| More options Mar 1, 7:26 pm |
Today I attended Bob Schulz's presentation in Clearwater Florida regarding
his activism history (about 250 court decisions resulting from his efforts
in litigation he initiated), his petitions for redress of grievances (8
active so far), and the plan for obtaining government respect for our
constitutional rights.
He urges all of us to work together in WTP Congress to support the petitions
by educating people and institutionalizing vigilance by watching what
government does and demanding that government comply with the Constitution.
He pointed out that so many people do their own thing, rather than work
together and FOCUS all their power on furthering the force of the petitions,
THAT explains why nothing gets accomplished. He explained that Martin
Luther King Jr followed Ghandi's plan of stimulating a non-violent, lawful
MASS MOVEMENT in order to overwhelm criminals in government and make
irresistible the pressure to do right. Otherwise, government criminals will
divide us, conquer us one at a time, and defeat us.
You can and should visit http://givemeliberty.org
<http://givemeliberty.org/> , read the petitions, and read the historical
documents about obtaining redress, sign the petitions, and educate others
about them. You can and should seek out others with whom to associate and
build group power to accomplish this - hold rallies, visit schools, refer
people to the web site, and get them to pound on legislators, judges, and
executives with the TRUTH, demanding that they honor their loyalty oaths and
defend your rights.
Bob said this is not a matter of arguing over public policy or political
issues. It is a matter of government officials committing criminal breaches
of your constitutional rights, and that you should take it personally to the
extent that you get politely, lawfully, and as part of a group, IN THEIR
FACE and stay that way till they relent and give us redress.
Bob pointed to section 61 of the Magna Carta, and the 1776 Declaration of
Independence, all of which express one or more ways to respond if you don't
get redress of our grievances against the unconstitutional and egregious
acts of government in recent history (the past 100 years).
Magna Carta Section 61 - "If we, our chief justice, our officials, or any of
our servants offend in any respect against any man, or transgress any of the
articles of the peace or of this security, and the offence is made known to
four of the said twenty-five barons, they shall come to us - or in our
absence from the kingdom to the chief justice - to declare it and claim
immediate redress. If we, or in our absence abroad the chief justice, make
no redress within forty days, reckoning from the day on which the offence
was declared to us or to him, the four barons shall refer the matter to the
rest of the twenty-five barons, who may distrain upon and assail us in every
way possible, with the support of the whole community of the land, by
seizing our castles, lands, possessions, or anything else saving only our
own person and those of the queen and our children, until they have secured
such redress as they have determined upon. Having secured the redress, they
may then resume their normal obedience to us."
Declaration of Independence - "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 shall seem most likely to
effect their Safety and Happiness." [Emphasis added.]
Also see Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress of Oct
1774, Declaration of Taking up Arms, 2nd Continental Congress 6 July 1775,
reprinted below. Note the conciliatory tone of the first, and the relative
resignation of the second. When government refuses to listen to petitions,
or give redress, the People have the right to do whatever they must, even
abolish the government, to achieve remedy.
Do your own studying of these issues in the following documents:
A Short History
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
F>
S. Higginson, Yale Law Journal
319 KB
Vestigial Constitution
<http://www.givemeliberty.org
n.PDF>
G. Mark, Fordham Law Review
716 KB
Neglected But Absolute
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
e.PDF>
N. Smith, U. of Cincinnati Law Review
454 KB
Sovereign Immunity
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
ght.PDF> & The Right
J. Pfander, Northwestern U. Law Review
340 KB
Bill of Rights as a Constitution
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
F>
A. Amar, Yale Law Journal
749 KB
Court Access: A 1st Amend. Challenge
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
C. Andrews, Ohio State Law Journal
1084 KB
Implications For Rule 11 Sanctions
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
le11Sanctions.PDF>
Harvard Law Review
233 KB
Petition
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/ &
Access To The Court
C. Andrews, Ohio State Law Journal
991 KB
How
<http://www.GiveMeLiberty.org/ The Judiciary Stole The Right To Petition
J. Wolfgram, UWLA Law Review
(html)
Libelous Petitions
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/.
s.PDF>
E. Schnapper, Iowa Law Review
146 KB
Bob Schulz, arguably one of the most talented private party litigators in
America, has exhausted peaceable efforts to approach government with the
demand that it read or listen to and substantively respond to the numerous
grievances he has filed, and to give some kind of redress. The government
has refused in every respect and every branch. Just this year the Supreme
Court TWICE refused to hear the petition case that requested the court to
rule on the meaning of the right to petition clause in the 1st Amendment.
