March 25, 1775
General Assembly of the Colony of New York
Background
In response to the crumbling relationship between the American colonies and Britain, the First Continental Congress, in October 1774, prepared an Address to the King laying out the ways in which they felt their rights as Englishmen had been violated by the British Parliament, petitioning him to intervene and remove the grievances, and pledging thereby the willingness of the Colonies to resume favorable relations with Britain. The signed petition was presented to Parliament in January 1775, but it got lost in the shuffle, and ultimately the King never formally replied to the Colonies. In March 1775, the General Assembly of New York tried on its own to persuade George III to intervene on the colony’s behalf with Parliament and effect a reconciliation. With the outbreak of hostilities at Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, the petition was rendered moot.
To The King’s most Excellent Majesty
The humble Petition of the General Assembly of the Colony of New York.
Most Gracious Sovereign,
We your Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal Subjects, the General Assembly of the colony of New York, beg leave most humbly to approach your Majesty.
Inviolably attached to your Royal Person and Government, to which we are bound by the strongest Ties of Duty and Affection, and in the fullest Assurance that your paternal Care is extended over all your People, as well the Inhabitants of the new World, as those who flourish, and are happy under your more immediate Influence in the old, we are emboldened to throw ourselves at your Majesty’s Feet, humble Petitioners, in Behalf of the loyal Colony which we represent.
Vouchsafe then, most gracious Sovereign, to attend to the Prayer of your faithful Subjects, and while we are pleading our own Cause, and the Course of Liberty and Humanity, deign to consider us as Advocates for our Sister Colonies also.
The present unhappy and unnatural Disputes between the Parent State and your Majesty’s American Dominions, give us the deepest and most unfeigned Concern. We lament it as one of the greatest Misfortunes, that the happy and peaceful Harmony, which has hitherto subsisted between us, should now by any Means be interrupted: and ‘tis the earnest and first Wish of our Hearts, that it may be speedily restored, and placed upon so permanent a Basis, as that neither time or Accidents may be ever able to disturb it.
We acknowledge with the warmest Gratitude, the Favor and Protection of our Mother Country; which flowing from Policy, dictated by Wisdom and Humanity, hath enabled us to become so important a Part of the British Empire; and we beseech your Majesty to believe us, when we assure you, that we still retain the Duty and Affection of Children, that we love and reverence our venerable parent, and that no Calamity would be so truly afflicting to us, as a Separation from her. We acknowledge there are Appearances, which may be construed to our Disadvantage, and that several of the Measures pursued by the Colonies are by no Means justifiable; yet while we disapprove and condemn them, we entreat you as the indulgent Father of your People, to view them in the most favourable Light, and to consider them as the honest tho’ disorderly, Struggles of Liberty, not the licentious Efforts of Independence.
Your Majesty’s American Subjects have hitherto been in a State of Infancy, and till lately, have submitted implicitly, and without repining, to the Authority of the Parent State. They have now reached the Period of Maturity, and think themselves intitled to their Birthright, an equal participation of Freedom with their Fellow Subjects in Britain. It is with this View we now address your Majesty. We mean not to become independent of the British Parliament; on the contrary, we cheerfully acknowledge our Subordination to it as the grand Legislature of the Empire; we wish only to enjoy the Rights of Englishmen, and to have that Share of Liberty, and those Privileges secured to us, which we are intitled to, upon the Principles of our free and happy Constitution. Permit us therefore, most gracious Sovereign, to lay our Grievances before you, which we now do with the greatest Humility, and in the fullest Assurance, that your Royal Justice and Clemency will be exerted in our Behalf.
Your Majesty’s Subjects in this Colony, think it essential to Freedom, and the undoubted Right of Englishmen, that no Taxes should be imposed on them without their Consent given personally or be their Representatives. This Right we do not at present enjoy, inasmuch as the British Parliament (in which we have no Representation) have claimed and exercised a Right of making Laws, binding upon us in all Cases whatsoever. This Claim, and this Exercise of unlimited Power by the Parliament, we esteem a Grievance of the most Dangerous Nature, and directly tending to the Subversion of our constitutional Liberties. We are willing to the utmost of our Abilities, to contribute our Proportion to the Support of Government, but we would do it in a constitutional Manner, by the Interposition of the Colony Legislature.
We likewise beg leave to declare to your Majesty, that we consider the acts of Parliament raising a Revenue in America, but more especially those to provide for the Support of civil Government, and the Administration of Justice in the Colonies, and extending the Courts of admirably beyond their ancient Limits, giving them a concurrent Jurisdiction in Causes heretofore cognizable only in the Courts of Common Law, and by that Means depriving the American Subject of a Trial By Jury, as grievous and destructive of our Rights and Privileges.
