 Greetings to you. My name is Felix. That's all I really know about it. Just Felix. I live here in Boston, but until I am a free man, I truly have no home I may comfortably call my own. Two years ago, it got really ugly here in Boston. Five men, including a fellow black man named Crispus Addix, were killed by some English soldiers. And the cries for independence from the King by these American sons of liberty have gotten even louder. Last year, on March 5th, they commemorated the first anniversary of that bloody massacre with a speech. It was given by a man named James Lovell. I heard it. It was a good speech. Mostly about standing armies being unwarranted, unnecessary and unwelcome here in America. There was also plenty about the Americans claiming their place as English freeholders. But I am not a citizen or a subject. Dr. Joseph Warren is going to give the massacre day speech this year. March 5th, 1772. He is a good man, Dr. Warren. He helps folks, not just those that have money, but he also helps with doctoring the poor, the needy, and even the slaves. I am going to hear what he has to say this year. I heard some rumor that he may take up the cry for American independence from what they call arbitrary English rule. Maybe there will be something in it for me. Friends, Bostonians, Americans, my name is Joseph Warren. When we turn over the historic page and trace the rise and fall of states and empires, the mighty revolutions which have so often varied the face of the world strike our minds and with solemn surprise. And we are naturally led to endeavor to search out the causes of such astonishing changes. That man is formed for social life. It is an observation which, upon our first inquiry, presents itself immediately to our view. And our reason approves that wise and generous principle which actuated the first founders of civil government. An institution which hath its own origin in the weakness of individuals and hath for its end the strength and security of all. And so long as the means of affecting this important end are thoroughly known and religiously attended to, government is one of the richest blessings to mankind and ought to be held with the highest veneration. In young and new formed communities, the grand design of this institution is most generally understood and most strictly regarded. The motives which urge to the social compact cannot be at once forgotten. And that equality which is remembered to have subsisted so lately among them, prevents those who are clothed with authority from attempting to invade the freedom of their brethren. Or if such an attempt is made, it prevents the community from suffering the defender to go unpunished. Every member feels it to be his interest and knows it to be his duty to preserve and violate the constitution on which the public safety defends. It was this noble attachment to a free constitution which raised ancient Rome from the smallest beginnings, to that bright summit of happiness and glory to which she arrived, and it was the loss of this which plunged her from that summit into the black gulf of infamy and slavery. She stands to this day, the scorn and derision of nations, a monument of this eternal truth that public happiness depends on a virtuous and unshaken attachment to a free constitution. It was this attachment to a constitution founded on free and benevolent principles which inspired the first settlers of this country. They saw with grief the daring outrages committed on the free constitution of their native land. They knew nothing but a civil war could at that time restore its pristine purity. So hard was it to resolve to imbrew their hands in the blood of their brethren, that they chose rather to quit their fair possessions and seek another habitation in a distant climb. When they came to this world which they fairly purchased of the Indian natives, the only rightful proprietors, they cultivated the then barren soil by their incessant labor and defended their dear-bought possessions with the fortitude of the Christian and the bravery of the hero. After various struggles, which during the tyrannograms of the House of Stuart, were constantly kept up between right and wrong, between liberty and slavery, the connection between Great Britain and this colony, was settled in the reign of King William and Queen Mary by a compact, the conditions of which were expressed in a charter, by which all the liberties and immunities of the British subjects were confined to this province as fully and as absolutely as they possibly could be by any human instrument which can be devised. And it is undeniably true that the greatest and most important right of a British subject is that he shall be governed by no laws but those to which he either in person or by his representative hath given his consent. And this, I will venture to assert, is the grand basis of British freedom. It is interwoven with this constitution. And whenever this be lost, the constitution must be destroyed. The British constitution, of which ours is a copy, is a happy compound of the three forms, under some of which all governments may be ranged, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Of these three, the British legislature is composed, and