PBA Galleries

4 pp. Bifolium. Approximately 39x25 cm (15½x9¾"). Custom blue calf folder, lettered in gilt.

The Declaration of the Causes and Necessities of Taking Up Arms was issued by the Second Continental Congress on July 6, 1775 to explain why the Thirteen Colonies had taken up arms in what had become the American Revolutionary War. The final draft of the Declaration was written by John Dickinson, who incorporated language from an earlier draft by Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration describes what the colonists viewed as the unconstitutional efforts of the British Parliament to extend its jurisdiction into the colonies following the Seven Years' War. Objectionable policies include taxation without representation, extended use of vice admiralty courts, the several Coercive Acts, and the Declaratory Act. The Declaration describes how the colonists had, for ten years, repeatedly petitioned for the redress of their grievances, only to have their pleas ignored or rejected by the British government. Even though British troops have been sent to enforce these unconstitutional acts, the Declaration insists that the colonists do not yet seek independence from the mother country. They have taken up arms "in defence of the Freedom that is our Birthright and which we ever enjoyed until the late Violation of it", and will "lay them down when Hostilities shall cease on the part of the Aggressors".