Town historian Robert Hughes speaks at ceremony. HuntingtonNow photos
Huntington history came to life Friday with a state assemblyman dressed like a colonist, militiamen firing muskets, and a commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the town’s Declaration of Rights in 1774.
Town historian Robert Hughes and others took turns reading parts of the declaration at a ceremony held at the Old Town Hall, which is now a hotel. The readers included State Assemblyman Keith Brown, who dressed in a colonial outfit, including a tri-corner hat.
The town also said that it would form a committee of heritage groups to advise on celebrations of the US Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence in 2026.
Hughes noted that the declaration asserts the rights of colonists as British citizens, and not independence from the empire.
The opening statement of the Huntington declaration is “That every freemans (sic) property is absolutely his own, and no man has a right to take it from him without his consent, expressed by himself or his representatives.”
That statement appears on a plaque on the grounds of the Old Town Hall.
The full declaration reads:
1st That every freemans (sic) property is absolutely his own, and no man has a right to take it from him without his consent, expressed by himself or his representatives.
2nd That therefore all taxes and duties imposed on His Majesties subjects in the American colonies by the authority of Parliament are wholly unconstitutional and a plain violation of the most essential rights of British subjects.
3rd That the act of Parliament lately passed for shutting up the Port of Boston, or any other means or device under color of law, to compel them or any other of His Majestys (sic) American subjects to submit to Parliamentary taxation are subversive of their just and constitutional liberty.
4th That we are of opinion that our brethren of Boston are now suffering in the common cause of British America.
5th That therefore it is the indispensable duty of all colonies to unite in some effectual measures to the repeal of said act and every other act of Parliament whereby they are taxed for raising a revenue.
6th That it is the opinion of this meeting that the most effectual means for obtaining a speedy repeal of said acts will be to break off all commercial intercourse with Great Britain, Ireland and the English West India colonies.
7th And we hereby declare ourselves ready to enter into these or such other measures as shall be agreed upon by a general congress of all the colonies: and we recommend to the general congress to take such measures as shall be most effectatl (sic) to prevent such goods as are at present in America from being raised to an extravagant price.
The Huntington Militia is also planning an encampment with a living history of the period on Sunday at the Arsenal & Huntington Village Green on the corner of Park and Main Street, Huntington. Noon to 4 p.m.
