Monday, November 7, 1774. The Yorktown Tea Party

You get the drill.  Residents of Yorktown boarded the British ship Virginia and dumped two half-chests of tea into the York River.

Last edition:

Thursday, November 3, 1774. Charleston Tea Party.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Charleston South Carolina, Colonial North America, Tea

Tuesday, October 25, 1774. Edenton Tea Party

Fifty-one women in Edenton, North Carolina, met and agreed to uphold the non-importation resolves passed in August 1774 by the North Carolina Provincial Congress in what is known as the Edenton Tea Party.

Last edition:

Friday, October 14, 1774. The Declaration of Resolves.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, First Continental Congress, Intolerable Acts

Friday, October 14, 1774. The Declaration of Resolves.

The Congress met according to adjournment, and resuming the consideration of the subject under debate, came into the following Resolutions:

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 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 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 treason, 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, entituled "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 North America;" another, entituled "An Act for the better regulating the Government of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England;" and another, entituled "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," &c. All which statutes are impolitick, 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, Massachusetts 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 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. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty, and property, and 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 be properly 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.

Resolved, N. C. D. 5. 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.

Resolved, 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 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, N. C. D. 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 George III. ch. 15, and ch. 34. 5 George III. ch. 25. 6 George III. ch. 52. 7 George III. ch. 41, and ch. 46. 8 George III. 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 Judge's 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 George III. ch. 24, entituled "An Act for the better securing his Majesty's Dock-yards, 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 authorizing 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 the Massachusetts Bay, and that which is entituled "An Act for the better administration of Justice," &c.

Also the Act passed in the same session for establishing the Roman Catholick 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 neighbouring 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 grevious 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: 1. To enter into a Non-Importation, Non-Consumption, and Non-Exportatation 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.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 11, 1774. A Resolution.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, First Continental Congress

Monday, August 22, 1774. Proceedings of Freeholders in the Town of Halifax, (North Carolina) 22d August, 1774.

Proceedings of Freeholders in the Town of Halifax, 22d August, 1774.

At a General Meeting of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Town of Halifax on Monday the 22nd day of August, 1774, John Webb, Esqre being chosen Moderator, the following Resolves were unanimously agreed to, viz,

1. Resolved, That we will bear true and faithful allegiance to His Majesty King George the third, and that we will ever at the expence of our lives and fortunes, defend and protect his sacred person, and the succession of the Crown to his Royal Issue.

2. Resolved, That the Bill for altering the Administration of Justice in certain criminal cases within the Province of Massachusetts

Bay, if passed into an Act of Parliament, is subversive of the end and design of good Government, unconstitutional and oppressive as a Law, big with the greatest injustice, productive of the most dangerous consequences, and has the greatest tendency to ill in respect to the British Subjects in America, as the execution of that Law would deprive them of their ancient and established Privilege of Trial by their Peers, and the indigent circumstances of the Americans could not support, at so great a distance, those persons who might attest their innocence or justify their conduct, therefore the accused party would innocently fall a victim to the greatest rigour and injustice.

3. Resolved, That the Boston Port Act is an illegal exertion of arbitrary Power, that it is destructive of our happiness, therefore contrary to the law of nature, which Law being coeval with mankind, and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other; that it is an encroachment on private Property, a proceeding highly derogatory of the mildness of the British Government which no law, usage or custom can justify, warrant or defend.

4. Resolved, That the Bill for changing the Constitution of Massachusetts Bay, now founded on Charter, is greatly injurious to the Liberties of the People in that Province in particular, and to America in general.

5. Resolved, That the Americans can be taxed only by those persons who legally represent them; that the distance between Great Britain and America is so considerable that it would be impracticable for our Representatives to sit in Parliament, therefore the power assumed by the British Parliament over the Colonies, is an invasion of those rights, which, as free People, we have enjoyed Time immemorial, and that it tends only to oppress & enslave us.

6. Resolved, That Principles of Justice, Honour and gratitude, as well as interest, ought to direct our conduct on this important occasion.

