Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 1
Mr. President
[October 12, 1774] (1)
The Question before you is certainly of the utmost Importance, in the Solution of it are involved the Happiness or Misery not only of the present Generation of Americans but of Millions yet unborn. I must therefore beg your Permission to enter largely into the Subject.(2)
The Parliamt. ought not to be allowed the Regulation of our Trade for many Reasons.
1st. Because We having no Voice in their Election they are not our Representa[tive]s & consequently have no Rights to make Laws for Us in any Case whatsoever.
To put this Matter in a clear Point of View it is necessary to recur to the Origin of Parliaments. It is now universally allowed that all good Government is founded in Compact.
Mankind prompted to Society by Nature (to associate) & finding they could not procure or enjoy the necessaries and Conveniences of Life or defend themselves from Force & Injury in an unconnected separate State (assembled &f) formed themselves into various (Countries) some in one Country, others in another in the Infancy of Society. They directed & managed their own affairs in Person as they thought most for the common Good. In Time (the larger & larger) Societies became very extensive & the Members so numerous that they became impracticable to supply the Want of this personal Direction of many public affairs. The Wisdom of our saxon Ancestors devised the best Substitute in the Power of Man to point out which was that the People should appoint & authorize certain Persons in whose Wisdom & Virtue They could confide (in) to represent the whole Body of the Nation & in their Behalf to enact in Conjunction with their Chief or King such Laws Rules & Ordinances as would be for the general Good of the Community.
This it will be allowed was the Origin of the english Parliament. The End of their Appointment was to (Take Care of) Preservation & Promoting of the Interests & Happiness of whom--of their Constituents undoubtedly & not of the People of France Spain or Holland.(3)
[. . .] of all the Benefits of an extensive & valuable Inheritance [conveyed?] to them from their worthy ancestors who purchased it with their Blood & Tresure & of the Fruits of their own Labours and reduce them to such a miserable State of Vassalage as to be compelled to consume their Lives in the vilest Drudgery & Servitude in Order to acquire Property for their Oppressors who like true Tyrants would allow them no greater Share of the Produce of their own Labours than will be barely sufficient to preserve their miserable Beings in such a State as may qualify them for further Servitude.
3rd
[In] any other Country The People who appointed & gave their Delegates the Power which they became possessed of had no Power of making Laws for those Countries themselves [and] therefore could not give any Such to their Representatives or any other Persons. Had the People of (France) Spain or Holland or any other Country chosen & impower'd the Persons who compose the brith. Parlt to make Laws & Ordinances for them there is no Doubt but upon every Principle of Law & Equity they ought to be asked [to] obey all Laws made by such their Representatives because the Act & Deed of the Substitute or Representative so far as he pursues the [. . .] but as the People of Spain or Holland have not delegated such Power to the british Parliament, They, should that Parliament attempt to impose Laws upon them, would undoubtedly treat them with the Contempt & Indignity which such usurpation would merit. Upon the same Principles America having never given any such Power to the british Parliament to make Laws for them cannot be under any Obligation in Law Equity or Conscience to submit to Acts of Parliament. Upon this simple Principle of Representation & consequent Legislation Stands the british Constitution & upon this Foundation is the Throne established in the royal House of Hanover. The Minister therefore who tramples upon the Peoples Right of Representation undermines the Constitution & tears up by the Roots the Pillars on which his majesty's Throne is fixed.
But it is said that some of these Acts of Trade were made before the granting of some of the American Charters & consequently those who recd. those Charters were parties to the Acts & are concluded by them.(4) If this proves any Thing it proves too much, that is that they were Parties to & are concluded by all Acts of Parliament made before their Emigration. This would introduce into America the canon Law the payment of tiths [to] the Clergy & innumerable other Laws Statutes & Regulations (& Burdens) which would soon deprive us of all Liberty & Property & with this manifest Injustice & Partiality that every (Man) Freeholder in Britain tho' Party to making a Law & therefore held to obey it while in Force has a Right if he dislikes the Law to instruct his Representative to get it repealed & if he does not do it to remove him & chuse a new Representative, but the American who came from England after making such Laws has no Right to instruct his quondam Representative or to remove him should he refuse to obey his Instructions & appoint another. Consequently as his Power of Appointment his Right of Instructing or removing his constitutional Controul of such Representative cease with his Emigration to America, the Duty of Submission or Obedience consequential upon the Enjoyment of these several Rights must cease with them.
