would be

chosen by the colonial assemblies to serve three-year terms,

and a president-general, who would be appointed by the king

and would have veto power over the council. The colonial leg-

islature would be considered a branch of the British Parliament,

and the consent of both bodies would be required to pass leg-

islation. Galloway’s plan was defeated by only one vote.

________________________

_______________________

Resolution submitted by Joseph Galloway:

Resolved, That the Congress will apply to his Majesty

for a redress of grievances under which his faithful sub-

jects in America labour; and assure him, that the Colonies

hold in obhorrence the idea of being considered indepen-

dent communities on the British government, and most

ardently desire the establishment of a Political Union, not

only among themselves, but with the Mother State, upon

those principles of safety and freedom which are essential

in the constitution of all free governments, and particularly

that of the British Legislature; and as the Colonies from

their local circumstances, cannot be represented in the

Parliament of Great-Britain, they will humbly propose to

his Majesty and his two Houses of Parliament, the follow-

ing plan, under which the strength of the whole Empire

may be drawn together on any emergency, the interest of

both countries advanced, and the rights and liberties of

America secured.

Plan of a Proposed Union Between

Great Britain and the Colonies

That a British and American legislature, for regulating the

administration of the general affairs of America, be pro-

posed and established in America, including all the said

colonies; within, and under which government, each

colony shall retain its present constitution, and powers of

regulating and governing its own internal police, in all

cases what[so]ever.

That the said government be administered by a Presi-

dent General, to be appointed by the King, and a grand

Council, to be chosen by the Representatives of the peo-

ple of the several colonies, in their respective assemblies,

once in every three years.

That the several assemblies shall choose members for

the grand council in the following proportions, viz.

New Hampshire. Massachusetts-Bay. Rhode Island.

Connecticut. New-York. New-Jersey. Pennsylvania. Dela-

ware Counties. Maryland. Virginia. North Carolina. South-

Carolina. Georgia.

Who shall meet at the city of for the first time, being

called by the President-General, as soon as conveniently

may be after his appointment.

That there shall be a new election of members for the

Grand Council every three years; and on the death,

removal or resignation of any member, his place shall be

supplied by a new choice, at the next sitting of Assembly of

the Colony he represented.

That the Grand Council shall meet once in every year,

if they shall think it necessary, and oftener, if occasions

shall require, at such time and place as they shall adjourn

272 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

to, at the last preceding meeting, or as they shall be called

to meet at, by the President-General, on any emergency.

That the Grand Council shall have power to choose

their Speaker, and shall hold and exercise all the like rights,

liberties and privileges, as are held and exercised by and in

the House of Commons of Great-Britain.

That the President-General shall hold his office dur-

ing the pleasure of the King, and his assent shall be requi-

site to all acts of the Grand Council, and it shall be his

office and duty to cause them to be carried into execution.

That the President-General, by and with the advice

and consent of the Grand-Council, hold and exercise all

the legislative rights, powers, and authorities, necessary for

regulating and administering all the general police and

affairs of the colonies, in which Great-Britain and the

colonies, or any of them, the colonies in general, or more

than one colony, are in any manner concerned, as well civil

and criminal as commercial.

That the said President-General and the Grand Coun-

cil, be an inferior and distinct branch of the British legisla-

ture, united and incorporated with it, for the aforesaid

general purposes; and that any of the said general regula-

tions may originate and be formed and digested, either in

the Parliament of Great Britain, or in the said Grand

Council, and being prepared, transmitted to the other for

their approbation or dissent; and that the assent of both

shall be requisite to the validity of all such general acts or

statutes.

That in time of war, all bills for granting aid to the

crown, prepared by the Grand Council, and approved by

the President General, shall be valid and passed into a law,

without the assent of the British Parliament.

Source:

Worthington Chaunecy Ford. Journals of the Continental Con-

gress,1774–1789. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1968.

