Why did American colonists have the rights of Englishmen?

Question: Why did American colonists have the rights of Englishmen!?

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The First Continental Congress answered this question very effectively, by pointing out not only their "natural" rights (a la Locke), but the HISTORICAL basis of their rights 'as Englishmen', appealing esp!. to English constitutional history and their own compacts and charters --

See esp!. the following excerpts from their
"Declarations and Resolves" (October 14!. 1774)
http://www!.yale!.edu/lawweb/avalon/resolv!.!.!.

!. !. !. the deputies [of these colonies assembled] !. !. !. do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties, DECLARE,

That the inhabitants of the English colonies in North-America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts, have the following RIGHTS:

Resolved, N!.C!.D!. 1!. That they are entitled to life, liberty and property: and they have never ceded to any foreign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent!.

Resolved, N!.C!.D!. 2!. That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies, were at the time of their emigration from the mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural- born subjects, within the realm of England!.

Resolved, N!.C!.D!. 3!. That by such emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them, as their local and other circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy!.

Resolved, N!.C!.D!. 5!. That the respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law!.

Resolved, N!.C!.D!. 6!. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the English statutes, as existed at the time of their colonization; and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circumstances!.

Resolved, N!.C!.D!. 7!. That these, his Majesty's colonies, are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws!.

(The following letters of the First Continental Congress are all posted at:
http://www!.ushistory!.org/declaration/rel!.!.!.

At about the same time, they made the following argument in an "Address to the British People" (penned by John Jay):

"Be not surprised, therefore, that we, who are descended from the same common ancestors, that we, whose forefathers participated in all the rights, the liberties, and the constitution you so justly boast of, and who have carefully conveyed the same fair inheritance to us, guaranteed by the plighted faith of government and the most solemn compacts with British sovereigns, should refuse to surrender them to men who found their claims on no principles of reason, and who prosecute them with a design that, by having our lives and property in their power, they may with the greater facility enslave you!."

And to the King himself they wrote (John Adams drafted):

"Had our Creator been pleased to give us existence in a land of slavery, the sense of our condition might have been mitigated by ignorance and habit!. But, thanks be to his adorable goodness, we were born the heirs of freedom, and ever enjoyed our right under the auspices of your royal ancestors, whose family was seated on the throne to rescue and secure a pious and gallant nation from the popery and despotism of a superstitious and inexorable tyrant!. Your majesty, we are confident, justly rejoices that your our title to the crown is thus founded on the title of your people to liberty; and, therefore, we doubt not but your royal wisdom must approve the sensibility that teaches your subjects anxiously to guard the blessing they received from divine Providence, and thereby to prove the performance of that compact which elevated the illustrious house of Brunswick to the imperial dignity it now possesses!."

_________

One other argument!. It is often asserted that the colonists were not contributing enough to their own defense (part of what the new taxes after the French & Indian War were about), and that this was the central problem between them and Britain!. But the founders assert something different, even (or especially!) about the Massachusetts Bay Colony which was considered to have caused particular trouble to the crown!. In a letter to the Anglo-American colonies they note:

Governor Bernard thus addresses the two Houses of Assembly in his speech on the 24th of April, 1762: "The unanimity and dispatch with which you have complied with the requisitions of his majesty require my particular acknowledgment, and it gives me additional pleasure to observe that you have therein acted under no other influence than a due sense of your duty, both as members of a general empire and as the body of a particular province!."

In another speech, on the 27th of May in the same year, he says, " Whatever shall be the event of the war, it must be no small satisfaction to us that this province hath contributed its full share to the support of it!. Every thing that hath been required of it hath been complied with; and the execution of the powers committed to me for raising the provincial troops hath been as full and complete as the grant of them!. Never before were regiments so easily levied, so well composed, and so early in the field as they have been this year: the common people seem to be animated with the spirit of the General Court, and to vie with them in their readiness to serve the king!."

Such was the conduct of the people of the Massachusetts Bay during the last war!. As to their behavior before that period, it ought not to have been forgot in Great at Britain that not only on every occasion they had constantly and cheerfully complied with the frequent royal requisitions, but that chiefly by their vigorous efforts Nova Scotia was subdued in 1710, and Louisbourg in 1745!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They were subjects of the Crown but, they were also considered as tenants on Royal Grants!. A situation that the Colonists did not accept at all!. In the 18th century, it was permissible for grant holders to conduct their disposition of the grant as a royal in that they granted limited rights to the tenants much as a Lord granted limited rights to the tenants on his property!. If and when they decided to change the utilization of the land, they could legally evict the tenants except when they had sold or made binding agreements to occupy a section of land!.

The Colonists considered themselves first and foremost, citizens of the realm and subjects of the King!. Few if any believed that they were in anyway indebted to the grantor's!. Parliament did not agree and this became a point of friction!. When German George came to the throne, the disagreement became vehement!. When Parliament!. with the concurrence of the king, ruled that the Colonists had no redress and therefore no representation, war was just matter of process!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Due to the fact that they were brought to America by the English in search of new land, they themselves were in fact English there for they were technically still under the control of the British state as there job was to claim new lands in the name of the queen, hence state names such as "Maryland "!.
As they were still British "citizens" per say, then they still aboded by English laws and consequently had Englishmens' rights!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Most of the American colonists considered themselves still part of the English Empire and subjects loyal to the King!. But they were surprised when they were being taxed and yet didn't receive representation in Parliament!. Their property was seized and they even at times had to provide living quarters and food for English soldiers without compensation!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

They were considered Englishman, citizens of the crown but they did not have all the same rights such as representation in Parliament!.

They were living in England's colonies where the majority saw themselves as loyal subjects of the crown even when the trouble started over taxation and self government!. They had been pretty much left to govern themselves for 150 years!.Www@QuestionHome@Com