"Owning a gun is a precious, fundamental right"

Found the following article of the Mansfield News Journal:

(Links and highlighting added)

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

If "people" above refers only to the militia, then "We The People" in the preamble of the Constitution, has to refer to the militia only.

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If you study the history of the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment, there were many reasons our forefathers wanted the people to have firearms. Some called it the keystone amendment, the one that protected all the other freedoms. First, if all the people have firearms common to the time, they can repel any aggressor. With our military stretched thin, and the border and terrorist problems, do you want to take a chance?

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Second, they wanted the people to have the ultimate power over government. Paraphrasing the Declaration of Independence, government derives its power from the consent of the governed; and when the government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to abolish it and form a new one. Every dictator in modern history has disarmed the citizens first.

Third is the right to protect yourself and your property. Check out what happened in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina. The authorities confiscated all registered guns. The criminals had never registered theirs, so the crime rate skyrocketed.

Fourth, hunting. The animal population would be totally out of control without hunting, and many people count on this food.

Some, including the U.N., are trying to take our gun rights. Listen to our forefathers before you give them up.

"No free man shall be debarred the use of arms." Thomas Jefferson.

"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them." George Mason.

"Arms in the hands of citizens may be used at individual discretion in private self-defense." John Adams.

And finally, Benjamin Franklin: "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

George Schneider

In all REALITY, instead of A.T.F., it should be: A.T.P.;

Alcohol

Tobacco

& Pornography

For, "Firearms" are NOT a 'vice', but a Right....

"you will be ready in arms to defend your country, your liberty, your wives, your children and possessions, from rapine, abuse, and destruction"

State of Massachusetts-Bay.

In the House of Representatives, January 26th, 1777.

ORDERED, That the following ADDRESS be printed, and a copy thereof sent to each minister of the gospel within this State, to whom it is recommended to read the same the next Lord's day after he shall receive it to his people, immediately after the religious exercises of the day are over. And also that a copy thereof be sent to the commanding officer of each company of the militia in each town in this State, to be read to the companies of militia while they are under arms, for the purpose of recruiting the Army.

To the People of Massachusetts-Bay.

Friends and Countrymen!

WHEN a people within reach of the highest temporal happiness human nature is capable of, are in danger of having it wrested from them by an enemy whose paths are marked with blood, and an insupportable load of misery; which succeeding generations must bear through painful centuries of time, is offered instead of it; to rouse the brave, invite the generous, quicken the flow, and awaken all to a sense of their danger, is a measure as friendly as it is important.
The danger of having your towns, your families, your fruitful fields, and all the riches and blessings derived from the industry and wisdom of your venerable ancestors, who may justly be ranked among the most virtuous and brave men that the world ever produced, ravished from you, and possessed by a banditti whom no laws can controul, and whose aim is to trample upon all the rights of humanity, would be sufficient to give the coward courage, and animate to the greatest feats in arms the most supine and indolent.--Surely then, while America, the asylum of happiness and freedom, is infested with a foe whose sole aim is to rifle her sons of every enjoymentt that can render life desireable; you will be ready in arms to defend your country, your liberty, your wives, your children and possessions, from rapine, abuse, and destruction.

For this grand and noble purpose, so worthy of the virtuous and brave, and we humbly trust so pleasing to Almighty God, you have by your delegates assembled in counsel for several years past;--For this in April 1775, you arrayed yourselves in arms, defeated and put to flight that band of Britons, who uninjured and unoffended, like robbers and murderers dared to assault your peaceful mansions;--and for this we trust you will be at all times ready to spend your blood and treasure.

In addressing you upon the important subject of your own defence, should we attempt a narration of the causes of your danger; the many petitions you have presented, praying but for peace, liberty and safety, and to avoid the necessity of shedding the blood of your fellow men, and the unexampled indignity and contempt with which those petitions were treated--it would be undeservedly to impeach you of inattention to your own safety.

Let it suffice then to say, That when every other method taken by you was productive of nothing but insults;--and that flames in your houses, murders on your persons, and robberies upon your property, were returned in answer to your peaceable, humble and dutiful petitions.

When the force of Britain, with that of her allies, was collected and drawn into exertion, to reduce you from ease and affluence, to slavery and vassalage; the Congress of the United States, despairing otherwise to establish your safety upon principles which would render it durable, made that declaration by which you become independant of Great-Britain, and in which character alone you can be secure and happy.

But as the increasing power and opulence of the United States, are now the dread and envy of those whose avaritious and ambitious minds had laid a plan for the monopoly and enjoyment of them, a large army is necessary for your defence; and the Congress have therefore determined upon eighty-eight battalions, of which fifteen are to be raised by this State.--The militia who have been marched to aid the army under the conduct of that man whose fortitude, virtue and patience, is perhaps without example, (and who hourly without any reward but the approbation of his own mind) is risquing his all in your cause, will soon be on their return--The enemy angry at the chastizement justly given them for their unprovoked cruelties to our brethren in the Jersies, are watching an opportunity to return the blow.

A farther draft from the militia would so much burthen the people of this State, that this court cannot think of it without pain and anxiety--We have therefore, being sensible that you need no other stimulous to your duty than having the line of it drawn for you, directed that a number of men, amounting to one seventh part of all the male persons of sixteen and upwards, should be immediately engaged in the Continental army, upon the encouragement given by government--this encouragement we conceive to be greater than any ever yet given, even to the greatest mercenaries--Surely then a people called to fight not to support crowns and principalities, but for their own freedom and happiness, will readily engage.

That the encouragement given might fully answer the designs of government, and the expectation of the soldiery, this court have settled the price of every necessary and convenient article of life produced in this country, and also the price of foreign goods in a just proportion to their price in the place from which they are imported, considering the risque of importation--And nothing is now wanting to give value to the soldiers wages and stability to our currency, but the vigorous and punctual execution and observance of that act; which we hope to see speedily effected by the public virtue and zeal of this people in the cause of their country.

But left some of you should be deceived by the misrepresentations of designing men, we must remind you that all the pretensions to peace and reconciliation, so pompously dealt out in the insidious proclamations of the commissioners of the king of Great-Britain, amount to nothing more than an invitation to give up your country and submit unconditionally to the government of the British Parliament--They tell you that their king is graciously disposed to revise all acts which he shall deem incompatible with your safety--But your good sense will lead you to determine, that if he is a Prince worthy to reign over a free people, and a friend to the rights of mankind, he would long ago have determined as to the justice of the those acts, and must have seen them founded on despotism, and replete with slavery--but they do not tell you that their Sovereign has the least intention to repeal any one of those acts--surely then a revision of them can never restore your freedom or in the least alleviate your burthens.

