| Colonel George Washington was appointed to the position of General and Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on 16 June 1775. He would be taking command of the American troops then being mustered around the city of Boston in order to lay siege to that town, then being held by the British. The delegates meeting in the Second Continental Congress set about to prepare a statement that General Washington would deliver, and have published, upon his arrival at Boston. A committee was formed to prepare such a statement, a declaration of the reasons for the Colonies taking up arms. The committee consisted of John Rutledge, William Livingston, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Johnson and John Jay. A first draft of that statement, titled the Declaration On Taking Arms, was written by John Rutledge; it was discussed by the Congress on 24 June. No copy of that first draft is extant. Rutledge's draft was not satisfatory and would not be approved. Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson were added to the committee, and Jefferson proceeded to prepare a draft for consideration. Jefferson prepared two drafts, but neither one was approved by the committee, and therefore neither was presented to the delegates in Congress. John Dickinson, who held out with the hope that a reconciliation could be made between the Colonies and Great Britain, and feeling that Jefferson's draft was too harsh, wanted the tone of the document to be softened a bit. The committee, therefore, requested that he make some alterations, and Dickinson produced the document that was finally delivered to the main body of delegates to the Congress on 06 July. Note: The title of this document, as given in the Journals Of The Continental Congress was Declaration On Taking Arms. Some historians and researchers feel the need to add the word 'up' to the title, making it: Declaration On Taking Up Arms. And there are others who paraphrase the long title to read: Declaration Of The Causes And Necessity Of Taking Up Arms. |
| 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 expence 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 an 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. ~ Towards 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 statuteable plunder. ~ The uninterrupted tenor of their peaceable and respectful behaviour 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 offences, 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 controul 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; hut 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 an 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 shewn, 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 re-inforcements 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 favour. Parliament adopted an insidious manoeuvre 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 burnt 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 vengance of administration can inflict them, the complicated calamities of fire, sword, and famine. ~ We are reduced to the alternative of chusing 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 favour towards 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 presevation of our liberties; being with our [one] mind resolved to dye 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, and 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 offence. They boast of their privileges and civilization, and yet proffer no milder conditions than servitude or death. In our own native land, in defence of the freedom that is our birth-right, 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 fore-fathers 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 an 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. |
| From Journals Of The Continental Congress 1774-1789, Volume II, 1905, Government Printing Office, Pages 140-157. |
| Following is a transcript of Thomas Jefferson's first draft of the Declaration On Taking Arms. As noted above, this draft was not approved by the Committee, and therefore, never submitted for approval by the main body of the Second Continental Congress. Note: Words, or groups of words, which Jefferson initially wrote, but then decided to change, are enclosed by braces, as: { }. |
| The large {advances} strides of late taken by the legislature of Great Britain towards establishing {in} over these colonies their absolute rule, and the hardiness of their present attempt to effect by force of arms what by law or right they could never effect, render it necessary for us also {to shift} change the ground of opposition and to close with their last appeal from reason to arms. And as it behoves those who are called to this great decision to be assured that their cause is approved before supreme reason, so is it of great avail that it's justice be made known to the world whose {prayers cannot be wanting intercessions} affections will ever {be favorable to a people} take part with those encountring oppression. Our forefathers, inhabitants of the island of Gr. Britn {harassed} having {there vainly} long endeavored to bear up against the evils of misrule, left their native land to seek on these shores a residence for civil and religious freedom. At the expense of their blood, {with} to the {less} ruin of their fortunes, with the