This act declared in writing the intent of Britain to subordinate the colonies and stated that any law passed in defiance of Parliament was to be considered utterly null and void. This action signified to the colonists Parliament s unresponsiveness to their petitions concerning customary rights and demonstrated the necessity of moving in a different direction for their rights claims. After numerous attempts to redress their grievances by arguing customary rights in appeals to King George III and Parliament,, the colonists shifted their attention from customary rights, moving instead toward a position where their rights claims were based on natural rights. The first colonial activist to discuss natural rights in reference to American and British relations was James Otis. Establishing his arguments on a more solid footing than merely mentioning customary rights, he based them on the laws of nature.
Government is therefore most evidently founded on the necessities of our nature.
It is by no means an arbitrary thing, depending merely on compact or human will for its existence. Written in 1764, his comments on natural laws were somewhat ahead of their time, though he did base his writings on John Locke s tenets. In 1774 Thomas Jefferson wrote a pamphlet entitled A Summary View of the Rights of British America in which he said, . . . Being founded on a natural right, Thomas Jefferson s argument for free trade is much stronger than a similar one would be if it were based upon customary rights, as it was not the custom to allow free trade. Samuel Adams also wrote concerning the natural rights of colonists in 1772.