Declaration Project

Strictures Upon the Declaration of Independence of Congress at Philadelphia, October 15, 1776

Editor’s Note: Originally published anonymously in 1776, this 32-page missive against our July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Hutchinson, a prominent, despised Loyalist and erstwhile governor of the Massachusetts colony. In his Strictures Upon the Declaration of the Congress at Philadelphia, Hutchinson calls our Founders “impertinent” and insists that they “show in what case a […]

An Essay favoring American Independence (Oct. 22, 1776) that Rebuts a British Declaration Against Independence (Sept. 19, 1776)

Editor’s note:  Embedded within this eloquent response by a South Carolina patriot is the full text of a snotty ‘declaration’ written by British aristocrats opposing our July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence, in which they scold “misguided Americans” for “their extravagant and inadmissable Claim of Independency.” In reply, the South Carolinian asserts that what would in […]

Declaration Against Independence, Chester County, PA (Sept. 25, 1775)

Edtor’s note: Just a little over nine months before the July 4, 1776 Declaration of Independence was issued, the winds of political sentiment were still blowing every which way, indicating just what a tenuous, close run thing the move towards independence was. In this declaration against independence, Chester County, Pennsylvania, officials make clear “their abhorrence even […]