But those Commissioners, although they offer themselves as the Embassadors of peace, and, invite you to what they call the mild and gentle government of Britain, mark their footsteps with blood, rapine and the most unexampled barbarities, distributing their dreadful and savage severity, as well to the submissive as the obstinate, while neither rank, sex or age exempts any from the effects of their brutal passions.

Should America be overcome by or submit to Britain, the needy and almost perishing tenant in Ireland, disarmed and having but little property in the production of his toil and labour, selling the bread for which his tender infants are suffering, to pay the naughty landlord's rent or insulting collector's tax, would be but a feint resemblance of your calamity.

Society, where no man is bound by other laws than those to which he gives his own consent is the greatest ornament, and tends most of all things to the felicity of human nature, and is a priviledge which can never be given up by a people without their being exceedingly guilty before Him who is the bestower of every good and perfect gift.

We therefore for the sake of that religion, for the enjoyment whereof your ancestors fled to this country, for the sake of your laws and future felicity, entreat and urge you to act vigorously and firmly in this critical situation of your country--and we doubt not but that your noble exertions under the smiles of Heaven, will insure you that success and freedom, due to the wise Man and the Patriot.

Above all, we earnestly exhort you to contribute all within your power to the encouragement of those virtues--for which the supreme Being has declared that he will bestow his blessings upon a nation, and to the discouragement of those vices for which he overturns kingdoms in his wrath; and that at all proper times and seasons--you seek to Him by prayer and supplication for deliverance from the calamities of war, duly considering that without his powerful aid and gracious interposition all your endeavours must prove abortive and vain...........Sent up for Concurrence.

Samuel Freeman, Speaker, P. T.

In Council, January 28, 1777...........Read and Concurred.

John Avery, Dep'y Sec'ry.

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After The Fact

Amendment II and the Law

At a General Assembly, "That such as arm and equip themselves with a good Firelock", May, 1780

At a General Assembly of the Governor and Company of the State of Connecticut, holden at Hartford, on the second Thursday of May, 1780.

WHEREAS a Requisition has been made on this State by the Honorable Committee of Congress and by his Excellency General Washington, as appears by their Letters of the second of June 1780, for Two Thousand Five Hundred and Twenty Men of the Militia of this State, to co-operate with the Army of the United States for the Term of Three Months, from and after the 15th Day of July next, if necessary; a full Compliance with which appears to this Assembly necessary for the public good.

THEREFORE, it is Resolved by this Assembly, That 2520 able-bodied effective Men, of the Militia of this State, Rank and File, to be formed into five Regiments, be forthwith raised in the several Brigades of Militia, in the following Proportions, viz. 371 from the first Brigade, to be formed into fix Companies of 62 Men each; 533 from the second Brigade, to be formed into eight Companies of 66 Men each; 341 from the third Brigade, to be formed into five Companies of 68 Men each; 496 from the fourth Brigade, to be formed into eight Companies of 62 Men each; 378 from the fifth Brigade, to be form into fix Companies of 64 Men each; 401 from the 6th Brigade, to be formed into seven Companies of 58 Men each. That each of said Companies be furnished with one Drum and Fire, and officered with one Captain, one Lieutenant, one Ensign, and four Serjeants, to be designated from the several Brigades where the same are raised, except where there are a Field Officer or Officers, who are respectively to command Companies in the room and stead of a Captain. That there be appointed one Lieutenant-Colonel in the first Brigade, one Lieutenant-Colonel, and one Major in the second Brigade, one Lieutenant-Colonel in the third Brigade, one Lieutenant-Colonel and one Major in the fourth Brigade, two Majors in the fifth Brigade, and one Lieutenant-Colonel and one Major in the sixth Brigade. That three Companies from the fifth Brigade joined to five Companies in the first Brigade, make one Regiment, to be commanded by the Lieutenant-Colonel in the first Brigade, and one of the Majors in the fifth Brigade. That the eight Companies in the second Brigade be a Regiment under the Lieutenant-Colonel and Major in said Brigade. That the remaining three Companies in the fifth Brigade, be joined to the five Companies in the third Brigade, and be a Regiment to be commanded by the Lieutenant-Colonel in the third Brigade, and one of the Majors in the fifth. That the eight Companies in the fourth Brigade be a Regiment under the Command of the Lieutenant-Colonel and Major in said Brigade. And that the seven Companies in the sixth Brigade, and one Company from the first Brigade, be a Regiment under the Command of the Lieutenant-Colonel and Major in said sixth Brigade. That the Commanding Officers of said Regiments appoint the Adjutants and Quarter-Masters for said Regiments out of the Subaltern Officers of the Line. That each Adjutant shall have an additional pay of Three Pounds per Month; and each Quarter-Master of Two Pounds Ten Shillings, the whole to be under the Command of one Brigadier-General.

That his Excellency the Captain-General be, and he is hereby desired to give the necessary Orders to the Brigadiers General of the respective Brigades, for the apportioning, inlusting, or if need be, detaching, officering, arming, equipping, and marching said men, for the Purpose of carrying the provisions of this Resolve into Execution. That the said Regiments so ordered to be raised, be ordered to march and rendezvous at Danbury, by the 15th day of July next, or such other Place as the Governor and Council of Safety shall direct; from thence to proceed on the Orders of General Washington, and to continue in Service for the Term of three Months from the Time of their Arrival at the Place of their Destination, unless sooner discharged. That all such able-bodied effective Men who shall by the 5th day of July next voluntarily inlift into said Service, shall be entitled to receive, as a Bounty, the Sum of Three Pounds Lawful Money, in Bills of Credit of this State. That such as arm and equip themselves with a good Firelock, Blanket, Knapsack and Cartouch Box, shall be entitled to receive therefor the following Bounties, viz. For a Firelock 12 s. For a Blanket 12 s. For a Knapfack 3 s. and for a Carrouch Box 3 s. Lawful Money aforesaid; and that the Select Men of the several Towns within this State be, and they are hereby directed to furnish such of the Troops hereby ordered to be raised, belonging to their respective Towns as are unable to furnish themselves; and the Owner or Owners of the Arms, Blankets, Knapsacks and Cartouch Boxes supplied by the Select Men, shall be allowed the same Bounty for the use of each as in the Cafe of the Soldier who shall furnish himself as abovesaid.

And it is further RESOLVED, That in Case the full Complement of Men herein ordered to be raised shall not be compleated by Inlistment by the said fifth day of July, the Remainder to make up said Complement shall be raised by peremptory Detachment, of such able-bodied effective Men as are by Law liable to do Duty out of this State; and all such Persons so detached as aforesaid, who shall inlist within three Days after such Detachment for the Term aforesaid, shall be entitled to two Thirds of the Bounty aforesaid.

A true Copy of Record,
Examined, by
GEORGE WYLLYS, Sec'ry.

