5.  The Quebec Act, which enlarged the province of Quebec (pp. 111, 124) to include all the territory between the Great Lakes, the Ohio River, the Mississippi River, and Pennsylvania.  This territory was claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia under their “sea to sea” charters (pp. 33, 46, 52, 156).

%126.  A Congress called.%—­When the Virginia legislature in May, 1774, heard of the passage of the Boston Port Bill, it passed a resolution that the day on which the law went into effect in Boston should be a day of “fasting, humiliation, and prayer” in Virginia.  For this the governor at once dissolved the legislature.  But the members met and instructed a committee to correspond with the other colonies on the expediency of holding another general congress of delegates.  All the colonies approved, and New York requested Massachusetts to name the time and place of meeting.  This she did, selecting Philadelphia as the place, and September 1, 1774, as the time.

%127.  The First Continental Congress.%—­From September 5 to October 26, accordingly, fifty-five delegates, representing every colony except Georgia, held meetings in Carpenter’s Hall at Philadelphia, and issued: 

1.  An address to the people of the colonies. 2.  An address to the Canadians. 3.  An address to the people of Great Britain. 4.  An address to the King. 5.  A declaration of rights.

%128.  The Declaration of Rights.%[1]—­In this declaration the rights of the colonists were asserted to be: 

1.  Life, liberty, and property. 2.  To tax themselves. 3.  To assemble peaceably to petition for the redress of grievances. 4.  To enjoy the rights of Englishmen and all the rights granted by the colonial charters.

[Footnote 1:  Printed in Preston’s Documents, pp. 192-198.  The best account of the coming of the Revolution is Frothingham’s Rise of the Republic of the United States, Chaps. 5-11.]

These rights it was declared had been violated: 

1.  By taxing the people without their consent. 2.  By dissolving assemblies. 3.  By quartering troops on the people in time of peace. 4.  By trying men without a jury. 5.  By passing the five Intolerable Acts.

Before the Congress adjourned it was ordered that another Congress should meet on May 10, 1775, in order to take action on the result of the petition to the King.

SUMMARY

1.  As soon as Great Britain acquired Canada and the eastern part of the Mississippi valley from France, and Florida from Spain, she did three things: 

A. She established the provinces of Quebec, East Florida, West Florida, and the Indian country.

B. She drew a line round the sources of all the rivers flowing into the Atlantic from the west and northwest, and commanded the colonial governors to grant no land and to allow no settlements to be made west of this line.