Proclamation of Governor General Thomas Gage, June 12, 1775

By his Excellency the Honourable Thomas Gage, Esq; Governor in Chief, in and over his Majesty's Province of Massachusetts-Bay, &c.

A Proclamation.

Whereas, the infatuated Multitudes, who have long suffered themselves to be conducted by certain well-known Incendiaries and Traitors, in a fatal Progression of Crimes, against the constitutional Authority of the State, have at length proceeded to avowed Rebellion, and the good Effects which were expected to arise from the Patience and Lenity of the King's Government, have been often frustrated, and are now rendered hopeless, by the Influence of the same Evil Counsels; it only remains for those who are entrusted with supreme Rule, as well for the Punishment of the guilty, as the Protection of the well-affected, to prove they do not bear the Sword in vain.

The Infrigements which have been committed upon the most sacred Rights of the Crown and People of Great Britain, are too many to enumerate on one Side, and are all too atrocious to be palliated on the other. All unprejudiced People who have been Witnesses of the late Transactions, in this and the neighbouring Provinces, will find upon a transient Review, Marks of Premeditation and Conspiracy that would justify the fulness of Chastisement: and even those who are least acquainted with Facts, cannot fail to receive a just Impression of their Enormity, in Proportion as they discover the Arts and Assiduity by which they have been falsified or concealed. The Authors of the present unnatural Revolt never daring to trust their Cause or their Actions, to the Judgment of an impartial Public, or even to the dispassionate Reflection of their Followors, have uniformly placed their chief Confidence in the Suppression of Truth; And while indefatigable and shameless Pains have been taken to obstruct every Appeal to the real Interest of the People of America; the grossest Forgeries, Calumnies and Absurdities that ever insulted human Understanding, have been imposed upon their credulity. The Press, that distinguished Appendage of public Liberty, and when fairly and impartially employed it's best Support, has been invariably prostituted to the most contrary Purposes: The animated Language of ancient and virtuous Times, calculated to vindicate and promote the just Rights, and Interest of Mankind, have been applied to countenance the most abandoned Violation of those sacred Blessings; and not only from the flagitious Prints, but from the popular Harrangues of the Times, Men have been taught to depend upon Activity in Treason, for the Security of their Persons and Properties; 'till to compleat the horrid Profanation of Terms, and of Ideas, the Name of God, has been introduced in the Pulpits to excite and justify Deviation and Massacre.

The Minds of Men having been thus gradually prepared for the worst Extremities, a number of armed Persons, to the amount of many Thousands assembled on the 19th of April last, and from behind Walls, and lurking Holes, attacked a Detachment of the King's Troops who not expecting so consummate an Act of Phrenzy, unprepared for Vengeance, and willing to decline it, made use of their Arms only in their own Defence. Since that Period the Rebels, driving Confidence from Impunity, have added Insult to Outrage; have repeatedly fired upon the King's Ships and Subjects, with Cannon and small Arms, have possessed the Roads, and other Communications by which the Town of Boston was supplied with Provisions; and with a preposterous Parade of Military Arrangement, they effect to hold the Army besieged; while Part of their Body make daily and indiscriminate Invasions upon private Property, and with a Wantoness of Cruelty ever incident to lawless Tumult, carry Depredation and Distress wherever they turn their Steps. The Actions of the 19th of April are of such Notoriety, as must baffle all Attempts to contradict them, and the Flames of Buildings and other Property from the Islands, and adjacent Country, for some weeks past, spread a melancholy Confirmation of the subsequent Assertions.

In this Exigency of complicated Calamities, I avail myself of the last Effort within the Bounds of my Duty, to spare the Effusion of Blood; to offer, and I do hereby in his Majesty's Name, offer and promise, his most gracious Pardon to all Persons who shall forthwith lay down their Arms and return to the Duties of peaceable Subjects, excepting only from the Benefit of such Pardon, Samuel Adams, and John Hancock, whose Offences are of too flagitious a Nature to admit of any other Consideration than that of condign Punishment.

And to the End that no Person within the Limits of this proffered Mercy, may plead Ignorance of the Consequence of refusing it, I by these Presents proclaim not only the Persons above-named and excepted, but also all their adherents, Associates, and Abettors, meaning to comprehend in those Terms, all and every Person, and Persons of what Class, Denomination or Description soever, who have appeared in Arms against the King's Government, and shall not lay down the same as afore-mentioned; and likewise all such as shall so take Arms after the Date hereof, or shall in any-wise protect or conceal such Offenders, or assist them with Money, Provision, Cattle, Arms, Ammunition, Carriages, or other Necessary for Subsistence or Offence; or shall hold secret Correspondence with them by Letter, Message, Signal, or otherwise, to be Rebels and Traitors, and as such to be treated.

AND WHEREAS, during the Continuance of the present unnatural Rebellion, Justice cannot be administered by the common Law of the Land, the Course whereof has, for a long Time past, been violently impeded, and wholly interrupted; from whence results a Necessity for using and exercising the Law Martial; I have therefore thought fit, by the Authority invested in me, by the Royal Charter to this Province, to publish, and I do hereby publish, proclaim and order the Use and Exercise of the Law Martial, within and throughout this Province, for so long Time as the present unhappy Occasion shall necessarily require; whereof all Persons are hereby required to take Notice, and govern themselves, as well to main Order and Regularity among the peaceable Inhabitants of the Province, as to resist, encounter and subdue the Rebels and Traitors above-described by such as shall be called upon for those Purposes.

To these inevitable, but I trust salutary Measures, it is a far more pleasing Part of my Duty, to add the Assurances of Protection and Support, to all who in so trying a Crisis, shall manifect [sic] their Allegiance to the King, and Affection to the parent State. So that such Persons as may have been intimidated to quit their Habitations in the Course of this Alarm, may return to their respective Callings and Professions; and stand distinct and separate from the Parricides of the Constitution, till God in his Mercy shall restore to his Creatures, in this distracted Land, that System of Happiness from which they have been seduced, the Religion of Peace, and Liberty founded upon Law.

Given at Boston the 12th Day of June, in the Fifteenth Year of the Reign of his Majesty GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God of Great-Britain, France and Ireland, KING, Defender of the Faith, &c. Annoque Domini, 1775.

By his Excellency's Command

Thomas Gage.

Thomas Flucker Secr'y

GOD save the KING.

SOURCE: Massachusetts. Governor, and Thomas Gage. A Proclamation Whereas the Infatuated Multitudes, Who Have Long Suffered Themselves to Be Conducted by Certain Well Known Incendiaries and Traitors, in a Fatal Progression of Crimes, Against the Constitutional Authority of the State, Have at Length Proceeded to Avowed Rebellion. [Boston, Massachusetts?: Printer not identified, 1775] Pdf. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016660912/.

Journal of Dr. James Thatcher, June 14, 1775

General Gage has issued a proclamation declaring theprovince of Massachusetts Bay to be in a state of rebellion, offering a pardon to all who will resort to his standard, and denouncing the penalty of martial law on all those who refuse to submit to his authority, or who shall be found aiding or corresponding with such as he has designated as unpardonable rebels and traitors. He has been pleased to proscribe by name, Mr. John Hancock and Mr. Samuel Adams, as objects of his exemplary vengeance. Yet, singular as it may appear, this same authorized Governor, and General in Chief of the royal army, is now cooped up in the town of Boston, panting for a country airing, of which he is debarred by his denounced rebels.

