GEORGE III Declaration of Independence
£1,400
Auction: 1 February 2005 at 11:00 GMT
Description
His Majesty's most gracious speech, to both Houses of Parliament, on Thursday, December 5, 1782 ... pp. 3, verso blank, contained in a red cloth folder, folio, Cork: William Flyn, at the Shakespeare, [1782]
Note: This issue not apparently in the British Library, Nat. Union Cat., or Sabin. George III stood for the principle that Parliament, under his guidance, had the right to legislate for the colonies. The American Revolution of 1775-1781 saw the defeat of the parent state and the separation of the Crown from the American colonies. On 5 December 1782, the king, in his speech on opening parliament, announced that he had offered to declare the American colonies free and independent. ‘Did I,’ he afterwards asked, ‘lower my voice when I came to that part of my speech?’ (Walpole, Journals, ii. 577).