A NEW NATION. 313 As Englishmen they were entitled to such rights as were guaranteed by the Magna Charta, the Petition of Right, the Habeas Corpus Act, and the Bill of Rights. The Charters of many of the Colonies contained provisions intended to secure the rights of the individual ; e. g. the Charter of the Colony of Massa- chusetts Bay granted by Charles I. in 1628, and also the Charter of the Province of the Massachusetts Bay (which included Mas- sachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine) granted by William and Mary in 1691, each provided: — "All ... of the subjects of us . . . which shall go to and inhabit within our said Province, . . . and every of their children which shall happen to be born there, . . . shall have and enjoy all liberties and im- munities of free and natural subjects within any of the dominions of us ... to all intents ... as if they . . . were born within this our realm of England."! It was the infringement of their rights, liberties, and immunities by the British Parliament which they made the ground for declar- ing their independence. At the first gathering of the Continental Congress, consisting of deputies from the several Colonies in 1774, on October loth, a Declaration of Rights was adopted in which it was set out : — "That the inhabitants of the English Colonies in North America by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English Constitution, and the several Charters or Compacts have the following rights : " I . That they are entitled to life^ liberty^ and property. . . . " 2. That our ancestors were at the time of their emigration from the mother country entitled to all the rights, liberties^ and immunities of free and natural born subjects within the realm of England. "3. That by such emigration they neither forfeited, surrendered, nor lost any of those rights." An enumeration of some of these rights and immunities is then set forth, and a statement made of various Acts of Parliament which violate these rights and ought to be repealed. At the same session, on October 20th, 1774, the Continental Congress, ** to obtain redress of these grievances which threaten destruction to the lives^ libertyy and property of his Majesty's sub- jects in North America," prepared, and its members signed on behalf of themselves and their constituents, what is known as the Non-Importation Agreement, binding all the Colonies (not includ- 1 Ancient Charters, pp. 13, 31.
