Note: The newest installment of The Road to the American Revolution is now live on Substack. Follow the series on Facebook, Instagram, and X to keep up with new essays and join the conversation. An excerpt from the article appears below.

On February 9, 1775, the Parliament of Great Britain declared the province of Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion:

We find, that a part of your Majesty’s subjects in the province of the Massachusetts Bay have proceeded so far to resist the authority of the supreme legislature, that a rebellion at this time actually exists within the said province; and we see, with the utmost concern, that they have been countenanced and encouraged by unlawful combinations and engagements, entered into by your Majesty’s subjects in several of the other colonies, to the injury and oppression of many of their innocent fellow-subjects resident within the kingdom of Great Britain, and the rest of your Majesty’s dominions.

This declaration was soon followed by the New England Restraining Act, which restricted New England’s foreign trade, barred access to the North Atlantic fisheries, and effectively expanded the blockade of Boston to all of Massachusetts.

One Colonel Grant provided a contribution that has not stood the test of time:

Colonel Grant said, he had served in America, and knew the Americans well, was certain they would not fight. They would never dare to face an English army, and did not possess any of the qualifications necessary to make a good soldier; he repeated many of their common place expressions, ridiculed their enthusiasm in matters of religion, and drew a disagreeable picture of their manners and ways of living.

A Colonel Blimp of the eighteenth century! But the debate in Parliament about this declaration included plenty of speakers who didn’t think the colonies really were in rebellion—or, if they were, it was the British government’s fault for provoking the rebellion. Other speakers argued the case for the resolution. It passed by a large majority…

Read the full article here and follow David Randall on X.