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Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
by Various Authors
OCTOBER 14, 1777
Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British parliament,
claiming a power, of right, to bind the people of America by statutes
in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some acts, expressly imposed taxes
on them, and in others, under various presences, but in fact for the
purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in
these colonies, established a board of commissioners, with unconstitu-
tional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty,
not only for collecting the said duties, but for the trial of causes
merely arising within the body of a county:
And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges, who before held
only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependant on the
crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in times of
peace: And whereas it has lately been resolved in parliament, that by
force of a statute, made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King
Henry the Eighth, colonists may be transported to England, and tried
there upon accusations for treasons and misprisions, or concealments of
treasons committed in the colonies, and by a late statute, such trials
have been directed in cases therein mentioned:
And whereas, in the last session of parliament, three statutes were
made; one entitled, "An act to discontinue, in such manner and for such
time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading, or
shipping of goods, wares and merchandise, at the town, and within the
harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New Eng-
land;" another entitled, "An act for the better regulating the
government of the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New England;" and
another entitled, "An act for the impartial administration of justice,
in the cases of persons questioned for any act done by them in the
execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in
the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New England;" and another
statute was then made, "for making more effectual provision for the
government of the province of Quebec, etc." All which statutes are
impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most
dangerous and destructive of American rights:
And whereas, assemblies have been frequently dissolved, contrary to the
rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate on grievances;
and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable petitions to the
crown for redress, have been repeatedly treated with contempt, by his
Majesty's ministers of state:
The good people of the several colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachuset-
ts-Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York,
New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North- Carolina and South-Carolina, justly alarmed
at these arbitrary proceedings of parliament and administration, have
severally elected, constituted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit
in general Congress, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain
such establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties, may
not be subverted: Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now
assembled, in a full and free representation of these colonies, taking
into their most serious consideration, the best means of attaining
the ends aforesaid, do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their
ancestors in like cases have usually done, for asserting and vindicat-
ing their rights and liberties, DECLARE,
That the inhabitants of the English colonies in North-America, by the
immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution,
and the several charters or compacts, have the following RIGHTS:
Resolved, N.C.D. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty and
property: and they have never ceded to any foreign power whatever, a
right to dispose of either without their consent.
Resolved, N.C.D. 2. That our ancestors, who first settled these
colonies, were at the time of their emigration from the mother country,
entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and
natural-born subjects, within the realm of England.
Resolved, N.C.D. 3. That by such emigration they by no means for-
feited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were,
and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment
of all such of them, as their local and other circumstances enable them
to exercise and enjoy.
Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free
government, is a right in the people to participate in their legisla-
tive council: and as the English colonists are not represented, and
from their local and other circumstances, cannot properly be repre-
sented in the British parliament, they are entitled to a free and
exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legisla-
tures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved, in
all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative
of their sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used and
accustomed: But, from the necessity of the case, and a regard to the
mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the
operation of such acts of the British parliament, as are bonfide,
restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose
of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the
mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members;
excluding every idea of taxation internal or external, for raising a
revenue on the subjects, in America, without their consent.
Resolved, N.C.D. 5. That the respective colonies are entitled to the
common law of England, and more especially to the great and ines-
timable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage,
according to the course of that law.
Resolved, N.C.D. 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of
the English statutes, as existed at the time of their colonization; and
which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to
their several local and other circumstances.
Resolved, N.C.D. 7. That these, his Majesty's colonies, are likewise
entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to
them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial
laws.
Resolved, N.C.D. 8. That they have a right peaceably to assemble,
consider of their grievances, and petition the king; and that all
prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the
same, are illegal.
Resolved, N.C.D. 9. That the keeping a standing army in these colonies,
in times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that
colony, in which such army is kept, is against law.
Resolved, N.C.D. 10. It is indispensably necessary to good government,
and rendered essential by the English constitution, that the con-
stituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other;
that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several colonies,
by a council appointed, during pleasure, by the crown, is unconstitu-
tional, dangerous and destructive to the freedom of American legisla-
tion.
All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of themselves,
and their constituents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their
indubitable rights and liberties, which cannot be legally taken from
them, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own
consent, by their representatives in their several provincial legisla-
ture.
In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringements and violations
of the foregoing rights, which, from an ardent desire, that harmony and
mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we pass
over for the present, and proceed to state such acts and measures as
have been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system formed
to enslave America.
Resolved, N.C.D. That the following acts of parliament are infringe-
ments and violations of the rights of the colonists; and that the
repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony
between Great Britain and the American colonies, viz.
The several acts of Geo. III. ch. 15, and ch. 34.-5 Geo. III. ch.25.-6
Geo. ch. 52.-7 Geo.III. ch. 41 and ch. 46.-8 Geo. III. ch. 22. which
impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, extend
the power of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive
the American subject of trial by jury, authorize the judges certificate
to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might otherwise be
liable to, requiring oppressive security from a claimant of ships and
goods seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, and
are subversive of American rights.
Also 12 Geo. III. ch. 24, intituled, "An act for the better securing
his majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores,"
which declares a new offence in America, and deprives the American
subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by author-
izing the trial of any person, charged with the committing any offence
described in the said act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried
for the same in any shire or county within the realm.
Also the three acts passed in the last session of parliament, for
stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of Boston, for altering
the charter and government of Massachusetts-Bay, and that which is
entitled, "An act for the better administration of justice, etc."
Also the act passed in the same session for establishing the Roman
Catholic religion, in the province of Quebec, abolishing the equitable
system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the great
danger (from so total a dissimilarity of religion, law and government)
of the neighboring British colonies, by the assistance of whose blood
and treasure the said country was conquered from France.
Also the act passed in the same session, for the better providing
suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his majesty's service,
in North-America.
Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of these colonies, in
time of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony,
in which such army is kept, is against law.
To these grievous acts and measures, Americans cannot submit, but in
hopes their fellow subjects in Great Britain will, on a revision of
them, restore us to that state, in which both countries found happiness
and prosperity, we have for the present, only resolved to pursue the
following peaceable measures:
1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and
non-exportation agreement or association.
2. To prepare an address to the people of Great-Britain, and a
memorial to the inhabitants of British America: and
3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable to
resolutions already entered into.
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