7. Resolved, That all dissipation, luxury and extravagance be discouraged, that industry, frugality and economy, are the only means to enable us to discharge those debts we owe in Britain; that the breed of sheep and manufacture of wool be encouraged, and that every person apply himself with assiduity to his Art in labour or occupation in life.

8. Resolved, That we continue our exports to Great Britain until the debts due from America are fully discharged, and hereby recommend it most heartily to the several Counties in this Province, as the most elligible plan to secure to us the affections of our Mother Country, in as much as by that we shall convince her of the uprightness and honesty of our intentions, most warmly recommend ourselves to those who have trusted us on the common faith and Credit of the Country, and will magnify our firmness, patriotic virtue and Public spirit.

9 Resolved, That the trade to the British West Indies be continued, for tho' they are not a part of the Continent of America, still as British Colonies are liable to the same impositions, & without our useless commodities, would be reduced to the greatest necessity and want; in return we may receive the several productions of their climate, which long habit has made almost necessary to sustain life, and by their riches strengthen the sinews of our Constitution; for 'tis freedom of Trade that adds to the happiness of the People, and without it indolence and ignorance will accompany our abject State.

10. Resolved, That after the twentieth day of September next ensuing we import no Article directly or indirectly, from Great Britain, nor purchase any Commodity from those who do import, until the duty on tea be taken off, except those Articles for which Orders are already sent and those now mentioned, viz: Artificers and workmen's tools of all sorts, Kendal or Negro Cotton, medicines, nails of all sorts, for the purpose of building, woolen and cotton cards; nor will we import or buy any of those articles, if a duty should hereafter be laid on them by the British Parliament, for the Purpose of raising a Revenue in America.

11, Resolved, That the East India Company has greatly insulted the Americans, by acting as tools of Administration, and sending over to this Continent a quantity of that detested article tea, contrary to the avowed inclinations of the Americans; therefore we resolve never to purchase directly or indirectly or use in any of our families (except what we now have) any East India commodity whatever, until the duty on tea be suspended.

12. Resolved, That for the common good, every difference, division, party or faction and the cause thereof subside; that peace, unanimity and concord, should subsist throughout this Province.

13. Resolved, That the several Courts of Law and Justice within this Province do still continue to exercise their Jurisdiction, as their declining would appear to proceed from a principle of dishonesty.

14. Resolved, That as Joseph Montfort Esqr our worthy Representative, from his present indisposition cannot possibly attend the General Meeting at Newbern on the 25th of this instant, we hereby constitute and appoint John Geddy Esqre as our Representative in his stead, then and there to act as to him for our welfare, shall seem expedient.

15. Resolved, That a copy of these resolves be inserted in the Newbern Gazette.

Wednesday, June 22, 1774. The Quebec Act gains royal assent.

The Quebec Act, regarding by the thirteen British colonies to the south of Quebec as one of the Intolerable Acts, gained royal assent.

A rational and tolerant piece of legislation, it provided for greater accommodation of Catholicism and French law in Quebec and set its borders to include virtually all the trans-Appalachian West down to the Ohio River.

Last prior edition:

Friday, May 27, 1774. Heading towards revolution.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Boston Tea Party, British Army, California (Los Angeles), Colonial North America, homosexuality, Los Angeles California, Mexico, Royal Navy, Spanish Colonization, Spanish Empire, Virginia

Friday, March 25, 1774. The Boston Port Act passes the House of Lords.

The House of Commons sent the Boston Port Act to the House of Lords, which passed it.

Last Prior Edition:

March 21, 1774

1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Boston Massachusetts, Boston Port Act, Boston Tea Party, Intolerable Acts, Massachusetts, United Kingdom

March 21, 1774

Lex Anteinternet: Friday, March 18, 1774. Lord North goofs.: Lord Frederick North introduced the Boston Port Act to the House of Commons.  The proposed act stated: Parliament of Great Britain Anno Deci...

On this day the Port Act passed, closing, in time delayed fashion, the Port of Boston.

Last Prior Edition:

Friday, March 18, 1774. Lord North goofs.