Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 01868
CAUSES OF THE
AMERICAN REVOLUTION
A Selection of Key Documents
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Proclamation of 1763
2
A Member of Parliament’s pamphlet justifying virtual representation, 1765
7
A Maryland lawyer’s arguments about the Stamp Act, 1765
10
Declaratory Act, 1766
12
Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770
13
Print depicting a tarring and feathering, 1774
15
“A society of patriotic ladies” print, 1775
17
Lord Dunmore’s proclamation, 1775
18
Common Sense, addressed to the inhabitants of America, 1776
19
Abigail Adams to John Adams, 1776
22
Declaration of Independence, 1776
24
Portrait of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1817
29
Petition from Boston slaves to Massachusetts General Court, 1777
30
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Proclamation of 1763
Description: King George III, Royal Proclamation, [London, England], October 7, 1763.
Source: The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 05214 and Yale Law School’s Avalon Project.
An image, partial transcript and more information may be found using the Gilder Lehrman
Collection’s search page, accessible at http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search. The text below may
be found at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/proc1763.asp; the home page, which links
to full text of assorted documents in law, diplomacy and history from ancient times through the
present is available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp.
BY THE KlNG. A PROCLAMATION
GEORGE R.
Whereas We have taken into Our Royal Consideration the extensive and valuable Acquisitions in
America, secured to our Crown by the late Definitive Treaty of Peace, concluded at Paris. the 10th
Day of February last; and being desirous that all Our loving Subjects, as well of our Kingdom as
of our Colonies in America, may avail themselves with all convenient Speed, of the great Benefits
and Advantages which must accrue therefrom to their Commerce, Manufactures, and Navigation,
We have thought fit, with the Advice of our Privy Council. to issue this our Royal Proclamation,
hereby to publish and declare to all our loving Subjects, that we have, with the Advice of our
Said Privy Council, granted our Letters Patent, under our Great Seal of Great Britain, to erect,
within the Countries and Islands ceded and confirmed to Us by the said Treaty, Four distinct and
separate Governments, styled and called by the names of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida and
Grenada, and limited and bounded as follows, viz.
First--The Government of Quebec bounded on the Labrador Coast by the River St. John, and
from thence by a Line drawn from the Head of that River through the Lake St. John, to the South
end of the Lake Nipissim; from whence the said Line, crossing the River St. Lawrence, and the
Lake Champlain, in 45. Degrees of North Latitude, passes along the High Lands which divide
the Rivers that empty themselves into the said River St. Lawrence from those which fall into the
Sea; and also along the North Coast of the Baye des Chaleurs, and the Coast of the Gulph of St.
Lawrence to Cape Rosieres, and from thence crossing the Mouth of the River St. Lawrence by the
West End of the Island of Anticosti, terminates at the aforesaid River of St. John.
Secondly--The Government of East Florida. bounded to the Westward by the Gulph of Mexico
and the Apalachicola River; to the Northward by a Line drawn from that part of the said River
where the Chatahouchee and Flint Rivers meet, to the source of St. Mary’s River. and by the
course of the said River to the Atlantic Ocean; and to the Eastward and Southward by the Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulph of Florida, including all Islands within Six Leagues of the Sea Coast.
Thirdly--The Government of West Florida. bounded to the Southward by the Gulph of Mexico.
including all Islands within Six Leagues of the Coast. from the River Apalachicola to Lake
Pontchartrain; to the Westward by the said Lake, the Lake Maurepas, and the River Mississippi; to
the Northward by a Line drawn due East from that part of the River Mississippi which lies in 31
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Degrees North Latitude. to the River Apalachicola or Chatahouchee; and to the Eastward by the
said River.
Fourthly--The Government of Grenada, comprehending the Island of that name, together with
the Grenadines, and the Islands of Dominico, St. Vincent’s and Tobago. And to the end that the
open and free Fishery of our Subjects may be extended to and carried on upon the Coast of
Labrador, and the adjacent Islands. We have thought fit. with the advice of our said Privy Council
to put all that Coast, from the River St. John’s to Hudson’s Streights, together with the Islands of
Anticosti and Madelaine, and all other smaller Islands Iying upon the said Coast, under the care
and Inspection of our Governor of Newfoundland.
We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council. thought fit to annex the Islands of St. John’s
and Cape Breton, or Isle Royale, with the lesser Islands adjacent thereto, to our Government of
Nova Scotia.
We have also, with the advice of our Privy Council aforesaid, annexed to our Province of Georgia
all the Lands Iying between the Rivers Alatamaha and St. Mary’s.
