When the Continental Congress approved its Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, at least ninety public bodies had already declared in favor of independence. In those times, local jurisdictions often gave specific instructions to their representatives in higher bodies. (In Britain, by contrast, lower bodies “delegated” authority to elected officials, who could then act as they thought best.) Following the custom, many local bodies addressed the monumental topic of the moment. Pauline Maier cites and discusses these in her masterful book American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997). Below are a few examples from the original texts.
On May 10, 1776, the Massachusetts House of Representatives asked town meetings “to express their minds with respect to American independence of the Kingdom of Great Britain.” At least fifty-eight townships weighed in, all favoring a total break.
From Topsfield, proximate to the provincial seat of government in Salem:
A few years ago, sir, such a question would have put us into a surprise, and, we apprehend, would have been treated with the utmost contempt. We then looked on ourselves happy in being subjects of the King of Great Britain. It being our forefathers’ native country, we looked up unto them as our parent State; and we have always looked upon it as our duty, as well as our interest, to defend and support the honour of the Crown of Great Britain . . . both with our lives and fortunes. . . . But the scene is now changed; our sentiments are now altered. She who was called our mother country and parent State, has now, without any just cause, or injury done by these Colonies, become their greatest enemy. The unprovoked injuries these Colonies have received; the unjustifiable and unconstitutional claims that have been made on the Colonies by the Court of Great Britain, to force us, and take away our substance from us, and that at any time, or for any use, that they please, without our consent, and the prosecuting these their claims, have been cruel and unjust to the highest degree. The whole conduct of the Court of Great Britain, and the fallacious conduct of their Governours appointed and sent into these Colonies, are so well known . . . we think it needless to enumerate any further particulars. For these reasons, sir, as well as many others that may be mentioned, we are confirmed in the opinion that the United Colonies will be greatly wanting in their duty, both to the great Governour of the Universe, to themselves, and posterity, if independence of the Kingdom of Great Britain is not declared, as soon as may be. . . . Having thus freely spoken our sentiments in respect to independence, &c., we now instruct you, sir, to give the honourable the Continental Congress the strongest assurance that if, for the safety of the United Colonies, they shall declare America to be independent of the Kingdom of Great Britain, your constituents will support and defend the measure with their lives and fortunes, to the utmost of their power.”[1]
From Palmer, in the hinterlands of Massachusetts:
At a very full meeting of the inhabitants of Palmer, legally met at the public Meeting-House on Monday, the 17th day of June, 1776, at one o’clock in the afternoon. The meeting being opened, Mr. Robert Farrell was chosen Moderator, and then proceeded and voted the following Instructions to the Representative of this Town now at the General Assembly of this Colony, as the sentiments of this town:
Whereas the Court of Great Britain hath, by sundry Acts of Parliament, assumed the power of legislation for the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, without the consent of the inhabitants; have likewise exercised the assumed power for raising a revenue in the Colonies without their consent; . . . have altered the Charter of this Colony, and thereby overthrown the Constitution; together with many other grievous acts of parliament, too grievous to be borne.
The peaceable inhabitants being alarmed at such repeated inroads on the Constitution, and gigantick strides of despotick power over the Colonies, the Colonies petitioned the King for redress of grievances; . . . begging as children to a father to be heard and relieved; but all to no purpose, the petitions being treated with almost contempt. The United Colonies, . . . being driven to a state of despair of the least relief from them, were obliged, by the law of self-preservation, to take up arms in their own defence, meaning to use them only as such; but the dispute has arisen to so great a height that it is impossible for the Colonies ever to be joined with Great Britain again with the least security and safety to themselves or posterity.
We, the inhabitants of this town, do believe it absolutely necessary for the safety of the United Colonies to be independent from Great Britain, and declare themselves entirely a separate State, as we can see no alternative but inevitable ruin or independence. As there is a General Congress of wise and good men, who sit at the helm of affairs, . . . if they shall unite in a separation from Great Britain, we do unanimously determine and declare we will support them with our lives and fortunes.[2]
Outside of Massachusetts, other public bodies issued declarations favoring independence. On May 29, 1776, the “New York Mechanicks in Union” instructed their representatives at the New York Provincial Congress, the de facto government of the colony since May of 1775:
When we cast a glance upon our beloved continent, where fair freedom, civil and religious, we have long enjoyed, whose fruitful fields have made the world glad, and whose trade has filled with plenty of all things, sorrow fills our hearts to behold her now struggling under the heavy load of oppression, tyranny, and death. But when we extend our sight a little farther, and view the iron hand that is lifted up against us, behold it is our King; he who, by his oath and station, is bound to support and defend us in the quiet enjoyment of all our glorious rights as freemen, and whose dominions have been supported and made rich by our commerce. Shall we any longer sit silent, and contentedly continue the subjects of such a Prince, who is deaf to our petitions for interposing his Royal authority in our behalf, and for redressing our grievances, but, on the contrary, seems to take pleasure in our destruction? When we see that one whole year is not enough to satisfy the rage of a cruel Ministry, in burning our towns, seizing our vessels, and murdering our precious sons of liberty; making weeping widows for the loss of those who were dearer to them than life, and helpless orphans to bemoan the death of an affectionate father; but who are still carrying on the same bloody pursuit; and for no other reason than this, that we will not become their slaves, and be taxed by them without our consent.