without the consent of each branch, nothing can carry with it the force of a law. But when a law is to be passed for raising attacks, that law can only originate in the democratic branch, which is the House of Commons in Britain and the House of Representatives here. The reason is obvious. They and their constituents are to pay much the largest part of it. But as the aristocratic branch, which is in Britain, the House of Lords, and in this province, the council, are also to pay some part, their consent is necessary. And as the monarchic branch, which in Britain is the king, and with us, either the king in person or the governor, who he shall be pleased to appoint to act in his stead, is supposed to have a just sense of his own interests. Which is that of all the subjects in general? His consent is also necessary. And when the consent of these three branches is obtained, the taxation is most certainly legal. Let us now allow ourselves a few moments to examine the late acts of the British parliament for taxing America. Let us with candor judge whether they are constitutionally binding upon us, whether they are in the name of justice. Let us submit to them without murmuring one word. First, I would ask whether the members of the British House of Commons are the democracy of this province. If they are, they are either the people of this province, or are elected by the people of this province to represent them, and have therefore a constitutional right to originate a bill for taxing them. It is most certain that they are neither. And therefore nothing can be said to be done by the democratic branch of our constitution. I would next ask whether the lords who compose the aristocratic branch of the legislature are peers in America. I never heard it was, even in these extraordinary times, so much as pretended. And if they are not, certainly no act of theirs can be said to be the act of the aristocratic branch of our constitution. The power of the monarchic branch, we with pleasure acknowledge, resides in the king who may act either in person or by his representative. I am very much at a loss to know by what figure of rhetoric the inhabitants of this province can be called free subjects. When they are obliged to obey implicitly such laws as are made for them by men 3,000 miles off, whom they know not, and whom they have never empowered to act for them, or how they can be said to have property when a body of men over whom they have not the least control, and whom are not in any way accountable to them, shall oblige them to deliver up any part or the whole of their substance without even asking their consent. And it can be no matter of wonder that the people quickly perceived and seriously complained of the inroads which these acts must unavoidably make upon their liberty, and of the hazard to which their whole property is by them exposed, for if they may be taxed without their consent even in the smallest trifle, they may also, without their consent, be deprived of everything they possess. Contrary to our just rights as possessing, or at least having a just title to possess, all the liberties and immunities of British subjects, a standing army was established among us in a time of peace, and evidently for the purpose of affecting that, which it was one principle design of the founders of the Constitution to prevent, when they declared a standing army in a time of peace to be against law, namely for the enforcement of obedience to acts which, upon fair examination, appeared to be unjust and unconstitutional. The ruinous consequences of standing armies to free communities may be seen in the histories of Syracuse, Rome, and many other once flourishing states, some of which have now scarce a name. Their baneful influence is most suddenly felt when they are placed in populous cities, for by a corruption of morals, the public happiness is immediately affected, and that this is one of the effects of quartering troops in a populous city. Is it true? To which many a mourning parent, many a lost, despairing child in this metropolis must bear a very melancholy testimony. Soldiers are also taught to consider ons as the only arbiters by which every dispute is to be decided between contending states. They are instructed implicitly to obey their commanders without inquiring into the justice of the cause they are engaged to support. Hence, it is that they are ever to be dreaded as the ready engines of tyranny and oppression. We, my fellow citizens, have seen, we have felt the tragical effects. The fatal fifth of March, 1770, can never be forgotten. The horrors of that dreadful night are but too deeply impressed on our hearts. Language is too feeble to paint the emotions of our souls. When our streets were stained with the blood of our brethren, when our ears were wounded by the groans of the dying, and our eyes were tormented with the sight of the mangled bodies of the dead, the immediate actors in the tragedy of that night were surrendered to justice. It is not mine to say how far they were guilty. They have been tried by the country and acquitted of murder. And they are not to be again arraigned at an earthly bar. But surely the men who have promiscuously scattered death amidst the innocent inhabitants