1. That it is the Opinion of this House, that the Proprietaries of this Province, after having delegated their Powers of Government, can be justly or legally considered in no other Light than as private Owners of Property, without the least Share or constitutional Power of Legislation whatever. Resolved, N.C.D.

2. That the Obstructions and Delays the Measures of the Crown have so repeatedly met with in this Province, during the late War, were solely owing to Proprietary Instructions, respecting the private Interest of the Proprietaries. Resolved, N.C.D.

3. That all the Mischiefs to the Province, which the Governor mentions in his late Messages, as occasioned by those Obstructions, are therefore chargeable wholly to the Proprietaries. Resolved, N.C.D.

4. That it is high Presumption in any Subject to interfere between the Crown and the People; and by his private Instructions to a Deputy Governor, enforced by penal Bonds, prevent the Crown’s receiving, and the Peoples granting, the Supplies required, and necessary for the Defence of His Majesty’s Province. Resolved, N.C.D.

5. That it has appeared fully to the Assemblies of this Province, on due Enquiry made, that no Injustice has been done the Proprietaries in the Taxation their Estates, and that not the least Cause has been given them to apprehend any such Injustice. Resolved, N.C.D.

6. That the Assemblies of Pennsylvania have, in many Instances, and for a long Course of Years, shewn their affectionate Regard for the Proprietary Family; that Family and its Deputies having received from the mere Benevolence of the People, within these last Forty Years, near Four-score Thousand Pounds. Resolved, N.C.D.

7. That in return for this Goodness of the People of Pennsylvania, the present Proprietaries have, ever since their Accession, been endeavouring to diminish and annihilate the Privileges granted by their Honourable Father, to encourage the Settlement of the Province. Resolved, N.C.D.

8. That from an Attachment to Proprietary Interest, and to increase the Revenue of their Deputies arising from Licenses, the Benevolence of the People in granting the same has been grosly abused, and publick Houses and Dram-shops have been encreased to an Enormous Degree, to the great Corruption of Morals in the Populace, and Scandal of the Government; and that, from the same Causes, reasonable Bills presented to Proprietary Governors, for restraining or preventing this Evil, have been from time to time refused. Resolved, N.C.D.

9. That after Indian Purchases made by the Proprietaries, their causing to be located and surveyed the best Tracts of Land for themselves and their Dependants, to lie waste in great Quantities for a future Market, is the Cause that our Frontiers are so thinly and scatteringly settled, whereby the poor Inhabitants there have been rendered less able to defend themselves, and become a more easy Prey to the small skulking Parties of the Enemy. Resolved, N.C.D.

10. That the Proprietaries having a Monopoly of the Lands of this Province, has enabled them to hold up the vacant unlocated Lands at exorbitant Prices, and the more, as they pay no Quitrent, but a small Acknowledgment only to the Crown, pay no Taxes for those Lands, and are under no Obligation of settling them in any limited Time. Resolved, N.C.D.

11. That their exorbitant Demands in the Price of Lands, have driven many Thousands of Families out of this Province into Maryland, Virginia, North and South-Carolina, where Lands are to be had reasonably; the Frontiers of all those Provinces being chiefly settled with People from Pennsylvania, who likewise carried away with them great Sums of Money, and thereby this Province has been doubly weakened, in the Loss of People to defend it, and of Substance and Improvements taxable towards its Defence. Resolved, N.C.D.

12. That it was therefore the more unreasonable in the Proprietaries to contend as they have done, first, that they should not be taxed at all; then that their Quit-rents should not be taxed; then that their located uncultivated Lands should be exempted; and put the Province to great Expence, in getting those Points decided against them at Home; while their Estate was equally to be defended with others, and the Province, on whom they would throw the Burden, was at the same Time so greatly weakened by Proprietary Avarice only. Resolved, N.C.D.

13. That the present Proprietary Demand, of having the best and most valuable of their located uncultivated Lands, rated and assessed no higher than the worst and least valuable of the Located uncultivated Lands belonging to the Inhabitants, is equally unreasonable and unjust with any of their former Claims. Resolved, N.C.D.

