Rockport and Manchester Town Meetings Overwhelmingly Pass Resolutions Calling on Congress to Exercise Oversight of The President

On Saturday, April 11, the annual Rockport, Massachusetts, Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly for a resolution that “calls upon the Congress of the United States to exercise its legislative branch authority and oversight powers to provide a check on unlawful or unconstitutional actions by the President of the United States.” The Gloucester Times reported the vote at 140-27.

On the second night of the Manchester By The Sea town meeting on April 28, voters overwhelmingly passed Article 28, a resolution “in support of the Constitution” by a vote of 121 for and 34 against.

The Manchester resolution states “WHEREAS, the actions of President Trump and his administration resemble that of an absolute ruler and tramples on the foundational principles of our Constitution; and WHEREAS, the people of Manchester-by-the-Sea, the proud inheritors of a heritage from the 1770s of standing up to the tyranny of King George, demand democracy and adherence to our Constitution. NOW THEREFORE, we the voting residents of Manchester-by-the-Sea in Town Meeting do hereby resolve that the unconstitutional and unlawful actions of President Trump and his appointees should be condemned.”

The wordings of the town meeting articles in Rockport and Manchester are similar to a resolution on the warrant for the Ipswich Town Meeting on Monday, May 12, 2026.

ARTICLE P, CITIZEN PETITION FOR 2026 ROCKPORT ANNUAL TOWN MEETING
Requested by: Christine Downing

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To see if the Town will adopt the following resolution, viz:

A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING OUR U.S. CONSTITUTION AND THE SEPARATION OF POWERS, AND URGING CONGRESS TO EXERCISE ITS LEGISLATIVE BRANCH AUTHORITY AND OVERSIGHT POWERS TO PROVIDE A CHECK ON UNLAWFUL OR UNCONSTITUTIONAL ACTIONS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

WHEREAS, the U.S. Constitution is the basis for our democratic republic and civil society; and

WHEREAS, the first three articles of the U.S. Constitution establish three separate but coequal branches of government, and this separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judicial branches was designed to ensure a system of checks and balances; and

WHEREAS, President Donald J. Trump and his Administration have shown a blatant disregard for the separation of powers by withholding Congressionally approved funds, dismantling Congressionally created departments and agencies, unilaterally imposing tariffs and duties, deploying military troops on American soil against civilian populations, attempting to deny birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Constitution, ordering investigations of political enemies and unlawfully replacing U.S. Attorneys who fail to carry out said orders, launching military operations against sovereign nations without Congressional consultation or approval, threatening military action against a fellow NATO member in violation of Congressionally approved treaties, and deploying armed federal agents to states without consent or coordination to carry out unnecessarily broad and aggressive immigration enforcement actions that have resulted in the unlawful detention, injury, and death of U.S. citizens exercising their basic Constitutional rights; and

WHEREAS, in the judgment of this assembled Town Meeting, President Trump has repeatedly usurped legislative and judicial branch authority in direct violation of the separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution; and

WHEREAS, as James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper No. 47, “The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny;” and so now therefore;

BE IT RESOLVED: That this duly assembled Town Meeting, as the legislative body of the Town of Rockport, Massachusetts, respectfully calls upon the Congress of the United States to exercise its legislative branch authority and oversight powers to provide a check on unlawful or unconstitutional actions by the President of the United States.

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA TOWN MEETING ARTICLE 28

Resolution in Support of the U.S. Constitution

WHEREAS, July 4, 2026, will be celebrated as the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country, thetownspeople of Manchester of the 1770’s participated in the debates and then the struggle for independence from tyranny.

WHEREAS the warrant of the town meeting in Manchester of January 8, 1775 shows they voted 9 men to a committee of correspondence. That same town meeting raised money for the support of the local Minute Men militia, and then almost 50 in that militia from Manchester marched to Medford to providehelp at Concord in April 1775; of these, 21 men enlisted in the Continental Army and others served onprivateers. Manchester sacrificed for the cause of liberty.

WHEREAS, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts of 1780 is one of the oldest functioning written constitutions in the world and served as a model for the United States Constitution of 1789 and includes key aspects of American governance that are now widely accepted: separation of powers, checks and balances, an independent judiciary, and the Declaration of Rights, free speech, freedom of religion, provisions that protect individuals against state power and that were later reflectedin the U.S. Constitution as the Bill of Rights; and

WHEREAS, as James Madison wrote in Federalist Paper No. 47, “The accumulation of all powers legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny”; and

WHEREAS, in just the first year of his second term, President Trump and his appointees have shown a blatant disregard for the U.S. Constitution by disobeying court rulings, attempting to overturn birthright citizenship, denying foundational civil liberties such as habeas corpus, withholding Congressionally approved funds, closing Congressionally created departments and agencies, unilaterally imposing tariffs, attempting to interfere in state-run elections, deploying the U.S. military on U.S. soil against our own residents, obstructing Congressional oversight of executive departments and agencies, and launching military strikes without the consent or authorization of Congress in violation of the Constitution and the 1973 War Powers Act; and

WHEREAS, President Trump and his appointees have publicly stated and shown that they are targeting Massachusetts residents through aggressive immigration enforcement under the false pretense that our Commonwealth is unsafe due to the presence of immigrants, terminating Temporary Protected Status of our immigrant populations, withholding funds from our public schools, withholding funds from and attempting institution-wide censorship of our world renowned educational, healthcare, and scientific institutions, and threatening military or police interventions to interrupt activities that are plainly protected free speech under the Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the actions of President Trump and his administration resemble that of an absolute ruler and tramples on the foundational principles of our Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the people of Manchester-by-the-Sea, the proud inheritors of a heritage from the 1770’s of standing up to the tyranny of King George, demand democracy and adherence to our Constitution.

NOW THEREFORE, we the voting residents of Manchester-by-the-Sea in Town Meeting do hereby resolve that the unconstitutional and unlawful actions of President Trump and his appointees should be condemned; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the Massachusetts Congressional delegation and our state leaders to continue to exercise their legislative, administrative and legal authorities to enforce the Constitution and to work with the Judicial Branch to restore the separation of powers and all the foundational principles of our Republic.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that members of Town Meeting direct the Town Clerk to cause this resolution to be submitted to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Sen. Edward Markey, U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell.