North Carolina 1775: The London government are Traitors – to the people, the King, the Constitution and the principles of the Glorious Revolution

One of the treasures of Revolutionary era America is the vast amount of print which tells us with great precision exactly what the people's thoughts and motivations were. In this example, published almost exactly one year before the Declaration of Independence, its future signers William Hooper and Joseph Hewes, and also Richard Caswell, spell out their concepts of liberty, loyalty and resistance:

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To the COMMITTEES of the several Towns and Counties of the Province of NORTH CAROLINA, appointed for the Purpose of carrying into Execution the Resolves of the CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.

GENTLEMEN,

WHEN the Liberties of a People are invaded, and Men in Authority are labouring to raise a Structure of arbitrary Power upon the Ruins of a free Constitution; when the first [Prime] Minister of Britain exerts every Influence that private Address or public Violence can give him, to shake the Barriers of personal Security and private Property; it is natural for us, Inhabitants of America, deeply interested in the Event of his Designs, to be anxious for our approaching fate, and the look up to the sources which God and the Constitution furnish, to ward off or alleviate the impending calamity…

… It becomes the Duty of us, in whom you have deposited the most sacred Truth, to warn you of your Danger, and of the most effectual Means to ward it off. It is the Right of every English Subject to be prepared with Weapons for his Defence...

... strengthen the Hands of civil Government, by resisting every Act of lawless Power. Stem Tyranny in its Commencement; oppose every Effort of an arbitrary Minister; and, by checking his Licentiousness, preserve the Liberty of the Constitution, and the Honour of your Sovereign.

Look to the reigning Monarch of Britain as your rightful and lawful Sovereign; dare every Danger and Difficulty in Support of his Person, Crown and Dignity; and consider every Man as a Traitor to his King, who, infringing the Rights of his American Subjects, attempts to invade those glorious Revolution Principles which placed him on the Throne, and must preserve him there.

We are, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient and very humble Servants, 

WILLIAM HOOPER,

JOSEPH HEWES,

RICHARD CASWELL

Philadelphia,

June 19, 1775

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Printed in The North-Carolina Weekly Gazette

New Bern, North Carolina · Friday, July 07, 1775