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THE Selectmen, by the order of the Town, "surely the voice of the people may be taken without flying to arms", Sept. 11, 1786

{Begin handwritten}Sharp Rebellion{End handwritten}
{Begin handwritten}No 87{End handwritten}

Gentlemen,

THE Selectmen, by the order of the Town, have directed me to inclose the following Address, to be communicated to the Inhabitants of your Town, with their wishes that it may produce those conciliatory effects that the Town of Boston are ever desirous to cultivate with their Brethren in every Town throughout the Commonwealth.

WILLIAM COOPER, Town-Clerk.

Boston, Sept. 11, 1786.

Friends and Fellow Citizens,

THE inhabitants of the town of Boston can never remain the unconcerned spectators of the distress and calamity of their fellow citizens in any part of the commonwealth.
Your generous friendship to us, evidenced as well by your liberal donations as otherwise, when we were particularly suffering in the great cause of our country, can never fail to warm our hearts with the highest sentiments of friendship for you;--and we are persuaded that the exertions we were then called to make, for our common safety, have yet a place in your kind remembrance.

Thus united, as we conceive, in sentiment and affection, as well as in interest, with that cordiality which must and ever will subsist amongst a virtuous and enlightned people in a free country, we take the liberty to address you on those commotions which have too widely spread within the commonwealth. You will suffer us to reason on this occasion with a freedom which is the part of sincere friendship; for we do assure you, that our country can never feel a political or civil evil which we will not chearfully bear a part of, until our joint exertions can obtain a constitutional redress.

We do not conceive it to be our duty to decide whether the grievances, mentioned by the conventions in some of the counties of the state, really exist or not; but we beg leave to submit it to your dispassionate and candid decision, whether, if they have a real existence, the tumultuous methods adopted by some assemblies of men within the government, are the proper measures to obtain redress.

When we dissolved our connection with the empire of Britain, we then (politically speaking) had it in our election to remain in a state of nature, or to ordain for ourselves such form of government as we chose. We were then in a state recognized by the first article of the declaration of rights, "free and equal," and nothing but our own voluntary consent, given in a solemn compact, could reduce us to a form of civil government. It required no great share of wisdom, however, to discern, that unless we threw ourselves into that state, we could neither defend ourselves against a foreign invasion, or be preserved from the depredations of wicked and abandoned men amongst ourselves. Therefore "the people inhabiting the territory" "called the Province of Massachusetts-Bay," by a voluntary association, formed a social compact; and, in a solemn appeal to the great Legislator of the universe, "the whole people "covenanted with each citizen, and each citizen "with the whole people, to be governed by "certain known and established laws, for the common good and security of all." By the same solemn compact, the powers of legislation, and the authority for the due execution of the laws, were provided and established; and we then did, and as yet do conceive, that all was done with such caution and restrictions, that no man, or body of men, who shall oppress or invade the rights of the smallest individual, can pass with impunity. In the same compact, the people solemnly agreed to support the constitution for the space of fifteen years, and made ample provision for the revision of it at the end of that period, if it should then be thought necessary.--There is no officer, either high or low, within the commonwealth, who does not derive his whole authority from the people, and who is not amenable to a proper and adequate tribunal for his conduct.

There are indeed evils which are common to the whole human race, founded in the depravity and imperfection of mankind; and there are others, the unhappy lot of some countries, arising from their situation, or the deep-rooted habits of the people possessing them; both which are alike incapable of being cured by any acts of government, or exertions of human power, but must be left to the accidents and changes of time for a remedy. Should corrupt and designing men inflame the spirits of the people to demand of their rulers, the removal of such evils, their own reflections would sooner or later point them to their mistake.

If grievances have arisen in the government, surely the voice of the people may be taken without flying to arms:--and no one can wish to dissolve our happy constitution, unless another is substituted in it's place;--for a state of anarchy is to be dreaded above all other calamities, because there is no evil which it does not involve. But to us, as we shall take leave by and by to submit to your consideration, consequences would flow from such a state which would cause each true American, within the commonwealth, even to regret that he had ever tasted the sweets of civil freedom

If the citizens of the state labour under grievances which can be redressed by the acts of the legislature, we conceive that their privileges in this case can never be enlarged, for the General Court are chosen annually by the people; and though in one year our complaints are not attended to, yet we can in the next election place men in power who will answer our reasonable expectations; and we are constrained to say, that we are ignorant of the time when the representatives of the people in this state have not duly attended to the instructions of their constituents. Some towns have indeed given instructions contrary to the sentiments of the majority in the state, and they therefore have not succeeded;--but is not this always the case when in society the compact is for the minority to submit to the majority? Let the majority be ever so much in the wrong, is there any remedy, within the reach of nature, compatible with the ideas of society and government? To say, the majority shall not govern, is saying, either that we will reduce ourselves to a state of nature, or reject the ideas of civil liberty, establish a despotism, and be subject to the sovereign pleasure of one man.

We then beg you to consider, whether instructing our representatives, who serve us in the legislature, is not our great remedy against any ills we suffer, and which are within the compass of human power to redress.

As we have taken leave to hint to you the mode in which, under the government established by our commonwealth, we conceive all grievances ought to be remedied; we will now beg your patience, and earnestly solicit your candor, while we mention some of the consequences which we think must flow from a continuance of the present commotions.--As an introduction to this part of our Address, we will take a retrospective view of our late situation, and compare our present with that in which we should have been, had not the noble exertions of America, in defence of the dearest rights of mankind, prevented it.

Taxed by Great-Britain, unconstitutionally and illegally, the quantity demanded was not the object of the important stand then made--but the obvious intention of reducing to absolute slavery, to a Prince on an island at three thousand miles distance, the people of an whole continent, demanded an opposition worthy of the blood and treasure expended in it.--Our publick assemblies, in towns and elsewhere, were prohibited; and every precaution taken to deprive us of the enjoyment even of social pity and joint complaint--a standing army, cruelly hostile, as well from their deep-rooted prejudices as the sanguinary nature of their errand, supported at our own expense, was employed to prostrate us before each haughty minion who chose to insult and plunder us.--Where then was the dignity of man! and where, had they succeeded, could the heaven-born idea of civil freedom been entertained? even a sigh for the sweets of liberty would have been treason!--How reverse of this is our now happy situation? subjected to no laws, but such as are made by a Legislature of our own election, agreeably to the form of government established by our own consent, taxed by our own representatives only, and controlled by no authority but what is derived from ourselves.

While we contended for a jewel of this immense value, still invaded on every side by the scourging arm of despotism, how solemnly did we appeal to that Being who sees the inmost recesses of our hearts? and how sacredly did we pledge our lives and fortunes to each other, and to our Congress, in the glorious contest?--And shall we now accomplish the wishes and fulfill the prediction of our enemies, in meanly receding from all our engagements?

