13. That it is the right of the British subjects in these colonies to petition the King, or either house of Parliament.

Lastly. That it is the indispensable duty of these colonies, to the best of sovereigns, to the mother country, and to themselves, to endeavour by a loyal and dutiful address to His Majesty, and humble applications to both houses of Parliament, to procure the repeal of the act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, of all clauses of any other acts of Parliament, whereby the jurisdiction of the admiralty is extended, as aforesaid, and of the other late acts for the restriction of American commerce.

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DECLARATION OF RIGHTS AND NONIMPORTATION AGREEMENT-1774.

THE Congress of 1774 met at Philadelphia, Sept. 5th. On the second day of the session, it was Resolved, unanimously that a committee be appointed to state the rights of the colonies in general, the several instances in which these rights are violated or infringed, and the means most proper to be pursued for obtaining a restoration of them." The report of the committee (presented Sept. 21) provoked much discussion, and it was not till Congress had limited the field to rights infringed by acts of parliament since 1763, previous violations having been considered by the Congress of 1765, that the Declaration was agreed upon, Oct. 14.

Congress also decided on commercial non-intercourse with England, thus returning to the policy first adopted in opposition to the Stamp Act in 1765, and revived in the early days of the republic by the embargoes of Washington and Jefferson. This non-importation agreement was signed Oct. 20, by fifty members, who thus formed what John Adams called, "the memorable league of the continent in 1774, which first expressed the sovereign will of a free nation in America." Equally emphatic is the verdict of Hildreth: "the signature of the association by the members of congress may

be considered as the commencement of the American Union."

Consult Bancroft's, U. S., 1st. ed., VI., 146; cen. ed., IV., 406; last ed., IV., 65 et seq.; Hildreth's, U. S., III., 43; Frothingham's Rise, 371; Story's Constitution, I., 179; Bryant and Gay's U. S., III., 341; Greene's Historical View, 83; Curtis' Constitution, I., 22; Pitkin's, U. S., I., 283.

DECLARATION OF RIGHTS-1774.

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 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 dependent on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in time 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 MassachusettsBay, in North America;" 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 MassachusettsBay 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, Massachussetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, New-Castle, 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

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aforesaid, do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for effecting and vindicating their rights and liberties, DECLARE,

That the inhabitants of the English colonies in NorthAmerica, 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 that they have never ceded to any sovereign 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 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.

Resolved, 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 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,