Chap. XIII.} 1774. Oct. |
[148]
covenant, which was adopted without opposition,
and inaugurated the abolition of the slave-trade: ‘We will neither import, nor purchase any slave imported after the first day of December next; after which time we will wholly discontinue the slavetrade, and will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manufactures to those who are concerned in it.’
This first American congress also adopted another measure, which was without an example.
It recognised the political existence and power of the people.
While it refused to petition parliament, it addressed the people of the provinces from Nova Scotia to Florida, the people of Canada, the people of Great Britain; making the printing press its great ambassador to the rising power.
Of the British people, congress entreated a return to the system of 1763: ‘Prior to this era,’ said they in the language of Jay, ‘you were content with wealth produced by our commerce.
You restrained our trade in every way that could conduce to your emolument.
You exercised unbounded sovereignty over the sea.’
Still assenting to these restrictions, they pleaded earnestly for the enjoyment of equal freedom, and demonstrated that a victory over the rights of America, would not only be barren of advantage to the English nation, but increase their public debt with its attendant pensioners and placemen, diminish their commerce, and lead to the overthrow of their liberties by violence and corruption.
‘To your justice,’ they said, ‘we appeal.
You have been told that we are impatient of government and desirous of independency.
These are calumnies.
Permit ’
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.