Abstract

For an explicit statement, thirty years before Lexington, of "when it is that colonies may turn independent," one must turn to the work of Francis Hutcheson, a Scottish professor of moral philosophy. That the abuse of power justified resistance was the belief of all Americans who subscribed to the Declaration of 1776. Their situation demanded action. Doctrines, even phrases, which would support and explain their claims, had already been formulated in earlier constitutional crises overseas