Recall that the 1st Amendment guarantees these rights:
1. Religion
2. Speech
3. Press
4. Assembly
5. Petition for redress of grievances
Supreme court decisions well address the first 4 but not the 5th, and now
the Supremes don't want to address it at all.
Bob Recommends that we get the questions from his petitions and ask them one
at a time or in small groups of legislators. Judges won't do anything
except under the pressure of a lawsuit.
Some would believe that when the Supremes fail to answer petitions for
redress, the time for open rebellion against the criminals in government
(not the government itself) has arrived. I don't want to encourage this
because I don't want to get slaughtered by government agents (and that would
happen if I suggested such a solution) just yet.
However, ask yourself this: WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW THAT YOU KNOW THE SUPREMES
HAVE UNCONSTITUTIONALLY REFUSED TO RULE ON THIS MOST CONSTITUTIONAL OF ALL
QUESTIONS???
WE need to rouse this nation of sheep into a stampede toward justice and
responsible, lawful government.
Go sign WTP's petitions here:
You will see only 4 petitions. Stay tuned and get the other 4 when Bob
makes them available.
The Petition of Redress Relating to the FEDERAL INCOME TAX
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
The Petition of Redress Relating to the FEDERAL RESERVE
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
The Petition of Redress Relating to the WAR POWERS CLAUSES
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/
The Petition of Redress Relating to the
<http://www.givemeliberty.org/ "USA
PATRIOT ACT"
Truly and sincerely,
Bob Hurt, All Rights Reserved (UCC 1-308)
2460 Persian Drive #70 * Clearwater, Florida 33763 * USA
+1 (727) 669-5511 * FAX +1 (206) 202-2958
Please donate to my Law Studies Scholarship Fund:
<http://bobhurt.com/lawdonation.htm>
<http://www.donateware.net/campaigns/show/11>
http://bobhurt.com/lawdonation.htm
Join my Law List: Lawmen-subscribe@googlegroups.com
Read the Archives: http://groups.google.com/group/Lawmen
Visit my Web Site: http://bobhurt.com <http://bobhurt.com/>
Visit my Blog: http://bobhurt.blogspot.com
<http://bobhurt.blogspot.com/>
Learn to Litigate: Jurisdictionary
<http://www.jurisdictionary.com/index.asp?refercode=HB0002> R
http://www.jurisdictionary.com/index.asp?refercode=HB0002
I am no attorney. I do not practice law or give legal advice.
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress
October 14, 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 dependant on the crown
alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in times 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 Massachusetts Bay 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 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, 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, 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. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty and property:
and they have never ceded to any foreign 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 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.
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 Geo. III. ch. 15, and ch. 34. --5 Geo. III. ch. 25.
--6 Geo. III. ch. 52. --7 Geo. III. ch. 41. and ch. 46. --8 Geo. III. ch.
22. which impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America,
extend the power of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits,
deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorise 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 12 Geo. III. ch. 24. intituled, "An act for the better securing his
majesty's dockyards, 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 authorising 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 Massachusetts-Bay, and that which is entitled, "An act for the
better administration of justice, etc."
Also the act passed in 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
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 grievous acts and measures, Americans cannot submit, but in hopes
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 nonimportation, 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: and 3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable to
resolutions already entered into.
DECLARATION OF TAKING UP ARMS:
RESOLUTIONS OF THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
JULY 6, 1775 <http://www.constitution.org/bcp/takuparm.htm#001#001> 1
[Since the colonial governors had taken steps to prevent the assemblies from
naming delegates to the Second Continental Congress, the representatives to
that body were chosen by irregular conventions. For this reason the Second
Continental Congress was, from the beginning, an extra-legal, if not a
revolutionary, assembly rather than a constitutionally authorized gathering.
