Massachusetts Provincial Congress

The Suffolk County convention took place in private homes in Dedham and Milton. Joseph Warren served as Chairman. The convention condemned the unconstitutional acts of the royal government (Massachusetts Government Act) and the presence of the British military in Boston.

Map of Boston in 1775

There were nineteen resolutions passed at the convention. Firstly the convention acknowledged King George III is the rightful monarch of the British Realm and that the colonists were the lawful subjects of the Crown. That the rights and liberties afforded to them were hard fought and that it was their duty to defend, maintain, and hand down those rights. The recent acts of the British Parliament are subverting the rights of the people. This includes the dissolution of the Provincial Assembly, the blockade of Boston Harbor, the subversion of legal protection, and presence of British troops in Boston. The rights of the colonists are natural, constitutional, and guaranteed by the charter of the province. The convention stated the Province is not required to follow or abide by these recent laws because they are the result of a "wicked administration"[3] seeking to "enslave America."[4] Any justices, magistrates, or officials in general which were appointed by the current government were illegitimate and unconstitutional. Anyone who cooperates with the said government will be acting and collaborating with an enemy force. All officers whose duty it is to make payment to the state ought not to make it to the civil government until there is a constitutional replacement. That any person who has accepted a position in the civil government, not by constitutional means but by "virtue of a mandamus from the king" has affronted the people of Massachusetts and become the enemies of the people of the colony. Therefore, the convention gave until September for all officials to resign their position.[5]

The convention stated the fortifications that were built on Boston Neck were acts of aggression against the people. The commander-in-chief of the British forces has also acted unjustly by seizing gunpowder from the Charlestown magazine, as it is not the property of the government. The convention also condemned an act in Canada which enacted French laws and established the Roman Catholic religion. The convention said that these laws are hostile to the Protestant people of all America, and dangerous to their civil liberties. The convention also declared that all officers should be stripped of their commission, and that new officers shall be selected by their respective towns based on ability. They went on to declare that the colonists will continue to act in the defensive to protect themselves, and show they were to the hostile party.[6] It was further stated at the convention through resolution that as long as those who are fighting for the rights of their countrymen are being apprehended that officials of the government will be seized and held until the release of such persons. There was also a call to further boycott any and all merchandise that is the result of commerce with Great Britain, or any of its crown territories in the West Indies and Ireland. The convention form a local committee whose purpose was to organize local manufacturers and artisans in order to promote their goods.

The Suffolk Convention called for a Provincial Congress to be called and that such a congress would align with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia until all rights are restored. There was further call to abstain from any violent acts which might damage private property in the province. The convention further went on to state that the committees of correspondence shall be dispatched in the event of invasion or emergency.[7]

General Thomas Gage who was the Royal Governor of Massachusetts in 1774 as well as Commander-in-Chief, North America

The Middlesex County Convention took place in Concord in August 1774, with James Prescott serving as Chairman and Ebenezer Bridge serving as Clerk. The delegates resolved to say that the recent acts of the British Parliament are tyrannical and go against any notion of jurisprudence. The delegates reiterated their loyalty to the Crown, however they maintained their duty to protect their rights that had been granted through the Massachusetts Charter. The charter, said the convention, equally binds the colonists and the Crown, and that the acts of Parliament have broken that trust. The convention stated that their existed an unequal relationship between the colonists in New England and the government in Great Britain due to the severing of privileges without the colonists having the ability to respond politically.[8][9] They also stated that because of this unequal relationship, and the subverting of the civil government through the Massachusetts Government Act that there can be no freedom for the people of Massachusetts as there is no true representative governmental body. This is further exacerbated, the convention claimed, by the removal of a just system of law with fair and independent jury trials. The delegates went on to express their view that this new order was a form of despotism which strips them of all liberty.[10]

The convention called into question the legality of a sworn official serving in the colonial civil government calling them unconstitutional, therefore no person was obliged to follow their authority. The courts and all the motions and cases which are products of them were also deemed to be unconstitutional and therefore were not legitimate in any way. The convention declared their support for the establishment of a Provincial Assembly in which delegates from each town would go and be represented.[11]

