Michael Hattem

Not in this way specifically, but there are some earlier moments that sort of function almost as signposts of a declaration or signposts of independence.

And one of those is a resolution that's passed in May by the Continental Congress, which instructs

provisional assemblies in the various colonies, which had basically taken control from the royal governments, to start the process of creating a constitution for their states and establishing constitutional law and order there.

And so that is as much a signpost of independence as the naming of this committee.

Once Congress issues that kind of resolution to the soon-to-be states,

The writing is on the wall for independence, and it's just a matter of getting all of the moderate delegates to eventually sign on because the vote has to be unanimous.

So the grievances are mostly aimed at either acts of parliament or acts by the ministry.

So like the Board of Trade, the Southern Department for the Board of Trade, which was responsible for administering the North American colonies.

And a lot of it is recapitulating

Things that had happened in the previous 10 years during what we call the imperial crisis, right?

So things like the new taxes, things like the quartering of troops, things like unfair court proceedings and things like that that had happened up in New England with the vice admiralty court.

So there's a lot of specifics in the previous years.

But there's even some stuff that goes back even further.

There is an interesting grievance that is complaining about laws that sought to limit immigration into the colonies, right?

And part of that is what that was is laws were passed that limited some migration from the

The German Palatinets, which had provided large numbers of immigrants to the colonies over the course of the 18th century.

And the colonies had become two and a half million strong, you know, in no small part due to immigration.

And the founders at the convention, you know –

understood that.

And so that was another grievance.