Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress (14 October 1774)
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
pretenses, 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 dependent 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 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 harbor of Boston
in the province of Massachusetts-bay, in North America;"
another, entitled "An act for the better regulating the
government of the province of the 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, &
reasonable petitions to the crown for redress, have been
repeatedly treated with contempt, by His Majesty's ministers
of state:
The good people of the several Colonies of New
Hampshire, Massachusetts bay, Rhode Island and Providence
plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Newcastle Kent and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
North Carolina, and South Carolina, justly alarmed at these
arbitrary proceedings of parliament and administration, have
severally elected, constituted, and appointed deputies to
meet, and sit in general Congress, in the city of
Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment, as that
their religion, laws, and liberties, may not be subverted:
Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now assembled,
in a full and free representation of these Colonies, taking
into their most serious consideration the best means of
attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place, as
Englishmen their ancestors in like cases have usually done,
for asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties,
declare,
That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in
North America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles
of the English constitution, and the several charters or
compacts, have the following Rights:
Resolved, N. C. D.
That they are entitled to life, liberty, and property, & they never ceded to any sovereign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent.
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.
That by such emigration they by no means forfeited,
surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were,
and their descendants now are entitled to the exercise and
enjoyment of all such of them, as their local and other
circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy.
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 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.
That the respective colonies are entitled to the
common law of England, and more especially to the great and
inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the
vicinage, according to the course of that law.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It is indispensably necessary to good government,
and rendered essential by the English constitution, that the
constituent branches of the legislature be independent of each
other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in
several colonies, by a council appointed during pleasure, by
the crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive to
the freedom of American legislation.
All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in
behalf of themselves, and their constituents, do claim,
demand, and insist on, as their indubitable rights and
liberties; which cannot be legally taken from them, altered or
abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent, by
their representatives in their several provincial
legislatures.
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, That the following acts of Parliament are
infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists;
and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order
to restore harmony between Great Britain and the American
colonies, viz.:
The several Acts of 4 Geo. 3, ch. 15 & ch. 34; 5 Geo.
3, ch. 25; 6 Geo. 3, ch. 52; 7 Geo. 3, ch. 41 & 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' 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 the 12 Geo. 3, ch. 24, entitled "An act for the
better preserving his Majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships,
ammunition, and stores," which declares a new offense in
America, and deprives the American subject of a constitutional
trial by jury of the vicinage, by authorizing the trial of any
person charged with the committing any 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
parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbor
of Boston, for altering the charter & government of the
Massachusetts bay, and that which is entitled "An Act for the
better administration of Justice," &c.
Also the act passed 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 great 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 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 the army is kept, is
against law.
To these grievous acts and measures Americans cannot
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 prosperity, we
have for the present only resolved to pursue the following
peaceable measures: 1st. 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, & 3. To
prepare a loyal address to his Majesty, agreeable to
resolutions already entered into.