While it took steps to defend the colonies, it did not gather in a mood to
declare immediate independence. To clarify its position, Congress adopted
the Declaration reproduced below. The first draft is said to have been
written by John Rutledge, but no copy of it has been found (for a brief
sketch of the life of Rutledge see p. 258). An early draft of this document,
written by Jefferson, proved too strong for the committee (Journals of the
Continental Congress, 1774-1789, II, 128 n.). It was redrafted and toned
down by John Dickinson (cf. p. 261) and adopted after debate, on July 6, in
order that Washington might publish it on his arrival at the camp before
Boston.]
_____
A declaration by the representatives of the United Colonies of North
America, now met in general Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the
causes and necessity of their taking up arms.
If it was possible for men, who exercise their reason, to believe, that the
Divine Author of our existence intended a part of the human race to hold an
absolute property in, and an unbounded power over others, marked out by his
infinite goodness and wisdom, as the objects of a legal domination never
rightfully resistible, however severe and oppressive, the inhabitants of
these colonies might at least require from the Parliament of Great Britain
some evidence that this dreadful authority over them has been granted to
that body. But a reverence for our great Creator, principles of humanity,
and the dictates of common sense must convince all those who reflect upon
the subject that government was instituted to promote the welfare of mankind
and ought to be administered for the attainment of that end. The legislature
of Great Britain, however, stimulated by an inordinate passion for a power,
not only unjustifiable, but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by
the very constitution of that kingdom, and desperate of success in any mode
of contest, where regard should be had to truth, law, or right, have at
length, deserting those, attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic
purpose of enslaving these colonies by violence, and have thereby rendered
it necessary for us to close with their last appeal from reason to arms.
Yet, however blinded that assembly may be, by their intemperate rage for
unlimited domination, so to slight justice and the opinion of mankind, we
esteem ourselves bound, by obligations of respect to the rest of the world,
to make known the justice of our cause.
Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Great Britain, left their
native land to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious
freedom. At the expense of their blood, at the hazard of their fortunes,
without the least charge to the country from which they removed, by
unceasing labor, and an unconquerable spirit, they effected settlements in
the distant and inhospitable wilds of America, then filled with numerous and
warlike nations of barbarians. Societies or governments, vested with perfect
legislatures, were formed under charters from the crown, and a harmonious
intercourse was established between the colonies and the kingdom from which
they derived their origin. The mutual benefits of this union became in a
short time so extraordinary as to excite astonishment. It is universally
confessed that the amazing increase of the wealth, strength, and navigation
of the realm arose from this source; and the minister, who so wisely and
successfully directed the measures of Great Britain in the late war,
publicly declared that these colonies enabled her to triumph over her
enemies.
Toward the conclusion of that war, it pleased our sovereign to make a change
in his counsels. From that fatal moment, the affairs of the British Empire
began to fall into confusion, and gradually sliding from the summit of
glorious prosperity, to which they had been advanced by the virtues and
abilities of one man, are at length distracted by the convulsions that now
shake it to its deepest foundations. The new ministry finding the brave foes
of Britain, though frequently defeated, yet still contending, took up the
unfortunate idea of granting them a hasty peace and of then subduing her
faithful friends.
These devoted colonies were judged to be in such a state, as to present
victories without bloodshed, and all the easy emoluments of statutable
plunder. The uninterrupted tenor of their peaceable and respectful behavior
from the beginning of colonization, their dutiful, zealous, and useful
services during the war, though so recently and amply acknowledged in the
most honorable manner by His Majesty, by the late king, and by Parliament,
could not save them from the meditated innovations.
Parliament was influenced to adopt the pernicious project, and assuming a
new power over them, have, in the course of eleven years, given such
decisive specimens of the spirit and consequences attending this power, as
to leave no doubt concerning the effects of acquiescence under it. They have
undertaken to give and grant our money without our consent, though we have
ever exercised an exclusive right to dispose of our own property; statutes
have been passed for extending the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty and
vice-admiralty beyond their ancient limits; for depriving us of the
accustomed and inestimable privilege of trial by jury, in cases affecting
both life and property; for suspending the legislature of one of the
colonies; for interdicting all commerce to the capital of another; and for
altering fundamentally the form of government established by charter and
secured by acts of its own legislature solemnly confirmed by the crown; for
exempting the "murderers" of colonists from legal trial and, in effect, from
punishment; for erecting in a neighboring province, acquired by the joint
arms of Great Britain and America, a despotism dangerous to our very
existence; and for quartering soldiers upon the colonists in time of
profound peace. It has also been resolved in Parliament that colonists
charged with committing certain offenses shall be transported to England to
be tried.
