(Continental Congress) | One of the most important congressional precursors of the Declaration of Independence

(Continental Congress) 

The Declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North America ... setting forth the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms. The Letter of the Twelve United Colonies by their Delegates in Congress to the Inhabitants of Great Britain, their Humble Petition to his Majesty, and their Address to the People of Ireland. Collected together for the Use of Serious Thinking Men, by Lovers of Peace. London: Printed in the Year 1775

8vo (205 x 140 mm). Browning and spotting, particularly to title and final leaf, final page with abrasion costing a few letters. Stab-sewn; edges a bit ragged.

First London edition of one of the most important congressional precursors of the Declaration of Independence: the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of taking up Arms.

The writing of the Declaration of Causes was, like the Declaration of Independence, assigned to a committee, but in fact it was largely the work of Thomas Jefferson; John Dickinson also played a prominent role in the final language of the document. The Declaration of Causes and Necessity was one of the first attempts by the delegates to Congress to justify to their constituents, and to the greater world the need for armed resistance to the crown. The text, issued over the name of John Hancock as President of Congress, details the losses of property and personal rights that led Congress to this conclusion.

In addition to the Declaration of Causes and Necessity (promulgated 6 July 1775), this pamphlet reprints three other congressional texts first published by William and Thomas Bradford in Philadelphia: The Twelve United Colonies ... to the Inhabitants of Great Britain; The Olive Branch Petition; and An Address ... to the People of Ireland. This printing of The Olive Branch Petition is followed by a roster of its signers, which was not included in the earlier Bradford pamphlet.

This publication was evidently subsidized by Richard Champion, a noted Bristol ceramist, American sympathizer, and ally of Edmund Burke. The preface maintains that "The only design in collecting and publishing together the following Papers, is to give the good People of England, a true Idea of the Principles and Aims of their Brethren of America, and to confute, by their authentic Declaration, the Calumnies, of their Enemies, who not content with attributing to them Motives, which they not only disclaim but abhor, have the Effrontery also to brand them with Epithets, which would much better characterise their Accusers." 

REFERENCE:

Adams, American Controversy 75-149d; ESTC T121380; Sabin 15522