The Rights of the Colonists

“The Rights of the Colonists” is a 1772 essay by Bostonian revolutionary leader Samuel Adams. It articulates the rights of the British colonists living in the “Thirteen Colonies” in what would later become the United States. Adams’s purpose was to identify the basic freedoms that the British government was violating. The essay is twenty-four paragraphs long, and the quotations in this guide are cited according to the paragraphs in which they appear. Spelling, grammar, and other minor details differ between versions of the text. This guide follows an edition available through the Library of Congress.

Adams opens with a section titled “Natural Rights of the Colonists as Men,” in which he recaps some tenets of the Enlightenment political theory that ground his perspective. His first statement is that all men (he uses the male pronoun throughout, which will be reflected in this guide for consistency) are entitled to life, liberty, and property because each of these items is a natural right. He endorses the idea that men are born into a “state of nature” free from political obligations. They enter “civilized society” for protection, exchanging some degree of freedom for the benefits of a political community. This agreement, often called the “social contract” and referenced by Adams as the “original compact,” dictates what rights are forfeited and what rights remain. On this view, a government should never take away more rights than necessary.

A short second section called “The Rights of the Colonists as Christians” states that colonists should be able to practice any Protestant sect of Christianity. This argument in favor of toleration expressly excludes “Papists,” or Catholics, because (on his view) they recognize the power of the Pope as superior to national leaders and are thus subversive.

The third section, the last and longest, is titled “The Rights of the Colonists as Subjects.” This section is about British law in the colonies. Adams declares: “All persons born in the British American colonies are by the laws of God and nature, and by the common law of England […] and by the acts of the British Parliament […] 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). He then lists some of those “rights, liberties, and privileges” (Paragraph 18). The first is the right to establish a legislative power to govern and preserve society. He specifies that such a body cannot act arbitrarily but must be grounded in principles of justice applicable to everyone. He also says that property should not be seized unless by consent. These rights mirror the general call for life, liberty, and property.

Adams goes on to state that men in Massachusetts are, by order of the King, British political documents, and the Massachusetts Charter, British subjects who should not have to forfeit property except by consent. The argument recalls the famous revolutionary phrase “no taxation without representation,” a common refrain that expressed the colonists’ grievances leading up to the American Revolution. Adams posits, “The Colonists have been branded with the odious names of traitors and rebels only for complaining of their grievances” (Paragraph 24). He means to suggest that the grievances are legitimate and stem from a concern for the rights of British subjects.