relinquishment of everything a quiet and comfortable in life, they effected settlements in the inhospitable wilds of America; they there established civil societies {under} with various forms of constitution, but possessing all, what is inherent in all, the full and perfect powers of legislation. To continue their connection with the friends whom they had left {and but loved} they arranged themselves by charters of compact under {the same} one common king {who became the thro' whom union was ensured to the multiplied} who thus became the {controul} link {uniting} of union between the several parts of the empire. Some occasional assumptions of power by the parl. of Gr. Brit. however {foreign and unknown} to unacknowledged by the constitution {we had formed} of our governments were finally acquiesced in [ ] thro' {the} warmth of affection. Proceeding thus in the fullness of mutual harmony and confidence both parts of the empire encreased in population and in wealth with a rapidity unknown in the history of man. The {various soils} political institutions of America, it's various {climes} soils and climates opening {sure} certain resource to the unfortunate and to the enterprising of {all} every country {where} and ensured to them the acquisition and {free} possession of property. Great Britain too acquired a lustre and a weight {in the political system} among the powers of the {world} earth which {it is thought} her internal resources could never have given her. To {the} a communication of the wealth and the power of {the several parts of the whole} every part of the empire we may surely ascribe in some measure {surely ascribe} the illustrious character she sustained thro' her last European war and its successful event. At the close of that war however {Gr. Britain} having subdued all her foes she took up the unfortunate idea of subduing her friends also. Her parliament then for the first time asserted a right of unbounded legislation {for} over the colonies of America: {by an several acts passed in the years of the 5th 6th and the 7th and the 8th years of the resign of his present majesty several duties were imposed for the purpose of raising a revenue on the American colonists, the power of the courts of admiralty were extended beyond their ancient limits and the inestimable right} [of being tried in all cases civil] {trial by twelve peers of our vicinage was taken away in cases affecting both life and property. By part of an act passed in the 12th year of the present reign an American colonist charged with the offences described in that act may be transported beyond sea for trial} [of such offense] {by the very persons, against whose pretended sovereignty} [the supposed offense] {is supposed to be committed} and pursuing with eagerness the newly assumed thought {have} in the space of 10 years during, which they have exercise yt right have {made} given such {decisive severe} specimens of the spirit in which this new legislation {would be exercised conducted} [illegible word] {towards the establishment of absolute government over us} as leaves no room to doubt the consequence of {our further} acquiescence under it {by two three two other acts passed in the 14th year of his present majesty they have assumed a right of altering the form of our governments altogether, and of thereby taking away every security for the possession of life or of property.}
By several acts of parliament passed {in the reign of his present majesty} within {scope} that {period} space of time they have {imposed upon us duties for the purpose of raising a revenue} attempted to take from us our money without our consent, they have {taken away the} interdicted all commerce {first of} one of our principal {trading} towns thereby annihilating it's property, in the hands of the holders, {and more lately} they have cut off {our} the commercial intercourse {with all of several of these} of whole colonies with {all} foreign countries {whatsoever;} they have extended the jurisdiction of {the} courts of admiralty beyond their antient limits thereby depriving us of the inestimable right of trial by jury in cases affecting both life and property {and subjecting both to the decision arbitrary decision of a single and dependent judge;} they have declared that American subjects {committing} charged with certain {pretended} offences shall be transported beyond sea {for trial} to be tried before the very persons against whose pretended sovereignty offense is supposed to be committed; they have attempted fundamentally to alter the form of government in one of these colonies, a form established by acts of it's own legislature, and further secured {to them} by charters {of compact with and grants from} on the part of the crown; they have erected {a tyranny} in a neighbouring province, acquired by the joint arms of Great Britain and America, a tyranny dangerous to the very existence of all these colonies. But why should we enumerate their injuries in the detail? By one act they have suspended the powers of one American legislature and by another {they} have declared they may legislate for us themselves in all cases whatsoever. These two acts alone form a basis broad enough whereon to erect a despotism of unlimited extent, {when it is considered that the persons by whom these acts are passed are not with us subject to their agents} and what is to {prevent} secure us against {the demolition of our present and establishment of new and despotic forms of government?