And whereas it will greatly contribute to the speedy settling of our said new Governments, that
our loving Subjects should be informed of our Paternal care, for the security of the Liberties and
Properties of those who are and shall become Inhabitants thereof, We have thought fit to publish
and declare, by this Our Proclamation, that We have, in the Letters Patent under our Great Seal of
Great Britain, by which the said Governments are constituted. given express Power and Direction
to our Governors of our Said Colonies respectively, that so soon as the state and circumstances of
the said Colonies will admit thereof, they shall, with the Advice and Consent of the Members of
our Council, summon and call General Assemblies within the said Governments respectively, in
such Manner and Form as is used and directed in those Colonies and Provinces in America which
are under our immediate Government: And We have also given Power to the said Governors, with
the consent of our Said Councils, and the Representatives of
We have also thought fit, with the advice of our Privy Council as aforesaid, to give unto the
Governors and Councils of our said Three new Colonies, upon the Continent full Power and
Authority to settle and agree with the Inhabitants of our said new Colonies or with any other
Persons who shall resort thereto, for such Lands. Tenements and Hereditaments, as are now or
hereafter shall be in our Power to dispose of; and them to grant to any such Person or Persons
upon such Terms, and under such moderate Quit-Rents, Services and Acknowledgments, as
have been appointed and settled in our other Colonies, and under such other Conditions as
shall appear to us to be necessary and expedient for the Advantage of the Grantees, and the
Improvement and settlement of our said Colonies.
And Whereas, We are desirous, upon all occasions, to testify our Royal Sense and Approbation
of the Conduct and bravery of the Officers and Soldiers of our Armies, and to reward the same,
We do hereby command and impower our Governors of our said Three new Colonies, and
all other our Governors of our several Provinces on the Continent of North America, to grant
without Fee or Reward, to such reduced Officers as have served in North America during the
late War, and to such Private Soldiers as have been or shall be disbanded in America, and are
actually residing there, and shall personally apply for the same, the following Quantities of Lands,
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
subject, at the Expiration of Ten Years, to the same Quit-Rents as other Lands are subject to in the
Province within which they are granted, as also subject to the same Conditions of Cultivation and
Improvement; viz.
To every Person having the Rank of a Field Officer--5,000 Acres.
To every Captain--3,000 Acres.
To every Subaltern or Staff Officer,--2,000 Acres.
To every Non-Commission Officer,--200 Acres .
To every Private Man--50 Acres.
We do likewise authorize and require the Governors and Commanders in Chief of all our said
Colonies upon the Continent of North America to grant the like Quantities of Land, and upon
the same conditions, to such reduced Officers of our Navy of like Rank as served on board our
Ships of War in North America at the times of the Reduction of Louisbourg and Quebec in the
late War, and who shall personally apply to our respective Governors for such Grants.
And whereas it is just and reasonable, and essential to our Interest, and the Security of our
Colonies, that the several Nations or Tribes of Indians with whom We are connected, and who
live under our Protection, should not be molested or disturbed in the Possession of such Parts
of Our Dominions and Territories as, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are reserved
to them. or any of them, as their Hunting Grounds.--We do therefore, with the Advice of our
Privy Council, declare it to be our Royal Will and Pleasure. that no Governor or Commander
in Chief in any of our Colonies of Quebec, East Florida. or West Florida, do presume, upon any
Pretence whatever, to grant Warrants of Survey, or pass any Patents for Lands beyond the Bounds
of their respective Governments. as described in their Commissions: as also that no Governor or
Commander in Chief in any of our other Colonies or Plantations in America do presume for the
present, and until our further Pleasure be known, to grant Warrants of Survey, or pa
And We do further declare it to be Our Royal Will and Pleasure, for the present as aforesaid, to
reserve under our Sovereignty, Protection, and Dominion, for the use of the said Indians, all the
Lands and Territories not included within the Limits of Our said Three new Governments, or
within the Limits of the Territory granted to the Hudson’s Bay Company, as also all the Lands
and Territories lying to the Westward of the Sources of the Rivers which fall into the Sea from the
West and North West as aforesaid.
And We do hereby strictly forbid, on Pain of our Displeasure, all our loving Subjects from making
any Purchases or Settlements whatever, or taking Possession of any of the Lands above reserved.
without our especial leave and Licence for that Purpose first obtained.
And. We do further strictly enjoin and require all Persons whatever who have either wilfully or
inadvertently seated themselves upon any Lands within the Countries above described. or upon
any other Lands which, not having been ceded to or purchased by Us, are still reserved to the said
Indians as aforesaid, forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements.
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
And whereas great Frauds and Abuses have been committed in purchasing Lands of the Indians,
to the great Prejudice of our Interests. and to the great Dissatisfaction of the said Indians: In
order, therefore, to prevent such Irregularities for the future, and to the end that the Indians
may be convinced of our Justice and determined Resolution to remove all reasonable Cause
of Discontent, We do. with the Advice of our Privy Council strictly enjoin and require. that no
private Person do presume to make any purchase from the said Indians of any Lands reserved
to the said Indians, within those parts of our Colonies where, We have thought proper to allow
Settlement: but that. if at any Time any of the Said Indians should be inclined to dispose of the
said Lands, the same shall be Purchased only for Us, in our Name, at some public Meeting or
Assembly of the said Indians, to be held for that Purpose by the Governor or Commander in
Chief of our Colony respectively within which they shall lie: and in case they shall
And we do hereby authorize, enjoin, and require the Governors and Commanders in Chief of all
our Colonies respectively, as well those under Our immediate Government as those under the
Government and Direction of Proprietaries, to grant such Licences without Fee or Reward, taking
especial Care to insert therein a Condition, that such Licence shall be void, and the Security
forfeited in case the Person to whom the same is granted shall refuse or neglect to observe such
Regulations as We shall think proper to prescribc as aforesaid.
