The Massachusetts Resolves (Oct. 29, 1765), reprinted in Prologue to Revolution: Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766, at 56 (E. Morgan ed. 1959)
| dc.coverage.spatial | Massachusetts | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-10-24T01:55:25Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-11-12T13:54:22Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-03-17T02:21:40Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1765 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Resolved that Massachusetts subjects have the same rights as are present and essential for natural born subjects. | |
| dc.description.lawtext | Whereas the just rights of his Majesty’s subjects of this Province, derived to them from the British Constitution, as well as the royal charter, have been lately drawn into question: in order to ascertain the same, this House do unanimously come into the following resolves: 1. Resolved, That there are certain essential rights of the British Constitution of Government, which are founded in the law of God and nature, and are the common rights of mankind; therefore, 2. Resolved, That the inhabitants of this Province are unalienably entitled to those essential rights in common with all men: and that no law of society can, consistent with the law of God and nature, divest them of those rights. 3. Resolved, That no man can justly take the property of another without his consent; and that upon this original principle, the right of representation in the same body which exercises the power of making laws for levying taxes, which is one of the main pillars of the British Constitution, is evidently founded. 4. Resolved, That this inherent right, together with all other essential rights, liberties, privileges and immunities of the people of Great Britain, have been fully confirmed to them by Magna Charta, and by former and by later acts of Parliament. 5. Resolved, That his Majesty’s subjects in America are, in reason and common sense, entitled to the same extent of liberty with his Majesty’s subjects in Britain. * * * 6. Resolved, That the only method whereby the constitutional rights of the subjects of this Province can be secure, consistent with a subordination to the Supreme power of Great Britain, is by the continued exercise of such powers of government as are granted in the royal charter, and a firm adherence to the privileges of the same. 7. Resolved, as a just conclusion from some of the foregoing resolves, That all acts made by any power whatever, other than the General Assembly of this Province, imposing taxes on the inhabitants, are infringements of our inherent and unalienable rights as men and British subjects, and render void the most valuable declarations of our charter. | |
| dc.description.summary | Resolved that Massachusetts subjects have the same rights as are present and essential for natural born subjects. | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://dspace.firearmsresearchcenter.org/id/frc0001/4161 | |
| dc.relation.isreferencedbyGoogle | https://www.google.com/books/edition/Report_of_the_Committee_on_the_Duty_of_C/AEdGAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA13&printsec=frontcover | |
| dc.subject | GUARANTEED RIGHT | |
| dc.title | The Massachusetts Resolves (Oct. 29, 1765), reprinted in Prologue to Revolution: Sources and Documents on the Stamp Act Crisis, 1764-1766, at 56 (E. Morgan ed. 1959) |