} this dreaded evil? The persons {who} assuming these powers {of doing this} are not chosen by {ourselves} us, are not subject to {us} our controul {from us} are {themselves freed} exempted by their situation from the operation of these laws {they thus pass,} and {remove from themselves as much burthen as they impose on us.} lighten their own burthens in proportion as they encrease ours. These {are} temptations might put to trial the severest characters of antient virtue: with what new armour then shall a british parliament {then} encounter the rude assault? To ward these deadly injuries from the tender plant of liberty which we have brought over and with so much affection {we have planted and} have fostered on these our own shores we have pursued every lawful and every respectful measure. We have supplicated our king at various times in terms almost disgraceful to freedom; we have reasoned, we have remonstrated with parliament in the most mild and decent language; we have even proceeded to {break off our commercial intercourse with them altogether as to the last peaecable admonition of our determination to be free by breaking of altogether our commercial intercourse with them} break off our commercial intercourse with {them} our fellow subjects as the last peaceable admonition that our attachment to no nation on earth should supplant our attachment to liberty: and here we had well hoped was the ultimate step of the controversy. But subsequent events have shewn how vain was even this last remain of confidence in the moderation of the British ministry. During the course of the last year {they} their troops in a hostile manner invested the town of Boston in the province of Massachusetts bay, and from that time have held the same beleaguered by sea and land. On the 19th day of April {last} in the present year they made an unprovoked {attack} assault on the inhabitants of the sd province at the town of Lexington, {killed,} murdered eight of them on the spot and wounded many others. From thence they proceeded in {the same warlike manner} all the array of war to the town of Concord where they {attacked} set upon another party of the inhabitants of the {sd} same province killing many of them also burning {their} houses and laying waste {their} property {and continuing these depredations} until repressed by the arms of the people assembled to oppose this {hostile unprovoked} cruel {invasion} aggression {on their lives and properties}. Hostilities {being} thus commenced on the part of the {British} Ministerial {troops they} army have been since {without respite} by them pursued {the same by them} without regard to faith or to fame. The inhabitants of the {said} town of Boston having entered into treaty with a certain Thomas Gage {said to be commander in chief of those adverse troops and who has actually been a principal actor in the siege of the town of Boston, proffered to the inhabitants of the sd town a liberty to depart from the same on} principal and instigator of these {enormities violences} enormities, it was stipulated that the sd inhabitants having first deposited their {arms and mili} their own magistrates their arms and military stores should have free liberty to depart {out of the same from} out of the sd town taking with them their other goods and {other} effects. Their arms and military stores {were} they accordingly delivered in {to their magistrates}, and claimed the stipulated license of departing with their effects. But in open violation of plighted faith and honour, in defiance of {these that} the sacred {laws of nations} obligations of treaty which even the savage nations observe, their arms and warlike stores deposited with their own magistrates to be {kept} preserved as their property were immediately seised by a body of armed men under orders from the sd Thomas Gage, the greater part of the inhabitants were detained in the town and the few permitted to depart were compelled to leave their most valuable {goods} effects behind. We leave {to} the world {their} to it's own reflections on this atrocious perfidy. {The same Thos Gage on the 18th day of June} That we might no longer {be in} doubt the ultimate {purpose object} aim of these Ministerial maneuvres, the same Thos Gage by proclamn bearing date the 12th day of June {by} after reciting the {most abandonded} grossest falsehoods and calumnies against the good people of {America} these colonies proceeds to declare them all, either by name or description, to be rebels and traitors, to supersede by his own authority the exercise of the common law {of the land} of the sd province and to proclaim and order instead thereof the use and exercise of the law martial {throughout the sd province}. This bloody edict issued, he has proceeded to commit further ravages and murders in the same province burning the town of Charlestown, {and} attacking and killing great numbers of the people residing or assembled therein; and is now going on in an avowed course of murder and devastation, taking every occasion to destroy{ing} the lives and properties of the inhabitants of the said province. {whenever he [ ] find occasion to get them within his power.