But why should we enumerate our injuries in detail? By one statute it is
declared, that Parliament can "of right make laws to bind us IN ALL CASES
WHATSOEVER." What is to defend us against so enormous, so unlimited a power?
Not a single man of those who assume it is chosen by us or is subject to our
control or influence; but, on the contrary, they are all of them exempt from
the operation of such laws, and an American revenue, if not diverted from
the ostensible purposes for which it is raised, would actually lighten their
own burdens in proportion as they increase ours. We saw the misery to which
such despotism would reduce us. We for ten years incessantly and
ineffectually besieged the throne as supplicants; we reasoned, we
remonstrated with Parliament, in the most mild and decent language. But
administration, sensible that we should regard these oppressive measures as
freemen ought to do, sent over fleets and armies to enforce them. The
indignation of the Americans was roused, it is true; but it was the
indignation of a virtuous, loyal, and affectionate people. A Congress of
Delegates from the United Colonies was assembled at Philadelphia, on the
fifth day of last September. We resolved again to offer a humble and dutiful
petition to the king, and also addressed our fellow-subjects of Great
Britain. We have pursued every temperate, every respectful, measure: we have
even proceeded to break off our commercial intercourse with our
fellow-subjects, as the last peaceable admonition, that our attachment to no
nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty. This, we
flattered ourselves, was the ultimate step of the controversy. But
subsequent events have shown how vain was this hope of finding moderation in
our enemies.
Several threatening expressions against the colonies were inserted in His
Majesty's speech; our petition, though we were told it was a decent one, and
that His Majesty had been pleased to receive it graciously, and to promise
laying it before his Parliament, was huddled into both houses amongst a
bundle of American papers, and there neglected. The Lords and Commons in
their address, in the month of February, said, that "a rebellion at that
time actually existed within the province of Massachusetts Bay; and that
those concerned in it, had been countenanced and encouraged by unlawful
combinations and engagements, entered into by His Majesty's subjects in
several of the other colonies; and therefore they besought His Majesty, that
he would take the most effectual measures to enforce due obedience to the
laws and authority of the supreme legislature." Soon after, the commercial
intercourse of whole colonies, with foreign countries, and with each other,
was cut off by an act of Parliament; by another, several of them were
entirely prohibited from the fisheries in the seas near their coasts, on
which they always depended for their sustenance; and large reinforcements of
ships and troops were immediately sent over to General Gage.
Fruitless were all the entreaties, arguments, and eloquence of an
illustrious band of the most distinguished Peers, and Commoners, who nobly
and strenuously asserted the justice of our cause, to stay, or even to
mitigate the heedless fury with which these accumulated and unexampled
outrages were hurried on. Equally fruitless was the interference of the city
of London, of Bristol, and many other respectable towns in our favor.
Parliament adopted an insidious maneuver calculated to divide us, to
establish a perpetual auction of taxations where colony should bid against
colony, all of them uninformed what ransom would redeem their lives; and
thus to extort from us, at the point of the bayonet, the unknown sums that
should be sufficient to gratify, if possible to gratify, ministerial
rapacity, with the miserable indulgence left to us of raising, in our own
mode, the prescribed tribute. What terms more rigid and humiliating could
have been dictated by remorseless victors to conquered enemies? In our
circumstances to accept them would be to deserve them.
Soon after the intelligence of these proceedings arrived on this continent,
General Gage, who in the course of the last year had taken possession of the
town of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts Bay, and still occupied it
as a garrison, on the 19th day of April, sent out from that place a large
detachment of his army, who made an unprovoked assault on the inhabitants of
the said province, at the town of Lexington, as appears by the affidavits of
a great number of persons, some of whom were officers and soldiers of that
detachment, murdered eight of the inhabitants, and wounded many others. From
thence the troops proceeded in warlike array to the town of Concord, where
they set upon another party of the inhabitants of the same province, killing
several and wounding more, until compelled to retreat by the country people
suddenly assembled to repel this cruel aggression. Hostilities, thus
commenced by the British troops, have been since prosecuted by them without
regard to faith or reputation. The inhabitants of Boston being confined
within that town by the General, their Governor, and having, in order to
procure their dismission, entered into a treaty with him, it was stipulated
that the said inhabitants, having deposited their arms with their own
magistrates, should have liberty to depart, taking with them their other
effects. They accordingly delivered up their arms, but in open violation of
honor, in defiance of the obligation of treaties, which even savage nations
esteemed sacred, the Governor ordered the arms deposited as aforesaid, that
they might be preserved for their owners, to be seized by a body of
soldiers; detained the greatest part of the inhabitants in the town, and
compelled the few who were permitted to retire to leave their most valuable
effects behind.