Declaration of Resolves of the

First Continental Congress, 1774

Opinions and complaints of the First Continental Congress

and adopted by the congress on October 14, 1774. The doc-

ument argued that the American colonists were being

deprived of their rights as Englishmen and included 10 resolu-

tions describing those rights (such as “life, liberty, and prop-

erty,” the benefits of English common law, and peaceable

assembly and petition) and protesting the colonists’ lack of

representation in the British Parliament. It declared that their

rights were violated specifically by 13 acts passed by Parlia-

ment since 1763, including the Stamp Act of 1765, the Town-

shend Revenue Act of 1767, the Coercive Acts, and the

Quebec Act. In reaction to these violations of rights, it pledged

economic sanctions against Britain until the protested laws

were repealed. As a result of this declaration, the Continental

Congress adopted the Continental Association on October 20,

1774, in an attempt to use economic coercion to force Britain

to redress American colonial grievances. The colonies would

cease importing goods from Britain as of December 1; the

slave trade in the colonies would also be discontinued on

December 1; consumption of British goods would stop by

March 1, 1775; and exports to Britain, Ireland, and the West

Indies would end by September 1, 1775. The Association was

to be enforced by committees elected in each county, town,

and city, and the principal means of enforcement would be

publicity and the boycotting of goods from any province that

failed to follow its provisions. The Association was widely

adopted and was operating in 12 colonies by April 1775. The

grievances also prompted such independent resolutions as one

drafted by the women of Edenton, North Carolina, to protest

punitive taxes enforced by the king of England. The women

asserted their patriotism by resolving to abstain from tea,

cloth, and other luxuries imported from England (Edenton

was a seat of unrest both prior to and following the American

Revolution.)

________________________

_______________________

Friday, October 14, 1774

The Congress met according to adjournment, & resuming

the consideration of the subject under debate—came into

the following Resolutions:

Sullivan’s Draught.

Whereas since the accession of the present King, Par-

liament has claimed a power of right to bind the people of

the Colonies in North America by statutes in all cases

whatsoever; and for carrying the said power into execution,

has, by some statutes, expressly taxed the people of the

said Colonies, and by divers other statutes under various

pretences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue,

has imposed ‘rates and duties.’ payable in the said Colo-

nies, established a Board of Commissioner, and extended

the jurisdiction of Courts of Admiralty therein, for the col-

lection of such ‘rates and duties.’

And whereas some of the said statutes are also in-

tended to render all Judges in the said Colonies dependent

upon the Crown only.

And whereas since the said accession, statutes have

been made for quartering and supplying troops to be kept

in the said Colonies.

And whereas since the conclusion of the last war,

orders have been issued by the King, that the authority of

the commander-in-chief, and under him, of the

Brigadier-General in the Northern and Southern depart-

ments, in all military affairs shall be supreme, and must

Events Leading Up to the American Revolution 273

be obeyed by the troops as such, in all the civil govern-

ments in America.

And whereas a statute was made in the seventh year of

this reign ‘for suspending the proceedings of the assembly

of New York, &c.,’ and assemblies in these Colonies have

of late years very frequently dissolved.

And whereas, during the present reign, dutiful and

reasonable petitions to the Crown, from the representa-

tives of the people in these Colonies, have been repeatedly

with contempt.

And whereas, it has been lately resolved in Parlia-

ment, that, by force of a statute made in the thirty-fifth

year of Henry VIII, Colonists may be carried to England,

and tried there, on accusations for offences committed in

these Colonies. And by a statute made in the twelfth year

of this reign such trials are directed in the cases therein

mentioned.

And whereas in the last session of Parliament three

statutes were made and declared to have force within the

Province of Massachusetts Bay, one of them ‘for discontin-

uing, &c. the landing, &c. goods, wares, and merchandises,

at the town and within the harbor of Boston,’ &c.; and

another, ‘for the better regulating the government, &c.;’

and the third, ‘for the impartial administration of justice,’

&c.

And whereas, in the same session, another statute was

made, ‘for making more effectual provision for the gov-

ernment of the Province of Quebec,’ &c.

