Requirement for Consent

[Bill of Rights of 1689]

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The remedy provided by the Bill of Rights of 1689 was that taxes could not be levied except: 2

“4. That levying money for or to the use of the crown, by pretence or prerogative, without the grant of parliament, for longer time, on in other manner than the same is or shall be granted, is illegal.”

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Back on the American continent was the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress of 1765. American Colonists objected to 5 the Stamp Act as it imposed taxes on them without their consent. “John Adams denounced the Stamp Act as a violation of 6 Magna Carta .” Perry; Cooper, supra at 10. 7

Various colonial assemblies passed resolutions condemning the Stamp Act. The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first. 8 Four of seven resolutions offered by Patrick Henry were passed including number 1 and number 3 below: 9

“(1) That the first settlers of Virginia brought with them all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities of British subjects; (3) that under the British constitution taxes could be levied only by the people or their

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representatives.”

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Most of the other colonies passed varying degrees of the Henry resolutions. They also called for a congress of 13 representatives to meet in New York and condemn the Stamp Act. Nine of the colonies sent representatives to the congress. 14

“There was little difference of opinion as to the fundamental questions involved... Resolutions 2 thru 8 expressed the constitutional theory of the colonists that all taxation... without the consent of the people's representatives was illegal... 'No nation ought to be taxed against its own consent. England had passed through

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many a year of civil war in defence of the proposition'”

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[Perry; Cooper, supra at 266-7]

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The actual text of the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress of October 19, 1765 stated: 20

“2d. That his majesty's liege subjects in these colonies are entitled to all the inherent rights and privileges of his

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natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain,

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“3d. That it is inseparably essential to the freedom of a people, and the undoubted rights of Englishmen, that no taxes should be imposed on them, but with their own consent, given personally, or by their representatives.”

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Likewise the Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress of 1774 contained similar language about the 25 necessity of consent for taxation. Additionally, Sir William Blackstone wrote in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, 26

“No subject of England can be constrained to pay any aids or taxes, even for the defence of the realm or the support of government, but such as are imposed by his own consent, or that of his representatives in parliament... And as this fundamental law had been shamefully evaded under many succeeding princes, by compulsive loans, and benevolences extorted without a real and voluntary consent, it was made an article in the

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petition of right.”

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[Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England, Book I, p. 140 (1st edition, 1765)]

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This principle was memorialized in the Declaration of Independence. This is one of the great principles upon which the 33 entire system of self-government rests: The consent of the governed must be given to the taxes they must pay. When this 34 principle is not in place, self-government does not exist. Tyranny exists in its place. 35 The Commissioner claims that his authority to collect the tax in the instant case comes from the Sixteenth Amendment. As 36 part of the Constitution, the Sixteenth Amendment must be interpreted using the everyday language and common 37 dictionaries of the time. There are no “words of art” or “terms of art” in the Constitution, as it is We the People who 38 determine what the Constitution means or doesn't mean. We the People don't speak using “words of art.” We the People 39 just use everyday language. Therefore the consent for the scope of the meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment is vested in the 40 People, and that meaning will be plain for anyone to see once the evidence has been examined. 41 An exhaustive review of the Congressional Record during the time of the debates on the Sixteenth Amendment reveals no 42 credible evidence that the members of Congress were contemplating a direct tax on the wages and salaries of the American 43 People. See: 44

Requirement for Consent

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Copyright Sovereignty Education and Defense Ministry, http://sedm.org Form 05.003, Rev. 7-23-2013

EXHIBIT:________