Summary Of Rights Of The Colonists By Samuel Adams

The Rights of the Colonists was written by Samuel Adams. It was written in Boston, Massachusetts. He wrote this for the Boston Town Meeting on November 20, 1772, where he spoke on it to The Report of the Committee of Correspondence. He wrote this to tell the committee what the rights of colonists are and how they should be treated. Samuel Adams was arguing against the king and parliament. He was not happy with how he and the other colonists were being treated and wanted to tell parliament how he and all the other colonists should be treated. This document can definitely be used to show how life was during this time. Samuel Adams points out rights that they felt were theirs but they were not receiving these rights from the king and his parliament.

This section was all about the laws in the colonies that the British put into place. Samuel Adams is expressing his opinion, and most colonists for that matter, on how they are treated by the king and Parliament. He then goes on to list some liberties, privileges, and rights. The first right he spoke of was the law of all commonwealths or states to establish a legislative power. He says, “All persons born in the British American Colonies are, by the laws of God and nature and by the common law of England,… are declared to be entitled to all the natural, essential, inherent, and inseparable rights, liberties, and privileges of subjects born in Great Britain or within the realm.” (paragraph 18). It is important to note the first part of that quote, “All persons”. Samuel Adams and the colonists did not mean “all persons”, they meant all white men. This quote is important to note because he is stating the freedom that white, males born here should receive. Samuel Adams also talks about property, and how it is unable to be seized unless given consent first. African Americans were unable to own their own property until 1866, women were also unable to own land until the late 1840s. Samuel Adams is bringing back the phrase that was a common protest by the colonists, “no taxation without representation” with this part of his speech. He then says that the colonists were called traitors and rebels for complaining. Samuel Adams makes a great point by saying this because the colonists would not be complaining if the king and parliament were not so unjust to