Town of Malden, Massachusetts, Instructions for a Declaration of Independence (May 27, 1776)
Editor’s note: A little over a month before the heady day of July 4, 1776, no longer interested in trying to patch things up with Britain — “we have reason to think that it would be fatal to the liberties of America” — the town of Malden, MA, instructs its representative “to give [the Second […]
Declaration for Independence by the Inhabitants of Alford, Mass. — June 7, 1776
Editor’s note: This is what one might call a conditional declaration of independence — if the Second Continental Congress decides to sever ties with Britain, then the town of Alford, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, “will support the measure with their lives and fortunes.” Declaration for Independence by the Inhabitants of Alford ALFORD, BERKSHIRE COUNTY (Mass.) At […]
Declaration of Independence, or Purna Swaraj, of the Indian National Congress (1930)
Editor’s note: Drafted on behalf of the Indian National Congress by Mahatma Gandhi, this declaration of independence was issued on January 26, 1930. Gandhi’s reasoning in the opening sentence for why India should be a sovereign state free of British rule is that, “it is the inalienable right of the Indian people,” as a people, […]
Recommendation for Independence by Scituate, MA, residents
Editor’s note: A month before the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was penned, the residents of this seacoast town in Massachusetts called upon the representative of Scituate to support their sentiment to break from Britain, which in their estimation was seeking “to extirpate the Americans from the face of the earth, if possible, unless they […]
Instructions for Independence by the Inhabitants of Palmer, Hampshire County, MA (June 17, 1776)
Editor’s note: What with Britain “being bent on her favourite scheme of enslaving the Colonies,” the inhabitants of this Massachusetts town, on June 17, 1776, instructed their Representative to communicate to the Second Continental Congress that they deem it “absolutely necessary for the safety of the United Colonies to be independent from Great Britain, and […]
Address of a Watchman to the People of Pennsylvania, on a Declaration of Independence (June 24, 1776)
Editor’s note: In this eloquent and insightful missive of June 24, 1776, a Pennsylvania watchman — typically someone who keeps lookout in a town at night — forewarns his countrymen that declaring and even winning independence is just a first step — “we shall then only have crossed the Red Sea of our difficulties. A wilderness will still […]
The Declaratory Act of the British Parliament (1766)
Editor’s note: Great Britain’s powers that be tried their own hand at declaration crafting during the revolutionary era. Parliament’s aim was to put the colonists in their place — but their Declaratory Act only served to make them more unified against king and parliament over the longer haul. After repealing the loathed Stamp Act of 1765, Britain […]
‘Declarations of our humble opinion respecting the most essential rights and liberties of the colonists’ (Declaration of Rights of Stamp Act Congress) — Declaration of Rights and Grievances, October 19, 1765
Editor’s Note: These resolutions are described by the First Continental Congress as tantamount to “declarations of our humble opinion, respecting the most essential rights and liberties Of the colonists, and of the grievances under which they labour, by reason of several late Acts of Parliament.” The aim is “to procure the repeal of the Act […]
Declaration of Rights and Grievances, October 14, 1774
Editor’s Note: Well over a year and a half before our July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was issued, our First Continental Congress came out with a declaration — of rights and grievances — that was prepared and sent to King George III in England, where it promptly fell upon deaf ears, and as a […]
New Hampshire Declaration of Independence (June 15, 1776)
Editor’s Note: With the inauspicious title of “Committee,” New Hampshire’s chambers declared independence “with the example of several of the most respectable of our sister Colonies before us for entering upon that most important step, of a disunion from Great Britain, and declaring ourselves free and independent of the Crown”, impelled as they were “by the […]