But it will be said that having imigrated under Charters from the Crown We brought our Allegeance with Us. The King granted those Charters, to him therefore We owe Allegiance according to the Tenor of those Charters, to him We ever have been & always desire to be faithful Subjects but is there a Word of the Power of Parliament in those Charters? Not one. But it is said We are not to make Laws contrary to the Laws of England it is true but are to make them as near as may be agreable to the Laws of the Realm considering the Nature & Constitution of the Place & People there. That is in other Words The King gives no Power to depart wholly from the (english Constitution) Principles of the Laws of England but being sensible that (that Constitution in its) those Laws would not suit the People & Country of America impowers them to make Laws differing from the Laws of England as far as the Nature & Constitution of the Place & People in America required. And that this is the Sense of the King upon this Head is plain. Witness the Massachusetts Act for Division of intestate Estates which 'tho directly repugnant to the common Law of England hath recd. the royal Assent.
But it is said that the Parliament has a Right to regulate Trade by our Acquiescence in their Acts for that Purpose.(5) A man may be compelled by Force to submit to many Injuries for instance Imprisonment of his Person, Deprivation of his Property or the Use of that Property & finding the Time of his Deliverance not come may appear as easy as he can under Oppression but does this give the Invader a Right to continue [....] By no Means. The great Grotius justly says Quod ab initio injustum est nullo potest fieri modo aut usu justum aut rectum. That is whatever is originally wrong in its own Nature cannot be sanctifyed or made right by Repetition & Use.(6) The Moment then the Man has it in his Power he may assert his Freedom & recover Possession of his Estate: Besides several of the Colonies protested against these Acts in their Infancy & the Crown in some Instances so far from claiming parliamentary Jurisdiction requested the Colonies to pass such Acts as were nec[essar]y.
It is said by other Gentlemen that the Parliament has a Right to the Power of regulating our Trade because they have afforded Us Protection.(7) It has been an inviolable Rule with Me never to forget a Kindness and as far as We have recd. Favors let US by all Means make proper Compensation but let US first state the Acct.
Those who first attempted to settle the Colony of Virginia were left by the Parliamt. to their own Fate and perished. Their Successors defended themselves for above a Century.
Those who began the Settlement of New England were unsupported & lost half their Number the first Winter they were in America and the Survivors carried on the Settlement at their own Expence defended themselves by their own united Force & Bravery from this Period. The Parliament afforded little or no Protection save the Reputation of the british Navy for many years. The (Restoration of) Purchase of Peace to Britain by the Conquest of Cape Breton, added to the commercial Advantages derived from the Colonies, is surely adequate satisfaction for Protection to this Time. During the Peace the Emoluments arising to G. Britain from the American Trade must much overbalance the Expence She was at for their Protec[tio]n. In the last War She was at a very considerable Expence in America [but] the Colonies were at a much greater one in Proportion to their Circumstances. A most extensive Country hath been conquered. Upon opening such extensive Views of Settlement the Value of Lands (and the Value) that of all real Estate in the old Colonies sunk one half and all the Advantages of the new Territory G. Britain confined to herself.
Again it has been said by one of the greatest Men in the Nation that the Advantages derived to G. Britain from the Trade of the Colonies was 2 millions a year & that this Fund carried her through the last War. Surely Sir this immense Profit & the Property & commercial advantages of such a vast Territory as was conquered from France must be full Compensation for the Protection granted Us in the late War. if this Computation be right the Claim of Regulation upon this footing immediately vanishes.