of a popular city ought to see well to it that they be prepared to stand at the bar of an omniscient judge. And all who contrived or encouraged the stationing of troops in this place have reasons of eternal importance to reflect with deep contrition on their base designs and humbly to repent of their impious machinations. The infatuation which have seemed for a number of years to prevail in the British councils with regard to us is truly astonishing. What can be proposed by the diminishing of our freedom? I really cannot surmise. Even leaving justice and humanity out of the question, I know not of any gains which can be wrong from us by oppression, which they may not obtain from us by our own consent in the smooth channel of commerce. We wish the wealth and prosperity of Britain. We contribute largely to both. The amazing increase of riches in Britain, the greatest rise of the value of her lands, the flourishing state of her navy, are striking proofs of the advantages derived to her from the commerce with these colonies. And it is our earnest desire that she may still continue to enjoy the same emoluments until her streets are paved with American gold. Only let us have the pleasure of calling it our own whilst it is in our hands. But this it seems is too great a favor. We are to be governed by the absolute commands of others. Our property is to be taken away without our consent. If we complain, our complaints are treated with contempt. If we assert our rights, that assertion is deemed insolent. If we humbly offer to submit the matter to the imperial decision of reason, the sword is judged the most proper argument to son-in-son mirrors. Even in the dissolute reign of King Charles II, the House of Commons impeached the Earl of Clarendon for high treason. The first article on which they founded their accusation was that he had designed a standing army to be raised and to govern the kingdom thereby. And the eighth article was that he had introduced an arbitrary government into His Majesty's plantation. A terrifying example to those who are now forging chains for this country. You have, my friends and countrymen, frustrated the designs of your enemies by your unanimity and fortitude. It was your union and determined spirit which expelled those troops who polluted your streets with innocent blood. You have appointed this anniversary as a standing memorial of the bloody consequences of placing an armed force in a populous city and of your deliverance from the dangers which then seem to hang over your heads. And I am confident that you will never will betray the least one of spirit when called upon to guard your freedom. None but they who set a just value upon the blessings of liberty are worthy to enjoy her. Your illustrious fathers were her zealous votaries. When the blasting frowns of tyranny drove her from public view, they clasped her in their arms. They cherished her in their generous bosoms. They brought her safe over the rough ocean and fixed her seat in this then dreary wilderness. They nursed her infant age with the most tender care for her sake. They patiently bore the severest hardships. And as they left you this glorious legacy, they have undoubtedly transmitted to you some portion of their noble spirit to inspire you with virtue to merit her and courage to preserve her. You surely cannot with such examples before our eyes as every page of the history of this country affords suffer your liberties to be ravished from you by lawless force or cajoled away by flattery and fraud. The voice of your father's blood cries to you from the ground. My sons scorned to be slaves. Stay not the glory of your worthy ancestors, but like them resolve, never to part with your birthright. Be wise in your deliberations and determined in your exertions for the preservation of your liberties. Follow not the dictates of passion, but enlist yourselves under the sacred banner of reason. Use every method in your power to secure your rights. At least prevent the curses of posterity from being heaped upon your memories. If you with united zeal and fortitude oppose the taunt of oppression, if you feel the true fire of patriotism burning in your breasts, if you from your souls despise the most gaudy dress that slavery can wear, if you really prefer the lonely cottage whilst blessed with liberty to gilded palaces surrounded with the ensigns of slavery, you may have the fullest assurance that tyranny with her accursed train will hide their hideous heads in confusion, shame and despair. If you perform your part, you must have the strongest confidence that the same almighty being who protected your pious and venerable fathers, who enabled them to turn a barren wilderness into a fruitful field, who so often made bear his arms for their salvation, will still be mindful of you their offspring. May this almighty being graciously preside in all our councils. May he direct us to such measures as he himself shall approve and be pleased to bless. May we ever be a people favorite of God. May our land be a land of liberty, the seat of virtue, the asylum of the oppressed, a name and a praise in the whole earth until the last shock of time shall bury the empires of the world in one common undistinguished ruin.