And whereas the good people of these, And whereas

justly alarmed by the proceedings of Parliament and

Administration, have duly appointed and directed dele-

gates to meet and sit in General Congress at Philadelphia,

in this month of September, 1774, in order to such estab-

lishment as that their religion, laws, and liberties, may not

be subverted; upon which appointment and direction, the

said delegates being now assembled in a full and free rep-

resentation of these, Colonies taking into their most seri-

ous consideration the best means for attaining the ends

aforesaid, do, in the first place, (as their ancestors in like

cases have usually done,) for vindicating and asserting

their rights and liberties, declare—

1. That the power of making laws for ordering or reg-

ulating the internal polity of these Colonies, is, within the

limits of each Colony, respectively and exclusively vested

in the Provincial Legislature of such Colony; and that all

statutes for ordering or regulating the internal polity of the

said Colonies, or any of them, in any manner or in any case

whatsoever, are illegal and void.

2. That all statutes, for taxing the people of the said

colonies, are illegal and void.

3. That all the statutes before mentioned, for the pur-

pose of raising a revenue, by imposing ‘rates and duties’

payable in these Colonies, establishing a Board of Com-

missioner, and extending the jurisdiction of Courts of

Admiralty, for the collection of such ‘rates and duties’ are

illegal and void.

4. That Judges, within these Colonies, ought not to be

dependent on the Crown only; and that their commissions

ought to be during good behavior.

5. That the raising or keeping a standing army within

these Colonies in time of peace, unless it be with the con-

sent of the Provincial Legislatures, is illegal, pernicious,

and dangerous; and that every statute for quartering or

supplying troops within the said Colonies is illegal and

void.

6. That the orders aforesaid for rendering the author-

ity of the Commander-in-chief, and under him, of the

Brigadiers-General, supreme, and illegal and void.

7. That for redress of all grievances, and for the

amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws,

assemblies ought to be held in each of these Colonies fre-

quently, and at least once in every year; that such Assem-

blies ought not to be prorogued or dissolved, before they

have had sufficient time to deliberate, determine, and

bring to conclusion their counsels on public affairs; that

any statute for suspending the proceedings of any such

assembly, is illegal and void; and that every dissolution of

an assembly within these Colonies, during the present

reign, on pretence of misbehavior in the representatives of

the people, has been arbitrary and oppressive.

8. That it is the right of the subjects to petition the

King; and that a contemptuous treatment of such petitions

has a most pernicious tendency.

9. That the resolution in Parliament on the statute

made in the thirty-fifth year of Henry VIII, was arbitrary

and erroneous; and that any statute directing the trials of

Colonists to be had in England or elsewhere, on accusation

for offences committed in the Colonies, is illegal and void.

10. That the three statutes made in the last session of

Parliament, and declared to have force within the Province

of Massachusetts Bay, are oppressive to the people of that

Province, dangerous to the liberties of these colonies, ille-

gal and void.

11. That the statute made in the same session, ‘for

making more effectual provision for the government of the

Province of Quebec,’ &c. is not only unjust to the people

in that Province, but dangerous to the interests of the

Protestant religion and of these Colonies, and ought to be

repealed.

12. And they do claim, demand, and insist, on all and

singular the rights and liberties before mentioned as indu-

bitably belonging to them; and no declarations, judgments,

doings, proceedings or statutes, to the prejudice of the

people in any of the premises, ought in any wise to be

drawn hereafter into consequence or example; and these,

their undoubted rights and liberties, with the blessings of

274 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

Divine Providence, which they humbly and ardently

implore in favor of their just exertions to preserve the free-

dom of rendering to their Creator the worship they judge

most acceptable to him, and of promoting the happiness of

his creatures, they are resolved, to the utmost of their

power, to maintain and defend.

Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British

parliament, 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 pretences, 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 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, intituled “An act to discontinue,

in such manner and for such time as are therein men-

tioned, the landing and discharging, lading, or shipping

of goods, wares & merchandise, at the town, and within

the harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-

bay, in North-America;” another, intituled “An act for

the better regulating the government of the province of

the Massachusetts-bay in New-England;” and another,

intituled “An act for the impartial administration of jus-

tice, 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 gov-

ernment of the province of Quebec, &c.” All which

statutes are impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as uncon-

stitutional, and most dangerous and destructive of Amer-

ican rights.

And whereas, Assemblies have been frequently dis-

solved, contrary to the rights of the people, when they

attempted to deliberate on grievances; and their dutiful,

humble, loyal, & 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 Provi-

dence 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 liber-

ties 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, lib-

erty, & property, and they have never ceded to any

sovereign power whatever, a right to dispose of either with-

out their consent.

