free discussion by the Representatives of so great
a part of
America, we esteem ourselves obliged
to add this Address to these Resolutions.
IN every case of opposition by a people to
their rulers, or of one state to another, duty to
Almighty God, the creator of all, requires that
a true and impartial judgment be formed of the
measures leading to such opposition; and of the
causes by which it has been provoked, or can
in any degree be justified: That neither affec-
tion on the one hand, nor resentment on the
other, being permitted to give a wrong biass to
reason, it may be enabled to take a dispassion-
ate view of all the circumstances, and settle the
public conduct on the solid foundations of wis-
dom and justice.
FROM Councils thus tempered arise the
surest hopes of the divine favour, the firmest
en-
couragement to the parties engaged and the
strongest recommendation of their cause to the
rest of mankind.
WITH minds deeply impressed by a sense of
these truths, we have diligently, deliberately
and calmly enquired into and considered those
exertions, both of the legislative and executive
power of
Great-Britain, which have
excited so
much uneasiness in
America, and have with
equal fidelity and attention considered the con-
duct of the Colonies. Upon the whole, we
find ourselves reduced to the disagreeable alter-
native, of being silent and betraying the inno-
cent, or of speaking out and censuring those we