Is it possible that any considerate man should suppose that we, as a people, ought to, or can be exempted from the calamities and difficulties incident to human life? Were we not at all times aware that there is no medium between a state of government and a state of nature? and that the latter is at all times a state of warfare, where no man has a property in even the produce of his own labour, but only a precarious possession, maintained by force? Or did any among us vainly believe that we could enjoy the blessings of government without an expence attending it? As well might they expect that the earth would yield her fruits without tillage, and that man could subsist without labour and pain.--The unalterable laws of nature have fixed it, that the path to political, public or private happiness is directed alone through industry and frugality; and we surely ought to submit to the common lot of humanity without repining, because it is one of the first dictates of religion.

We are very sensible that the habits of luxury contracted in the late war, from the vast quantity of goods imported, and the too great profusion of money, together with receiving and giving unlimited credit, have involved many families in distress, and have much diminished our abilities for paying those just debts, contracted in the day of our trouble, as the price of our freedom:--but shall we, because many of us are now distressed, entail ruin upon our posterity! let us lay aside the destructive fashions and expensive superstuities of the day; be sober, temperate and industrious; and, by the blessing of propitious heaven, we shall soon {Omitted text, 1w} our circumstances, and establish our public credit.

When we consider the nature of the present commotions, it presents to us the very important question, whether we shall exist as a nation upon the earth? for we are by no means ignorant that Congress, by our consent, and to our inexpressible joy and satisfaction, procured from our allies a loan of specie, the interest whereof we are obliged annually to discharge.--The shutting up of the courts of justice, preventing the due execution of the laws, and arresting the collection of public taxes, annihilates our government, and loudly proclaims to our foreign creditors, their total insecurity. Should their lenity and patience, supported by a hope of our reclaiming ourselves, and correcting our error, keep their sword in the sheath, yet we may have an enemy who will embrace the unlucky moment, should there ever be one when he finds us without resources, without credit, and without an ally, and deeply revenge himself for the disgrace his arms have sustained. Were there any among us so depraved as to wish to return to the domination of Great-Britain, they may easily perceive that the nations of Europe would never permit such an union of power, but divide us amongst them. Our feelings would indeed, upon such an occasion, point us to a remedy, perhaps, less disgraceful, the establishment of a domestic, instead of a foreign despotism; supported by a standing army, maintained by our own toil, to awe us into such submission that every idea of freedom shall be finally and totally eradicated.

When we have seen the patriot close his eyes in death, with gratitude and rapture committing his posterity to the arms of liberty, shall we see others agonizing in their last moments at yielding their children to the chains of vassalage? Forbid it, that spirit of freedom, which has so long animated and enlightned America! Forbid it, Heaven!

Finding that his Excellency the Governour, pursuant to the duties of his office, by advice of Council, has called upon all the good people of the state to lend their aid in preventing the impending ruin, we can do no less than to recognize anew our solemn engagements to support the government we have so lately and deliberately established;--and we feel ourselves assured, that our numerous, well-affected fellow citizens, in every town, will shew their readiness to join in an effort so clearly pointed out, as the first duty in society.

We are convinced that the present disturbances arise from British emissaries, residing among us, whose every with is for our overthrow and ruin; or from the machinations of wicked and unprincipled men, who seek their own emolument, to the destruction of their country; or from a combination of both. But though ??ny of our fellow citizens are deceived by them, and betrayed into a dangerous mistake, yet we trust that they will, on recollection, spurn from their counsels such base and infamous men; and that a careful discrimination will be made in every town between those who are, and those who are not, for the support of a government no less necessary to the happiness than to the security of the lives, liberty and properties of the people.
Fellow-citizens, we now entreat you, by the mutual ties of friendship and affection,--by the sacred compact which holds us in one society--by the blood of our brethren shed to obtain our freedom--by the tender regard we feel for our rising offspring, claiming freedom from our hands, as their inheritance by the grant of heaven--to use your endeavours that redress of grievances be fought for in a constitutional and orderly way only:--And we pledge ourselves to join our exertions with your's, in the same way, to obtain redress for any such as do really exist.--

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In Congress, "be empowered and directed to purchase, and, if they cannot purchase, to impress arms", Nov. 23, 1776

IN CONGRESS, NOVEMBER 23, 1776.

RESOLVED, That a Committee of Five be appointed, with full powers to devise and execute measures for effectually reinforcing General Washington, and obstructing the progress of General Howe's army, and that they proceed immediately on this business.

The members chosen, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Smith, Mr. Chase, Mr. Clymer, and Mr. Stockden.

JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT.

THE Committee before mentioned have come to the following Resolutions--

RESOLVED, That is be recommended to the Commanding Officers of the several battalions of Associators in Pennsylvania immediately to call together the battalions respectively under their command; and to select out of each battalion one company, or, if possible, two companies of Volunteers.

That each company consist of seventy-six privates, one Drummer, one Fifer, four Corporals, and four Serjeants, under the command of a Captain, two Lieutenants, and one Ensign.

That the field officers of each battalion, or such of them as shall be present, with the approbation and concurrence of the Volunteers, appoint the commissioned and non-commissioned officers of each company.

That the companies be engaged in the service of the United States till the tenth day of March next, unless sooner discharged by Congress; and be entitled to a pair of shoes and stockings, and to the same rations and the same monthly pay with the other troops on the Continental Establishment, to commence from the time of their enrolment.

That the form of the enrolment be as follows: I--hereby promise and engage to enter into the service of the United States, and to serve them till the tenth day of March next, unless sooner discharged by Congress; and to observe and obey the orders of Congress, and the orders of the Generals and Officers set over me by them.

That in order to supply the companies with arms, accoutrements, and other necessaries, the field officers of each battalion, or any of them, be empowered and directed to purchase, and, if they cannot purchase, to impress* arms, cartouch-boxes, blankets, shoes, stockings, and other necessaries for the use of the said companies.

That the articles impressed be appraised by persons to be appointed by the field officers or any of them for that purpose.

That the field officers or any of them give certificates of the value of the articles so purchased or appraised, which certificates shall be deemed sufficient vouchers to the persons to whom they shall be given, or to their assigns, for the respective sums therein mentioned, and shall be paid at the Continental Treasury.

That the Captains march their companies with the utmost expedition, and join the army under General Washington.

That the Council of Safety of Pennsylvania be empowered and directed to form the said companies into battalions; and to adopt such farther measures as they may find necessary for the march and equipment of the said companies; and particularly to collect, in the city of Philadelphia and its neighbourhood, blankets and other necessaries for their use, and to seize such articles, paying the value of them, if they cannot otherwise be procured.

That one month's pay be advanced to each Volunteer upon his enrollment; and that the Council of Safety be supplied with money for this purpose.

That the Council of Safety be requested to forward by express the foregoing Resolutions to the Commanding Officers of the several battalions of the State of Pennsylvania.

Philadelphia, November 24, 1776.

JAMES WILSON,
GEORGE CLYMER,
JAMES SMITH,
SAMUEL CHASE.