Resolved, N.C.D. 2. That our ancestors, who first set-

tled these colonies, were at the time of their emigration

from the mother country, entitled to all the rights, liber-

ties, 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 exer-

cise 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

bona fide, restrained to the regulation of our external com-

merce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advan-

Events Leading Up to the American Revolution 275

tages 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

entitled to the common law of England, and more espe-

cially 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 the are entituled to the ben-

efit 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 & 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 they keeping a Standing

army in these colonies, in times of peace, without the con-

sent 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 legisla-

ture be independent of each other; that, therefore, the

exercise of legislative power in several colonies, by a coun-

cil appointed, during pleasure, by the crown, is unconsti-

tutional, dangerous, and destructive to the freedom of

America 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 con-

sent, by their representatives in their several provincial

legislatures.

In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringe-

ments 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 Parlia-

ment are infringements and violations of the rights of the

colonists; and that the repeal of them is essentially neces-

sary in order to restore harmony between Great-Britain

and the American colonies, viz:

The several acts of 4 Geo. 3. ch. 15, & ch. 34.—5 Geo.

3. ch. 25.—6 Geo 3. ch. 52.—7 Geo. 3. ch. 41, & ch. 46.—

8 Geo. 3. ch. 22, which impose duties for the purpose of

raising a revenue in America, extend the powers of the

admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the

American subject of trial by jury, authorize the judges’ cer-

tificate to indemnity 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 the 12 Geo. 3. ch. 24, entituled “An act for the

better securing his Majesty’s dock-yards, magazines, ships,

ammunition, and stores,” which declares a new offence in

America, and deprives the American subject of a constitu-

tional trial by a jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the trial

of any person, charged with the committing any offense

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 parlia-

ment, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of

Boston, for altering the charter & government of the Mass-

achusetts-bay, and that which is entituled “An act for the

better administration of Justice,” &c.

Also the act passed in the same session for establish-

ing the Roman Catholick Religion in the province of Que-

bec, 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

neighbouring 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 quarterly for officers and soldiers in his

Majesty’s services 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 can-

not submit, but in hopes that their fellow subjects in

Great-Britain will, on a revision of them, restore us to that

state in which both countries found happiness and pros-

perity, we have for the present only resolved to pursue the

following peaceable measures:

Resolved, unanimously, That from and after the first

day of December next, there be no importation into

British America, from Great Britain or Ireland of any

goods, wares or merchandize whatsoever, or from any

other place of any such goods, wares or merchandize.

1st. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption,

and non-exportation agreement or association.

276 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

2. To prepare an address to the people of Great-

Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of British Amer-

ica, &

3. To prepare a loyal address to his Majesty; agreeable

to Resolutions already entered into.

Source:

Worthington Chaunecy Ford. Journals of the Continental Con-

gress,1774–1789. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1968.

Patrick Henry,

“Give Me Liberty” Speech, 1775

Address delivered by American colonial leader Patrick Henry

to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, in St.

John’s Church in Richmond. Henry addressed the reluctance

of many in the colonies to confront the likelihood of armed

conflict with Britain. He argued that hope for the peaceful res-

olution of differences with Britain was futile, pointed to

Britain’s preparations for war, and urged that the colonists arm

and organize themselves without delay. The speech ended

with these memorable words: “Is life so dear, or peace so

sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?

Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may

take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

Henry’s was one of a number of speeches that aroused

colonists. While his eloquence made this speech a staple of

American education, others, such as John Hancock’s 1774

memorial of the so-called Boston Massacre, were published

and widely circulated. The event occurred March 5, 1770,

when several Bostonians including a black man, Crispus

Attucks, were killed and others injured by British soldiers. The

shooting responded to an attack on the soldiers after a week-

end of provocation by the colonists. However, radicals like

Samuel Adams (and later Hancock) used the massacre as pro-

paganda against the British occupation of Boston. An engrav-

ing of the event by Paul Revere was widely distributed and

added to the propaganda value of the incident. John Adams

helped defend the soldiers, who were acquitted of murder.

________________________

_______________________

Delivered

In the Convention of Delegates of Virginia.

Mr. President,

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patrio-

tism, as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who

have just addressed the House. But different men often

see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I

hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentle-

men, if, entertaining as I do, opinions of a character very

opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely

and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. The

question, before the House, is one of awful moment to this

country. For my own part, I consider it as nothing less than

a question of freedom or slavery: and in proportion to the

magnitude of the subject ought to be freedom of the

debate. It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at

truth, and fulfil the great responsibility which we hold to

God and our country. Should I keep back my opinions at

such a time, through fear of giving offence, I should con-

sider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of

an act of disloyalty toward the majesty of heaven, which I

revere above all earthly kings.

Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the

illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a

painful truth, and listen to the song of that syren, till she

transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men,

engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we

disposed to be of the number of those, who having eyes,

see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so

nearly concern their temporal salvation? For my part,

whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know

the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it.

I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and

that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging

of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, I

wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the

British ministry for the last ten years, to justify those hopes

with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace them-

selves and the House? Is it that insidious smile with which

our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it will

prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be

betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious

reception of our petition comports with those warlike

preparations which cover our waters and darken our land.

Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and rec-

onciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be

reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our

love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the imple-

ments of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which

kings resort. I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial

array, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can

gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has

Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call

for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she

has none. They are meant for us: they can be meant for no

other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us those

chains, which the British ministry have been so long forg-

ing. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we try

argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last ten

years. Have we any thing new to offer upon the subject?

Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light of

which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall we

Events Leading Up to the American Revolution 277

resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms

shall we find, which have not been already exhausted? Let

us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, we

have done every thing that could be done, to avert the

storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we

have remonstrated; we have supplicated; we have pros-

trated ourselves before the throne, and have implored its

interposition to arrest the tyrannical hands of the ministry

and parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our

remonstrances have produced additional violence and

insult; our supplications have been disregarded; and we

have been spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the

throne! In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond

hope of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any

room for hope. If we wish to be free—if we mean to pre-

serve, inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we

have been so long contending—if we mean not basely to

abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long

engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to

abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be

obtained—we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An

appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!

They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with

so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be

stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it

be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard

shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength

by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of

effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and

hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies

shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak, if

we make a proper use of those means which the God of

nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people,

armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as

that which we possess, are invincible by any force which

our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not

fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides

over the destinies of nations; and who will raise up friends

to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the

strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave.

Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough

to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest.

There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery! Our

chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the

plains of Boston! The war is inevitable—and let it come! I

repeat it, sir, let it come!

It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen

may cry, peace, peace—but there is no peace. The war is

actually begun! The next gale, that sweeps from the north,

will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our

brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle?

What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is

life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the

price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I

know not what course others may take; but as for me, give

me liberty, or give me death!

Source:

Williston, Ebenezer Bancroft. Eloquence of the United States.

Middletown, Conn.: E. & H. Clark, 1827.

278 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

The American Revolution

Declaration of the Causes and

Necessity of Taking Up Arms, 1775

Document drafted by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson on

July 6, 1775, declaring the right to and just causes for taking

up arms against the British. The Revolutionary War officially

began on April 19, 1775, when a group of colonists fought

British soldiers in Lexington, Massachusetts. The war was insti-

gated by the many acts passed by Parliament—such as the

Navigation Acts, the Quartering Act of 1774 (which replaced

the Quartering Act of 1765), the Stamp Acts, and the Tea

Acts—that taxed the American colonists unfairly. These acts

were passed by Great Britain to maintain a standing army in

North America and to slow down the westward expansion of

the colonies. The Second Continental Congress ordered the

Declaration of Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms to be

written to proclaim the causes of and the events leading up to

the war against Britain and to defend the honor of the colonists

involved in the fighting.

