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Did You Know? Declaration and Resolves - Colonial Rights as Englishmen · Voices Of Life

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  Before the Declaration of Independence, before
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  the colonies took up arms, there was a moment
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  of unity, a declaration not of war, but of principle.
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  It was October 14th, 1774. The First Continental
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  Congress had gathered in Philadelphia, and from
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  that assembly came a document known as the First
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  Declaration and Resolves. It asserted the colony's
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  rights as Englishmen, protested the intolerable
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  acts, and listed grievances against Parliament.
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  It was the first collective voice of America,
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  a calm yet courageous stand for liberty under
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  law. Today, on Voices of Life, we revisit that
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  moment of conviction and conscience. Guiding
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  us through this historic turning point is our
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  host, Pastor David. whose pastoral insight and
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  historical story -clilling bring faith and freedom
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  together in one voice. Thank you for joining
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  me today on Voices of Life, a ministry for the
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  Church for Life. I'm Pastor David. As we continue
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  our Did You Know series, celebrating 250 years
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  of faith and freedom, we turn to the Declaration
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  and Resolves. A document created by the First
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  Continental Congress that laid the foundation
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  for everything that followed. This was not yet
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  revolution. It was reason. It was resolve. It
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  was colonies saying, we are loyal subjects. but
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  we are not slaves. So what it really was? On
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  October 14, 1774, the First Continental Congress
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  adopted the Declaration and Resolves. It asserted
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  that the American colonies were entitled to the
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  same rights and liberties as all Englishmen.
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  It protested the Intolerable Acts, and it listed
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  grievances against Parliament's overreach. This
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  was the first unified statement of the American
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  principles, a declaration of rights, not rebellion.
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  So why was it written? Well, the colonies had
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  endured years of taxation without representation,
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  trade restrictions, political inference, and
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  when Parliament passed the coercive acts, closing
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  Boston's port and dissolving local assemblies,
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  the colonies realized that their freedoms were
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  in danger. The Congress met to respond, not with
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  violence, but with words grounded in law, faith,
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  and conscience. The Declaration and Resolves
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  affirmed that the colonies were entitled to life,
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  liberty, and property. They had the right to
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  participate in their own legislation. They were
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  subject to the British crown, but not to Parliament's
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  direct rule without representation. The intolerable
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  acts violated these rights. And finally, the
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  colonies would boycott British goods until justice
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  was restored. It was a peaceful protest, but
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  a firm stand for truth. The tone was respectful,
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  yet resolute. It appealed to the king's justice,
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  but it also warned that continued oppression
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  would destroy the bond between Britain and her
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  colonies. This was the language of conscience,
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  the voice of the people awakening to their destiny.
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  So why does this matter? Well, the first Declaration
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  of Resolves matters because it marked the first
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  united statement of American rights. It protested
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  tyranny through lawful reasoning. It set the
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  stage for the Articles of Association and later
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  the Declaration of Independence. It showed that
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  liberty begins with conviction, not conflict.
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  It was the first time America spoke as one. We
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  have created the narrative for your listening
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  enjoyment. Please listen to it now. hath in some
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  acts expressly imposed taxes on them, and in
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  others under various pretenses, but in fact for
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  the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed
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  rates and duties payable in these colonies, established
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  a board of commissioners with unconstitutional
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  powers, and extended the jurisdiction of courts
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  of admiralty, not only for collecting the said
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  duties. but for the trial of causes merely arising
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  within the body of a county. And whereas, in
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  consequence of other statutes, judges, who before
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  held only estates at will in their offices, have
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  been made dependent on the crown alone for their
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  salaries, and standing armies kept in times of
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  peace. And whereas, it has lately been resolved
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  in Parliament, that by force of a statute made
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  in the thirty -fifth year of the reign of King
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  Henry VIII, colonists may be transported to England,
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  and tried thereupon accusations for treasons
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  and misprisions, or concealments of treasons
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  committed in the colonies. And by a late statute,
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  such trials have been directed in cases therein
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  mentioned. And whereas, in the last session of
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  Parliament, Three statues were made. One entitled,
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  An Act to Discontinue, in such manner and for
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  such time as are therein mentioned. The landing
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  and discharging, lading or shipping of goods,
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  wares and merchandise at the town and within
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  the harbor of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts
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  Bay. Another entitled, an act for the better
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  regulating the government of the province of
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  the Massachusetts Bay in New England. And another
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  entitled, an act for the impartial administration
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  of justice in the cases of persons questioned
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  for any act done by them in the execution of
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  the law or for the suppression of riots and tumults
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  in the province of the Massachusetts Bay. And
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  another statute was then made. for making more
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  effectual provision for the government of the
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  province of Quebec, etc. All which statutes are
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  impolitic, unjust and cruel, as well as unconstitutional,
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  and most dangerous and destructive of American
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  rights. And whereas assemblies have been frequently
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  dissolved, contrary to the rights of the people,
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  when they attempted to deliberate on grievances,
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  and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable
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  petitions to the crown for redress have been
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  repeatedly treated with contempt by His Majesty's
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  ministers of state. The good people of the several
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  colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay,
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  Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut,
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  New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle,
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  Kent, and Sussex on Delaware. Maryland, Virginia,
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  North Carolina, and South Carolina, justly alarmed
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  at these arbitrary proceedings of Parliament
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  and administration, have severally elected, constituted,
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  and appointed deputies to meet and sit in General
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  Congress in the city of Philadelphia in order
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  to obtain such establishment as that their religion,
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  laws, and liberties may not be subverted. Whereupon
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  the deputies, so appointed being now assembled,
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  in a full and free representation of these colonies,
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  taking into their most serious consideration
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  the best means of obtaining the ends of Forsaid,
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  do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their
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  ancestors in like cases have usually done. for
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  asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties,
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  declare. Certainly below is part two of the Declaration
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  and Results, adopted by the First Continental
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  Congress on October 14, 1774. This section contains
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  the Declaration of Rights, in which the Congress
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  formally stated the liberties. To which the American
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  colonists believe they were entitled. Declaration
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  of Colonial Rights. Resolved NCD1. But they are
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  entitled to life, liberty, and property. And
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  they have never ceded to any sovereign power
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  whatever. A right to dispose of either. Without
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  their consent. That our ancestors... who first
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  settled these colonies, were, at the time of
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  their emigration from the mother country, entitled
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  to all the rights, liberties, and immunities
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  of free and natural -born subjects within the
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  realm of England. they by no means forfeited,
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  surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but
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  that they were, and their descendants now are,
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  entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all
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  such of them, as their local and other circumstances
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  enable them to exercise and enjoy. That the foundation
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  of English liberty and of all free government
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  is a right in the people to participate in their
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  legislative council. And as the English colonists
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  are not represented, and from their local and
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  other circumstances cannot properly be represented
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  in the British Parliament, they are entitled
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  to a free and exclusive power of legislation
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  in their several provincial legislatures, where
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  their right of representation can alone be preserved.