The Essex County convention was held in on September 6 and September 7 in Ipswich with Jeremiah Lee serving as Chairman and John Pickering Jr. as Clerk.[12] The delegates resolved that the Parliament of Great Britain has passed acts detrimental to all the colonies in North America but to the Province of Massachusetts Bay in particular. The convention described these acts and the actions of the local Royal civil government as being overzealous, unconstitutional, and threatening to the peace of the colony. The delegates declared that their inalienable rights which are granted to them as Englishmen were under threat. The convention declared the courts and local officials serving under the Royal administration as unlawful and unconstitutional. The delegates called for the formation of a local assembly to be called so as to have their guaranteed rights restored. The delegates declared their loyalty to the Crown however said they would act to ensure that their rights and liberties would not go on being tarnished.[13]

In Northampton on September 22 and 23 in 1774, the delegates from towns of Hampshire county gathered in assembly. Ebenezer Hunt was selected as Clerk and Timothy Danielson as the Chairman.[14] At the end of the convention the delegates had drafted nine resolutions. The delegates first reaffirmed their allegiance to the King as long as he sought to defend their rights guaranteed them by the colonial charter. They went on to declare that the colonial charter is a sacred document and agreement shared between two parties: the King and the people. It is unjust and unlawful, they declared, for one party to withdraw from the charter without the input from the other, affirming that nothing done in the colony could be described as the desire to sever this agreement. Thomas Gage was declared to be an unconstitutional governor of Massachusetts Bay. According to the delegates by undermining the authority of the constitutionally elected assembly and by enforcing acts of Parliament that are detrimental to the liberty of the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay.[15]

The Convention echoed and supported the calls from the Middlesex Convention for the establishment of a Provincial Congress with each town sending delegates. It is only when there is a constitutionally beholden assembly that the civil officials throughout Massachusetts Bay could be seen as legitimate. Furthering these sentiments the convention asserted to role of the town meeting in the passage and management of laws. The final resolution of the assembly was to urge all the inhabitants of Hampshire County to "acquaint themselves with the military art"[16] and to furnish all the lawful weaponry at their disposal.[17]

The Plymouth County Courthouse where the Convention took place

The convention for Plymouth County was held on its first day in Plympton, Massachusetts and in the Town of Plymouth for its second meeting. The dates of the convention were September 26 and 27, with Thomas Lothrop serving as Clerk and James Warren as Chairman.

Wheras, the British administration, instead of cultivating that harmony and affection, which have so long subsisted, to the great and mutual advantage of both Britain and the colonies, have, for a series of years, without provocation, without justice, or good policy, in breach of faith, the laws of gratitude, the natural connections and commercial interest of both countries, been attacking with persevering and unrelenting injustice, the rights of the colonists; and have added, from one time to another, insults to oppressions, till both have become, more especially in this colony, intolerable, and every person who has the feelings of a man, and any sense of the rights of mankind, and the value of our happy constitution, finds it now necessary. to exert himself to the utmost of his power, to preserve them...

— Plymouth Convention[18]

The conventions first resolution was to declare that all the inhabitants of the American colonies are entitled to their natural rights and are to not to be governed by any entity that they do not consent to. The delegates went to say that their only connection to Great Britain was through their inheritance of the colonial charter. They accused the Parliament of Britain of operating in a severe and unjust way, and curtailing their civil and religious liberties. The convention expressed that it was the duty of everyone in the Province to oppose entirely and to not in any way submit to this unjust government. The delegates said that the current Royal government is a "barrier of liberty, and security of life and property..."[19] Because these officials are members of an unjust system, by accepting their positions they have marked themselves as enemies to the people they are supposed to be serving and living with. Therefore, the convention charges, these people who have neglected their own society have lost all virtue.