And we do further expressly conjoin and require all Officers whatever, as well Military as those
Employed in the Management and Direction of Indian Affairs, within the Territories reserved
as aforesaid for the use of the said Indians, to seize and apprehend all Persons whatever.
who standing charged with Treason. Misprisions of Treason. Murders, or other Felonies or
Misdemeanors. shall fly from Justice and take Refuge in the said Territory. and to send them
under a proper guard to the Colony where the Crime was committed of which they, stand
accused. in order to take their Trial for the same.
Given at our Court at St. James’s the 7th Day of October 1763. in the Third Year of our Reign.
GOD SAVE THE KING
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Proclamation of 1763
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 05214
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
The Thirteen Colonies, 1775. The Proclamation Line ensured that no British colonists settled west of the Appalachian Mountains.
The Gilder Lehrman Institute, American History: Elementary School Edition, 2008.
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
A Member of Parliament’s pamphlet justifying virtual representation, 1765
Description: Soame Jenyns, “The Objections to the Taxation of our American Colonies by the
Legislature of Great Britain, briefly consider’d,” [London, England], 1765.
Source: From Revolution to Reconstruction, a project of the Department of Humanities
Computing and Department of American Studies University of Groningen, The Netherlands,
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/index.htm. Full text of the document may be found at http://www.let.
rug.nl/usa/D/1751-1775/stampact/object.htm.
Background: Soame Jenyns was a Member of Parliament from 1741 to 1780. He served on the
Board of Trade and Plantations when he wrote this pamphlet justifying “virtual representation.”
The right of the Legislature of Great-Britain to impose taxes on her American Colonies, and the
expedicocy of exerting that right in the present conjuncture, are propositions so indisputably
clear, that I should never have thought it necessary to have undertaken their defence, had not
many arguments been lately flung out, both in papers and conversation, which with insolence
equal to their absurdity deny them both. As these are usually mixt up with several patriotic
and favorite words such as Liberty, Property, Englishmen, etc., which are apt to make strong
impressions on that more numerous part of mankind, who have ears but no understanding, it
will not, I think, be improper to give them some answers: to this, therefore, I shall singly confine
myself, and do it in as few words as possible, being sensible that the fewest will give least trouble
to myself and probably most information to my reader.
The great capital argument, which I find on this subject, and which, like an Elephant at the
head of a Nobob’s army, being once overthrown, must put the whole into confusion, is this;
that no Englishman is, or can be taxed, but by his own consent: by which must be meant one of
these three propositions; either that no Englishman can be taxed without his own consent as an
individual; or that no Englishman can be taxed without the consent of the persons he chuses to
represent him; or that no Englishman can be taxed without the consent of the majority of all
those, who are elected by himself and others of his fellow-subjects to represent them. Now let
us impartially consider, whether any one of these propositions are in fact true: if not, then this
wonderful structure which has been erected upon them, falls at once to the ground, and like
another Babel, perishes by a confusion of words, which the builders themselves are unable to
understand.
First then, that no Englishman is or can be taxed but by his own consent as an individual: this is
so far from being true, that it is the very reverse of truth; for no man that I know of is taxed by
his own consent; and an Englishman, I believe, is as little likely to be so taxed, as any man in the
world.
Secondly, that no Englishman is or can be taxed but by the consent of those persons whom he
has chose to represent him; for the truth of this I shall appeal only to the candid representatives
of those unfortunate counties which produce cyder, and shall willingly acquiesce under their
determination.
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Lastly, that no Englishman is, or can be taxed, without the consent of the majority of those,
who are elected by himself, and others of his fellow-subjects, to represent them. This is
certainly as false as the other two; for every Englishman is taxed, and not one in twenty
represented: copyholders, leaseholders, and all men possessed of personal property only,
chuse no representatives; Manchester, Birmingham, and many more of our richest and most
flourishing trading towns send no members to parliament, consequently cannot consent by their
representatives, because they chuse none to represent them; yet are they not Englishmen? or are
they not taxed?
I am well aware, that I shall hear Locke, Sidney, Selden, and many other great names quoted
to prove that every Englishman, whether he has a right to vote for a representative, or not, is
still represented in the British Parliament; in which opinion they all agree: on what principle
of common sense this opinion is founded I comprehend not, but on the authority of such
respectable names I shall acknowledge its truth; but then I will ask one question, and on that I
will rest the whole merits of the cause: Why does not this imaginary representation extend to
America, as well as over the whole island of Great-Britain? If it can travel three hundred miles,
why not three thousand? if it can jump over rivers and mountains, why cannot it sail over the
ocean? If the towns of Manchester and Birmingham sending no representatives to parliament,
are notwithstanding there represented, why are not the cities of Albany and Boston equally
represented in that assembly? Are they not alike British subjects? are they not Englishmen? or
are they only Englishmen when they sollicit for protection, but not Englishmen when taxes are
required to enable this country to protect them?