* - im·press(2) [v.
im-pres; n. im-pres] verb, -pressed or (Archaic) -prest; -

pres·sing; noun –verb (used with object)

1. to press or force into public service, as sailors.

2. to seize or take for public use.

3. to take or persuade into service by forceful arguments:
The neighbors were impressed into helping the family move.

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A Proclamation, "a number of people, armed, and mounted on horseback", Dec. 22, 1763

BY THE HONOURABLE JOHN PENN, Esq;

Lieutenant-Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex, on Delaware,
A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS I have received Information, That on Wednesday, the Fourteenth Day of this Month, a Number of People, armed, and mounted on Horseback, unlawfully assembled together, and went to the Indian Town in the Conestogoe Manor, in Lancaster County, and without the least Reason or Provocation, in cool Blood, barbarously killed six of the Indians settled there, and burnt and destroyed all their Houses and Effects: AND WHEREAS so cruel and inhuman an Act, committed in the Heart of this Province on the said Indians, who have lived peaceably and inoffensively among us, during all our late Troubles, and for many Years before, and were justly considered as under the Protection of this Government and its Laws, calls loudly for the vigorous Exertion of the civil Authority, to detect the Offenders, and bring them to condign Punishment I HAVE THEREFORE, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Council, thought fit to issue this Proclamation, and do hereby strictly charge and enjoin all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Constables, Officers Civil and Military, and all other His Majesty's liege Subjects within this Province, to make diligent Search and Enquiry after the Authors and Perpetrators of the said Crime, their Abettors and Accomplices, and to use all possible Means to apprehend and secure them in some of the public Goals of this Province, that they may be brought to their Trials, and be proceeded against according to Law.

AND WHEREAS a Number of other Indians, who lately lived on or near the Frontiers of this Province, being willing and desirous to preserve and continue the ancient Friendship which heretofore subsisted between them and the good People of this Province, have, at their own earnest Request, been removed from their Habitations, and brought into the County of Philadelphia, and seated, for the present, for their better Security, on the Province-Island, and in other Places in the Neighbourhood of the City of Philadelphia, where Provision is made for them at the public Expence. I do therefore hereby strictly forbid all Persons whatsoever, to molest or injure any of the said Indians, as they will answer the contrary at their Peril.

GIVEN under my Hand and the Great Seal of the said Province, at Philadelphia, the Twenty-second Day of December, Anno Domini One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-three, and in the Fourth Year of His Majesty's Reign.

JOHN PENN.

By His Honour's Command, Joseph Shippen, junior, Secretary.

GOD Save the KING.

PHILADELPHIA: Printed by B. FRANKLIN, and D. HALL.

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"or by furnishing or supplying those engaged in Rebellion, or their Adherents with Arms, Ammunition"

NORTH-CAROLINA, St.

By His Excellency JOSIAH MARTIN, His Majesty's Captain General, Governor and Commander in Chief in and over the said Province.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS great Numbers of his Majesty's Subjects within this Province, as in many other of the Colonies of North-America, have been incited and deluded by the flagitious Artifices of certain wicked, ill-designing, and traiterous Incendiaries, to array themselves in Arms, to levy rebellious War against the KING, and to deny, oppose, and resist the Laws and Constitutional Rights and Authority of His Majesty and the Parliament of Great-Britain, notwithstanding the most gracious and indulgent Invitations and Inducements, which His Majesty in his great Goodness, has been pleased from Time to Time to hold forth to them to engage them to return to their Duty, and to the enjoyment of those envied Rights*, and that inestimable Happiness which so pre-eminently distinguish the Condition of British Subjects from that of all other People of the known World; AND WHEREAS, this infatuated People instead of being reclaimed to their Duty by such Manifestations of His Majesty's tender Forbearance to punish, and of His Royal Disposition to Mercy and Forgiveness, have been impelled by the Delusions of their traiterous Leaders, rashly and insultingly to reject all the generous Advances to Accommodation that have flowed from the Justice, Moderation, and Tenderness of the KING, and His Parliament, and ungratefully as absurdly to ascribe the same to Weakness and Want of Power to chastise their Disobedience, and to maintain the Constitutional Rights heretofore claimed or exercised over the said Colonies: And whereas they have proceeded in a Succession of Violence beyond Detail to wage War, and to involve themselves in all the complicated Guilt of Treason and Rebellion against their Sovereign and the State, it is become the indispensible Part, and is therefore the determined Purpose of Government, to pursue the most vigorous and effectual Measures for the Suppression of such unnatural, and unprovoked Rebellion.

The Revolt of this Province and so many other of His Majesty's American Colonies, at first glossed over with shallow Pretexts of procuring Redress of imaginary Grievances, and marked with lavish Professions of Duty and Loyalty to the KING, now past all Disguise as to its End and Object, is declared by every violent Act of open Rebellion, and the Design of the flagitious Conspirators who have fomented this unnatural Rebellion manifested, if not avowed, is to sever these Colonies from their Relation to, and Dependance on the Imperial Crown and State of Great-Britain, with vain Intent to establish independant Empire; and in Prosecution of this attrocious Attempt, no Illusion, no Art of Seduction has been left unpractised, no Violence undone.

An illegal, monstrous Body called a Congress at Philadelphia has dared to usurp, and exercise every power of Government, over this Province and Twelve more of his Majesty's Colonies; it has proceeded to the Extravagance of raising Armies within the same for the express Purpose of opposing the KING's Authority, and in the Impotence of Weakness has uttered a creditless Paper Currency, as visionary as the Rest of their ill-digested System, to the nominal Value of Nine Millions of Dollars, for the Support thereof presuming in the fulness of its Power, to pledge the Substance of the People in the several Colonies for the Redemption of this ill devised Phantom of Money of such vast Amount, which is forced upon the Acceptance of the People, who find themselves equally exposed to Ruin, by the Refusal, or Receipt of it; the former Case subjecting them to the heaviest Penalties denounced by that Arbitrary Assembly, and the latter to the utter Loss of that Property which they barter for this imaginary Money during its Circulation; the Whole exhibiting a Plan of Republican Despotism, more weak, and more wicked, than ever Fraud and Rebellion attempted to impose on a Deluded People.