Therefore, as we would rather choose to separate from, than to continue any longer in connection with such oppressors, we, the Committee of Mechanicks in union, do, for ourselves and our constituents, hereby publickly declare that, should you, gentlemen of our honourable Provincial Congress, think proper to instruct our most honourable Delegates in Continental Congress to use their utmost endeavours in that august assembly to cause these United Colonies to become independent of Great Britain, it would give us the highest satisfaction; and we hereby sincerely promise to endeavour to support the same with our lives and fortunes.[3]
When Frederick County, Maryland, declared in favor of independence, it bound its representative to do its will. It also projected forward to what form of government might follow:
Resolved, unanimously. That as a knowledge of the conduct of the Representative is the constituent’s only principle and permanent security, we claim the right of being fully informed therein, unless in the secret operations of war; and that we shall ever hold the Representative amenable to that body from whom he derives his authority.
Resolved, unanimously. That the Legislative, Judicative, Executive, and Military powers, ought to be separate, and that in all countries where the power to make laws and the power to enforce such laws is vested in one man, or in one body of men, a tyranny is established.[4]
A grand jury in the Cheraws District of South Carolina passionately weighed in:
We now feel every joyful and comfortable hope that a people could desire in the present Constitution and form of Government established in this Colony; a Constitution founded on the strictest principles of justice and humanity, where the rights and happiness of the whole, the poor and the rich, are equally secured . . .
When a people, born and bred in a land of freedom and virtue, uncorrupted by those refinements which effeminate and debase the mind, manly and generous in their sentiments, bold and hardy in their nature, and actuated by every principle of liberality, from too sad experience are convinced of the wicked schemes of their treacherous rulers to fetter them with the chains of servitude, and rob them of every noble and desirable privilege which distinguishes them as freemen, — justice, humanity, and the immutable laws of God, justify and support them in revoking those sacred trusts which are so impiously violated, and placing them in such hands as are most likely to execute them in the manner and for the important ends for which they were first given.[5]
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From New York “mechanics” to Massachusetts farmers to southern gentry, a wide swath of the colonials declared in favor of independence. Reflecting the will of their constituents, assemblies or conventions for each colony, de facto ruling bodies since the outbreak of armed rebellion, then instructed their delegates at the Continental Congress to finalize a break from British rule.
New Hampshire House of Representatives, on June 15, 1776:
Our delegates at the Continental Congress . . . are hereby instructed to join with the other colonies in declaring the 13 United Colonies, a free and independent state, solemnly pledging our faith and honour that we will, on our parts, support the measure with our lives and fortunes; and that in consequence thereof, they, the Continental Congress, on whose wisdom, fidelity, and integrity, we firmly rely, may enter into and form such alliances with foreign states for aid and assistance as they may judge most conducive to the present safety and future advantage of these American Colonies: Provided the regulation of our internal police be under the direction of our own Assembly.[6]
On June 12, 1776, the Virginia Convention, in its “Declaration of Rights,” made a forceful case for independence, initially drafted by George Mason:
I. That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
II. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.
III. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community; of all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety and is most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration; and that, whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.
Virginia’s Declaration of Rights appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette the day after Thomas Jefferson and four others were appointed to a committee charged with composing a national declaration. Committee members no doubt examined Mason’s wording. Two weeks later, they presented a refinement, the finalized Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable 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 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.
The committee’s prose, primarily the work of Jefferson, flows more smoothly than Mason’s, but other than its implicit tribute to a “Creator,” it introduces no new concepts. This was a time of frenzied but collective agitation, and the Revolution’s participants often used each other’s words and propositions. Mason was certainly familiar with Jefferson’s own Summary View of the Rights of British America, written two years earlier. Undoubtedly, both men had read classic English and Scottish works that espoused revolutionary principles, and both used parlance common among their peers. Mason and Jefferson were tapping into the same rich sources.
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Pauline Maier’s extensive research certainly broadens the story, but the push for true independence dates back to the early fall of 1774, when communities throughout the hinterlands of Massachusetts overthrew British rule.[7] On October 4, 1774, exactly 21 months before the Continental Congress published a national declaration of independence, the town meeting of Worcester, Massachusetts, instructed blacksmith Timothy Bigelow, its representative at the forthcoming Provincial Congress, to initiate a final and complete break from British rule:
You are to consider the people of this province absolved, on their part, from the obligation therein contained [the 1691 Massachusetts Charter], and to all intents and purposes reduced to a state of nature; and you are to exert yourself in devising ways and means to raise from the dissolution of the old constitution, as from the ashes of the Phenix, a new form, wherein all officers shall be dependent on the suffrages of the people, whatever unfavorable constructions our enemies may put upon such procedure.[8]
When members of the Continental Congress voted for independence on July 2, 1776, and two days later explained to the world this momentous move, they did so with support from a broad swath of their constituents.