By this perfidy wives are separated from their husbands, children from their
parents, the aged and the sick from their relations and friends, who wish to
attend and comfort them; and those who have been used to live in plenty and
even elegance are reduced to deplorable distress.
The General, further emulating his ministerial masters, by a proclamation
bearing date on the 12th day of June, after venting the grossest falsehoods
and calumnies against the good people of these colonies, proceeds to
"declare them all, either by name or description, to be rebels and traitors,
to supersede the course of the common law, and instead thereof to publish
and order the use and exercise of the law martial." His troops have
butchered our countrymen, have wantonly burned Charles-Town, besides a
considerable number of houses in other places; our ships and vessels are
seized; the necessary supplies of provisions are intercepted, and he is
exerting his utmost power to spread destruction and devastation around him.
We have received certain intelligence that General Carleton, the Governor of
Canada, is instigating the people of that province and the Indians to fall
upon us; and we have but too much reason to apprehend that schemes have been
formed to excite domestic enemies against us. In brief, a part of these
colonies now feels, and all of them are sure of feeling, as far as the
vengeance of administration can inflict them, the complicated calamities of
fire, sword, and famine. We are reduced to the alternative of choosing an
unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or
resistance by force. The latter is our choice. We have counted the cost of
this contest and find nothing so dreadful as voluntary slavery. Honor,
justice, and humanity forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we
received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a
right to receive from us. We cannot endure the infamy and guilt of resigning
succeeding generations to that wretchedness which inevitably awaits them, if
we basely entail hereditary bondage upon them.
Our cause is just. Our union is perfect. Our internal resources are great,
and, if necessary, foreign assistance is undoubtedly attainable. We
gratefully acknowledge, as signal instances of the Divine favor toward us,
that his Providence would not permit us to be called into this severe
controversy, until we were grown up to our present strength, had been
previously exercised in warlike operation, and possessed of the means of
defending ourselves. With hearts fortified with these animating reflections,
we most solemnly, before God and the world, declare that, exerting the
utmost energy of those powers which our beneficent Creator hath graciously
bestowed upon us, the arms we have been compelled by our enemies to assume
we will, in defiance of every hazard, with unabating firmness and
perseverance, employ for the preservation of our liberties; being with our
[one] mind resolved to die free men rather than live slaves.
Lest this declaration should disquiet the minds of our friends and fellow-
subjects in any part of the Empire, we assure them that we mean not to
dissolve that union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us,
and which we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity has not yet driven us
into that desperate measure, or induced us to excite any other nation to war
against them. We have not raised armies with ambitious designs of separating
from Great Britain establishing independent states. We fight not for glory
or for conquest. We exhibit to mankind the remarkable spectacle of a people
attacked by unprovoked enemies, without any imputation or even suspicion of
offense. They boast of their privileges and civilization and yet proffer no
milder conditions than servitude or death.
In our own native land, in defense of the freedom that is our birthright,
and which we ever enjoyed till the late violation of it -- for the
protection of our property, acquired solely by the honest industry of our
forefathers and ourselves, against violence actually offered, we have taken
up arms. We shall lay them down when hostilities shall cease on the part of
the aggressors, and all danger of their being renewed shall be removed, and
not before.
With a humble confidence in the mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge
and Ruler of the universe, we most devoutly implore his divine goodness to
protect us happily through this great conflict, to dispose our adversaries
to reconciliation on reasonable terms, and thereby to relieve the Empire
from the calamities of civil war.
By order of Congress,
JOHN HANCOCK,
President
Attested,
CHARLES THOMSON,
Secretary
PHILADELPHIA, July 6th, 1775
|
No comments:
Post a Comment