The Machinations above recited, and the other innumerable Artifices, too successfully practised upon the ignorant and credulous People, have been accompanied with every Act of open Hostility at Land and Sea; and Britain, brave, long-forbearing, generous Britain, challenged to Arms by her too kindly fostered and ungrateful Colonists, is at last compelled RELUCTANTLY to employ Her Might and Force in Chastisement of those, who have so lately owed to Her Guardian Power and Protection, their very existence as a free People; thus ungratefully requited, it now only remains to that Great Nation to prove that Tenderness and Affection, and not Want of Power hath so long suspended her just Indignation at her Recreant Colonists, and preserved them from the woful Experience of the Horrors of War, which they have so wantonly and so injuriously provoked. To the End therefore, That His Majesty's loyal and faithful Subjects within this Province, which I have Reason to compute in great Number, may be prepared for the Part to which their own good Principles lead, and their Duty calls them in this Extremity, and that the People thereof in General, may have Opportunity to avail themselves of His Majesty's Royal Disposition to receive his misled Subjects, in Tenderness and Mercy, when they shall become sensible of their Error and return to their Duty. I have thought proper to issue this my Proclamation, hereby to represent to them the dangerous Crisis to which a Set of wicked and desperate republican Spirits on this Continent, have urged and exposed them. And I do hereby in real Tenderness to the Inhabitants of this Country, most earnestly exhort and conjure Them, as they regard their dearest Interests, to rouse from the Infatuation with which they have been possessed, that has led Them blindly to bend their Necks to the intolerable Yoke of republican Despotism, which under specious Pretences of preserving their Liberty, has at this Moment reduced them to the violent State of Bondage, and by a prompt and immediate return to their Duty to their Sovereign, laying down their Arms, and renouncing the usurped Authority of Congresses, Committees, and all other the monstrous and unlawful Combinations engendered by the evil Spirit of Rebellion, entitle themselves to the effectual Securities of civil and religious Liberty, to be found only in the British Constitution.

And for the Encouragement of His Majesty's loyal and faithful Subjects to be aiding and assisting as far as in them lies, in the Suppression of the said unnatural Rebellion according to their bounden Duty and obvious Interests. I do hereby in the King's Name and by His Majesty's Royal Authority offer, promise and assure, to each and every Person or Persons, who shall join His Majesty's Forces and bear Arms against the Rebels in this Province (besides the Pay, and every other Encouragement allowed by His Majesty to his regular Troops) a Grant or Grants of Land in Proportion to their Circumstances, Merit and Pretensions without Charge, and with an Exemption of Quit-rent during ten Years from the respective Date of such Grant or Grants. And I do on the other Hand hereby proclaim all and all Manner of Persons who shall in any Wise aid, abet, or assist the present unnatural Rebellion against the King, either by bearing Arms against His Majesty's Forces, or by furnishing or supplying those engaged in Rebellion, or their Adherents with Arms, Ammunition, Money, Provisions, Cattle, Horses, Carriages, or any other necessary for Subsistence or Offence, or who shall hold any Correspondence with them open or secret, by Letter, Message, Signal, or otherwise, or in any Manner protect or conceal them, to be Rebels and Traitors, and to be treated accordingly with all the Rigour that such Enemies to the State are liable to by Law.

The very recent Instance of the ready Acceptance in Parliament of the Overtures of the loyal and dutiful Colony of Nova-Scotia, and the Resolutions of the House of Commons thereupon, evince the Disposition of that August Body to receive with the tenderest Consideration every Advance of the American Colonies; and cannot fail to excite Regret in every Well-wisher of this Country, as well as {Omitted text, 1w} , ?hat it did not pursue alike dutiful Conduct, instead of withstanding, and frowardly rejecting the reasonable Invitations to Peace, and Accommodation that were indulgently held forth to the Colonies by the Resolutions of the House of Commons in the last Session of Parliament,--while yet its Commerce flourished, was favoured, and unrestrained: In the former Case this Province had enjoyed the fulness of Peace and Prosperity, and now the chosen, fatal alternative of Rebellion, marks it for the Scourge of War, whose certain Consequences must bring the People to rue the dire Election to which they have been duped and deluded by their traiterous and flagitious Leaders. And it behoves the People of this Country at this critical Period, to consider well how they may retrieve the fair Opportunities they have lost, by giving the first Example among the Colonies in Rebellion, of an earnest Disposition to return to their Duty, to the King, and Obedience to the Laws;--and it cannot be doubted that the Colony which shall signalize Itself by such seasonable Example, will meet with every due Regard and Attention from the Grace of Majesty.

In the present most alarming State of Affairs, the People invited by their Sovereign on the one Hand to Freedom, Peace and Happiness, under the mildest of all Governments, and on the other threatened by Rebellion, Anarchy, Tyranny and Despotism, that must expose their Country to Desolation, and themselves to the forfeiture of Life, and Property, have yet a Choice of Happiness, by immediate and dutiful Submission to their lawful and rightful Sovereign, and Reliance on the Royal unbounded Clemency and Magnanimity of a most Gracious Prince.
This Opportunity those who neglect will rue the Consequence! Here then let the mis-guided Pause! In this instant awful Crisis, without a Moment Delay, while yet Felicity is attainable, and that they have experienced only some of the Inconveniences, without the Horrors of War, let them calmly compare their late unequalled Prosperity with their present self-made, deplorable, wretched, desperate State: and I am confident that every conspiring Motive of regard to Life, Liberty, and Property, will recal them to a just Sense of their Duty to their offended Sovereign, and the Laws of their Country, and unite the Strength of Thousands of the deluded people to those numerous, faithful, and loyal Subjects of the King in this Province, whose glorious and undaunted Spirits undismayed, and unsubdued by all the Power and Oppression of Rebellion, have given such recent Proof of Attachment to their Sovereign, and Affection to their late happy Constitution of Government, principled in perfect Freedom, and founded in certain Law: as leaves no Room to doubt they will come forth with redoubled Confidence to the Deliverance of their Country, and that supported by His Majesty's Troops, they will speedily, with the assistance of the ALMIGHTY, accomplish the Restoration of the public Tranquility, and change the horrid Face of War to grateful smiling Peace.

AND WHEREAS, The Regular Administration of Justice, and the Course of Law is obstructed and overthrown by the Machinations of Rebellion in this Province, and that many of the titular Magistrates therein lawfully appointed, are now leagued with the Rebels, and may and do employ the Power and Authority with which they are invested by their Offices to the Perversion of Justice, and the Oppression of His Majesty's Liege Subjects. And whereas it is expedient in the present State of Things to obviate the Mischiefs that may accrue from the Pervertion of Justice by the Civil Magistrates now in Office, and for the Maintainance of Order as well as to support the Measures, necessary to be taken for the Suppression of the present horrid and unnatural Rebellion, that some Mode be established for the Distribution of Justice and for the Protection of the Innocent, and Punishment of the Guilty. I Do hereby in Virtue of the Power and Authority in me vested by His Majesty's Royal Commission, under the Great Seal of Great-Britain, publish, proclaim, and order the Use and Exercise of the Law Martial, within and throughout this Province, for so long Time as the present unhappy State of Disorder shall necessarily require; whereof all Persons are hereby required to take Notice and govern themselves accordingly, as well to maintain Order, and Regularity, among the peaceable Inhabitants of this Province, as to resist encounter and subdue all REBELS and TRAITORS within the same.