But it is urged, that the Colonies are by their charters placed under distinct Governments, each
of which has a legislative power within itself, by which alone it ought to be taxed; that if this
privilege is once given up, that liberty which every Englishman has a right to, is torn from them,
they are all slaves, and all is lost.
The liberty of an Englishman, is a phrase of so various a signification, having within these few
years been used as a synonymous term for blasphemy, bawdy, treason, libels, strong beer, and
cyder, that I shall not here presume to define its meaning; but I shall venture to assert what it
cannot mean; that is, an exemption from taxes imposed by the authority of the Parliament of
Great Britain; nor is there any charter, that ever pretended to grant such a privilege to any colony
in America; and had they granted it, it could have had no force; their charters being derived
from the Crown, and no charter from the Crown can possibly supersede the right of the whole
legislature: their charters are undoubtedly no more than those of all corporations, which impower
them to make byelaws, and raise duties for the purposes of their own police, for ever subject to
the superior authority of parliament; and in some of their charters, the manner of exercising
these powers is specified in these express words, “according to the course of other corporations
in Great-Britain”: and therefore they can have no more pretence to plead an exemption from this
parliamentary authority, than any other corporation in England.
It has been moreover alleged, that, though Parliament may have power to impose taxes on the
Colonies, they have no right to use it, because it would be an unjust tax; and no supreme or
legislative power can have a right to enact any law in its nature unjust: to this, I shall only make
this short reply, that if Parliament can impose no taxes but what are equitable, and the persons
CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
taxed are to be the judges of that equity, they will in effect have no power to lay any tax at all. No
tax can be imposed exactly equal on all, and if it is not equal, it cannot be just: and if it is not just,
no power whatever can impose it; by which short syllogism, all taxation is at an end; but why it
should not be used by Englishmen on this side the Atlantic, as well as by those on the other, I do
not comprehend. . .
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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A Maryland lawyer’s arguments about the Stamp Act, 1765
Description: Daniel Dulany, “Considerations on the Propriety of Imposing Taxes in the British
Colonies, for the Purpose of raising a Revenue, by Act of Parliament,” 1765.
Source: From Revolution to Reconstruction, a project of the Department of Humanities
Computing and Department of American Studies University of Groningen, The Netherlands,
http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/index.htm. Full text of this document may be found at http://www.let.
rug.nl/usa/D/1751-1775/stampact/consid.htm.
I shall undertake to disprove the supposed similarity of situation, whence the same kind of
Representation is deduced of the inhabitants of the colonies, and of the British non-electors;
and, if I succeed, the Notion of a virtual representation of the colonies must fail, which, in Truth
is a mere cob-web, spread to catch the unwary, and intangle the weak. I would be understood.
I am upon a question of propriety, not of power; and though some may be inclined to think
it is to little purpose to discuss the one, when the other is irresistible, yet are they different
considerations; and, at the same time that I invalidate the claim upon which it is founded, I may
very consistently recommend a submission to the law, whilst it endures. .
Lessees for years, copyholders, proprietors of. the public funds, inhabitants of Birmingham, Leeds,
Halifax and Manchester, merchants of the City of London, or members of the corporation of
the East India Company, are, as such, under no personal incapacity to be electors; for they may
acquire the right of election, and there are actually not only a considerable number of electors
in each of the classes of lessees for years etc., but in many of them, if not all, even members of
Parliament. The interests therefore of the nonelectors, the electors, and the representatives, are
individually the same; to say nothing of the connection among neighbours, friends and relations.
The security of the non-electors against oppression, is that their oppression will fall also upon the
electors and the representatives. The one can’t be injured and the other indemnified.
Further, if the nonelectors should not be taxed by the British Parliament, they would not be taxed
at all; and it would be iniquitous, as well as a solecism in the political system, that they should
partake of all the benefits resulting from the imposition and application of taxes, and derive an
immunity from the circumstances of not being qualified to vote. Under this Constitution then, a
double or virtual representation may be reasonably supposed.
There is not that intimate and inseparable relation between the electors of Great-Britain and
the inhabitants of the colonies, which must inevitably involve both in the same taxation; on the
contrary, not a single actual elector in England, might be immediately affected by a taxation
in America, imposed by a statute which would have a general operation and effect, upon the
properties of the inhabitants of the colonies . . . wherefore the relation between the British
Americans, and the English electors, is a knot too infirm to be relied on. . .
It appears to me, that there is a clear and necessary Distinction between an Act imposing a tax for
the single purpose of revenue, and those Acts which have been made for the regulation of trade,
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
and have produced some revenue in consequence of their effect and operation as regulations of
trade.
The colonies claim the privileges of British subjects -It has been proved to be inconsistent with
those privileges, to tax them without their own consent, and it hath been demonstrated that a tax
imposed by Parliament, is a tax without their consent.
