This House, sincerely devoted, with the warmest by the House Sentiments of Affection and Duty to His Majesty’s Person and Government; inviolably attached to the present happy Establishment of the Protestant Secession; and with minds deeply impressed by a sense of the present and impending Misfortunes of the People of this Province; esteem it their indispensable Duty to their Constituents, to themselves, and to Posterity, to come to the following Resolutions, respecting their most essential Rights and Liberties, and the Grievances under which they labour, by reason of several late Acts of Parliament**.
1st — Resolved. That His Majesty’s Subjects in this Province owe the same Allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain, that is due from His Subjects born there.
2d — That His Majesty’s Liege Subject in this Province are intitled to all the inherent Rights and Liberties of His natural born Subjects within the Kingdom of Great Britain.
3rd — That the Inhabitants of this Province appear also to be confirmed in all the Rights a forementioned not only by their Charter, but by an Act of Parliament of the 13th George 2d.
4th — That it is inseperably 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.
5th — That the people of this Province are not, and, from their local Circumstances, cannot be represented in the House of Commons of Great Britain, and farther, That, in the Opinion of this House, the several Powers of Legislation in America were constituted in some Measure upon the Apprehention of this Impracticability
6th — That the only Representatives of the People of this Province are Persons chosen therein by themselves; and that no Taxes ever have been, or can be, constitutionally imposed on them, but by the Legislature of this Province.
7th — That all Supplies to the Crown being free Gifts of the People, it is unreasonable and inconsistent with the Principles and Spirit of the British Constitution, for the People of Great Britain to grant to His Majesty the Property of the People of this Province.
8th — That Trail by Jury, is the inherent and invaluable Right of every British Subject in this Province.
9th — That the late Act of Parliament, instituted by “an Act for granting and applying certain Stamp Duties and other Duties on the British Colonies and Plantations in America,” be by impressing Taxes on the Inhabitants of the Province; and the said Act and several other Acts, by extending the Jurisdiction of the Courts of Admirally, beyond its ancient Limits; have a Manifest Tendency to subvert the Rights and Liberties of the People of this Province.
10th — That the Duties imposed, by several later Acts of Parliament, on the People of this Province will be extremely bothersome and grievous, and, from the Scarcity of Gold and Silver, the payment of them absolutely impracticable.
11th — That, as the Profits of the Trade of the People of this Province ultimately center in Great Britain, to pay for the Manufactures which they are obliged to take from thence; they eventually contribute very largely to all the Supplies granted there to the Crown; and besides, as every Individual in the Province is as advantageous at least to Great Britain, as if he were in Great Britain; and as they pay their full Proportion of Taxes for their Support of his Majesty’s Government here (which Taxes are equal, or more; in Proportion to our Estates, than those paid by our Fellow Subjects in Great Britain upon theirs); it is unreasonable, for them to be called upon to pay any farther part of the charges of the Government there.
12th — That the Assemblies of this Province have, from Time to Time, whenever Requisitions have been made by His Majesty, for carrying on Military Operations, either for the Defence of themselves, or that of America in general, most chearfully and liberally contributed their full Proportion of Men and Money, for these Services.
13th — That, through the Representatives of the People of this Province had equal Assurances and reasons, with those of the other Provinces, to expect a proportional Reimbursement of those immense Charges they had been at, for His Majesty’s Service, in the late War, out of the several Parliamentary Grants for the use of America’s yet, they have [word illegible] Only their Proportion of the first of those Grants; and the small Sum of Two Hundred and Eighty five Pounds Sterling received since.
14th — That notwithstanding, whenever His Majesty’s Service shall, for the future, required the aids of the Inhabitants of this Province, and they shall be called upon for that Purpose in a Constitutional Way, it shall be their indispensable Duty, most chearfully and liberally, to grant to His Majesty, their Proportion, according to their ability, of Men and Money, for the Defence, Security, and other public Services of the British American Colonies.
15th — That the Restrictions of the Trade of the People of this Province, together with the late Duties and Taxes, imposed on them by Acts of Parliament, must necessarily greatly lessen the Consumption of British Manufactures amongst them.
16th — That the Increase, Prosperity, and Happiness of the People of this Province, depend on the full and free Enjoyment of their Rights and Liberties, and an affectionate Intercourse with Great Britain.
17th — That the Readiness of the Colonies to comply with His Majesty’s Requisitions, as well as their Inability to bear any additional Taxes, beyond what is laid on them by there respective Legislatures, is apparent; from the several Grants of Parliament, to reimburse them part of the heavy Expences [sic] they were at in the late War in America.
18th — That it is the Right of the British Subjects in this Province, to petition the King or either House of Parliament.
Ordered, that these votes and resolutions be printed, and made public, that a just sense of liberty, and the firm sentiments of the loyalty, of the representatives of the people of this province, may be known to their constituents, and transmitted to posterity.
By order of the House,
Peter Manigault, Speaker
In the Commons House of Assembly on the 29th November, 1765
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