} To oppose {their} his arms we also have taken {up} arms. We should be wanting to ourselves, we should be {wanting} perfidious to {our} posterity, we should be unworthy that free ancestry from {which both they and we are derived our one common birth}, whom we derive our {birth} descent, {were we to suffer ourselves to be butchered and our properties to be laid waste} should we submit with folded arms to military butchery and depredation to gratify the lordly ambition {of any nation on earth and} or sate avarice of a British ministry. We do then most solemnly {before in the presence of} before God and the world declare, that, regardless of every consequence at the risk of every distress, {that} the arms we have been compelled to assume we will wage with {bitter} perseverance, exerting to their utmost energies all those powers {with} which our creator hath {invested} given us to {guard} preserve that {sacred} Liberty which He committed to us in sacred deposit, and to protect from every hostile hand our lives and our properties. But that this our declaration {and our determined resolution} may {give} give {disquietude} to not disquiet the minds of our good fellow subjects in any part of the empire, we do further {declare add} assure them that we mean not in any wise to affect that union with them in which we have so long and so happily lived and which we wish so much to see again restored: that necessity must be hard indeed which {could} may force upon us this desperate measure, or induce us to avail ourselves of any aid {which} their enemies {of Great Britain} might proffer. We took {up} arms {to defend} in defense of our persons and properties under actual violation: when that violence shall be removed, when hostilities {shall cease on the ministerial the ministerial party therefore} shall cease {be suspended hostilities} on the part {ministerial} of the aggressors, hostilities {they} shall {be suspended} cease on our part also; {when} the moment they withdraw their armies we will disband ours. {next to a vigourous exertion of our own internal force, we throw ourselves for towards} we did not embody {men} a soldiery to commit aggression on them; we did not raise armies for {march to or to glory} glory or for conquest; we did not invade their island, {proffering} carrying death or slavery to it's inhabitants Towards the atchievement of this happy event we call for and confide {on} in the good offices of our fellow subjects beyond the Atlantic. Of their friendly dispositions we {confide we hope with justice reason} can not yet cease to hope and {assure them they are} aware as they must be that they have nothing more to expect from the same common enemy than the humble favour of being last devoured. |
| From Journals Of The Continental Congress 1774-1789, Volume II, 1905, Government Printing Office, Pages 128-140. |
| Following is a transcript of John Dickinson's first draft of the Declaration On Taking Arms. This draft was approved by the Committee, but as is noted by a comparison with the final document, some changes were made by the Committee before it was submitted for approval by the main body of the Second Continental Congress. Note: Words, or groups of words, which Dickinson initially wrote, but decided to change, are enclosed by braces, as: { }. |
| A Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America now {sitting} met in General Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the Causes and Necessity of their taking up Arms.
If it was possible for {Beings who entert feel a proper Reverence for endued with Reason to believe that the Divine Author of their Existence} Men, who exercise their Reason in contemplating the works of Creation, 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, mark'd out by his infinite {Mercy} Goodness and Wisdom, as the legal Objects of a Domination never rightfully {to be} resistable, however severe and oppressive, the Inhabitants of these Colonies would might with at least with propriety at least require from the Parliament of Great Britain some Evidence, that this dreadful {Authority was vested in that Body} Authority over them has been granted to that Body. But since {Reflecti Considerations drawn a due Reverence} a Reverence for our great Creator, {Sentiments} Principles of Humanity {and the Dictates of Reason have convinced the wise and good} and the Dictates of Common Sense, {have} must convince all those who will 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, {since these generous and noble Principles have on no Part of the Earth been so well asserted vindicated and enforced as in Great Britain, the Legislature of that Kingdom hurried on by an inordinate passion for Power, of Ambition for a Power which their own most admired Writers and their very Constitution, demonstrate to be unjust; and which they know to be inconsistent with their own political Constitution} the Legislature of Great Britain stimulated by an inordinate Passion for a Power not only {generally pronounc'd held to be} unjust, but unjustifiable, but which they know to be peculiarly reprobated by the very Constitution of that Kingdom, and desperate of Success {in a Mode of Contest} in any Mode of Contest, where any a Regard should be had to Truth, {or Justice, or Reason, have at last appeal'd length} Law or Right, have at length attempted to effect their