The subordination of the colonies, aid the authority of Parliament to preserve it, have been fully
acknowledged. Not only the welfare, but perhaps the existence of the mother country, as an
independent kingdom, may depend upon her trade and navigation, and these so far upon her
intercourse with the colonies, that if this should be neglected, there would soon be an end to
that commerce, whence her greatest wealth is derived, and upon which her maritime power is
principally founded. From these considerations, the right of the British Parliament to regulate
the trade of the colonies, may be justly deduced; a denial of it would contradict the admission of
the subordination, and of the authority to preserve it, resulting from the nature of the relation
between the mother country and her colonies. It is a common, and frequently the most proper
method to regulate trade by duties on imports and exports. The authority of the mother country
to regulate the trade of the colonies being unquestionable, what regulations are the most proper,
are to be of course submitted to the determination of the Parliament; and if an incidental
revenue, should be produced by such regulations; these are not therefore unwarrantable.
A right to impose an internal tax on the colonies, without their consent for the single purpose
of revenue, is denied, a right to regulate their trade without their consent is admitted. The
imposition of a duty may, in some instances, be the proper regulation. If the claims of the mother
country and the colonies should seem on such an occasion to interfere, and the point of right to
be doubtful, (which I take to be otherwise) it is easy to guess that the determination will be on the
side of power, and the inferior will be constrained to submit.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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Declaratory Act, 1766
Description: Parliament, Great Britain, An act for the better securing the dependency of his
majesty’s dominions in America upon the crown and parliament of Great Britain, March 18,
1766.
Source: Yale Law School’s Avalon Project. Full text of this document may be found at http://
avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/declaratory_act_1766.asp; the home page, which links to full
text of assorted documents in law, diplomacy and history from ancient times through the present
is available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/default.asp.
Whereas several of the houses of representatives in his Majesty’s colonies and plantations in
America, have of late against law, claimed to themselves, or to the general assemblies of the
same, the sole and exclusive right of imposing duties and taxes upon his majesty’s subjects in
the said colonies and plantations; and have in pursuance of such claim, passed certain votes,
resolutions, and orders derogatory to the legislative authority of parliament, and inconsistent
with the dependency Of the said colonies and plantations upon the crown of Great Britain :
may it therefore please your most excellent Majesty, that it may be declared ; and be it declared
by the King’s most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual
and temporal, and commons, in this present parliament assembled, and by the authority of the
same, That the said colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be,
subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; and
that the King’s majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the lords spiritual and temporal,
and commons of Great Britain, in parliament assembled, had. bath, and of right ought to have,
full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the
colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever,
II. And be it further declared and enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all resolutions, votes,
orders, and proceedings, in any of the said colonies or plantations, whereby the power and
authority of the parliament of Great Britain, to make laws and statutes as aforesaid, is denied, or
drawn into question, arc, and are hereby declared to be, utterly null and void to all in purposes
whatsoever.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770
Description: Paul Revere, “The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th
1770 by a party of the 29th Reg.,” Boston, Massachusetts, 1770.
Source: The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 01868. An image and more information about
the document may be found using the Collection’s search page, available at http://www.
gilderlehrman.org/search.
Background: Produced just three weeks after the Boston Massacre, Paul Revere’s historic
engraving was probably the most effective piece of propaganda in American history. Not an
accurate depiction of the actual event, the image shows an orderly line of British soldiers firing
into an unarmed American crowd.
The engraving lists the names of the dead, including Crispus Attucks, the first to die. Attucks was
an escaped slave, and an advertisement offering a ten pound reward for his return ran in a 1750
issue of the Boston Gazette.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Engraving of the Boston Massacre, 1770
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 01868
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Print depicting a tarring and feathering, 1774
Description: Philip Dawe, The Bostonian’s Paying the Excise-man, or Tarring & Feathering,
London, England, October 24, 1774.
Source: The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 04961.01. An image and more information
about the document may be found using the Collection’s search page, available at http://www.
gilderlehrman.org/search.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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Phillip Dawe, The Bostonian’s Paying the Excise-man, or Tarring & Feathering, 1774
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 04961.01
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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“A society of patriotic ladies” print, 1775
Description: Philip Dawe, A society of patriotic ladies, at Edenton in North Carolina, London,
England, March 25, 1775.
Source: The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pp/
pphome.html. An image and more information about the document may be found using the
search term “patriotic ladies.”
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Lord Dunmore’s proclamation, 1775
Description: John Murray, Proclamation, Norpole, Virginia, November 7, 1775
Source: PBS’s Africans in America series, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html. Full text, an
image and more information on the document may be found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/
part2/2h42.html.
Background: John Murray was the Earl of Dunmore and royal governor of Virginia. His
proclamation offering freedom to the slaves of patriot masters in exchange for service in the royal
army was met with fear, with the Virginia Gazette warning slaves to “Be not then...tempted by the
proclamation to ruin your selves” and urging them to “cling to their kind masters.”
By His Excellency the Right Honorable JOHN Earl of DUNMORE, His MAJESTY’S Lieutenant
and Governor General of the Colony and Dominion of VIRGINIA, and Vice Admiral of the fame.
A PROCLAMATION.
As I have ever entertained Hopes that an Accommodation might have taken Place between
GREAT-BRITAIN and this colony, without being compelled by my Duty to this most disagreeable
but now absolutely necessary Step, rendered so by a Body of armed Men unlawfully assembled,
bring on His MAJESTY’S [Tenders], and the formation of an Army, and that Army now on their
March to attack His MAJESTY’S troops and destroy the well disposed Subjects of this Colony.
