Conciliatory Resolution
peace resolution passed by British Parliament in 1775
The Conciliatory Resolution was a resolution proposed by Lord North and passed by the British Parliament in February 1775, in an attempt to reach a peaceful settlement with the Thirteen Colonies about two months prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. It allowed any colony that agreed to contribute to the public defense, as well as to support civil government and the administration of justice, as approved by the Crown and the two Houses of Parliament, to be exempt from taxation. Taxes for the regulation of commerce would continue to be levied, but their net produce would be returned to the colony. The resolution arrived in the American colonies after war had broken out in Massachusetts, and was rejected by the Continental Congress.
Background
In January 1775, Parliament considered petitions from the colonies in relation to the Coercive Acts, including a petition to the king from the First Continental Congress, and discussed ways to resolve the crisis with the Thirteen Colonies. A proposal by William Pitt to recognize colonial self-government was rejected by the House of Lords. Pitt then moved for the withdrawal of troops from Boston, but that motion was defeated. In February, Pitt presented a plan of conciliation based upon mutual concessions, but this was also rejected. On February 2, despite fierce opposition from some members of Parliament, Massachusetts was declared to be in rebellion. Lord North took the unexpected (for him) role of conciliator for the drafting of a conciliatory resolution which was proposed on February 20, 1775, and dated on February 27.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Conciliatory Resolution” as peace resolution passed by British Parliament in 1775. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as peace resolution passed by British Parliament in 1775. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology, provenance and viewpoint should be read together before a broad social or political interpretation is accepted. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5158704. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1775.
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This entry incorporates text from “Conciliatory Resolution” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.