Documenting the American South Logo
Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Resolutions by inhabitants of Granville County concerning resistance to Parliamentary taxation and the Provincial Congress of North Carolina
No Author
August 15, 1774
Volume 09, Pages 1034-1036

Proceedings of Freeholders in Granville County, 15th August, 1774.

At a General Meeting of the Freeholders in the County of Granville, on the 15th day of August 1774.

Resolved, That those absolute rights we are entitled to as men, by the immutable Laws of Nature, are antecedent to all social and relative duties whatsoever.

Resolved, That by the civil compact subsisting between our King and His People, Allegiance is the right of the first Magistrate, and protection the right of the People; that a violation of this Compact would rescind the civil Institution binding both King and People together.

Resolved, That altho we are oppressed, we will still adhere to the civil Obligation exacting our allegiance to the best of Kings, as we entertain a most cordial affection to His Majesty's Person and can never wish to see the executive authority in other hands. Blessed with freedom, we will chearfully knee the throne erected by our Fathers and kiss the sceptre they taught us to reverence.

Resolved, That His Majesty's Subjects residing in America, have either by inheritance or purchase, all and singular, the rights, liberties and immunities, claimed by their British Ancestors, and

-------------------- page 1035 --------------------
moreover are entitled to the Privileges granted to them by their respective Provincial Charters.

Resolved, That the sole right of imposing Taxes upon the People of America, is constitutionally vested in the respective Provincial Assemblies. That the King may demand aids of his American Subjects and that duty and inclination will ever prompt them to comply with the Royal Requisitions, to the utmost of our abilities.

Resolved, That the King at the head of his American Assemblies, constitutes a supreme Legislature in the respective Colonies, and that as Free men we can be bound by no law, but such as we assent to, either by ourselves, or our Representatives. That we derive a right from our Charters to enact Laws for the regulation of our internal Policy of Government, which reason and justice confirm to us, as we must know what civil Institutions are best suited to our state and circumstances.

Resolved, That the executive power, constitutionally vested in the Crown and which presides equally over Great Britain and America, is a sufficient security for the due subordination of the Colonies without the Parliament's assuming powers of Legislation and Taxation which we enjoy distinct from, and in equal degree with them.

Resolved therefore, That all such Acts of the British Parliament as either express or imply the Parliament's right to tax America, that abrogate our legislative or judicial Powers, that tend to deprive us of our property without a Trial by Jury, or that point out to the executive Magistrate a form of proceeding excluding the civil institutions of our Country, have a tendency to subvert our Liberties, and reduce us to a state of slavery.

Resolved, That we know not how far our Brethren in Boston, who destroyed certain Teas, the Property of the East India Company, may be justified by necessity, for such a breach of Civil order; nevertheless, as the Constitution pointed out a mode of Proceeding by which the said Company might have obtained redress, we must deem a late Act of the British Parliament, which arms the executive Magistrate with the Naval and Military powers of the Nation, to assess damages upon a few Trespassers in the town of Boston, an open attack upon the common liberties of the subject, and a plain avowal that recourse to arms is better suited to the temper of ministerial vengeance than any Retributions that might have flowed from an application to the Civil Power.

-------------------- page 1036 --------------------

Resolved, That the Blockade of the City of Boston, the extrajudicial demand of Restitution for a Civil Injury, the deprivation of Private Property, the suppression of the usual criminal Proceedings, and the Suspension of their legislative powers, is a subversion of Civil Jurisprudence, and a violation of liberty and Property, unexampled but by Eastern despotism.

Resolved, That we will concur in every justifiable measure to procure a Repeal of this oppressive Act, and all such Acts of the British Parliament as tend to the subversion of our civil rights.

Resolved, That our political interests are inseparably united to those of Great Britain, and that our union and friendly intercourse with her, can alone secure our independence, and make us a free and happy People.

Resolved, That the suspension of our commercial intercourse with Great Britain, is a measure not to be entered into with precipitation. Let justice licence what Policy may dictate, and the Ruler of Princes will in mercy look down upon our Cause, and make Converts of our Oppressors.

Resolved, That a Suspension of the Proceedings at Law is equally dangerous; for where there is no Law, there is no Freedom, and that species of Liberty, which leaves the People unguarded by the judicial Power, and their Civil Institutions, is not worth contending for.

Resolved, That the plan proposed by our worthy and patriotic friends, the People of the District of Wilmington, in their Meeting on the 21st July last, is wisely adapted to the purpose of collecting the sentiments of the People of this Province, with respect to the important matters that now demand the consideration of every American; we therefore unanimously appoint and delegate Thomas Person and Memucan Hunt Esquires, to act on our behalf at the Meeting appointed to be had at Johnston Court House on the 25th inst., or when and where the Deputies for the several Counties, shall think proper to convene themselves for the purpose aforesaid, and appoint Deputies to meet, in General Congress, the Deputies of the respective Colonies in Philadelphia, on the first Monday in September next.

Ordered, That these Resolves be published.