Continental Congress, Declaration and Resolves, 1774 (I.1.1)

Deputies from all of the colonies, except for Georgia, met in Philadelphia in the fall of 1774, issuing a declaration of their resistance to the "intolerable" Coercive Acts. These were essentially a usurpation of the Massachusetts government, a deprivation of criminal justice authority there, and a harsh economic punishment of Boston for the Tea Party. A centralization of the Quebec government and land-grab of the northwestern frontier also was resented by Americans.

This first Continental Congress resolves that the colonists have rights to "life, liberty, and property," and have always had these, since the time of colonization. (It's still "English liberty," not human liberty in this text.) The right to give oneself law is necessary to the other rights, and the colonists therefore resented the Crown's intrusions. The text maintains rights to trial by one's peers and to peaceable assembly and petition of grievances. Infringement of these rights by the Crown is slavery. The Crown's arbitrary imposition of unreasonable taxes (as a means of collecting revenue to satisfy its enormous debt) is intolerable.

The Continental Congress resolved not to import or consume English goods, or to export to England. A Continental Association implemented the enforcement of these resolves at the local level, getting under way by December. The first Continental Congress: a sort of first U.S. government, yet still true to the Crown, the English constitution, and English liberty.