Given under My Hand, and the Great Seal of the said Province on board the Snow Peggy, in Cape-Fear River, this Seventh Day of April 1776, and in the Sixteenth Year of His Majesty's Reign...........(Signed)..........JOSIAH MARTIN.

GOD save the King.

EXTRACT from the VOTES of the HOUSE of COMMONS of 29th November, 1775.

SIR Grey Cooper reported from the Committee of the whole House, to whom it was referred to consider of the Letter communicated to this House by Mr. Speaker upon the 26th Day of October last, dated, Halifax, Nova-Scotia, July 4th, 1775, and signed "William Nesbitt, Speaker," together with a Paper inclosed therein, entituled, "The Address, Petition, and Memorial, of the Representatives of the Freeholders of the Province of Nova Scotia, in General Assembly," the Resolutions which the Committee had directed to be reported to the House; which he read in his Place, and afterwards delivered in at the Table, where the same were read, and are as followeth, viz.

Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Committee, that the Proposition contained in the Address, Petition, and Memorial, of the House of Assembly of the Province of Nova-Scotia, of granting His Majesty, in perpetuity, a duty on Poundage ad Valorem, upon all Commodities imported into the Province of Nova-Scotia, not being the Produce of the British Dominions in Europe and America (Bay Salt excepted) the said Duty to be disposed of by Parliament, is fit to be accepted, and that the Amount of the said Duty should be Eight Pounds per Centum, upon all such Commodities.

Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Committee, that when and as soon as an Act, or Acts, shall have been passed by the General Assembly of the said Province of Nova-Scotia, conformable to the forgoing Resolution, and His Majesty shall have given his Royal Approbation to such Act or Acts, all and every Duty, Tax, and Assessment, upon any Goods, Wares, or Merchandize, imported into the said Province, and which Duty, Tax, and Assessment, hath been imposed and levied within the said Province, by any Act or Acts of Parliament now in Force, ought to cease and be discontinued; and that, for so long as Act or Acts of Assembly for granting to His Majesty the said Poundage Duty shall continue in Force, no other of further Duties, Taxes, or Assessments, ought to be imposed or levied by Act of Parliament, within the said Province, except such Duties only, as it may be expedient to continue to levy, or to impose for the Regulation of Commerce, the nett produce of the Duties last-mentioned to be carried to the Account of the said Province.

Resolved, that it is the Opinion of this Committee, that it will be adviseable to admit a direct Importation into the Province of Nova-Scotia, by His Majesty's Subjects, in Ships and Vessels qualified by Law, of all Wines, Oranges, Lemons, Currants, and Raisins, the Growth and Produce of any foreign Country whatsoever; provided such Wines, Oranges, Lemons, Currants, and Raisins, be imported directly from the Place of their Growth and Produce; and provided also, that the said Commodities be not imported into any other Port or Place within the said Province except the Port of Halifax.

Then the said Resolutions, being read a second Time, were agreed to by the House.

Ordered, that a Bill be brought in, upon the said Resolution; and that the Lord North, Lord George Germain, Mr. Charles Townshend, the Lord Beauchamp, Mr. Cornwall, Mr. Attorney General, Mr. Solicitor General, Sir Grey Cooper, and Mr. Robinson, do prepare, and bring in the same.

* - Here's one of those "envied Rights":

That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law...

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"and Dollars to be taken out of their Pay in Case they dont appear with a good Firelock"

By His Excellency
WILLIAM SHIRLEY, Esq;
Captain-General and Governour in Chief in and over the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New-England.

To {Begin handwritten}John Bark Goutr{End handwritten}

Sir,

AS you have receiv'd Beating-Orders from Me to enlist Men into His Majesty's Service for the Expedition intended,

In the Management of that Trust, I give you the following Directions;

1. You are to enlist no Person under the Age of eighteen Years, nor above Forty-five Years.
2. You are to enlist none but able-bodied effective Men, free from all bodily Ails, and of perfect Limbs.
3. You are to enlist no Roman-Catholick, nor any under five Feet two Inches high without their Shoes.
4. You are to assure such Persons as shall enlist, That they shall enter into Pay, {Begin inserted text}

{Begin handwritten}and subsistance{End handwritten}{End inserted text} {Begin deleted text}{Omitted text, 6w} {End deleted text}. {Begin inserted text}

{Begin handwritten}Upon their first general Rendezvous{End handwritten}{End inserted text}

5. That they shall at the Day of their Enlistment receive a good Blanket. {Begin inserted text}

{Begin handwritten}{Omitted text, 1w} Dollars and Dollars to be taken out of their Pay in Case they dont appear with a good Firelock{End handwritten}{End inserted text}

6. That their Pay will be Twenty-six Shillings and eight Pence, per Month, lawful Money, during their Service. {Begin inserted text}

{Begin handwritten}& one Month's advance Pay upon being mastered.{End handwritten}{End inserted text}

7. That they shall be exempt from all Impresses for Three Years next after their Discharge.
8. To such of them as shall be provided with sufficient Arms at their first Muster, they shall be allowed a Dollar over and above their Wages, and full Recompence for such of their Arms as shall be inevitably lost or spoiled.
9. You are to enlist no {Begin inserted text}

{Begin handwritten}P{End handwritten}

{End inserted text}erson but such as you can be answerable for that they are fit for Service; and whom you have good Reason to think will not desert the Service.
10. You are before your delivering the Blanket allowed, or any other Bounty that may be allowed by this Government to any Person, cause the second and sixth Sections of War to be read to them, and have them also sworn before, and their Enlisting attested by, a Justice of the Peace.

Given under my Hand at Boston, the {Begin handwritten}Seventeenth{End handwritten} Day of {Begin handwritten}April{End handwritten} 1755, in the Twenty-{Begin handwritten}Eight{End handwritten} Year of His Majesty's Reign.

{Begin handwritten}??Hutchinson by Govr. Shirley's ordr{End handwritten}

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"That if Provision cannot be made of Arms . . . a reasonable allowance will be made them in Money for the same"

By His EXCELLENCY

Benning Wentworth, Esq;
Captain-General and Governour in Chief, in and over His Majesty's Province of New-Hampshire, in New-England.

A PROCLAMATION.

WHEREAS His Majesty has been graciously pleased to order a Number of Troops, under the Command of the Honourable Lieutenant-General St. Clair, to proceed from Great-Britain to Louisbourg, with a sufficient Convoy of Men of War, and with them a great Part of His Majesty's Troops now in Garrison at Louisbourg, and also with such Troops as shall be levied for that Purpose in His Majesty's Colonies in North-America, to attempt the immediate Reduction of Canada; and has signified His Royal Pleasure to Me, as also to the Governours of the several Provinces and Colonies of Virginia, Maryland Pensilvania, New-Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts-Bay, by Letters dispatched from his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, That the necessary Dispositions should be forthwith made for the raising as many Men within this and the above-mentioned Governments as the thousands of the Time will admit, for proceeding on the said Expedition.