That the Act of Parliament authorizing the Apprehension of Persons resident in the Colonies, on Suspicion of certain offences, and sending them out of the same to be tried, is dangerous to the Lives and Liberties of your Majesty’s American Subjects, as it deprives them of a Trial by a Jury of the Vicinage, which in all Cases us the grand Security and Birth Right of Englishmen.
That we humbly conceive, the Act requiring the Legislature of this Colony to provide for the Services therein mentioned, and the other for suspending the legislative Power thereof, till such Requisition should be complied with, were unconstitutional, and tended to destroy that Confidence, which we had always reposed in the Mother Country.
That the Imposition of Duties upon Articles of Commerce imported from Great Britain, is oppressive and impolitic, as it gives the greatest Encouragement to illicit Trade, and operates as a Prohibition on our Commerce with the Mother Country, which for the mutual Advantage of both, we conceive ought to be free and unrestrained.
That the Act passed in the fourteenth Year of your Majesty’s Reign, imposing Duties upon certain Articles imported into, the Province of Quebec (the Limits whereof by an Act of the Same Year are so extended us to comprehend all the Indian Country from Hudsons Bay, to the Mouth of the Ohio River) and restricting the Importation of those dutied Articles to the Port of St. John’s, on the River Sorel is injurious to this Colony, as it almost entirely destroys our important Indian Trade, that Port being so very remote from this and the other Colonies, that the Conveyance of Goods thither, for the Prosecution of the Traffick, must unavoidably be attended with so enormous an Expence, as well nigh amounts to a total Prohibition: the unmerited Discrimination made by the first above-mentioned Act in Favor of the Sugar Colonies, by subjecting the Continental Colonies, to a larger Duty on particular Articles, is so detrimental to the Interest of this Colony, that we cannot avoid complaining of it to your Majesty, as a Grievance.
We likewise think, the Act prohibiting the Legislature of this Colony from passing any Law, for the emission of Paper Currency to be a legal Tender therein, is disadvantageous to the Growth and Commerce thereof; an Abridgment of your Majesty’s Prerogative (in the Preservation of which we are deeply interested) and a Violation of our Legislative Rights and may hereafter disable your Majesty’s Subjects, upon proper Requisition, and upon certain Emergencies, from granting such aids as may be necessary for the general Safety of the Empire.
The Act for the Regulation of the Government of Quebec, we must beg Leave also to mention to your Majesty, as the Extension of that Province and the Indulgence granted by it to Roman Catholics, have given great Uneasiness to the Minds of many of your Majesty’s American Subjects.
The late Acts for shutting up the Port of Boston, and altering the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay, we presume not to mention to your Majesty, without first assuring you, that we in many Instances disapprove of the Conduct of that Province, and beseeching your gracious Interposition in their Favor; we cannot however help observing, that those Acts establish a dangerous Precedent, by inflicting Punishment without the formality of a Trial.
With the highest Satisfaction most gracious Sovereign, we reflect on your Royal Declaration from the Throne at your happy Accession, that it was essential to the impartial Administration of Justice, and one of the best Securities to the Rights and Liberties of Your Subjects, that your Judges should hold their Commissions during good Behaviour, permit us then to pray, that you will be graciously pleased to remove the distinction between your Subjects in England and those in America, by commissioning your Judges here to hold their offices on the same Tenure; In which Case, we beg Leave to assure your Majesty, that we stand ready to give them such adequate and permanent Salaries, as will render them independent of the People.
We have now, most gracious Sovereign, stated our Grievances to your Majesty, we have done it, we trust, with all the Respect due to the best of Kings, and with that decent Freedom becoming the Representatives of a faithful, ancient and loyal Colony; and we have not the least Doubt, but that your merciful Mediation and Interposition, we shall obtain the desired redress, and have such a System of Government confirmed to us by your Majesty, and your Two Houses of Parliament, as will sufficiently ascertain and limit the Authority claimed by the British Legislature over this Colony, and secure to us those just and invaluable Rights and Privileges which all your Majesty’s Subjects are intitled to. This most gracious Sovereign, is the Sum of our Wishes, and the End of our Desires; and we beg leave to assure your Majesty, that we are convinced this will be the only effectual Method of quieting the Minds of your Majesty’s faithful American Subjects and of restoring that Harmony and cordial Union between the Mother Country and us, which is so essential to the Welfare and Prosperity of both. We beseech your Majesty to believe, that our earnest Prayer to Heaven is, that your Majesty may continue long the happy and beloved Monarch of a brave, a free, a virtuous and united People, and that your Children after you may continue to fill the British Throne to the latest Generations.
By Order of the General Assembly
Assembly Chamber City of New York the 25 Day of March 1775
John Cruger Speaker[1]
