North Carolina’s independence resolves framed grievances in Lockean terms of rights

Evidence

As if to explain the action in Lockean terms of protecting life, liberty, and property, the Halifax Resolves leveled four accusations against the British government in America. First, the Resolves declared, “The King and Parliament of Great Britain have usurped a Power over the person and properties of the People, unlimited and uncontrouled.” Second, they charged “That British Fleets and Armies have been, and still are, daily employed in destroying the People, and committing the most horrid devastations on the country.” Third, the Resolves added that some royal governors “have declared protection to slaves, who should imbrue their hands in the blood of their [patriot] masters.” Finally, they asserted that Britain had made American ships “prizes of war and many of them have been violently seized and confiscated.” Named or implied, Norfolk, Dunmore, Martin, the Declaratory Act, and the American Prohibitory Act figured as justification for independence. The Provincial Congress passed the Resolves unanimously even before Penn and Hooper reached Halifax. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 138

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to course themes on how founders articulated natural-rights justifications for legal-political rupture - the Lockean framing being a key doctrinal template. — connects to: The draft Declaration framed independence around rights violated by the king; The Halifax Resolves framed independence in Lockean rights language — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 138

Broader Connections

• The Halifax Resolves framed independence in Lockean rights language #corroborates (0.95) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 138