The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams

7. TWO REPLIESOF THE MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GOVERNOR HUTCHINSON

Write_101-150.indd 117 3/30/12 1:18 PM Two REPLIES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HousE OF REPRESENTATIVES To GovERNOR HuTCHINSON Write_101-150.indd 118 3/30/12 1:18 PM GovERNOR HuTCHINSON's ANNOUNCEMENT that his salary and those ofthe judges would henceforth by paid out of crown revenue sent shock waves through Massachusetts. Fearing that Boston radicals were driving the colony to the brink ofindependence, Hutchinson called for rwo special joint sessions of the General Court in order to pacifY the towns and to explain why Parliament must retain supreme authoriry over all British dominions. In theory and in practice, he argued, sovereignry cannot be divided and rwo independent legislative bodies could not exist in the same state. Though not a member of the Massachusetts House at the time, Adams was asked by the committee charged with responding to the Governor's rwo speeches to assist them in drafting a response. Adams answered Hutchinson by arguing that the colonists were not and had never been under the sovereignry of Parliament. Their original charter was with the person of the king and their allegiance was to him and him only. Thus, if a workable line could not be drawn berween Parliamentary sovereignry and the total independence of the colonies, the colonies would have no other choice but to choose independence . This dramatic confrontation berween Hutchinson and the Massachusetts House represents one of the most important debates of the Revolutionary period. The Massachusetts Assembly was the first colonial legislature to publicly reject the theory and practice of parliamentary sovereignty. It was not until after Parliament's passage of the Coercive Acts some eighteen months later that the other colonies followed the Massachusetts lead. II8 Write_101-150.indd 119 3/30/12 1:18 PM 7 Two REPLIES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HousE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO GovERNOR HUTCHINSON ANSWER TO His ExcELLENcY' s SPEECH AT THE OPENING OF THE SESSION MAY IT PLEASE YOUR ExcELLENCY, YouR ExcELLENcY's SPEECH to the General Assembly at the Opening of this Session, has been read with great Attention in this House. We fully agree with your Excellency, that our own Happiness as well as his Majesty's Service, very much depends upon Peace and Order; and we shall at all Times take such Measures as are consistent with our Constitution and the Rights of the People to promote and maintain them. That the Government at present is in a very disturbed State is apparent! But we cannot ascribe it to the People's having adopted unconstitutional Principles, which seems to be the Cause assigned for it by your Excellency. It appears to us to have been occasioned rather, by the British House of Commons assuming and exercising a Power inconsistent with the Freedom of the Constitution to give and grant the Property of the Colonists, and appropriate the same without their Consent. It is needless for us to enquire what were the Principles that induced the Councils of the Nation to so new and unprecedented a Measure. But when the Parliament by an Act of their own expressly declared, that the King, Lords and Commons of the Nation "have, had, and of Right ought to have full Power and Authority to make Laws and Statutes ofsufficient Force and Validity to bind the Colonies and People ofAmerica, Subjects of the Crown of Great-Britain, in all Cases whatever," and in Consequence hereof another 119 Write_101-150.indd 120 3/30/12 1:18 PM REPLIES To GovERNOR HuTCHI NSO N Revenue Act was made, the Minds of the People were filled with Anxiety, and they were justly alarmed with Apprehensions of the total Extinction of their Liberties. The Result of the free Enquiries of many Persons into the Right of the Parliament to exercise such a Power over the Colonies, seems in your Excellency 's Opinion to be the Cause of what you are pleased to call the present "disturbed State of the Government;" upon which you "may not any longer consistent with your Duty to the King, and your Regard to the Interest of the Province, delay communicating your Sentiments." But that the Principles adopted in Consequence hereof, are unconstitutional, is a Subject ofEnquiry. We know of no such Disorders arising therefrom as are mentioned by your Excellency. If Grand Jurors have not on their Oaths found such Offences, as your Excellency with the Advice of his Majesty's Council have orderedto be...