A Letter To the Right Honourable The Earl of Hillsborough, On the Present Situation Of Affairs in America

In this extensive review of colonial charters and English laws pertaining to the colonies, the author finds compelling reasons to support American claims to an exemption from internal taxation. The author finds strong grounds for recognizing distinct jurisdictions with well-defined and separate powers within the empire, countering claims of “national government” because “the convenience of Great Britain requires the colonies to be kept in a state of subordination.”

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The text of these 18th century pamphlets has been converted by machine from scanned PDFs of the original microfilm copies. While the text has been machine-proofed, transcription errors may still remain. For example, the 18th-century long S, ſ , may be rendered as “f,” some words may be incorrectly transcribed, and there may be repeated words or phrases.

Citation

A letter to the Right Honourable the Earl of Hilsborough, on the present situation of affairs in America. In which the arguments in favour of the colonies, are placed in a new point of view, and their Rights and Privileges are incontestibly demonstrated on constitutional Principles, supported by unanswerable Arguments drawn from their ancient original Charters, and the Circumstances attending their first Settlement. Together with a serious and impartial Consideration of the Consequences which must necessarily result from the Exercise of coercive Measures, to compel them to a Submission to the late Acts of Parliament. Also an appendix in answer to a pamphlet intituled, The constitutional right of Great-Britain to tax the colonies, 1769, from The Pamphlet Debate on the American Question in Great Britain, 1764-1776: A Digital Collection, edited by Jack P. Greene (Carmel, IN: Liberty Fund, 2024-). Liberty Fund source: Eighteenth Century Collections Online (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Cengage Learning, 2003). Adams #69-22; Greene #97.

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