The Bush Declaration, also known as the Bush River Declaration, the Bush River Resolution, and the Harford Declaration, was a resolution adopted on March 22, 1775, in Harford County, Maryland. Like other similar resolutions in the Thirteen Colonies around this time, the Bush Declaration expressed support for the Patriot cause in the emerging American Revolution.
The declaration read:
We, the Committee of Harford County, having most Seriously and maturely Considered the Resolves and Association of the Continental Congress, and the Resolves of the Provincial Convention, do most heartily approve of the same, and as we Esteem ourselves in a more particular manner intrusted by our Constituents to see them carried into Execution, we do most solemnly pledge ourselves to each other, and to our country, and engage ourselves by every tie held sacred among mankind, to perform the same at the risque of our lives and fortunes.
The declaration was signed by thirty-four committee members. Although the Bush Declaration was not a call for separation from the British Empire, local histories have, with perhaps more pride than historical accuracy, described the Bush Declaration as the first declaration of independence made by any representative body in America.
The signers were as follows:
Charles Anderson
John Archer
William Bradford, Sr.
Thomas Brice
Samuel Calwell
Richard Dallam
John Donahuy(or Donahey)
Greenberry Dorsey
John Durham
William Fisher, Jr.
Aquila Hall
Aquila Hall, Jr.
Josias Carvil Hall
James Harris (unmarried)
Francis Holland
Thomas Johnson
Robert Lemmon
James Lytle
James McComas
Robert Morgan
William Morgan
Benjamin Bradford Norris
Aquila Paca
John Patrick
George Patterson
Edward Prall (unmarried
Alexander Rigdon
Daniel Scott
William Smith
William Smithson
John Taylor
Edward Ward
William Webb
Abraham Whitaker
Famous quotes containing the words bush and/or declaration:
“I will cut the head off my baby and swallow it if it will make Bush lose.”
—Zainab Ismael, Iraqi housewife. As quoted in Newsweek magazine, p. 31 (November 16, 1992)
“[The Declaration of Independence] meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all; constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)