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  in all cases of taxation and internal polity,
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  subject only to the negative of their sovereign,
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  in such manner as has been heretofore used and
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  accustomed. But, from the necessity of the case,
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  and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries,
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  we cheerfully consent to the operation of such
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  acts of the British Parliament. As a bona fide
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  restraint to the regulation of our external commerce.
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  For the purpose of securing the commercial advantages
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  of the whole empire to the mother country. And
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  the commercial benefits of its respective members.
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  Excluding every idea of taxation, internal or
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  external. For raising a revenue on the subjects
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  in America without their consent. That the respective
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  colonies are entitled to the common law of England,
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  and more especially to the great and inestimable
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  privilege of being tried by their peers of the
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  vicinage, according to the course of that law.
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  That they are entitled to the benefit of such
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  of the English statutes as existed at the time
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  of their colonization, and which they have. by
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  experience respectively found to be applicable
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  to their several local and other circumstances
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  that these his majesty's colonies are likewise
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  entitled to all the immunities and privileges
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  granted and confirmed to them by royal charters
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  or secured by their several codes of provincial
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  laws that they have a right peaceably to assemble
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  consider of their grievances and petition the
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  king and that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations
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  and commitments for the same are illegal. That
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  the keeping a standing army in these colonies
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  in times of peace without the consent of the
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  legislature of that colony in which such army
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  is kept is against law. It is indispensably necessary
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  to good government, and rendered essential by
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  the English Constitution, that the constituent
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  branches of the legislature be independent of
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  each other, that therefore the exercise of legislative
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  power in several colonies, by a council appointed
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  during pleasure by the Crown, is unconstitutional,
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  dangerous, and destructive to the freedom of
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  American legislation. grievances against parliament
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  resolved ncb 11 that the following acts of parliament
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  are infringements and violations of the rights
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  of the colonists and that the repeal of them
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  is essentially necessary in order to restore
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  harmony between great britain and the american
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  colonies viz The several acts of 4G03, G15 and
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  G34. 5G03, G25. 6G03, G52. 7G03, G41. And G46.
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  8G03, G22. 9G03, G24. 10G03, G17. 11G03, G7.
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  G41 and G45. Thank you. to discontinue in such
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  a manner and for such time as are very mentioned
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  the landing and discharging lading or shipping
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  of goods wares and merchandise at the town and
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  within the harbor of boston in the province of
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  massachusetts bay an act for the better regulating
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  the government of the province of the massachusetts
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  bay in new england an act An act for the trial
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  of trias committed out of the king's dominions.
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  12. That all and each of the acts before mentioned
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  are impolitic, unjust and cruel, as well as unconstitutional
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  and most dangerous and destructive of American
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  rights. so ardently desired by the latter, and
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  usually promoted by an intercourse beneficial
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  to both, is greatly obstructed by the acts before
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  mentioned, and that the repeal of them is indispensably
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  necessary in order to restore harmony and a good
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  correspondence between Great Britain and the
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  American colonies. There were words, words of
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  principle, words of faith, words of resolve.
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  And those words still echo today. As we honor
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  250 years of faith and freedom, may we remember
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  that liberty is preserved when truth is spoken
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  boldly and humbly. Thank you for joining me for
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  this Voices of Life Did You Know special. Until
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  next time, may God bless you and may God bless
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  the United States of America. And so, before
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  independence was declared, before the colonies
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  took up arms, America's first united voice was
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  raised not in rebellion, but in reason. The first
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  declaration and resolves was a statement of principle,
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  a peaceful protest against injustice and tyranny.
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  It affirmed that the colonists were entitled
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  to the rights of Englishmen. It condemned the
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  intolerable acts. It called for unity, for courage,
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  for conscience. They did not seek separation.
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  They sought restoration. They did not cry for
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  war. They stood for truth. In that moment, October
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  14th, 1774, the seeds of liberty were planted
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  in the soil of conviction. As we honor 250 years
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  of faith and freedom, may we remember that America's
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  strength was born in principle before it was
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  tested in battle. Thank you for joining us for
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  this Voices of Life special episode. May the
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  spirit of 1774 remind us to stand firm in truth,
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  to speak with courage, and to trust the providence.
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  that still guides this nation.