cruel and impolitic Purpose by Violence, and have thereby rendered it necessary for us to {change} close with their last Appeal from Reason to Arms. Yet however blinded {they} that Assembly may be by their intemperate Rage, {yet} 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 G. B. left their native Land, to seek {in the distant and inhospitable Wilds of America} on these Shores, a Residence for civil and religious {Liberty} Freedom. To describe the Dangers' Difficulties and Distresses, {the Expence of Blood and Fortune, Treasure} they were obliged to encounter in executing their generous Resolutions, would require Volumes. It may suffice to observe, that, at the Expence of their Blood, to the Ruin of their Fortunes, {and every Prospect of Advantage in their native Country} without the least Charge to the Country from which they removed, {with} 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 {within them,} were formed under Charters from the Crown, and {such} an harmonious Intercourse {and Union} was established between the Colonies and the Kingdom from which they derived their Origin. {The mutual benefits of this Union that some occasional Assumptions of} The mutual Benefits of this Union became in a short Time so extraordinary as to excite the Astonishment of other Nations. Every British Writer of Eminence, who has treated of the {Subject} Politics for near a Century past, has uniformly asserted that the amazing Increase of the Wealth, Strength and Navigation of {that Kingdom} the Realm, arose from this Source; and the Minister who so {gloriously presided ably} wisely and successfully directed the {Councils, Affairs,} Measures of Great Britain {during} in the last War, publickly declared, that these Colonies {had enabled} enabled her to triumph over her Enemies. {At} Towards 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 {slide} fall into Confusion, {that since has been continually encreasing and now has produced the most alarming Effects} and gradually {declining} sliding from that splendid Summit of glorious Prosperity to which they had been {carried} advanced by the Virtues and Abilities of one Man, are at Length distracted by the {present most most alarming} Convulsions, that now shake it to its {lowest} deepest Foundations. The new Ministry finding the {brave} brave Foes of Britain {subdued, took up the unfortunate Idea of defeated bravely} tho frequently defeated, yet {bravely} still contending, took up the unfortunate Ideas of granting {them} a hasty Peace {and these} to them, and then of subduing her faithful Friends. {They judged those devoted Colonies were judged to present to then} [A paragraph of some nine lines incomplete and not legible is omitted. The sense and a good part of the very words seem, to have been used in the next paragraph.] These devoted Colonies were judged to be in such a State as to present {a Prospect} Victories without Bloodshed, and all the easy Emoluments of statutable Plunder. The uninterrupted Tenor of their peaceable and respectful Behaviour from the Beginning of Colonization, their dutiful, zealous and useful services during the War, that has been mentioned, tho so recently and amply acknowledged in the most honorable Manner by his Majesty, by the late King, and by Parliament. could not {avail to} save them from the meditated Innovations. Parliament influenced to adopt the pernicious Project, and {to facilitate its execution by} 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. Statutes have been passed for taking our Money from us without our {own} Consent, tho {every Colony on this Continent has from its Beginning always} we have ever exercised an exclusive Right to dispose of our own Property; for extending the Jurisdiction of Courts of Admiralty and Vice admiralty beyond their antient Limits; for depriving us of the accustomed and inestimable Priviledge of Trial by Jury in Cases affecting both Life and Property; {for interdicting all Commerce to one of our principle Towns; for exempting the Murderers of Colonists from legal Punishment} for suspending the {Powers of} Legislature of one of the Colonies; for interdicting all Commerce of another; and for altering fundamentally the Form of Government {in one of the Colonies, a Form secured} established by Charter and {confirmed} secured by Acts of its own Legislature solemnly {and assented to} confirmed by the Crown; {for erecting in neighbouring} for exempting the "Murderers" of colonists from legal Punishment; for erecting in a neighbouring Province, {conquered} acquired by the joint Arms of Great Britain and America, a {Tyranny} Despotism dangerous to {the} our very existence {of the Colonies} and for quartering Officers and Soldiers upon the Colonists in time of profound Peace. It has also been {declared} resolved in Parliament that Colonists charged with committing certain Offenses, shall {by Virtue of a Statute made before any of} be transported to England to be tried. But why should we enumerate our Injuries in Detail? By one {Act of Parl} Statute it is declared, that Parliament can "of right make Laws to bind us IN ALL CASES WHATSOEVER." What is to defend us against {such so enormous a Power} so enormous, so unlimited a Power? {The persons assuming them} Not {one of} a single Man of those who assume it, is chosen by us; or is subject to