The Declaratory Act is a colloquialism for the American Colonies Act, an item of legislation passed by the British Parliament in 1766 and adopted on the same day the Stamp Act was withdrawn. In its place, the Declaratory Act raised no new taxes, contained no new measures and outlined no new regulations – it was simply an assertion of Britain’s right to govern and legislate for its colonies. The colonial response to this was largely indifferent but many saw the imminent dangers in Parliament claiming the right to pass laws “in all cases whatsoever”.
Stamp Act repealed
The Declaratory Act was linked with the repeal of the widely unpopular Stamp Act. In fact, the Declaratory Act was passed by Parliament on March 18th 1766, the same day the Stamp Act was withdrawn and cast into history.
Parliament’s decision to abolish the stamp tax in America was heavily swayed by testimony given by Benjamin Franklin to the House of Commons in mid-February, a month before the repeal. When quizzed on attitudes to the Stamp Act, Franklin suggested that Americans had no objection to taxes, provided they were raised by their local assemblies:
“I never heard any objection [in America] to the right of laying duties to regulate commerce, but a right to lay internal taxes was never supposed to be in Parliament, as we are not represented there… I know that whenever the subject has occurred in conversation where I have been present, it has appeared to be the opinion of everyone that we could not be taxed in a parliament where we were not represented.”
Many in the Parliament came to the realisation that the Stamp Act – and indeed, any other form of direct taxation – could never be enforced in the colonies. They were uncomfortable with repealing the act, however, because it would represent a surrender of Parliament’s authority to militants in the distant colonies.
The Declaratory Act, initially suggested by William Pitt, was therefore created as a compromise to conservatives and hardliners in the Parliament. The Stamp Act would be repealed – but the Declaratory Act would remind the Americans this did not in any way constitute a surrender or reduction of parliamentary supremacy.
‘In all cases whatsoever’
The text of the Declaratory Act was drafted by Lord Rockingham, then serving the first of his two brief terms as prime minister. He did not make any reference to Parliament’s power to tax, though this was clearly encompassed by the phrase “in all cases whatsoever”.
According to historian John E. Findling, the act “reaffirmed Parliament’s commitment to govern and to tax for the entire empire” and “satisfied the members of Parliament about the legitimacy and reach of their power”. It read in part:
“Several houses of representatives in his Majesty’s colonies and plantations in America , have against law, claimed to themselves the sole and exclusive right of imposing duties and taxes upon his majesty’s subjects in those colonies and plantations; they have passed certain votes, resolutions, and orders derogatory to the legislative authority of parliament. The said colonies and plantations in America have been and are subordinate unto, and dependent upon the imperial crown and parliament of Great Britain; the King and parliament [has] full power and authority to make laws and statutes to bind the colonies and people of America, subjects of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases whatsoever.”
Edmund Burke, always alert to Parliament potentially overreaching its powers, spoke against the draft legislation and its wording. “Declaratory laws have no operation, they are poor things”, Burke observed.
Colonial responses
American responses to the Declaratory Act was largely indifferent. Colonial newspapers printed it in full but most of their commentary was focused on the repeal of the Stamp Act.
A few in America interpreted the Declaratory Act as a face-saving measure, some parliamentary chest-beating to ease the embarrassment having to withdraw a bad policy. John Dickinson described it as “a barren tree that cast a shade over the colonies but [will] yield no fruit”.
Some, however, thought the new legislation a more serious and sinister development. To them, it was not just as a declaration of principle but a statement of intent. Radicals like Samuel Adams suggested it was evidence of Parliament’s intent to further tax the colonies and subordinate the colonial assemblies.
In England, another prominent Whig, John Wilkes, called the Declaratory Act “the fountain from which not only waters of bitterness but rivers of blood have flowed”.
An Irish precedent
Adams and other critics had a precedent to call upon, an earlier piece of British legislation with the same name and passed in relation to Ireland.
Passed in 1719, the Irish Declaratory Act followed a land dispute and a legal standoff between the English and Irish Houses of Lords. Parliament’s response was to pass legislation that gave itself “full power and authority to make laws and statutes… to bind the Kingdom and people of Ireland”, effectively nullifying the Irish legislature.
Some in the colonies thought the 1766 Declaratory Act might be used to subjugate them, as it had been used in Ireland. As time would reveal, they were at least partly correct. Parliament’s self-proclaimed authority to govern “in all cases whatsoever” soon produced more inflammatory legislation, such as the Townshend duties, the Tea Act and the Coercive Acts.
“Repeal of the Stamp Act was thus secured by persuading Parliament that the Americans objected only to internal taxes, and repeal was accompanied by a declaration of Parliament’s authority, which the members interpreted to include the right to tax but which did not specifically state such a right. The Americans were overjoyed at repeal… but they were puzzled by the accompanying Declaratory Act. Was it made on the assumption… that taxation is not included in the legislative power? If ‘in all cases whatsoever’ included taxation, then they were worse off than before.”
Edmund S. Morgan, historian
1. The Declaratory Act was an item of British legislation passed in March 1766. It stated that Parliament had “full power and authority to make laws” for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever”.
2. It was drafted and passed as a compromise to conservatives to secure the repeal of the Stamp Act, which was passed by the Parliament on the same day.
3. The Declaratory Act raised no taxes or duties and imposed no new measures on the colonies. For this reason, the colonial response to it was largely indifferent.
4. Some radicals, however, saw it as an ominous sign of things to come, an expression of parliamentary sovereignty that mirrored an earlier act used to suppress Ireland.
5. As time revealed, the Declaratory Act was no empty boast of parliamentary power – its principles would underpin several more inflammatory acts between 1767 and 1774.
Citation information
Title: ‘The Declaratory Act’
Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn, Steve Thompson
Publisher: Alpha History
URL: https://alphahistory.com/americanrevolution/declaratory-act
Date published: July 15, 2019
Date updated: November 21, 2023
Date accessed: April 18, 2024
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