14. That the Proprietaries taking Advantage of Times of public Calamity to extort Privileges from the People, or enforse Claims against them, with the Knife of Savages at their Throat, not permitting them to raise Money for their Defence, unless the Proprietary arbitrary Will and Pleasure is complied with, is a Practice dishonourable, unjust, tyrannical and inhuman. Resolved, N.C.D.

15. That the Proprietaries contending for the Power of appointing Judges during their Pleasure, who are to determine in all Causes between the Proprietaries and their Tenants, the Inhabitants of the Province, is unjust, renders the Liberties and Properties of the Subject precarious, and dependant on the Proprietary Will and Pleasure, and is by no Colour of Reason supportable. Resolved, N.C.D.

16. That the bad Light this Province unhappily stands in with our gracious Sovereign and His Ministers, has been owing to Proprietary Misrepresentations and Calumnies. Resolved, N.C.D.

17. That it is the Opinion of this House, that the late Militia Bill offered to the Governor was equal and just, with regard to the Freemen of the Province, and sufficient for all good Purposes. And that the sole Appointment of the Officers, insisted on by the Governor, however willing the House might be to comply with the same under a Royal Government, would be an Addition to the Proprietary Power, that by no Means can be safely trusted by the People in their Hands. Resolved, N.C.D.

18. That the Fines proposed by the Governor, for Offences in the Militia, are enormously high, and calculated to enslave the good People of this Province. Resolved, N.C.d.

19. That the Power insisted on by the Governor, of marching any Number of the Militia to any Part of the Province, and keeping them there during my Time, at Pleasure, without the Advice and Consent of the Commissioners, who are to pay them, is a Power that may be used so as greatly and unnecessarily to harrass the Freemen of the Province, and cannot safely be trusted in the Hands of a Proprietary Governor. Resolved, N.C.D.

20. That Courts-martial proposed in the Governor’s Amendments to the Militia Bill, to be held by Officers of the sole Appointment of a Proprietary Governor, with the Power of Life and Death over the Inhabitants of the Province, may be used greatly to their Prejudice, as a destructive Engine of Proprietary Power. Resolved, N.C.D.

21. That the House, in the Present Supply Bill, from a dutiful Respect to the Judgment of their Lordships of the Privy Council, and an earnest Desire of promoting His Majesty’s Measures, wisely concerted for the Protection of this Province, have fully complied with the same: And that the Sense in which some of the Articles of their Lordships Report is understood and explained by the Governor, is inconsistent with Reason and Justice, and what therefore their Lordships cannot be supposed ever to have meant or intended. Resolved, N.C.D.

22. That it is the Opinion of this House, that the Governor’s rejecting the said Bill does not arise from its not being conformable to that Report, but because it is not formed agreeable to Proprietary Instructions. Resolved, N.C.D.

23. That the House having fully complied with their Duty to His Majesty, and the good People of this Province, in offering an equitable Supply Bill to the Governor of his Assent, all the Distresses and Mischiefs that shall happen on the Failure of the said Bill, are justly imputable to an undue Influence of the Proprietary Interest and Instructions on the Governor. Resolved, N.C.D.

24. That the sole executive Powers of Government being in the Hands of the Proprietaries, together with the very extensive and growing Power arising naturally from their vast and daily increasing Property, must in future Times, according to the natural Course of human Affairs, render them absolute, and become as dangerous to the Prerogatives of the Crown as to the Liberties of the People. Resolved, N.C.D.

25. That it is therefore the Opinion of this House, that the powers of Government ought, in all good Policy, to be separated from the Power attending that immense Property, and lodged, where only it can be properly and safely lodged, in the Hands of the Crown.

And as all Hope of any Degree of Happiness, under the Proprietary Government, is, in our Opinion, now at an End, Resolved, N.C.D.

26. That this House will adjourn, in order to consult their Constituents, whether an humble Address should be drawn up, and transmitted to His Majesty, praying that he would be graciously pleased to take the People of this Province under His immediate Protection and Government, by compleating the Agreement heretofore made with the first Proprietor for the Sale of the Government to the Crown, or otherwise, as to His Wisdom and Goodness shall seem meet. Ordered, That the foregoing Resolves be made public.