our Controul or Influence; but on the contrary {is} they are all of them exempt from the Operations of such Laws, and actually lighten their own Burdens, in exact proportion to {those} the Burdens they impose on us. {These Temptations might put scarce are too great to be offered to Characters of the severest} 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 {colonies was rous'd by their Virtue} Americans was rous'd, it is true: but it was the Indignation of a virtuous, {peaceable,} loyal, {subjects} and affectionate People. A Congress of Delegates from the United Colonies was assembled at Philadelphia on the fifth Day of last September. We {felt} saw the Weapons levell'd at our {Brea} Bosoms, but we perceiv'd them at the same Time {held in} grasp'd by a Parent's Hands. We cast ourselves upon our Knees prostrate at the Foot of {the Throne} our Sovereign. Tho for ten years we had {fatigued the besieged the Throne Ears of Authority with Petitions, Supplications, yet the} ineffectually besieged the Throne as Supplicants, yet we resolved again to over an humble and dutiful Petition to the King, and {agreed} also to send an Address to our Fellow Subjects in Great Britain, informing them of our agreement at {a} certain Days to break off all our Commercial Intercourse with {our Fellow Subjects in Great Britain as the last peaceable} them as a peaceable Admonition, that our Attachment to no Nation upon {the} Earth shoud supplant our Attachment to Liberty. This, we flattered ourselves, was the ultimate Step of the Controversy: But subsequent Events have shewn, how vain was this {last} Hope of Moderation in {the Ministry} our Enemies. Our Petition was treated with Contempt. Without the least Mention of {its} our Application several threatening Expressions against the Colonies were inserted in his Majesty's Speech to {both} the two Houses of Parliament; and afterwards the Petition was huddled into the House of Commons the last amongst a neglected Bundle of American Papers. The Lords and Commons in their Address {to his Majesty}, 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 countenanc'd 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 was cutt off by an Act of Parliament; {and} by another, several of them were entirely prohibited from the Fisheries in the {neighbouring} 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. {With such a headlong heedless Rage fury were these outrageous Proceedings huried on, that all the Prayers} Fruitless were all the Entreaties, Arguments and Eloquence of {the a very considerable} an illustrious Band of the most distinguished Peers and Commoners, who nobly confest and strenuously asserted the Justice of our Cause, to stay or even to mitigate the heedless Fury {of} with which these accumulated and unexampled Outrages were {rapidly} hurried on. Equally fruitless was the interference of {that} the august City of London, {supplicating} of Bristol, and many other respectable Towns in our Favor. A Plan of Reconciliation digested by the patriotic Cares of that great and good man beforementioned, and which might easily have been improved to produce every Effect his generous Heart desired, was contemptuously rejected, to give way to an insidious {Ministerial} Maneuvre, calculated to divide us, to establish a perpetual Auction of Taxation, where Colony should bid against Colony, all of them uninform'd what Ransom would redeem their Lives, and thus to extort from us at the Point of the Bayonet {Sums} 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 Modes the prescribed Tribute. When the Intelligence of these Procecdings arrived on this Continent, we perceived it appeared evident, that our Destruction was determined upon, and that we had no Alternative or choice to make but of. Our choice must be either an "unconditional Submission," as one of the Ministry express'd himself, or of Resistance. Soon after the Intelligence of these Proceedings arrived on this Continent, {where} 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, {Plans,} on the 19th Day of {last} April {last,} sent out {of} 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 {others} more, until compell'd to retreat by the People suddenly assembled to repell this cruel Aggression. Hostilities thus commenc'd 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 {between the} that the said Inhabitants having deposited their arms with their own Magistrates, should have {free} Liberty to depart, {out of the said Town,} taking with them their other Effects. They accordingly delivered up their Arms, but in open violation of Honor, in Defiance of the Obligations of {a} Treaties, which even savage Nations esteem sacred, {General Gage} the Governor ordered the Arms deposited as aforesaid that they might be preserved for their Owners, to be seized by a Body of {armed men,} soldiers, detained the greater 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 sick from their Relatives and Friends who wish to attend and {relieve} take care of them; and those who have been used to live {with Elegance} in Plenty and even Elegance, are reduced to deplorable Distress. The General further emulating {the} 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 burnt Charlestown, besides a considerable Number of Houses in other Places; our Ships and Vessels are seized; {and} the