To defeat such unreasonable Purposes, and that all such Traitors, and their Abetters, may be
brought to Justice, and that the Peace, and good Order of this Colony may be again restored,
which the ordinary Course of the Civil Law is unable to effect; I have thought fit to issue this my
Proclamation, hereby declaring, that until the aforesaid good Purposes can be obtained, I do in
Virtue of the Power and Authority to ME given, by His MAJESTY, determine to execute Martial
Law, and cause the fame to be executed throughout this Colony: and to the end that Peace and
good Order may the sooner be [effected], I do require every Person capable of bearing Arms, to
[resort] to His MAJESTY’S STANDARD, or be looked upon as Traitors to His MAJESTY’S Crown
and Government, and thereby become liable to the Penalty the Law inflicts upon such Offences;
such as forfeiture of Life, confiscation of Lands, &c. &c. And I do hereby further declare all
indentured Servants, Negroes, or others, (appertaining to Rebels,) free that are able and willing to
bear Arms, they joining His MAJESTY’S Troops as soon as may be, for the more speedily reducing
this Colony to a proper Sense of their Duty, to His MAJESTY’S Leige Subjects, to retain their
[Qui?rents], or any other Taxes due or that may become due, in their own Custody, till such Time
as Peace may be again restored to this at present most unhappy Country, or demanded of them
for their former salutary Purposes, by Officers properly authorised to receive the fame.
GIVEN under my Hand on board the ship WILLIAM, off NORPOLE, the 7th Day of
NOVEMBER, in the SIXTEENTH Year of His MAJESTY’S Reign.
DUNMORE.
(GOD save the KING.)
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Common Sense, addressed to the inhabitants of America, 1776
Description: Thomas Paine, Common Sense, addressed to the inhabitants of America, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, 1776.
Source: The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 03777 and Google Books. An image from the 1776
printing of the pamphlet, along with more information and a brief excerpt may be found using
the Collection’s search page, available at http://www.gilderlehrman.org/search; full text of a 1918
printing of Common Sense may be found searching books.google.com.
Background: Despite the shooting at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill, despite the burning
of Norfolk and the King’s hiring of German mercenaries, the American colonists said that they
were fighting for reconciliation. It seemed ridiculous to Thomas Paine, a 39-year-old agitator
from England who had arrived in Philadelphia in 1775. He rocketed to fame with the publication
of the 47-page pamphlet Common Sense published in January of 1776 and sold 120,000 copies.
“In the following pages I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments and common
sense….
I have heard it asserted by some that, as America has flourished under her former connection
with Great Britain, the same connection is necessary towards her future happiness, and will
always have the same effect. Nothing can be more fallacious than this kind of argument. We might
as well assert that, because a child has thrived upon milk, it is never to have meat, or that the first
twenty years of our lives is to become a precedent for the next twenty. But even this is admitting
more than is true. For I answer roundly that America would have flourished as much, and
probably much more, had no European power taken notice of her. The commerce by which she
has enriched herself are the necessaries of life, and will always have a market…
But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do
not devour their young, nor savages make war upon their families…. Europe, and not England, is
the parent country of America, This new world has been the asylum for the persecuted lovers of
civil and religious liberty from every part of Europe. Hither have they fled, not from the tender
embraces of their mother, but from the cruelty of the monster, and it is so far true of England that
the same tyranny which drove the first emigrants from home pursues their descendants still…
Everything that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping
voice of nature, cries,’tis time to part. Even the distance at which the Almighty has placed England
and America is a strong and natural proof of the authority of the one over the other was never
the design of Heaven…But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, Hath
your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and
children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their
hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then you are not a judge
of those who have. But if you have and can still shake hands with the murderers, then you are
unworthy the name of husband, father, friend or lover and whatever may be your rank or title in
life, you have the heart of a coward, and the spirit of a sycophant…
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
No man was a warmer wisher for reconciliation than myself, before the fatal nineteenth of
April, 1775, but the moment the event of that day was made known, I rejected the hardened,
sullen tempered Pharaoh of England (George lll) forever, and disdain the wretch, that with
the pretended title of FATHER OF HIS PEOPLE can unfeelingly hear of the slaughter and
composedly sleep with their blood upon his soul…
Of you that love mankind! You that dare oppose not only the tyranny but the tyrant, stand forth!
Every spot of the world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe.
Asia and Africa have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger and England has given
her warning to depart O! Receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.”
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Title page, Common Sense, 1776
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 03777
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Abigail Adams to John Adams, 1776
Description: Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams, Braintree, Massachusetts, March 31, 1776.
Source: The Massachusetts Historical Society. Full text and images of the document are available
here: http://www.masshist.org/adams/manuscripts.cfm.
I wish you would ever write me a Letter half as long as I write you; and tell me if you may where
your Fleet are gone? What sort of Defence Virginia can make against our common Enemy?
