We’re celebrating Lebanon County’s role in American history. Read more here.
On June 25, 1774, seven of Lebanon Township’s most prominent citizens gathered in the home of Capt. Philip Greenawalt and created a remarkable document.
The six-point Lebanon Resolves came a year before shots broke out at Lexington and Concord, more than two years before America declared its independence.
The British Parliament had been busy that spring of 1774 passing the Coercive Acts, also called the Intolerable Acts. Crown forces had closed the port of Boston and quartered troops in private properties.
As Lebanon County Historical Society archivist Shane Keenan noted in a lecture earlier this year, the Lebanon Resolves is an early mark of unifying the colonies.
The authors – Philip Greenawalt, Thomas Clark, Michael Ley, Killian Long, Curtis Grubb, John Light, and John Philip De Haas – referred to themselves as “loyal subjects of Great Britain” and also declared their support for a “Congress of Deputies,” which would later become the First Continental Congress.
Other townships across what was then Lancaster County were busy that month passing their own resolves, the first being Hanover on June 4, 1774.
Middletown was next on June 8, followed by Lebanon, and then Lancaster on July 9.
The status of the original document is unknown; the Lebanon Daily News produced replicas for the bicentennial in 1976.
Find the full text below.
The Lebanon Resolves
At a meeting of the inhabitants of Lebanon and the adjoining townships, on Saturday, 25th of June, 1774, holden at the house of Capt. Greenawalt, whereof Major John Philip De Haas was chairman, to take into serious consideration the state of public affairs, it was unanimously declared and resolved:
1st. That the late act of the British Parliament, by which the port of Boston is shut up, is an act oppressive to the people of that city and subversive of the rights of the inhabitants of America.
2d. That while we profess to be loyal subjects of Great Britain, we shall not submit to unjust and iniquitous laws, as we are not slaves, but freemen.
3d. That we are in favor of a Congress of Deputies who will act in behalf of the people for obtaining a redress of grievances.
4th. That we will unite with the inhabitants of other portions of our country in such measurers as will preserve to us our rights and our liberties.
5th. That our countrymen of the city of Boston have our sincerest sympathy, that their cause is the common cause of America.
6th. That Messrs. Philip Greenawalt, Thomas Clark, Michael Ley, Killian Long, and Curtis Grubb be a committee to collect contributions for our suffering brethren.
John Light,
Secretary
J. P. DeHaas,
Chairman
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