GHIST 225: US History
Kevin R. Hardwick
Spring 2012
LECTURE 08
From the Stamp Act Resolutions to the Declaration of
Independence
Samuel Adams, “Circular Letter” (1768)
That the constitution [of Great Britain, as established in the Glorious Revolution
of 1688] ascertains & limits both sovereignty and allegiance, & therefore, his
Majesty’s American subjects, have an equitable claim to the full enjoyment of
the fundamental rules of the British constitution. [CAPCT, vol. I, p. 198]
Thomas Hutchinson, “A Dialogue Between an American and a European
Englishman (1768)
European: What sort of connection do you imagine there is between Great
Britain and her colonies? Are you and we parts of one and the same empire or
are we not?
American: We are certainly under one and the same sovereign. [CAPCT, vol. I, p.
215]
Thomas Hutchinson, “A Dialogue Between an American and a European
Englishman (1768)
American: The king might retain the executive power and also his share of the
legislative <in each colony> without any abridgement of our <ancestor’s> rights
as Englishmen; the Parliament could not retain their legislative power without
depriving them of those rights, for after their removal they could no longer be
represented, and their sovereign, sensible of this, by charter or commissions
made provision in every colony for legislatures within themselves. [CAPCT, vol. I,
p. 215]
Boston “Tea Party”
Coercive Acts, 1774:
“The Able Doctor. America Swallowing
the Bitter Drought.”
Stamp Act Resolutions, 1765:
“Members of this Congress [are] sincerely devoted with the warmest
sentiments of affection and duty to His Majesty’s person and Government.”
“[We] esteem it our indisputable duty to make the following declarations of our
humble opinion respecting the most essential rights and liberties of the
colonists.”
“His Majesty’s liege subjects in these colonies are entitled to all the inherent
rights and liberties of his natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great
Britain.”
Declaration of Independence, 1776:
“When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and
to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect
to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation.”
Declaration of Independence, 1776:
“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 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.”
Declaration of Independence, 1776:
“Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not
be changed for light and transient causes, and accordingly all experience hath
shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable
than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are
accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing
invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute
despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such a government,
and provide new guards for their future security.”