Whether it is so situated as to make an able Defence? Are not the Gentery Lords and the common
people vassals, are they not like the uncivilized Natives Brittain represents us to be? I hope their
Riffel Men who have shewen themselves very savage and even Blood thirsty; are not a specimen of
the Generality of the people.
I am willing to allow the Colony great merrit for having produced a Washington but they have
been shamefully duped by a Dunmore.
I have sometimes been ready to think that the passion for Liberty cannot be Eaquelly Strong in
the Breasts of those who have been accustomed to deprive their fellow Creatures of theirs. Of this
I am certain that it is not founded upon that generous and christian principal of doing to others
as we would that others should do unto us.
Do not you want to see Boston; I am fearfull of the small pox, or I should have been in before this
time. I got Mr. Crane to go to our House and see what state it was in. I find it has been occupied
by one of the Doctors of a Regiment, very dirty, but no other damage has been done to it. The few
things which were left in it are all gone. Cranch [Crane?] has the key which he never deliverd up.
I have wrote to him for it and am determined to get it cleand as soon as possible and shut it up. I
look upon it a new acquisition of property, a property which one month ago I did not value at a
single Shilling, and could with pleasure have seen it in flames.
The Town in General is left in a better state than we expected, more oweing to a percipitate flight
than any Regard to the inhabitants, tho some individuals discoverd a sense of honour and justice
and have left the rent of the Houses in which they were, for the owners and the furniture unhurt,
or if damaged sufficent to make it good.
Others have committed abominable Ravages. The Mansion House of your President [John
Hancock] is safe and the furniture unhurt whilst both the House and Furniture of the Solisiter
General [Samuel Quincy] have fallen a prey to their own merciless party. Surely the very Fiends
feel a Reverential awe for Virtue and patriotism, whilst they Detest the paricide and traitor.
I feel very differently at the approach of spring to what I did a month ago. We knew not then
whether we could plant or sow with safety, whether when we had toild we could reap the fruits
of our own industery, whether we could rest in our own Cottages, or whether we should not be
driven from the sea coasts to seek shelter in the wilderness, but now we feel as if we might sit
under our own vine and eat the good of the land.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
I feel a gaieti de Coar to which before I was a stranger. I think the Sun looks brighter, the Birds
sing more melodiously, and Nature puts on a more chearfull countanance. We feel a temporary
peace, and the poor fugitives are returning to their deserted habitations.
Tho we felicitate ourselves, we sympathize with those who are trembling least the Lot of Boston
should be theirs. But they cannot be in similar circumstances unless pusilanimity and cowardise
should take possession of them. They have time and warning given them to see the Evil and shun
it.—I long to hear that you have declared an independancy—and by the way in the new Code of
Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies,
and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited
power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If
perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion,
and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
That your Sex are Naturally Tyrannical is a Truth so thoroughly established as to admit of no
dispute, but such of you as wish to be happy willingly give up the harsh title of Master for the
more tender and endearing one of Friend. Why then, not put it out of the power of the vicious
and the Lawless to use us with cruelty and indignity with impunity. Men of Sense in all Ages
abhor those customs which treat us only as the vassals of your Sex. Regard us then as Beings
placed by providence under your protection and in immitation of the Supreem Being make use of
that power only for our happiness.
April 5
Not having an opportunity of sending this I shall add a few lines more; tho not with a heart
so gay. I have been attending the sick chamber of our Neighbour Trot whose affliction I most
sensibly feel but cannot discribe, striped of two lovely children in one week. Gorge the Eldest died
on wednesday and Billy the youngest on fryday, with the Canker fever, a terible disorder so much
like the thr[o]at distemper, that it differs but little from it. Betsy Cranch has been very bad, but
upon the recovery. Becky Peck they do not expect will live out the day. Many grown person[s]
are now sick with it, in this [street?] 5. It rages much in other Towns. The Mumps too are very
frequent. Isaac is now confined with it. Our own little flock are yet well. My Heart trembles with
anxiety for them. God preserve them.
I want to hear much oftener from you than I do. March 8 was the last date of any that I have yet
had.—You inquire of whether I am making Salt peter. I have not yet attempted it, but after Soap
making believe I shall make the experiment. I find as much as I can do to manufacture cloathing
for my family which would else be Naked. I know of but one person in this part of the Town
who has made any, that is Mr. Tertias Bass as he is calld who has got very near an hundred weight
which has been found to be very good. I have heard of some others in the other parishes. Mr.
Reed of Weymouth has been applied to, to go to Andover to the mills which are now at work, and
has gone. I have lately seen a small Manuscrip de[s]cribing the proportions for the various sorts
of powder, fit for cannon, small arms and pistols. If it would be of any Service your way I will get
it transcribed and send it to you.—Every one of your Friend[s] send their Regards, and all the
little ones. Your Brothers youngest child lies bad with convulsion fitts. Adieu. I need not say how
much I am Your ever faithfull Friend.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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Declaration of Independence, 1776
Description: Peter Timothy (printer), Declaration of Independence, Charleston, South Carolina,
August 2, 1776.
Source: The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 00959. An image, full text and more information
about the document may be found using the Collection’s search page, accessible at http://www.
gilderlehrman.org/search.
