Early patriot pamphleteers aimed at rights restoration, not separation
Evidence
Resting his argument squarely on the rights of American colonists as British subjects, Otis could hardly repudiate imperial ties. Quite to the contrary, his pamphlet embraced them. “The colonists,” he wrote, “will never think of independency. … Trusting Parliament to repeal its unconstitutional enactments once shown the error of its way, he all but took revolution off the table. In short, Otis made rights, not independence, the rallying cry for American patriots. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 33
Categorization
- XREF: The trajectory from claim-rights-under-established-sovereignty to revolution is a classic public-law pattern the course can contrast with modern constitutional change models. — connects to: Dickinson argued rupture from Britain would leave Americans bleeding and unmoored — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 37; The Lexington and Concord battles converted the late-arriving Paine to independence. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 63