We are again shocked by intelligence that a terrible battle has been fought between the British regulars and the American soldiers, on Bunker, or rather Breed's hill, in Charlestown, near Boston, on the 17th instant. The report states that the whole town of Charlestown is burnt to ashes by the enemy, and that Dr. Joseph Warren, lately appointed Major General in our army, is killed; and that several hundreds of our soldiers are killed and wounded. battle, it is said, was extremely severe and destructive; but the provincial troops displayed the greatest courage and bravery, in the face of the regulars, and have obtained immortal honor. The British were several times defeated before they took possession of our works, and have suffered a loss of more than a thousand of their best troops; among whom are a large proportion of their most valuable officers. They are now taught that Americans can bid defiance to royal regulars, when called to defend their freedom. The situation of our country is truly deplorable, a civil war at our doors; our neighbors, our fathers and brothers, called from their families to encounter an inexorable enemy consisting indeed of brethren and kindred; our domestic peace and welfare cruelly interrupted, and the aspect of our public affairs gloomy in the extreme. All New England has become a theatre of military array; and every member of the community manifests the deepest concern for the great calamities, with which the country is afflicted, by the tyrannical measures of a corrupt administration. In the favor of Heaven and the wisdom of our Congress we repose all our hope and confidence. Participating, I trust, in the glorious spirit of the times, and contemplating improvement in my professional pursuits, motives of patriotism and private interest prompt me to hazard my fortune in this noble conflict, with my brethren in the Provincial army. From the critical and embarrassed situation of our country, numerous and almost insurmountable difficulties are opposed to my view; and I am too young to possess a maturity of judgment, but yet unable to resist the impulse of enthusiasm which characterizes the times. My friends afford me no encouragement, alleging, that as this is a civil war, if I should fall into the hands of the British the gallows will be my fate. The terrors of the gallows are not to be conquered, but I must indulge the hope that I may escape it. Hundreds of my superiors may take their turn before mine shall come. The tories assail me with the following powerful arguments. "Young man, are you sensible you are about to violate your duty to the best of kings, and run headlong into destruction? Be assured that this rebellion will be of short duration. The royal army is all powerful, and will, in a few months, march through the country and bring all to subjection; for they are experienced in war and expert in discipline. Their fleet is able to destroy every seaport town and beat down all our cities. There remains no rational alternative but a reconciliation and renewed obedience to our lawful government; or we shall soon experience their just vengeance. What is your army but an undisciplined rabble? Can they stand against an army of regulars? where are your cannon, your fire arms, your bayonets, and all your implements of war? above all, where is your treasure, and where can you look for a barrel of gun powder? the whole country can scarcely afford a sufficiency for a battle of an hour." Not a small portion of their reasoning I feel to be just and true. I am not certain, however, but much of it may prove erroneous. The result of the late battle at Charlestown should convince the most incredulous tory, that our soldiers will face the regular troops, and that we are blessed with the smiles of Heaven on our exertions. It would be presumption in me to determine as to possibilities and prospects; but the voice of liberty cannot be stifled, while the welfare and happiness of more than three millions of people now in America, and of unborn millions, are involved in the issue. Our rulers are the most competent judges, and under their banners I shall venture, I hope not rashly, to enlist, and trust my destiny in the hands of a kind and overruling Providence. My contemplated enterprise, it is true, requires the experience and resolution of riper years than tweny one, and qualifications, which I do not possess, to ingratiate myself with strangers and those in authority. Having consulted Joseph Otis, Esq. of Barnstable, on this occasion, he immediately applauded my enterprise, and politely furnished me with a letter to his brother-in-law James Warren, Esq. of Plymouth, who is President of our Provincial Congress at Watertown. Imagination could not fail to paint my prospects in bright colors, and I proceeded, July the 3d, with alacrity to the seat of Congress. I was not disappointed in my interview with Mr. Warren; my letter procured for me a favorable and polite reception. He honored me with his friendship and kind assistance, and introduced me to his lady, whose father's family and my own, have for many years been on terms of friendly intercourse. The office which I solicit is one in the medical department, in the provincial hospital at Cambridge. A medical board, consisting of Drs. Holton and Taylor, are appointed to examine the candidates; and they added my name to the list for examination, on the 10th instant. This state of suspense continuing several days, excites in my mind much anxiety and solicitude, apprehending that my stock of medical knowledge, when scanned by a learned committee, may be deemed inadequate, and all my hopes be blasted. While on my journey, a visit of a few days to my friends at Plymouth, gave me an opportunity to pay my respects to the rock, which received the first footsteps of our venerated forefathers. The inhabitants of this ancient town, from a reverence for the memory of the virtuous band of brothers from whom we derive our origin, have lately with commendable zeal and much labor, split off the upper portion of the rock, and removed it to a public square near the church and court house. This rock, with its associations, would seem almost capable of imparting that love of country, and that moral virtue, which our times so much require. We seem holding converse with the celestial spirits, and receiving monition from those who are at rest in their graves. Have these ancient sages bequeathed their mantle to posterity? Can we set our feet on their rock without swearing, by the spirit of our fathers, to defend it and our country? If we reflect on their matchless enterprise, their fortitude, and their sufferings, we must be inspired with the spirit of patriotism, and the most invincible heroism. Unappalled by the dangers of unknown seas, and the perils and the hardships of a savage wilderness, they left their native country and undertook a settlement which promises, through ages, to remain the rich abode of knowledge, religion, virtue and freedom. Let us then cherish a becoming sense of the exalted privileges inherited from our ancestors, and resolve to defend them against all attempts of a corrupt administration.

SOURCE: James Thatcher, M.D., A Military Journal during the American Revolutionary War, from 1775 to 1783, pp. 24-8

Journal of Samuel Curwen, May 10, 1775

Early in the morning a great number of persons rode out several miles, hearing that the eastern delegates were approaching, when about 11 o'clock the cavalcade appeared, (I being near the upper end of Fore street;) first two or three hundred gentlemen on horseback, preceded, however, by the newly chosen city military officers, two and two, with drawn swords, followed by John Hancock and Samuel Adams in a phaeton and pair, the former looking as if his journey and high living, or solicitude to support the dignity of the first man in Massachusetts, had impaired his health. Next came John Adams and Thomas Cushing in a single horse chaise; behind followed Robert Treat Paine, and after him the New York delegation, and some from the province of Connecticut, etc., etc. The rear was brought up by a hundred carriages, the streets crowded with people of all ages, sexes and ranks. The procession marched with a slow, solemn pace; on its entrance into the city all the bells were set to ringing and chiming, and every mark of respect that could be, was expressed:—not much I presume to the secret liking of their fellow delegates from the other colonies, who doubtless had to digest the distinction as easily as they could.

SOURCE: George Atkinson Ward, Journal and Letters of the Late Samuel Curwen, Judge of Admiralty, etc., An American Refugee in England from 1775 to 1784, p. 28

The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refuted his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred. to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. --And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

John Hancock

New Hampshire:

Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton

Massachusetts:
John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery

Connecticut:
Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott

New York:
William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris

New Jersey:
Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark

Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross

Delaware:
Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean

Maryland:
Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:
George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton

North Carolina:
William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn

South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton

Georgia:
Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

SOURCE: National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D. C.