Today in History
Today In History: July 6th, 1775 - Congress issues a ?Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms?
On this day in 1775, one day after restating their fidelity to King George III and wishing him ?a long and prosperous reign? in the Olive Branch Petition, Congress sets ?forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms? against British authority in the American colonies. The declaration also proclaimed their preference ?to die, free men, rather than live as slaves.?
As in the Olive Branch Petition, Congress never impugned the motives of the British king. Instead, they protested, ?The large strides of late taken by the legislature of Great Britain toward establishing over these colonies their absolute rule?? Congress provided a history of colonial relations in which the king served as the sole governmental connection between the mother country and colonies, until, in their eyes, the victory against France in the Seven Years? War caused Britain?s ?new ministry finding all the foes of Britain subdued? to fall upon ?the unfortunate idea of subduing her friends also.? According to the declaration, the king?s role remained constant, but ?parliament then for the first time assumed a power of unbounded legislation over the colonies of America,? which resulted in the bloodletting at Lexington and Concord in April 1775.
At this point, Congress assumed that if the king could merely be made to understand what Parliament and his ministers had done, he would rectify the situation and return the colonists to their rightful place as fully equal members of the British empire. When the king sided with Parliament, however, Congress moved beyond a Declaration of Arms to a Declaration of Independence.
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After a series of discouraging military defeats, on September 19, 1777, continental soldiers fighting under American General Horatio Gates defeated the British at Saratoga, New York. Within weeks, Gates joined forces with American General Benedict Arnold to vanquish the redcoats again at the Second Battle of Saratoga. On October 17, British General John Burgoyne surrendered his troops under the Convention of Saratoga which provided for the return of his men to Great Britain on condition that they would not serve again in North America during the war. American victory at the Battles of Saratoga turned the tide of the war in the colonists favor and helped persuade the French to recognize American independence and provide military assistance outright. 0 -
Along about that time...
?Tremble, tyrants and you traitors
The shame of all parties,
Tremble! Your parricidal schemes
Will finally receive their prize! (repeat)
Everyone is a soldier to combat you,
If they fall, our young heroes,
Will be produced anew from the ground,
Ready to fight against you!?
(From La Marseillaise, the French National Anthem)0
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