necessary supplies of Provisions are {stopp'd} intercepted; {and he is now Destruction and Devastation around him as far as he can, all the complicated Cal} and he is exerting the utmost Power to spread Destruction and Devastation around him. We have received certain Intelligence that {Governor} General Carleton, the Governor of Canada, by Orders from the Ministry is instigating the People of that Province and the Indians to fall upon us; and that Schemes have been form'd to excite domestic Enemies against us. In brief, a Part of the Colonies now feels, and all of them are sure of feeling, as far as the Vengeance of Administration can inflict them, {all} the complicated Calamities of Fire, Sword and Famine. {By our The Suggestions of Duty and affection can no longer lull us into a lethargic Notion, too lately relinquished, that Armies and fleets are only design’d to intimidate us.} We are reduced to the Alternative of chusing an unconditional Submission to the {Tyrannic Vengeance of irritated Ministers who know we despise them and that they deserve to be thus despised are therefore implacable} Tyranny of irritated ministers, or Resistance by Force. The latter is our Choice. {We know, that by an infamous Surrender of the Freedom and Happinness of ourseves and our Posterity, we might obtain that wretched Honor, Justice and Humanity forbid us basely to surrender that Freedom Liberty and Happiness which we receiv’d from our gallant Ancestors, and which it is our Duty to transmit undiminished to our Posterity. Called upon by the Law of self-preservation implanted in our Nature by our allwise Creator, with prepared Hands} We have counted the Cost of this Contest, and {being perfectly convinced, it is infinitely} find nothing so dreadful {and resolved Hearts we will} in our Computation, as {Infamy and} voluntary Slavery {united,} Honor, Justice and Humanity forbid us tamely to surrender that Freedom which we receiv'd 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 hearts are resolved. Our Hands are prepared.} Our preparations are nearly completed. Our internal Resources {within our own Country} are {many} great; and our Assurance of foreign Assistance is certain. We gratefully acknowledge as a singular Instance of the Divine {Goodness} Favor {and consider it as a singular mark of his Favor} towards us, {in not permitting us to be} that his Providence would not permit us to be called into the severe Controversy, untill {our} we were grown up to our present Strength, {was} had been previously exercised in warlike Operations, {to which some Years ago we were almost entire Strangers,} and {that we} were possest of the Means for defending ourselves, {of which till lately we were in Want.} With Hearts fortified by these animating Reflections, We do most solemnly before God and the World declare, that, exerting the utmost Energies of those Powers, which our beneficent Creator hath graciously bestowed upon us, the Arms we have been {thus} compell'd by our Enemies to assume {for our just Defence,} we will in Defiance of every Hazard with unabating Firmness and perseverance, {in Defiance of every Hazard, now we will} employ for the preservation of our Liberties, {deeming it infinitely preferable} being with one Mind resolved to dye free men rather than to live Slaves. Least this Declaration should disquiet the Minds of our Friends and fellow subjects in any part of the {World} Empire, we assure them, that we mean not {in any Manner} to dissolve that Union with them {in} which {we have} has so long and so happily {lived} subsisted between us, and which we {so ardently much} sincerely wish to see restored. {The} Necessity {must be hard indeed} has not yet driven us into that desperate Measure, or to excite {their} other Nations to war against them. We have not rais'd armies {from} with ambitious Designs of separating from Great Britain and establishing independent States. We {have} fight not {invaded that Island proffering to its Inhabitants Death or Slavery} for Glory or for Conquest. We exhibit to Mankind the remarkable Spectacle of a People {charged till} attack'd without any Imputation or even Suspicion of Offence by unprovoked Enemies, who {proffer to them the not milder Forms Conditions than Death or Slavery} boast of their {Freedom} Priviledges and Civilization, and yet proffer no milder Conditions than {Death or Slav} Servitude or Death. In our Native Land, in Defence of {Liberties} the {Liberty} Freedom that is our Birthright, and which we ever enjoyed till the late Violations of it, ~ for the Protection of our Property acquired, solely by the honest Industry of our Forefathers and ourselves, against {we have taken up arms, solely to oppose and repell the violence actually offered to us} Violence actually offered, we have taken up Arms. {We shall} 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 an humble Confidence in the {divine} Mercies of the supreme and impartial Judge and Ruler of the Universe, we most devoutly implore {Almighty God} his divine Goodness to conduct us happily thro' this great Conflict, to dispose our Adversaries to Reconciliation on Reasonable Terns, and thereby to relieve the Empire from the {Evils} Calamities of Civil War. |
| From Journals Of The Continental Congress 1774-1789, Volume II, 1905, Government Printing Office, Pages 140-157. |
