Massachusetts Provincial Congress, In Provincial Congress, Watertown, May 5, 1775… [Watertown, Mass.: Printed and sold by Benjamin Edes, 1775]. Printed Broadside.

From the Thomas Gage Papers, American Series.

Watertown, May 5, 1775.

WHEREAS the Term for which this present Congress was chose, expires on / the Thirtieth Instant, and the Exigencies of our Public Affairs, render it abso- / lutely necessary for the Safety of this Colony, that a new Congress be elected and convened, / to consider of, and transact the Public Affairs thereof :

Therefore RESOLVED,

THAT it be, and it is hereby recommended to the several Towns and / Districts in this Colony, that they, each of them, do forthwith elect and depute / as many Members, as to them shall seem necessary and expedient, to represent / them in a Provincial Congress to be held at the Meeting-House in Watertown, on / the 31st Day of May Instant, to be chosen by such only as are qualified by Law / to vote for Representatives in the General Assembly, and to be continued by Ad- / journment, as they shall see Cause, until the Expiration of six Months from their / being first convened on the Thirty-first of this Instant May, and no longer ; and / to consult, deliberate, and resolve upon such further Measures as under GOD shall / be effectual to save this People from impending Ruin, and to secure those inesti- / mable liberties, derived to us from our Ancestors, and which it is our Duty to / preserve for Posterity.

JOSEPH WARREN, President P. T. / Attest, SAMUEL FREEMAN, Secr’y P. T.

In PROVINCIAL CONGRESS,

Watertown, May 5, 1775.

WHEREAS his Excellency General Gage, since his Arrival into this Colony, / hath conducted as an Instrument in the Hands of an arbitrary Ministry to enslave / this People; and a Detachment of the Troops under his Command, has of late been by him / ordered to the Town of Concord to destroy the public Stores, deposited in that Place for / the Use of the Colony : And whereas by this clandestine and perfidious Measure, a / Number of respectable Inhabitants of this Colony, without any Provocation given by them, / have been illegally, wantonly, and inhumanly slaughtered by his Troops :

Therefore RESOLVED,

THAT the said General Gage, hath by these and many other Means utterly / disqualified himself to serve this Colony as a Governor, and in every other Capa- / city, and that no Obedience ought in future to be paid by the several Towns and / Districts in this Colony to his Writs, for calling an Assembly, or to his Proclama- / tions, or any other of his Acts or Doings ; but that on the other Hand, he ought / to be considered and guarded against, as an unnatural and inveterate Enemy to / the Country.

JOSEPH WARREN, President P. T. / Attest, SAMUEL FREEMAN, Secr’y P. T.