American Revolution
1776 "Philadelphia, December 6, 1775; We, the Delegates of the Thirteen United Colonies in North America,... Britons fight against Britons and the descendants of Britons, let the calamities immediately incident to a civil war suffice."
January 1776-Dated Revolutionary War Period, "Declaration of the Continental Congress on a late Proclamation.", Philadelphia December 6, 1775, reported in the Magazine "THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE", London, England, Choice Extremely Fine.
This January 1776 Revolutionary War Period magazine reports on a remarkable Letter of Protest and Warning to the British Parliament from the American Continental Congress just months after the start of the Revolution on April 19, 1775. It measures 8.5" x 5.25", 2-column layout, 48 pages, complete, disbound, an authentic issue of the Gentleman's Magazine, . The paper is clean and crisp, well printed and attractive as printed. Includes an extraordinary report from the American Congress and other reports from America including an Act for Prohibiting Trade with America page 14; Act of Massachusetts-Bay for fitting out armed Vessels page 12; and page 39 begins Proceedings of the American Colonists since the passing of the Boston Port-Bill, etc reads, in part:
"Philadelphia, December 6, 1775 -- We, the Delegates of the Thirteen United Colonies in North America, have taken into our most serious consideration a Proclamation issued from the Court at St. James's, on the Twenty-third day of August last. ... We are accused of 'forgetting the allegiance which we owe to the power that has protected and sustained us.' Why all this ambiguity and obscurity in what ought to be so plain and obvious, as that he who runs may read it? What allegiance is it that we forget? Allegiance to Parliament? We never owed--never owned it. Allegiance to our King; Our words have ever avowed it--our conduct has ever been consistent with it. ... It is alleged that 'we have proceeded to an open and avowed rebellion'. ... We, therefore, in the name of the people of the United Colonies, and by authority, according to the purest maxims of representations derived from them, declare, that whatever punishment shall be inflicted upon any persons the power of our enemies for favouring, aiding or abetting the cause of American liberty shall be retaliated in the same kind and the same degree upon those, in our power, who have favoured, aided or abetted, of shall favour, aid or abet the system of ministerial oppression. ... In this unhappy and unnatural controversy, in which Britons fight against Britons and the descendants of Britons, let the calamities immediately incident to a civil war suffice. - CHARLES THOMSON, Sec."
The Intolerable Acts (passed/Royal assent March 31"June 22, 1774) were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government. In Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts.
The Acts took away self-governance and rights that Massachusetts had enjoyed since its founding, triggering outrage and indignation in the Thirteen Colonies. They were key developments in the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in April 1775.
Four of the acts were issued in direct response to the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. The British Parliament hoped these punitive measures would, by making an example of Massachusetts, reverse the trend of colonial resistance to parliamentary authority that had begun with the 1764 Sugar Act.
A fifth act, the Quebec Act, enlarged the boundaries of what was then the Province of Quebec notably Southwest into the Ohio Country and other future mid-western states, and instituted reforms generally favorable to the French Catholic inhabitants of the region. Although unrelated to the other four Acts, it was passed in the same legislative session and seen by the colonists as one of the Intolerable Acts.
The Patriots viewed the acts as an arbitrary violation of the rights of Massachusetts, and in September 1774 they organized the First Continental Congress to coordinate a protest. As tensions escalated, the American Revolutionary War broke out in April 1775, leading in July 1776 to the declaration of an independent United States of America.
The Boston Port Act was the first of the laws passed in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party. It closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the destroyed tea and the king was satisfied that order had been restored. Colonists objected that the Port Act punished all of Boston rather than just the individuals who had destroyed the tea, and that they were being punished without having been given an opportunity to testify in their own defense.
The Massachusetts Government Act provoked even more outrage than the Port Act because it unilaterally took away Massachusetts' charter and brought it under control of the British government. Under the terms of the Government Act, almost all positions in the colonial government were to be appointed by the governor, Parliament, or king. The act also severely limited town meetings in Massachusetts to one per year, unless the Governor called for one. Colonists outside Massachusetts feared that their governments could now also be changed by the legislative fiat of Parliament.
The Administration of Justice Act allowed the Royal governor to order trials of accused royal officials to take place in Great Britain or elsewhere within the Empire if he decided that the defendant could not get a fair trial in Massachusetts.
Although the act stipulated for witnesses to be reimbursed after having traveled at their own expense across the Atlantic, it was not stipulated that this would include reimbursement for lost earnings during the period for which they would be unable to work, leaving few with the ability to testify. George Washington called this the "Murder Act" because he believed that it allowed British officials to harass Americans and then escape justice.
Many colonists believed the act was unnecessary because British soldiers had been given a fair trial following the Boston Massacre in 1770.
The Quartering Act, which applied to all British colonies in North America, sought to create a more effective method of housing British troops. In a previous act, the colonies had been required to provide housing for soldiers, but colonial legislatures had been uncooperative in doing so.
The new Quartering Act allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided. While many sources claim that the Quartering Act allowed troops to be billeted in occupied private homes, historian David Ammerman's 1974 study claimed that this is a myth, and that the act only permitted troops to be quartered in unoccupied buildings.
Although unrelated to the aforementioned Acts, the Quebec Act, passed in the same Parliamentary session, was considered by the colonists to be one of the Intolerable Acts. The Act expanded the territory of the Province of Quebec into much of what is now the American Midwest, which appeared to void the land claims of the Ohio Company on the region.
The guarantee of free practice of Catholicism, the majority religion in Canada, was seen by colonists as an "establishment" of the faith in the colonies which were overwhelmingly Protestant. Furthermore, colonists resented the lenient provisions granted to their erstwhile enemies whom they had fought hard against during the French and Indian War.
Many colonists saw the Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) as a violation of their constitutional rights, their natural rights, and their colonial charters. They, therefore, viewed the acts as a threat to the liberties of all of British America, not just Massachusetts. Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, for example, described the acts as "a most wicked System for destroying the liberty of America".
KEYWORDS:
Intolerable Acts, Quartering Act, Colonial America, Revolutionary War, Boston History, American Heritage, Boston Tea Party, Massachusetts Colonists, Thirteen Colonies, Battle of Lexington and Concord, Shot heard round the world, April 19, 1775, Patriots, George Washington, Continental Congress, Boston Massacre, Declaration of Independence, Liberty