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In 1763, the Treaty of Paris[1] was signed declaring there would be "a Christian, universal and perpetual peace" to end the Seven Years war that involved England, France and Spain, as well as most of the rest of European nations. That didn't happen. In fact, following the years of war, Britain was heavily in debt and began passing laws to increase taxes on the American colonists to pay the debts. The first was the Stamp Act passed March 22, 1765[2], which was quickly followed by the Quartering Act[3], passed two days later requiring the colonists to house British soldiers.
These laws led to the first organized efforts in the colonies to resist legislation passed by the Parliament in London. The Stamp Act Congress, composed of delegates from nine of the thirteen colonies met October 19, 1765 in New York. James Otis of Massachusetts introduced the Declaration of Rights[4] in which the colonists politely reminded King George III:
That His Majesty's subjects in these colonies, owe the same allegiance to the Crown of Great-Britain, that is owing from his subjects born within the realm, and all due subordination to that august body the Parliament of Great Britain.
That 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.
That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen, that no taxes be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives
In London, William Pitt, brother-in-law, of Prime Minister George Grenville and Secretary of State in charge of Colonial affairs, defended the colonists when Grenville called the Americans "obstinate." Pitt said:
"I rejoice that America has resisted. Three million of people so dead to all feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of the rest."
Parliament repealed the Stamp Act March 18, 1766 and on the same day passed the Declaratory Act[5] that imposed total government control over the American colonists: It stated:
"The colonies and plantations in America have been, are, and of right ought to be, subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain"
and that the King and parliament had
"full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever."
The Declaratory Act specifically spelled out that:
"All resolutions, votes, orders, and proceedings, in any of the said colonies or plantations ... to make laws and statutes as aforesaid, is denied, or drawn into question, arc, and are hereby declared to be, utterly null and void to all in purposes whatsoever."
The Declaratory Act was followed by a series of oppressive acts known as the Townshend Acts[6] in England and the "hated acts" in the colonies. The Townshend Acts were passed for much the same reasons the current flurry of bills in the U.S. Congress have passed in 2009 and 2010 ... trade, war and economic problems and mounting federal debt. The English Parliament passed a series of taxes and import duties on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea sold to the Americans who reacted angrily and began to discuss the issue by letter.
On February 11, 1768 Samuel Adams, a second cousin of John Adams and a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, wrote a "circular letter"[7] to the other twelve colonial legislatures denouncing the Townshend Acts as a violation of the principle of no taxation without representation. By 1768 the principle of no taxation without had been embedded in English law for 453 years, since King John had signed the Magna Carta[8] of 1215. King John had arbitrarily taxed the barons to pay for debts he had created by disastrous foreign policies that had led to wars and the barons organized and demanded that he sign a document recognizing their right to vote on tax issues.
On April 5, 1769 George Washington wrote a letter to George Mason[9], noting:
"At a time when our lordly Masters in Great Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly necessary that something should be done to avert the stroke and maintain the liberty which we have derived from our Ancestors; but the manner of doing it to answer the purpose effectually is the point in question.
"That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment to use arms in defense of so valuable a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends; is clearly my opinion.
On May 15, 1769 George Washington as a member of the Virginia House of Burgess introduced non-importation resolutions that had been prepared by George Mason. On April 12, 1770 parliament repealed the Townshend Acts but kept the tax on tea to "maintain the parliamentary right of taxation" according to Britain's new Prime Minister, Lord Frederick North. George Washington and George Mason urged the Virginia House of Burgess on July 18, 1771 to repeal the non-importation act, except for tea, which was still being taxed. The non-violent boycott introduced by Washington and Mason had worked for all the other products, except for tea.
By 1773 a Correspondence Committee had developed from the "circular letters" being sent to all the colonial legislatures. Also, by 1773 the tea boycott had created serious financial problems for the East India Company, the trading company that had a monopoly on English trade with India, the source of the tea. It was on the verge of bankruptcy and asked the British government for help. Parliament then passed the Tea Act that taxed the tea at it source in India so there would be no tax collection in the colonies. Previously the tea was shipped first to Britain and then shipped to America. The new law allowed the company to ship directly to America, add the tax, and sell exclusively only to certain merchants in the colonies.
On December 16, 1773 there were three tea laden ships in Boston Harbor and the Royal Governor, Thomas Hutchinson, refused to allow the tea to be returned to Britain, although citizen protests had prevented the unloading of taxed tea in three other colonies. The Boston Tea Party, when hundreds of Boston men, dressed as Indians, boarded the ships and threw the tea overboard into the Bay.
That incident further enraged the King of England and Parliament and a series of oppressive bills were passed in Parliament, called the Coercive Acts. The first bill closed Boston Harbor which was a major economic problem for Massachusetts. Parliament also passed bills that eliminated all self-government in Massachusetts. All government officials were appointed by the King. The legislature of Virginia promptly passed a resolution setting a day of fasting and prayer to ask for "divine intervention" in for the people in Massachusetts and to avert "the destruction of our rights and the evils of civil war." The Royal governor promptly dissolved the Virginia legislature.
The delegates to the House of Burgess continued to meet at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamburg. The Correspondence Committee, organized the first meeting of the Continental Congress in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774. On June 12, 1776 the Virginia House of Burgess adopted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason.[10] That document became the model for the Declaration of Independence that was adopted by the Continental Congress three weeks later.
Article I of the Virginia Declaration states:
"That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity: namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."
The Bill of Rights to the US Constitution, which was adopted in 1791 incorporates most of rest of the rights outlined by George Mason, such as the legislative and executive powers of the state should be separate from the judiciary (Art.V); the right of a fair trial and for the accused to not be forced to testify against himself or (Art. VIII, IX, X, XI); Freedom of the press (XII); the right to bear arms (XIII); freedom of religion (Art. XVI).
One of George Mason's articles that did not become part of our founding documents, but perhaps in 2010 we should have in our Constitution is Article XV which says:
That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
[1] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/paris763.asp - Treaty of Paris 1763
[2] http://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm - Stamp Act - March 22, 1765
[3] http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/parliament-passes-the-quartering-act - The Quartering Act - Mar. 24, 1765
[4] http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/resolu65.asp - Declaration of Rights of the Stamp Act Congress Oct. 19, 1765
[5] http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/declaratory.htm - The Declaratory Act - March, 18, 1766
[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townshend_Acts - Townshend Acts - 1767
[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Circular_Letter - Samuel Adams - Massachusetts Circular Letter
[8] http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/magna_carta/legacy.html - Magna Carta - 1215 AD
[9] http://gwpapers.virginia.edu/documents/revolution/letters/mason.html - George Washington's letter to George Mason
[10] http://www.gunstonhall.org/georgemason/ - George Mason - Gunston Hall
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Mary Mostert has written articles on political and social issues for more than 60 years, including a weekly newspaper column for Gannett Newspapers. She has written four books, including books on the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution. Her e-mail is mary@bannerofliberty.com and
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