Background: Peter Timothy was the printer for the colony of South Carolina. News of the
Declaration reached Charleston on August 2.
In CONGRESS, July 4. 1776.
A DECLARATION,
BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF
The United STATES of America,
In General Congress Assembled.
WHEN in the Course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the
Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of
the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle
them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires, that they should declare the Causes
which impel them to the Separation.
We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by
their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit
of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving
their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government
becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers
in such Form, as to them small seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence,
indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed
to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which
they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is
their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.
Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which
constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King
of Great Britain, is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the
Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over the States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a
candid World.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless
suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained and when so suspended, he has
utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accomodations of large Districts of People, unless those
People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to
them, and formidable to Tyrants only.
He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the
Depository of their public Record, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with
his Measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his
Invasions on the Right of the People.
He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby
the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their
Exercise; the State remaining in the mean Time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from
without, and Convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the
Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations
hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing
Judiciary Powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and the Amount
and Payment of their Salaries.
He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our
People, and eat out their Substance.
He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, standing Armies, without the Consent of our
Legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and
unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock of Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they shall
commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with al Parts of the World:
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretend Offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein
an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example
and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering the Forms of our Governments:
fundamentally
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate
for us in all Cases whatsoever:
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against
us:
He has plundered our Seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the lives of our
People:
He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the Works
of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with Circumstances of Cruelty and Persidy,
scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized
Nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the High Seas to bear Arms against their
Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their
Hands:
He has exited domestic Insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the
Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an
undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions:
In every Stage of these Oppressions we have petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms:
Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is
thus marked by every Act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People:
Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from
Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over
us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here.
We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the
Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt
our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of
Contanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation,
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL
CONGRESS, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our
Intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly
Establish and Declare, that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND
INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are obsolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and
that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be
totally dissolved; and that as FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy
War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things
which INDEPENDENT STATES may of Right do. And for the Support of this Declaration, with a
firm Reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives,
our Fortunes, and our sacred Honour.
Signed by ORDER and in BEHALF of the CONGRESS,
JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT.
ATTEST.
CHARLES THOMSON, SECRETARY.
CHARLES-TOWN, Printed by PETER TIMOTHY
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Declaration of Independence, 1776
The Gilder Lehrman Collection, GLC 00959
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Portrait of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 1817
Description: John Trumbull, “Declaration of Independence,” 1817.
Source: The Independence Hall Association, http://www.ushistory.org. An image of the document
and more information about it may be found at http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/trumbull.htm.
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CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: A Selection of Key Documents
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Petition from Boston slaves to Massachusetts General Court, 1777
Description:[The petition of A Great Number of Blackes detained in a State of slavery], Boston,
Massachusetts, January 13, 1777.
Source: PBS’s Africans in America series, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/home.html. Full text, an
image and more information on the document may be found at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/
part2/2h32.html.
To the Honorable Counsel & House of Representatives for the State of Massachusetts Bay in
General Court assembled, January 13, 1777:
The petition of A Great Number of Blackes detained in a State of slavery in the bowels of a free &
Christian County Humbly sheweth that your Petitioners apprehend that they have in Common
with all other men a Natural and Unalienable Right to that freedom which the Grat Parent of
the Universe that Bestowed equally on all menkind and which they have Never forfeited by
any Compact or agreement whatever Ð but that wher Unjustly Dragged by the hand of cruel
Power and their Derest friends and sum of them Even torn from the Embraces of their tender
ParentsÐfrom A populous Pleasant and Plentiful country and in violation of Laws of Nature
and of Nations and in Defiance of all the tender feelings of humanity Brough here Either to
Be sold like Beast of burthen & Like them Condemned to Slavery for LifeÐAmong A People
Professing the mild Religion of Jesus A people Not Insensible of the Secrets of Rational Being
Nor without spirit to Resent the unjust endeavors of others to Reduce them to a state of Bondage
and Subjugation your hononuer Need not to be informed that A Live of Slavery Like that of your
petitioners Deprived of Every social privilege of Every thing Requisite and render Life Tolable is
far worse that Nonexistance.
(In imitat)ion of the Lawdable Example of the Good People of these States your petitioners
have Long and Patiently waited the Event of petition after petition. By them presented tot the
Legislative Body of this state and cannot but with Grief Reflect that their Success hath been but
too similar they Cannot but express their Astonishment that It have Never Bin Considered that
Every Principle from which America has Acted in the Course of their unhappy Difficulties with
Great Briton Pleads Stronger than A thousand arguments in favors of your petitioners they
therfor humble Beseech your honours to give this petition its due weight and consideration &
cause an act of the legislature to be past Wherby they may be Restored to the Enjoyments of that
which is the Natural right of all menÐand their Children who wher Born in this Land of Liberty
may not be held as Slaves after they arrive at the age of twenty one years so may the Inhabitance
of this States No longer chargeable with the inconstancy of acting themselves that part which they
condemn and oppose in others Be prospered in their present Glorious struggle for Liberty and
have those Blessings to them, &c.
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