Page 75 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

A Patriot’s view of the history and direction of our Country

The framers made it clear that not only was this a right of the

colonies, but it was their duty to make the declaration in light of the
grievances to follow, but it was not the original intent of the

colonies. We recall that the first published call for independence
was in the ‘Articles of Association’ in 1774, and the first oration to

gain attention coming from Patrick Henry, at the Virginia
Convention, when he orated his famous, “Give me Liberty or give me
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death!” speech on March 23 1775. Next was Thomas Paine’s
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publication ‘Common Sense’ beginning January 10 1776, the first
widespread publication calling for independence. Finally, on June
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7 1776, Richard Henry Lee, the delegate from Virginia to the
Second Continental Congress, gave the first speech before the
colonial delegates that called for independence. These calls for

independence were preceded by more than a decade of tyranny and
oppression of the colonies and colonists by England, taxation and

government without representation, violations of English common
law, violations of the basic rights of English citizens, and disbanding

of colonial governments and charters. Moreover, the committee
detailed actions, and their purpose, by the king that underscored

the irreversible necessity of independence. These actions included
the 1775 Battles of Lexington and Concord, and Bunker Hill, and the

disbanding of protection from native Indians in the new colonial
frontier. The American War for Independence was underway, but

diplomatic talks and petitions to the king and parliament continued,

to no avail. The Declaration of Independence documented the
grievances of the colonies and colonists against England and the
king. Not only was it a statement of independence, it was also an

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