[1] Peter Force, ed., American Archives, Fourth Series (Washington, DC 1833-46), 6:704.
[2] Force, ed., American Archives, Fourth Series, 6:701-2.
[3] Force, ed., American Archives, Fourth Series, 6:614-5.
[4] Force, ed., American Archives, Fourth Series, 6:933.
[5] Force, ed., American Archives, Fourth Series, 6:515-516.
[6] Force, ed., American Archives, Fourth Series, 6:1030.
[7] Ray Raphael, The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord (New York: The New Press), 2002; Ray Raphael and Marie Raphael, The Spirit of ’74: How the American Revolution Began (New York: The New Press, 2016).
[8] Worcester Town Records, Worcester City Hall, reprinted in Franklin P. Rice, ed., Worcester Town Records from 1753 to 1783 (Worcester: Worcester Society of Antiquity, 1882), 244. These instructions can be viewed on the documents page of rayraphael.com, http://www.rayraphael.com/documents.htm, or in Ray Raphael, “Instructions: The People’s Voice in Revolutionary America,” Common-Place 9:1 (October 2008), commonplace.online/article/instructions-the-peoples-voice-in-revolutionary-america/. For context, see Ray Raphael, “When Some Americans First Lost Their Constitution,” Journal of the American Revolution, March3, 2026, allthingsliberty.com/2026/03/when-some-americans-first-lost-their-constitution/; Ray Raphael The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord (New York: The New Press, 2004); and Ray Raphael and Marie Raphael, The Spirit of ’74: How the American Revolution Began (New York: The New Press, 2015).
4 Comments
Interesting list. You should note that when the Virginia Declaration of Rights was published in Philadelphia it was a draft and did not include the “when they enter into a state of society.” Interesting question of whether Jefferson knew that limitation had been added.
I thought that you may be interested to know that there was an even more important Declaration that was submitted to the Philadelphia Continental Congress that occurred before you previously mentioned “Declarations before the Declaration…On April 12, 1776, the 4th NC Provincial Congress met in Halifax NC to address the usurpations and indignities committed on the colonists (at this point still Englishmen) by King George III and Parliament. During these 3 days in April, the 83 representatives from the other NCccounties and towns drafted that famous document that began the world’s greatest government experiment. The date appears on our NC flag.
I suspect that the reason Halifax may have been chosen was to avoid British interference. If you remember your NC history, the British Royal Governor’s Colonial seat of power was Tryon Palace in New Bern NC, so I’d stay away from there if I wanted a large crowd. Also there was a lot of unrest in Wilmington NC due to constant harassment from British soldiers and politics. So it would seem safe to meet in an unlikely town far away to avoid any suspicious activity of what the 4th Provincial Congress was planning.
This Halifax Resolves document was to instruct our NC Representatives to the Philadelphia Congress to vote for Independency. These are those most famous words: “Resolved that the Delegates for this Colony in the Continental Congress be empowered to Concur with the Delegates of the other Colonies in declaring independency and forming foreign alliances—reserving to the Colony the Sole and Exclusive right of forming a Constitution and Laws for this Colony, and of appointing Delegates from time to time to meet the Delegates of the other Colonies…” (You can read the entire document on the NC Halifax Resolves website if you enjoy the whimsy of colonial language. )
This was the first official document from any of the other 12 colonies that called for total independence from England. We were the first colony to call for Freedom but NC would not sign the Constitution until the Bill of Rights were added. So please keep in mind that NC was the reason that the Bill of Rights existed.
I notice that among the bodies who voted early for Independence, the State of Rhode Island is not mentioned. The Rhode Island General Assembly, meeting in the elegant 1739 Old State House that still stands in Newport, voted first of all the states for independence on 4 May 1776. Just to make sure it stuck, two sloops were sent out, one to Virginia (because the thought was that if Virginia voted that way, which it did on 15 May, all the other states would follow), and the other to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, to inform them of what Rhode Island had done (with admittedly not the flowery language of Jefferson). Rhode Island’s leadership is today predictably forgotten. Too bad!
Excellent article. One important addition to this sequence is North Carolina’s Halifax Resolves of April 12, 1776. While not a national declaration of independence, they were the first official action by a colonial/provincial government authorizing its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote for independence. In that sense, North Carolina helped move the independence movement from local declarations and public sentiment into formal congressional authority. The Halifax Resolves fit directly into the article’s argument that July 4 was the culmination of a broader, rolling process across the colonies, not a single isolated event.