Admonishment and Reconciliation of Robert Keayne w The Body of Liberties of the Massachusetts Colony On Liberty. Maryland Act Concerning Religion. Colonial Virginia Laws Related to Slavery. Pennsylvania: Frame of Government.
The English Bill of Rights. George Whitefield Preaches in Philadelphia. The Essential Rights and Liberties of Protestants. The Speech of Miss Polly Baker.
An Exhortation to the Inhabitants of the Province Upon the Peace. A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law. The Journal of Reverand Charles Woodmason. Selected Poems. An Election Sermon. Imperial Relations. Albany Plan of Union. Speech Against Writs of Assistance. The Treaty of Paris. The Massachusetts Body of Liberties. Charter of Carolina, Second Treatise Chapters An act concerning Servants and Slaves.
The Sugar Act. The Currency Act. New York Petition to the House of Commons. The Stamp Act. The Quartering Act. The Virginia Resolves of Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress. The Regulations Lately Made.
The Declaratory Act. The Townshend Revenue Act. The New York Suspending Act. Circular Instruction of 11 September The Resolves of Parliament. Charleston Nonimportation Agreement. Account of the Boston Massacre. Report of a Committee of the Town of Boston. The Rights of the Colonists.
It would take further impositions by the British government before the colonists would begin to truly question parliamentary authority. Smuggling was a major problem in the American colonies during and after the war. It is clear that if there had been no smuggling the British government would have taken in more revenue from customs duties.
Additionally, later evidence has shown that the influx of goods to the French West Indies provided by American smugglers was a primary reason the French were able to sustain their war effort in North America for as long as they did. During the war it was well known that smuggling accounted for a significant part of American income, but in the midst of the fighting the British found it nearly impossible to regulate trade effectively. Thus, partially because they had few other options and partially out of frustration and anger, the writs of assistance were granted and used.
Despite the assertion by the Massachusetts supreme court that the writs of assistance were within legal limits, most English authorities agreed that the writs violated the Constitution. Because the duration of the writ was perpetual and could be executed at any time of the day or night, Otis said, the law failed to respect the sanctity of a person's home and private life.
Fourth, Otis challenged Parliament's autocratic authority. Parliament has no power to pass legislation, Otis claimed, that is against fundamental principles of law. When Parliament enacts legislation that contravenes fundamental principles of reason and EQUITY , such legislation must be struck down by the courts.
Otis contended that Parliament was not above the law and that any parliamentary act against the constitution was void. In response to these arguments, lawyers for the government asserted that the Massachusetts Superior Court possessed no discretion to deny Paxton's application for the writ.
Parliament had granted the English Court of Exchequer the power to issue the writ in Great Britain and authorized customs officials to apply for the writ in America. Because the Court of Exchequer had been lawfully issuing the writ for years in Great Britain, lawyers for the government argued, the Massachusetts Superior Court enjoyed the same legal authority. Chief Justice Hutchinson and his colleagues agreed with the lawyers for the government. They unanimously voted to grant Paxton's application in this particular case and affirmed the legality of the writ across Massachusetts.
Although Otis, Thacher, and their clients lost the case, they transformed the writ into a rallying cry of the American Revolution. James Otis argued that the Writs of Assistance were unconstitutional. He based his case on the rights guaranteed in English common law. Writs of Assistance and the American Revolution James Otis lost the case relating to the Writs of Assistance but he impressed the colonists and prominent leaders such as John Adams.
James Otis became a colonial leader and in May he was elected to the General Court of Massachusetts. He wrote numerous papers for the Committee of Correspondence to the other colonies and to the government in England arguing for political freedom, just as he opposed the Writs of Assistance. Writs of Assistance - Picture of James Otis. This article on James Otis and the Writs of Assistance provides fast facts and information about the early government in Colonial America What were Writs of Assistance?
Navigation Laws. Salutary Neglect. James Otis.
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