To The Inhabitants of Great Britain
In “To the Inhabitants of Great Britain” (1774), North Carolinian James Iredell opposed what he described as Parliament’s attempt “to exercise a supreme authority” over the colonies. He expressed this opinion in great part because what began in 1773 as a debate between the governor and the Assembly regarding the establishment of civil courts had evolved into a larger issue: the constitutional relationship between Great Britain and her colonies.
In the tract, Iredell rejected William Blackstone’s “parliamentary sovereignty” argument in Commentaries, for it, as biographer Willis P. Whichard summarizes, made the “American legal condition” one of “conquered subjects.” Instead Iredell put forth another principle: every person has the right of liberty and the purpose of all government is to allow individual happiness. Iredell furthermore condemned discriminatory laws that benefited only a few and warned that Americans would not tolerate such laws.
“To the Inhabitants of Great Britain” was widely read. Its success catapulted a twenty-three-year-old Iredell into political fame.
Sources:
Willis P. Whichard, Justice James Iredell (Durham, 2000).
See Also:
Related Categories: Political History, Political Documents, Colonial North CarolinaRelated Encyclopedia Entries: Edenton Tea Party, Quitrents (Colonial Period), Carolina Charter of 1663, Stamp Tax Protests (Wilmington), Tories, Thomas Burke (1744-1783), Archibald Maclaine (1728-1790), Richard Caswell , Cornelius Harnett, Thomas Burke (1747-1783), Royal Governor William Tryon (1729 - 1788), Richard J. Salem (1947- ), James Iredell, Sr. (1751-1799), Act Concerning Marriages (1669), Lieutenant Governor, Alfred Moore (1755-1810), Affirmations, Johnston Riot Act, Hillsborough Confrontation (1768), William Linkhaw, Dual Tenure (late 1800s), Stamp Act, Sons of Liberty, Non-Importation Movement, The Justice and Policy of Taxing the American Colonies in Great Britain Considered, Plantation Duty Act (1673), Concessions and Agreement (1665), State v. Mann, Reginald Hawkins (1923-2007), An Address to the Freemen of North Carolina (Publicola), Tabitha Ann Holton, Lillian Exum Clement (1894-1925), Woodson v. North Carolina , Capital Punishment , Racial Justice Act , The Nutbush Address (1765), State v. Negro Will (1834) and State v. Manuel (1838), Frankie Silver Murder Case of 1833
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Timeline: 1664-1775
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