Thomas Jefferson wrote a Declaration of Independence which
listed the colonies' grievances against the Crown which reiterated
many of the provisions of the Petition of Right and Bill of
Rights, specifically dispensing with and suspending laws,
maintaining a standing army and quartering troops without
legislative consent, imposing arbitrary taxation, encouraging
illegal prosecutions in strange courts, and corrupting the jury
process. It was adopted on July 4, 1776.
- The Law -
Trade and the economy boomed in time of war, buttressed by the
increased production in the coal, iron, steel, shipbuilding, and
cloth industries. But peace brought depression and much misery,
including the imprisonment of many debtors. When many were
imprisoned, statutes allowed release on certain conditions. After
assets were paid to creditors in proportion to the amounts owed to
them, debtors may be discharged from prison if they owe no party
more than 100 pounds (later no restriction and still later, 50
pounds, and even later, 500 pounds, and in 1772, 1000 pounds, and
in 1774, 2000 pounds) and take an oath that they have less than 10
(20 in 1772) pounds worth of property (including 40s. in money in
1774), because there are so many debtors in prison who were
impoverished by war losses and other misfortunes in trades and
professions and are totally disabled from paying their creditors
and they and their families either starve or are a burden to their
parishes and become an occasion of pestilence and other contagious
diseases.
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