The slow road of the American colonies in their rebellion against Great Britain was about fifteen years old in 1775. A series of acts of Parliament and proclamations by the king continued to drive a wedge between the mother country and her colonies. Many Americans were then in their eighth generation on that continent. Ties binding them to England were unknown to many.
Circumstances in the Colonies in 1775
The British Parliament had passed a number of measures designed to turn the American colonies into what England wanted them to be: a source of wealth for the mother country. Some of these acts were:
- The Navigation Acts, which prompted the Writs of Assistance, and were seen as an infringement of individual liberties guaranteed by the unwritten British Constitution.
- Proclamation of 1763, which restricted settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains and trade with the Indians.
- The Stamp Act of 1765, which gave rise to the resistance slogan of “taxation without representation.”
- The Tea Act of 1773, placing a heavy duty on the importation of tea from the East Indies to America, and which gave rise to the famous Boston Tea Party.
The colonial response to these caused the king to send troops to America to protect British interests and enforce the various acts. Fighting with the “Redcoats” began on April 19, 1775 at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts. The fighting continued, with militias in Massachusetts resisting the professional British army. A second Continental Congress was called for, and began its session in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775.
Provisions of the Declaration for Taking up Arms
The Congress drew up a declaration of the causes that prompted them to take up arms against Great Britain, and the necessity for doing so. It began by saying it was impossible for “…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…” The British Parliament had “an inordinate passion” for power that was not justified in the constitution.
The Declaration claimed that Great Britain had already gained great wealth and prestige from the colonies, and that American involvement in the recent Seven Years’ War was being ignored by the Crown. Britain had become power hungry. The new king (George III began his reign in 1763), with new ministers, and a changing Parliament had “in the course of eleven years, given such decisive specimens of the spirit and consequences attending the power as to leave no doubt concerning the effects of acquiescence under it.”
The list of causes for taking up arms was long.
- giving and granting of the colonists money without their consent
- depriving the colonies of the accustomed privilege of trial by jury
- suspending the legislature of one colony
- interdicting all commerce from one colony in favor of another
- altering fundamentally the form of government established by royal charters and secured by prior parliamentary acts
- exempting murderers of colonists from legal trial and punishment
- erecting in a neighboring province a despotism dangerous to the colonies' very existence
- restricting trade by the colonies with nations other than Britain
Saying that "our attachment to no nation upon earth should supplant our attachment to liberty,” the Declaration said the Colonies were not seeking independence from Great Britain, but merely redress of grievances, and to do so they felt compelled to fight British troops on American soil until such redress was granted. The colonists were reduced “to the alternative of choosing an unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers, or resistance by force.” They chose the latter, believing their cause was just.
Authorship of the Declaration for Taking up Arms Disputed
A committee of five delegates to the Continental Congress was appointed to draft this declaration. John Rutledge appears to have written the first draft, which was not accepted by the committee. Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson were added to the committee, and Jefferson was appointed to make the next draft of the declaration.
Soon after the Declaration for Taking up Arms was written and issued, history of the authorship was not maintained. The words seem to be a combination of those of John Dickinson and Thomas Jefferson. In 1801 Dickinson took credit for it. Jefferson disputed this some years later, saying that he wrote the first draft and that Dickinson, believing it was too strongly worded, took the draft and made it more moderate. Exactly how many of the words are Dickinson’s and how many are Jefferson’s is not known for certain. John P. Boyd, editor The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 1. Princeton University Press, 1950, believes more of the words are Jefferson’s than are Dickinson’s.
Despite the disputed authorship, the Declaration on the Causes and Necessities of Taking up Arms remains one of the fundamental documents of the American Revolution, and can be an inspiration to Americans of all generations.
Source:
The Annals of America, Vol. 2, page 337-341; Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 1968
David A. Todd - David Todd is a civil engineer, a genealogist, a citizen concerned with the environment, and a writer by passion.
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