Shortly before passing the declaration, the Continental

Congress appointed George Washington “General and Com-

mander in Chief” of all colonial forces. Although Washington,

a proven military leader, had impressed the delegates with his

poise, dedication, and skill, his commission was partly the

result of a political compromise. Most of the soldiers in the

colonial army were from New England, but Washington, as a

Virginian, tied the different regions of the fledgling country

closer together and shored up support from the southern

colonies. He refused a salary for his new position, requesting

only that his expenses be covered while he remained in com-

mand. Washington’s energy and decisive character helped

him manage the ragtag colonial army and win the support he

needed from Congress to keep them fed, quartered, and

focused on defeating the more seasoned and experienced

British troops.

________________________

_______________________

If it was possible for men who exercise their reason to

believe that the Divine Author of our existence intended a

part of the human race to hold an absolute property in and

an unbounded power over others, marked out by his infi-

nite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domi-

nation never rightfully resistible, however severe and

oppressive, the inhabitants of these colonies might at least

require from the Parliament of Great Britain some evi-

dence that this dreadful authority has been granted to that

body. But a reverence for our great Creator, principles of

humanity, and the dictates of common sense, must con-

vince all those who reflect upon the subject that govern-

ment was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind

and ought to be administered for the attainment of that

end. The legislature of Great Britain, however, stimulated

by an inordinate passion for a power not only unjustifiable,

but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the

very constitution of that kingdom, and desperate of success

in any mode of contest where regard should be had to

truth, law, or right, have at length, deserting those,

attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic purpose of

enslaving these colonies by violence, and have thereby ren-

dered it necessary for us to close with their last appeal

from reason to arms. Yet, however blinded that assembly

may be, by their intemperate rage for unlimited domina-

tion, so to slight justice and the opinion of mankind, we

esteem ourselves bound by obligations of respect to the

rest of the world to make known the justice of our cause.

Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great

Britain, left their native land to seek on these shores a res-

idence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of

their blood; at the hazard of their fortunes; without the

least charge to the country from which they removed; by

unceasing labor and an unconquerable spirit, they effected

settlements in the distant and inhospitable wilds of Amer-

ica, then filled with numerous and warlike nations of bar-

barians. Societies or governments, vested with perfect

legislatures, were formed under charters from the crown,

and an harmonious intercourse was established between

the colonies and the kingdom from which they derived

their origin.

The mutual benefits of this union became in a short

time so extraordinary as to excite astonishment. It is uni-

versally confessed that the amazing increase of the wealth,

strength, and navigation of the realm arose from this

source; and the minister who so wisely and successfully

directed the measures of Great Britain in the late war pub-

licly declared that these colonies enabled her to triumph

over her enemies. Toward the conclusion of that war it

pleased our sovereign to make a change in his counsels.

From that fatal moment the affairs of the British empire

began to fall into confusion, and gradually sliding from the

summit of glorious prosperity to which they had been

advanced by the virtues and abilities of one man are at

length distracted by the convulsions that now shake its

deepest foundations. The new ministry, finding the brave

foes of Britain, though frequently defeated, yet still con-

tending, took up the unfortunate idea of granting them a

hasty peace and of then subduing her faithful friends.

These devoted colonies were judged to be in such a

state as to present victories without bloodshed and all the

easy emoluments of statutable plunder. The uninterrupted

tenor of their peaceable and respectful behavior from the

beginning of colonization; their dutiful, zealous, and useful

services during the war, though so recently and amply

acknowledged in the most honorable manner by his

Majesty, by the late King and by Parliament, could not save

them from the meditated innovations. Parliament was

influenced to adopt the pernicious project, and assuming a

new power over them have in the course of eleven years

given such decisive specimens of the spirit and conse-

quences attending this power as to leave no doubt con-

cerning the effects of acquiescence under it.

They have undertaken to give and grant our money

without our consent, though we have ever exercised an

exclusive right to dispose of our own property; statutes

have been passed for extending the jurisdiction of courts of

admiralty and vice-admiralty beyond their ancient limits;

for depriving us of the accustomed and inestimable privi-

lege of trial by jury in cases affecting both life and prop-

erty; for suspending the legislature of one of the colonies;

for interdicting all commerce to the capital of another, and

for altering, fundamentally, the form of government estab-

lished by charter and secured by acts of its own legislature,

solemnly confirmed by the crown; for exempting the “mur-

derers” of colonists from legal trial, and in effect from pun-

ishment; for erecting in a neighboring province, acquired

by the joint arms of Great Britain and America, a despo-

tism dangerous to our very existence; and for quartering

soldiers upon the colonists in time of profound peace. It

has also been resolved in Parliament that colonists charged

The American Revolution 279

with committing certain offences shall be transported to

England to be tried.

