The Declaration of Rights and Grievances was a document written by the Stamp Act Congress and passed on October 19, 1765. It declared that taxes imposed on British colonists without their formal consent were unconstitutional.
The Declaration of Rights raised fourteen points of colonial protest but was not directed exclusively at the Stamp Act 1765, which required that documents, newspapers, and playing cards to be printed on special stamped and taxed paper. In addition to the specific protests of the Stamp Act taxes, it made the assertions which follow.
- Colonists owe to the crown "the same allegiance" owed by "subjects born within the realm".
- Colonists owe to Parliament "all due subordination".
- Colonists possessed all the rights of Englishmen.
- Trial by jury is a right.
- The use of Admiralty Courts was abusive.
- Without voting rights, Parliament could not represent the colonists.
- There should be no taxation without representation.
- Only the colonial assemblies had a right to tax the colonies.
Famous quotes containing the words declaration of, declaration, rights and/or grievances:
“I foresee the time when the painter will paint that scene, no longer going to Rome for a subject; the poet will sing it; the historian record it; and, with the Landing of the Pilgrims and the Declaration of Independence, it will be the ornament of some future national gallery, when at least the present form of slavery shall be no more here. We shall then be at liberty to weep for Captain Brown. Then, and not till then, we will take our revenge.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The Declaration [of Independence] was not a protest against government, but against the excess of government. It prescribed the proper role of government, to secure the rights of individuals and to effect their safety and happiness. In modern society, no individual can do this alone. So government is not a necessary evil but a necessary good.”
—Gerald R. Ford (b. 1913)
“When and under what conditions is the black man to have a free ballot? When is he in fact to have those full civil rights which have so long been his in law?”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“It is time that we start thinking about foundational issues: about our attitudes toward fair trials... Who are the People in a multicultural society?... The victims of discrimination are now organized. Blacks, Jews, gays, women—they will no longer tolerate second-class status. They seek vindication for past grievances in the trials that take place today, the new political trial.”
—George P. Fletcher, U.S. law educator. With Justice for Some, p. 6, Addison-Wesley (1995)