fieldston american reader volume i – fall 2007 - Ethical Culture ...

First Continental Congress, Declarationand Resolves (1774)Representatives of twelve of the thirteen colonies met in Philadelphiain September and October of 1774 to develop a common response tothe Coercive (Intolerable) Acts. Play close attention to the grievancesthat the Congress cites. Also note the tone of the document and therelationship it outlines between the American colonies and GreatBritain.Whereas, since the close of the [French and Indian] war, theBritish Parliament, claiming a power to bind the people ofAmerica, by statute in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some actsexpressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under variouspretenses, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hathimposed rates and duties payable in these colonies, establisheda board of commissioners with unconstitutional powers, andextended the jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty, not onlyfor collecting the said duties, but for the trial of causes merelyarising within the body of a county.... [and] colonists may betransported to England, and there be tried upon accusations....And whereas, in the last session of Parliament, three statutes weremade [The Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts GovernmentAct and the Administration of Justice Act] and another statutewas then made [The Quebec Act].... All of which statutes areimpolitic, unjust and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, andmost dangerous and destructive of American rights.And whereas [colonial] Assemblies have been frequentlyresolved, contrary to the rights of the people, when theyattempt to deliberate on their grievances; and their dutiful,humble, loyal and reasonable petitions to the court for redress,have been repeatedly treated with contempt...The good people of the several colonies... justly alarmed atthese arbitrary proceedings of Parliament and administration,have... appointed deputies [to this Congress] in order to obtainsuch establishment, as that their religion, laws and liberties,may not be subverted:Whereupon the deputies [to this Congress]... in a full and freerepresentation of these Colonies, taking into their most seriousconsideration, the best means of attaining the aforesaid, do, asEnglishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, forasserting 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 EnglishConstitution, have the following rights:1. That there are entitled to life, liberty and property, and theyhave never ceded to any sovereign power whatever, a right todispose of either without their consent.2. That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies, wereat the time of their emigration from their mother country,entitled to all the rights, liberties and immunities of free andnatural-born subjects, within the realm of England.3. That by such emigration they by no means forfeited,surrendered or lost any of those rights and their descendantsnow are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all of them.4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all freegovernment, is a right in the people to participate in theirlegislative council: and as the English colonists are notrepresented, and from their local circumstances cannot beproperly represented in the British Parliament, they areentitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in theirseveral [Colonial] Legislatures. But, from the necessity of thecase, and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries,we cheerfully consent to the operation of such acts of BritishParliament, as are bona fide, restrained to the regulation ofour external commerce, for the purposes of securing thecommercial advantages of the whole empire to the mothercountry. excluding every idea of taxation, internal or external,for the purposes of raising a revenue on the subjects of America,without their consent.5. That the respective colonies are entitled to the common lawof England, and more especially to the great privilege of beingtried by their peers, according to... that law....8. That they have the right peaceably to assemble, considerof their grievances, and petition the King and that allprosecutions... and comments for the same, are illegal....9. That the keeping of a standing army in these colonies, intimes of peace, without the consent of the legislature of thatcolony, is against the law....All... in behalf of themselves and their constituents, doclaim, demand, and insist on, [each of the aforesaid] as theirindubitable rights and liberties, which cannot be legally takenaway from them, altered or abridged by any power whatever,without their consent....In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringementsand violations of the foregoing rights, which, from an ardentdesire that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection andinterest may be restored... that the repeal of them is essentiallynecessary in order to restore harmony between Great Britainand the American colonies....99