But why should we enumerate our injuries in detail?

By one statute it is declared that Parliament can “of right

make laws to bind us in all cases whatsoever.” What is to

defend us against so enormous, so unlimited a power? Not

a single man of those who assume it is chosen by us or is

subject to our control or influence; but on the contrary

they are all of them exempt from the operation of such

laws, and an American revenue, if not diverted from the

ostensible purposes for which it is raised, would actually

lighten their own burden in proportion as they increase

ours. We saw the misery to which such despotism would

reduce us. We, for ten years, incessantly and ineffectually

besieged the throne as supplicants; we reasoned, we

remonstrated with Parliament in the most mild and decent

language.

Administration, sensible that we should regard these

oppressive measures as freemen ought to do, sent over

fleets and armies to enforce them. The indignation of the

Americans was roused, it is true, but it was the indignation

of a virtuous, loyal, and affectionate people. A congress of

delegates from the united colonies was assembled at

Philadelphia on the 5th day of last September. We resolved

again to offer an humble and dutiful petition to the King,

and also addressed our fellow subjects of Great Britain. We

have pursued every temperate, every respectful measure;

we have even proceeded to break off our commercial

intercourse with our fellow subjects, as the last peaceable

admonition that our attachment to no nation upon earth

should supplant our attachment to liberty. This, we flat-

tered ourselves, was the ultimate step of the controversy,

but subsequent events have shown how vain was this hope

of finding moderation in our enemies.

Several threatening expressions against the colonies

were inserted in his Majesty’s speech; our petition, though

we were told it was a decent one, and that his Majesty had

been pleased to receive it graciously, and to promise laying

it before his Parliament, was huddled into both Houses

among a bundle of American papers and there neglected.

The Lords and Commons in their address in the month of

February said that “a rebellion at that time actually existed

within the province of Massachusetts Bay, and that those

concerned in it had been countenanced and encouraged

by unlawful combinations and engagements entered into

by his Majesty’s subjects in several of the other colonies;

and therefore they besought his Majesty that he would

take the most effectual measures to enforce due obedience

to the laws and authority of the supreme legislature.” Soon

after, the commercial intercourse of whole colonies with

foreign countries and with each other was cut off by an act

of Parliament; by another, several of them were entirely

prohibited from the fisheries in the seas near their coasts,

on which they always depended for their subsistence, and

large reinforcements of ships and troops were immediately

sent over to General Gage.

Fruitless were all the entreaties, arguments, and elo-

quence of an illustrious band of the most distinguished

peers and commoners, who nobly and strenuously asserted

the justice of our cause to stay or even to mitigate the

heedless fury with which these accumulated and unexam-

pled outrages were hurried on. Equally fruitless was the

interference of the city of London, of Bristol, and many

other respectable towns, in our favor. Parliament adopted

an insidious manoeuvre, calculated to divide us, to estab-

lish a perpetual auction of taxations, where colony should

bid against colony, all of them uninformed what ransom

would redeem their lives; and thus to extort from us, at the

point of the bayonet, the unknown sums that should be

sufficient to gratify, if possible to gratify, ministerial rapac-

ity, with the miserable indulgence left to us of raising in

our own mode the prescribed tribute. What terms more

rigid and humiliating could have been dictated by

remorseless victors to conquered enemies? In our circum-

stances to accept them would be to deserve them.

Soon after the intelligence of these proceedings

arrived on this continent, General Gage, who in the course

of the last year had taken possession of the town of Boston,

in the province of Massachusetts Bay, and still occupied it

as a garrison, on the 19th day of April sent out from that

place a large detachment of his army, who made an unpro-

voked assault on the inhabitants of the said province at the

town of Lexington, as appears by the affidavits of a great

number of persons, some of whom were officers and sol-

diers of that detachment, murdered, eight of the inhabi-

tants and wounded many others. From thence the troops

proceeded in warlike array to the town of Concord, where

they set upon another party of the inhabitants of the same

province, killing several and wounding more, until com-

pelled to retreat by the country people suddenly assem-

bled to repel this cruel aggression.