But it is said She ought to have this Power from the Necessity of the Case, it being absolutely necessary that there should be some supreme Power in every State which has a Right to collect the united Force of the community and direct it in such a Manner as may be for the general Good, & that this Power can be no where so well placed as in G. Britain. (8) That it is necessary that there should be some supreme Legislature in every Community to regulate & direct the public affa[irs] of that Community all Authors Agree, but that it is necessary where twenty separate Governments, which is the Case of the Kings Dominions, are existing that the whole Interest and Power of nineteen should be submitted to Controul (& under) the Direction of the twentieth no Author of Credit maintains. And it cannot upon any just Principles be proved to be more necessary for general Good that this should be done than that all the Different Governments in the World should be united under one single Government in order that the whole Force of the World should be [exerted]. The Capacities of human nature are so limited that They are not able to comprehend and adjust the various Interests of such remote & extensive Countries and wrong Information given by those who are near them & interested in their Decisions and want of proper Information from those who are remote together with self Partiality & Prejudice in the Rulers will undoubtedly induce a Sacrifice of the Interests & Happiness of many remote States to that of the one which is the Seat of Power.
That this hath been the unhappy Case of all Countries who were subject to foreign Government all History proves but We need go [no] further for Proof of this than to the miserable People of Ireland and the distressed State of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay.
But is said that as We emigrated from Britain we ought to consider her as a Mother State. I have the highest Idea of parental & filial Connections but the Duties are reciprocal. While she discharges her Duty let Us gratefully do ours but let her not think that because certain Persons who came [.... ] (9)
I have proved that the Parliament have no Right to regulate our Trade upon any just Principles whatsoever.
I shall now endeavour to prove that the giving them such a Power would be the entire Ruin of America. The People of England formerly a sober frugal industrious & brave People are now immersed in Luxury Riot & Dissipation. The Parliament once a freely elected, a nearly equal Representation & an independent Branch of the Legislature above the Frowns, Flatteries & Bribes of a Minister now first purchase their own Seats of the miserable venal Electors & then sell them & the rest of the People (for Slaves) to the Minister. The nation for Ages wholly free from Debt as a Nation is now involved in a Debt of £128 Millions. Bribery Corruption and Pensions swallow the greatest Part of those vast Taxes & Duties paid by the People. Is such a Parliament to be intrusted with the Interests of America? Would you (commit your property to) put your all into such Hands? England Ireland & that vast Country in the east Indies subject to the india Compy. are sinking under the Load of Oppression. will you [be] like Issachar represented by a strong Ass crouching down under two Burdens too [heavy for] your Shoulders to bear & become subject to Tribute? God forbid. Always consider yourselves as a Part of the Kings Dominions. Generously do all you can for your fellow Subjects & be assured that you cannot more effectually serve your King, your Brethren in G Britain & your Country than by preserving your Liberty.(10)
MS (RHi) . In the hand of Samuel Ward on detached sheets of varying size.
1 James Duane's Notes of Debates for October 12 clearly show that Ward delivered this speech in connection with the discussion that day of Parliament's right to regulate American trade.
2 At the bottom of this half-sheet, written upside down beneath the preceding sentence, a note fragment appears: "The Volume of Blackstone where the Origin of Parliaments is mentioned & if you could."
3 Remainder of this sentence and beginning of next paragraph missing.
4 See James Duane's Propositions before the Committee on Rights, September 7-22, 1774.
5 Ibid.
6 Apparently this is a rough paraphrase, both in Latin and in English, of a "common saying" quoted in Hugo Grotius, De jure belli ac pacis libri tres, trans. Francis W. Kelsey, 2 vols. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913-25), 2:227.
7 See, for example, Joseph Galloway's remarks in John Adams' Notes of Debates, September 28, 1774.
8 See ibid. and James Duane's Propositions before the Committee on Rights, September 7-22, 1774.
9 Remainder of sentence missing.
10 Remainder of MS missing.
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