Declaration of Rights and Grievances

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Representatives of the Thirteen Colonies met in New York City in 1765 as the Stamp Act Congress to discuss a unified response to the abuses exemplified by the 1765 Stamp Act and other legislation from the British Parliament. A result was the Declaration of Rights and Grievances passed on October 19, 1765. [1] This deliberative body and the Declaration it produced was at the other end of the resistance spectrum from the Sons of Liberty, who were at the same time using civil disobedience and public displays to agitate for British reform in the colonies.

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American colonists opposed the acts in large part because they were passed without consultation with colonial legislatures, violating their rights as Englishmen to "no taxation without Representation". The Declaration of Rights raised fourteen points of colonial protest but was not directed specifically to the Stamp Act. Among the assertions it made that were not specific protests of the Stamp Acts are the following:

See also

References

  1. ↑ C.A. Weslager, The Stamp Act Congress, with an Exact Copy of the Complete Journal (University of Delaware Press, 1976), 142.
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