James Otis, Jr., a Boston, Massachusetts attorney, publishes “The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved”:

      [T]he colonists, black and white, born here, are free born British subjects, and entitled to all the essential civil rights of such, is a truth not only manifest from the provincial charters, from the principles of the common law, and acts of parliament; but from the British constitution, which was reestablished at the [Glorious] Revolution. …

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      The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority: of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule. …

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      Should an act of parliament be against any of [H]is [God’s] natural laws … their declaration would be … void. …

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      Are not women born as free as men?  Would it not be infamous to assert that the ladies are all slaves by nature? …

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      [In] a state of nature·… had not every one of them a natural and equitable right to be consulted in the … formation of a new original compact or government[?]

      [restored 11/2/2024]