An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, Volume 1Hewatt, Alexander
History
An Historical Account of the Rise and Progress of the Colonies of South Carolina and Georgia, Volume 1
Hewatt, Alexander
Georgia -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; South Carolina -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775
In the mean time the members of assembly were using their utmost
diligence among the people of the province to keep them firm to their
purpose, having got almost every person, except the officers of the
Proprietors and a few of their friends, to sign the association. All
agreed to support whatever their representatives should do for
disengaging the colony from the yoke of the Proprietors, and putting it
under the government of the King. Having thus fortified themselves by the
union of the inhabitants, the assembly met on purpose to take bolder and
more decisive steps: and being apprehensive that the Governor would
dissolve them, so soon as their proceedings reached his ears, they
instantly came to the following resolutions: "First, That the several
laws pretended to be repealed are still in force within the province, and
could nor be repealed and made void and null but by the General Assembly
of this province, and that all public officers and others do pay due
regard to the same accordingly. Secondly, That the writs, whereby the
representatives here met were elected, are illegal, because they are
signed by such a council as we conceive the Proprietors have not a power
to appoint; for that this council does consist of a greater number of
members than that of the Proprietors themselves, which we believe is
contrary to the design and original intent of their charter, and
approaching too near the method taken by his majesty and his predecessors
in his plantations, whom they ought not to pretend to imitate or follow,
his majesty not being confined to any number of counsellors, but as he
thinks fit; but the Proprietors, as subjects, we believe, are bound by
their charter. Thirdly, That we the representatives cannot act as an
assembly, but as a convention delegated by the people, to prevent the
utter ruin of this government, if not the loss of the province, till his
majesty's pleasure be known: and, lastly, That the Lords Proprietors have
by such proceedings unhinged the frame of their government, and forfeited
their right to the same; and that an address be prepared, to desire the
honourable Robert Johnson, our present Governor, to take the government
upon him in the King's name, and to continue the administration thereof
until his Majesty's pleasure be known."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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