Hostilities thus commenced by the British troops

have been since prosecuted by them without regard to

faith or reputation. The inhabitants of Boston being con-

fined within that town by the general, their governor, and

having, in order to procure their dismission, entered into

a treaty with him, it was stipulated that the said inhabi-

tants, having deposited their arms with their own magis-

trates, should have liberty to depart, taking with them

their other effects. They accordingly delivered up their

arms, but in open violation of honor, in defiance of the

obligation of treaties which even savage nations esteem

sacred, the governor ordered the arms deposited as afore-

said that they might be preserved for their owners, to be

seized by a body of soliders, detained the greatest part of

the inhabitants in the town, and compelled the few who

280 ERA 3: Revolution and New Nation

were permitted to retire to leave their most valuable

effects behind.

By this perfidy wives are separated from their hus-

bands, children from their parents, the aged and the sick

from their relations and friends who wish to attend and

comfort them, and those who have been used to live in

plenty and even elegance are reduced to deplorable dis-

tress.

The general, further emulating his ministerial mas-

ters, by a proclamation bearing date on the 12th day of

June, after venting the grossest falsehoods and calumnies

against the good people of these colonies, proceeds to

“declare them all, either by name or description, to be

rebels and traitors to supesede the course of common law,

and instead thereof to publish and order the use and exer-

cise of the law martial.” His troops have butchered our

countrymen, have wantonly burnt Charlestown, besides a

considerable number of houses in other places; our ships

and vessels are seized; the necessary supplies of provisions

are intercepted, and he is exerting his utmost power to

spread destruction and devastation around him.

We have received certain intelligence that General

Carleton, the Governor of Canada, is instigating the people

of that province and the Indians to fall upon us; and we

have but too much reason to apprehend that schemes have

been formed to excite domestic enemies against us. In

brief, a part of these colonies now feel, and all of them are

sure of feeling, as far as the vengeance of administration

can inflict them, the complicated calamities of fire, sword,

and famine. We are reduced to the alternative of choosing

an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated min-

isters or resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We

have counted the cost of this contest and find nothing so

dreadful as voluntary slavery! Honor, justice, and humanity

forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we

received from our gallant ancestors, and which our inno-

cent posterity have a right to receive from us. We cannot

endure the infamy and guilt of resigning succeeding gener-

ations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them if

we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.

Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal

resources are great, and, if necessary, foreign assistance is

undoubtedly attainable. We gratefully acknowledge, as sig-

nal instances of Divine favor toward us, that his providence

would not permit us to be called into his severe contro-

versy until we were grown up to our present strength, had

been previously exercised in warlike operations, and pos-

sessed the means of defending ourselves. With hearts for-

tified by these animating reflections we most solemnly,

before God and the world, declare, that, exerting the

utmost energy of those powers which our beneficient Cre-

ator has graciously bestowed upon us, the arms we have

been compelled by our enemies to assume, we will, in defi-

nance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and perse-

verance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being

with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live

slaves.

Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our

friends and fellow subjects in any part of the Empire, we

assure them that we mean not to dissolve that union which

has so long and so happily subsisted between us, and which

we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity has not yet

driven us into that desperate measure or induced us to

excite any other nation to war against them. We have not

raised armies with ambitious designs of separating from

Great Britain and establishing independent states. We

fight not for glory or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind

the remarkable spectacle of a people attacked by unpro-

voked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion

of offense. They boast of their privileges and civilization,

and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or

death.

In our own native land, in defense of the freedom that

is our birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late

violation of it—for the protection of our property, acquired

solely by the honest industry of our forefathers and our-

selves, against violence actually offered, we have taken up

arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease

on the part of the aggressors and all danger of their being

renewed shall be removed, and not before.

With an humble confidence in the mercies of the

Supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the universe,

we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to protect us

happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adver-

saries to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to

relieve the Empire from the calamities of civil war.