The delegates called for the creation of a Provincial Congress in order to properly represent the people of Massachusetts Bay. They further called for the people of Plymouth County to arm themselves and to become accustomed with military discipline. Declaring that any money paid to the Royal civil government may be misappropriated to causes that may be a detriment to the people, the convention asked all people to stop making any payments until the government, or a government, exists with a constitutional foundation.[20] The construction of fortifications on Boston Neck and the seizing of the gunpowder in Charlestown were also described as overtly hostile acts. Similar to the Suffolk Convention, the convention in Plymouth said that due to the violation of rights of those in Massachusetts Bay, Crown officials should be seized and not returned until all patriots are returned unharmed.[21] The convention also reaffirmed the importance of the town meeting in these towns and declared that the local government should go on uninterrupted. Another resolution passed urged the people to interrupt and impede an attempt at the civil government to any business that runs counter to the constitutional order of society, even though the convention was ended with a plea to avoid any riots or any acts that would greatly disturb the Province.[22]

The convention in Bristol County took place on September 28 and 29 at the courthouse in Taunton with Zephaniah Leonard as Chairman. The delegates in Bristol declared that King George III was their rightful monarch and that their relationship to the British Crown went back to the reign of King William III and Queen Mary II who granted them the Province's colonial charter. And according to the colonial charter, the delegates argued, they had the right to organize their own governance and decide their own laws and practices. The convention passed a resolution which stated that they were opposed to disorder and acts of mob violence, however would ensure that the rights of the people of Bristol County would not be subverted, finally stating that they reserve the right to call their county convention into assembly whenever they saw fit.[23]

Henry Hudson Kitson's statue The Minuteman depicts a militiaman from Massachusetts

Assembly of the County of Worcester Committee of Correspondence

Worcester County's committee of correspondence held a convention of its members in September and August 1774 in Worcester. Chosen as Chairman and Clerk were William Young and William Henshaw, respectively. The delegation selected a committee which drafted resolutions for the greater convention to vote on. Much like the other conventions held in Massachusetts Bay the convention reasserted their loyalty and constitutional connection to the British Crown in the person of King George III. They outlined the connection they have to their land is through the Massachusetts Charter which guarantees not only their allegiance to the Monarchy but also guarantees them certain rights and privileges. They went on to add that the destruction of this relationship, i.e. the cancelling of the agreement by one party without the consent of the other, ensures not only the severing of the union between the province and Royal Government politically but also destroys the allegiance of the people to the Crown. Delegates pointed to the acts of Parliament, which they beloved violated their chartered agreement, as being hostile. Adding that not only through political power had the Parliament shown hostility but through egregious taxation and the blocking of the port of Boston.

As a result of these actions the assembly called on every American to do what was in their power to oppose these acts. They resolved to say that Americans by boycotting British goods would hurt the people and commerce of Great Britain than it would to the people of the American colonies.

At the same time, on September 6, militiamen in Worcester prevented court officials appointed by the governor to take office in an episode that become known as the Worcester Revolt.

County-wide Convention

At the county meeting the convention elected William Young as their President. The convention voted on and passed all the resolutions which had been drawn up by the assembly of the Committee of Correspondence. The convention then added resolutions of its own. Firstly that all people must do what they could to disrupt and prevent the sitting of the Courts which were a part of the Royal civil government. Instead of relying on the civil government, which they saw as unjust, the delegates resolved that every community ought to organize itself in a matter of security and order. Adding that these communities are charged with selecting amongst themselves representatives to represent them at the wider Provincial Congress.

For military resolutions the convention determined that every member of the committee should obtain a full stock of gunpowder and that the town of the county should be properly armed in the event on an invasion. The delegates went on to say that the local militia should be administered in a manner which is respectful of the local population and it should abstain from destroying any property.[24] They added that each town ought to select officers for its militia and that one third of the men in each town from ages 16 to 60 years old be available at a minute's notice.

The convention called for printing offices to be set up in order to adequately inform the population as to the resolves and motions being undertaken at the convention and any future assembly.[25]