Before they issued the Declaration of Independence, the
Founders attempted to end British abuse by sending a list of grievances to the
King and the Parliament. When these were
rejected and met with more abuse, they declared independence.
The exact text of the Declaration is in the first bullet. The sub-bullets provide a simple, modern language explanation of what was being said as well as the Proper Role of Government, or failure thereof that each Grievance was highlighting.
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“He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and
necessary for the public good.”
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He continuously vetoed laws that the colonies attempted to put
in place that they believed were needed.
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Just Governments are derived from the consent of the governed –
there was no consent to be ruled by the King
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“He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should
be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to
them.”
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Certain kinds of laws passed by the Colonial assemblies were
required to be submitted to the king for approval (instead of the being
approved by the Colonial (British) Governors). Sometimes they would be
neglected for years.
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Just Governments are derived from the consent of the governed –
there was no consent to be ruled by the King
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“He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of
large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable
to tyrants only.”
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As populations grew larger and new, large, communities formed; the
king refused to allow them equal representation in government (government must
be by the consent of the governed).
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Just Governments are derived from the consent of the governed –
there was no consent to be ruled by the King
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Equal Representation in creating the laws is the Right of the
People
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“He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the
sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.”
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Shenanigans were created by the Colonial Governors that were
effectively interfering with the public business and prevented them from access
to information necessary to conduct it.
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The consent of the People was for the assemblies to have proper
access to information
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“He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing
with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.”
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If a Colonial Assembly did or issued something the king did not
like (such as charges against him), he ordered the body dissolved and
refused to acquiesce to charges or demands.
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Proper Checks and Balances in Government are necessary
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“He has refused for a long time, after
such dissolutions to cause others to be elected; whereby the
Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at
large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all
the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.”
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After dissolving their governments, he refused to allow new ones
to be elected
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The Right of Representation arises from Equal Liberty with all
other humans, no one has the Right to rule another without that other’s consent
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“He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States;
for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners;
refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the
conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.”
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The king refused Assent to Laws regarding immigration. He
hindered immigration from England and refused to cooperate in furthering the
growth of the Colonies.
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The unalienable Right to Liberty includes the Liberty to make
use of Property to provide for oneself and one’s family.
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Government should make unused land available to the
people by homestead or auction
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“He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing
his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.”
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The king would not allow courts of justice to be established; he
constantly interfered and would not allow the Colonies to judge their own
criminals or redress upon one another.
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Just Government derives from the consent of the governed and
that government exists to secure rights
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Without a judiciary to punish criminals and to seek redress from
an injurer, Life, Liberty and Property are insecure
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“He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure
of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.”
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Judges served, and were paid, at the discretion of the king –
making impartiality impossible.
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Just Government must have a Separation of Powers with
Checks and Balances
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“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither
swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
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The king created several new government officials including:
customs officials, new offices to collect tax and tax collectors and courts of
admiralty that were not approved by colonial legislatures and were therefore
illegitimate.
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Just Government must have a Separation of Powers – the
Legislature must approve Executive Appointments or they are illegitimate
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“He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies
without the Consent of our legislatures.”
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Throughout England and America, standing armies had
long been regarded a danger which required close supervision. Without the
consent of the Colonists, the king sent armies to keep order in the colonies,
even though there was no war.
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Government derives its just powers from the consent of the
governed; the Legislature, being the Representatives of the People must decide
issues like this
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“He has affected to render the Military independent of and
superior to the civil power.”
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Soldiers were not subject to civil laws. The military
could make up and try their own laws.
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To ensure the security of Rights and Liberties, all citizens
must be subject to the Judiciary
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“He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction
foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent
to their acts of pretended legislation:”
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The colonies tentatively accepted the king as their Chief
Executive, but they did not recognize parliament or any authority of
parliament to legislate over the colonies. In violation of this, the king
had assented to multiple laws created by parliament which affected the
Colonists – which they deemed illegal.
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A Just Government has a Separation of Powers and
Checks and Balances
§
All of the Intolerable Acts where a violation of Governance by
the consent of the People
§
These came to be called “The Intolerable Acts”: The Boston Port
Act (closed the port), The Administration of Justice Act (disallowed the
Colonists of trying any British Officials or soldiers) The Massachusetts
Government Act (The MA council would be appointed by the king instead of
elected), The Quartering Act (forced colonists to house and feed British
soldiers) and The Quebec Act (expanded Quebec deeply south into IL, MI,
MN, removed Quebec’s representative government and taxed Catholics with the
revenue going to the church):
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“Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us”
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Forced Colonists to house and pay for British troops
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“For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any
Murders which they should commit”
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Immunized soldiers from Colonial Law
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“For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world”
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Closing the Boston Port
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“For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent”
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Taxing in many Acts and methods that were implemented without
representation of the colonists
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“For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by
Jury”
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In many cases there were no trials at all; the king decided they
were guilty and punished them
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“For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended
offences”
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People accused of crimes could be taken far way to be “tried”
even when the case was very weak.
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“For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a
neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and
enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit
instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies”
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The Quebec Act extended Canada’s territory into land claimed by
the Colonists
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“For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable
Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments”
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“For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves
invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.”
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The king abolished laws, suspended legislatures and declared
himself to legislate for them
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“He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his
Protection and waging War against us”
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Feb, 1776, parliament declared the colonies out of the king’s
protection (a duty of the sovereign) because of the “intolerable degree of
unruliness”.
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The purpose of Government is to protect Life, Liberty and
Happiness
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“He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns,
and destroyed the lives of our people”
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The king had essentially declared war on the colonists by
burning towns. The British considered the colonists in open rebellion
against their lawful rulers. However, the Colonist’s saw their lawful
rulers being the legislatures and such that the king had shut down.
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The purpose of Government is to protect Life, Liberty and
Happiness
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“He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign
Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already
begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the
most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.”
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The king had hired foreign troops to come in and fight against
the colonists
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The purpose of Government is to protect Life, Liberty and
Happiness
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“He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the
high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of
their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.”
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Colonists were forced to serve in the military and to fight
against their own people
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The purpose of Government is to protect Life, Liberty and
Happiness
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“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has
endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all
ages, sexes and conditions.”
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The king provoked the Indians to attack the colonists
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The purpose of Government is to protect Life, Liberty and
Happiness
Norb
Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader
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