AND whereas the Members of the General Assembly of this Province, on a Special Convention for this Service, have, with the utmost Chearfulness and Unanimity, voted to give all necessary and proper encouragement for One ThousandVoluntiers that shall enlist into His Majesty's Service in this Expedition;

In Obedience therefore to His Majesty's said Commands;

I have thought fit, with the Advice of His Majesty's Council, to issue this Proclamation, in order to make known his Majesty's gracious Intentions and Declarations for the Encouragement of all able-bodied effective then that are inclined to inlist themselves into his Service of the said Expedition, together with the further encouragement which is offered by this Government, viz. That the said Voluntiers will be under as such Officers as I shall appoint; That they will be immediately entitled to his Majesty's Day, the Officers from the Time they shall engage in his Majesty's Service, and the Soldiers from the respective Days on which they shall be enlisted; That if Provision cannot be made of Arms and Cloathing for them, by reason of the Shortness of the Time, a reasonable allowance will be made them in Money for the same; That they shall be entitled to a Share of the Booty that shall be taken from the Enemy, and shall be sent back to their several habitations, when this Service shall be over, unless any of them shall desire to settle elsewhere.

AND for the further Encouragement of all Voluntiers that shall engage in this Service, It is provided, That they shall receive Thirty Pounds in Bills of Credit of the old Lenor, as a Bounty, as also for each Man a good Blanket, and a Bed for every two men; the said Bounty to the paid upon their Entitlement, and the Blankets, or Money in Lieu of the Blankets, and Beds at the Time of their Embarkation, or proceeding on the said Expedition. And that all such voluntiers as shall proceed on this Expedition, shall be exempted from all Impresses for two Years after their Return.

Given at the Council-Chamber in Portsmouth, the Fifth Day of June, 1746. In the Nineteenth Year of the Reign of Our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Second by the Grace of GOD of Great Britain, France and Ireland, KING, Defender of the Faith, &c.

B. WENTWORTH.

By Order of His Excellency of the Governour, with the Advice of the Council, T. Atkinson, Secr.

GOD Save the KING.

BOSTON, Printed by Thomas Fleet.

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"and to invite all to carry their own Arms with them"

To {Begin handwritten}John Hawky of Deerfield {Omitted text, 1w} {End handwritten}

{Begin deleted text}{Omitted text, 1w} {End deleted text} {Begin inserted text}

{Begin handwritten}Lieutenant{End handwritten}

{End inserted text} of the -- Military Foot Company in {Begin handwritten}Deerfield{End handwritten} Greeting.

Agreeable to the Law, and Pursuant to a Warrant from his Excellency THOMAS POWNALL, Esq; Captain-General and Governour in Chief, &c.

IN His Majesty's Name you are hereby required to raise (if in your Power) {Begin handwritten}Ten{End handwritten} -- able-bodied effective Men by Inlistment, on or before the sixth Day of April next, at four Clock in the Afternoon of said Day, for His Majesty's Service in the intended Expedition for the Invasion of Canada; but least said Number should not be raised by Inlistment, you are alike Required forthwith to cause all the Train'd-band Soldiers in your Company from the Age of sixteen to sixty Years, and (not by the Law of this Province exempted from attending Military Exercises) to be warn'd according to Law, that they appear in Arms at Ten of the Clock in the Forenoon of said Day, at such Place in said Town as you shall appoint, and if the Quota assign'd you be not compleated by four of the Clock in the Afternoon of the said Day, you are to compleat the same by Impress, observing the Rules and Directions of the Law: And in your Impressments, you are by no Means to exempt those able-bodied and effective Men, who have been Mercinaries in any former Military Service from being Impressed.-- You are alike Required to collect what public Arms you can find and send to me as soon as may be, and to invite all to carry their own Arms with them, if good, upon the Encouragement given in the Governour's Proclamation: You are not to Inlist or Impress any Person unable or not effective, and not to return any Person Inlisted who was Impressed: You are to make a regular Return to me of your Doings, according to the inclosed Form, on {Begin handwritten}the ninth day of April {Omitted text, 1w} {End handwritten} as also to cause the Men raised to appear before me at the House of {Begin handwritten}{Omitted text, 2w} Billing in Hatfield{End handwritten} on the {Begin handwritten}18th{End handwritten} Day of {Begin handwritten}April{End handwritten} at {Begin handwritten}Ten{End handwritten} of the Clock, in order to pass Muster; at which Time and Place you are to bring with you or send by a Commission Officer their Inlistments. Hereof you are not to sail on the Pains and Penalty of the Law in such Case made and provided.

Given under my Hand and Seal at {Begin handwritten}Hatfield{End handwritten} this {Begin handwritten}19th{End handwritten} Day of {Begin handwritten}March{End handwritten} In the Thirty-second Year of his Majesty's Reign, A. D. 1759.

{Begin handwritten}{Omitted text, 1w} William {Omitted text, 1w} {End handwritten}

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"...with force and arms, at the County aforesaid, did unlawfully..."

District of Columbia,
Washington County, to wit:

The Jurors of the United States, for the County aforesaid, upon their oath present--

That

late of the County aforesaid

together with divers other evil disposed persons, to the number of Ten, and more, to the jurors aforesaid, as yet unknown, on the..........day of..........in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty..........with force and arms, at the County aforesaid, did unlawfully, riotously, routously and tumultuously, assemble and gather together, to disturb the peace of the United States, in said County: and being so then and there assembled, and met together, did then and there make great noises, riot, tumult and disturbance; and then and there, unlawfully, riotously, routously, and tumultuously, remained and continued together, making such noises, riots, tumults and disturbances, for a long space of time; to wit, for the space of five hours and more, then next following, to the great terror and disturbance, not only of the good citizens of the United States in said County, there and thereabouts, inhabiting and being, but of all other good citizens of the United States in said County, there passing and repassing in and along the public streets, and common highways, there in contempt of the Laws, and against the peace and government of the United States.

F. S. KEY, U. S. A.
D. C.

Also See:

A PROCLAMATION, Mayor's Office, Washington, Dec. 23, 1828

YOU being a Training Soldier in the Company of Militia...

Mr.

YOU being a Training Soldier in the Company of Militia, under the Command of Lt. William Stebbins are hereby Required in His Majesty's Name, to appear at your Colours upon Thursday the 22d Current, at the usual place of parade at Nine o'Clock in the Morning, on the second Beat of the Drum, with Arms compleat, according to Law; whereof you are not to fail; it being according to an Act of the Great and General Court, or Assembly, of this Province, requiring the same, upon Penalty of paying the Sum of Twenty Pounds, for Non-Appearance.

April. 1756.

James Colton