Farmingdale Local History: 250th Anniversary - Declaration of Independence

DECLARATION SIGNED BY SUNDRY INHABITANTS OF QUEEN' S COUNTY, NEW-YORK.

January 19, 1776.

Whereas, we, the subscribers, inhabitants of Queen' s County, on Long-Island, in the Province of New-York, have given great uneasiness to the good people of the neighbouring Provinces and the Continent in general, by our not choosing a Committee agreeable to the orders of the Continental Congress, by our not paying that attention to the directions of our Provincial Congress, which we ought to have done, and by our opposing the General Instructions of the Continental Congress in almost all our conduct and actions. Therefore, (in order to relieve the minds of the virtuous inhabitants of America, and those of this County in particular, engaged in the common cause,) we, the subscribers, do most solemnly and sincerely promise, that we will, hereafter, in all cases, implicitly obey all orders and instructions enjoined on us by our Provincial and Continental Congresses, that we will act in conjunction with the inhabitants of this and the neighbouring Provinces, in the defence of American liberty, that we never will take up arms against the Americans, and that we will not, directly or indirectly, countenance, aid, assist, or by any means join with, any of His Majesty' s troops in the present contest between Great Britain and America. Given under our hands, this 19th day of January, 1776.