b. An Association against the Stamp Act in a Virginia County, 1766

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1761-1765, lxxii. These Resolutions were drawn by Richard Henry Lee.

[County] resolutions passed at Leedstown, on the 27th day of February 1766:

... We, who subscribe this paper, have associated, and do bind ourselves to each other, to God, and to our country, by the firmest ties that religion and virtue can frame, most sacredly and punctually to stand by, and with our lives and fortunes, to support, maintain, and defend each other in the observance and execution of these following articles....

Thirdly. As the Stamp Act does absolutely direct the property of the people to be taken from them without their consent expressed by their representatives, and as in many cases it deprives the British American subject of his right to trial by jury; we do determine, at every hazard, and, paying no regard to danger or to death, we will exert every faculty, to prevent the execution of the said Stamp Act in any instance whatsoever within this Colony. And every abandoned wretch, who shall be so lost to virtue and public good, as wickedly to contribute to the introduction or fixture of the Stamp Act in this Colony, by using stampt paper, or by any other means, we will, with the utmost expedition, convince all such profligates that immediate danger shall attend their prostitute purpose.

Fourthly. That the last article may most surely and effectually be executed, we engage to each other, that whenever it shall be known to any of this association, that any person is so conducting himself as to favor the introduction of the Stamp Act, that immediate notice shall be given to as many of the association as possible; and that every individual so informed, shall, with expedition, repair to a place of meeting to be appointed as near the scene of action as may be....

Sixthly. If any attempt shall be made on the liberty or property of any associator for any action or thing to be done in consequence of this engagement, we do most solemnly bind ourselves by the sacred engagements above entered into, at the utmost risk of our lives and fortunes, to restore such associate to his liberty, and to protect him in the enjoyment of his property....

[One hundred and fifteen names are signed,—among them, a Washington and six Lees.]

c. Resignation of Stamp Distributor in Virginia, 1765 (Letter of the Governor to the Lords of Trade)

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1762-1765, lxviii-lxxi.

Williamsburg Nov. 3d 1765.

My Lords,

The present unhappy state of this Colony, will, to my great concern, oblige me to trouble Your Lordships with a long and very disagreeable letter. We were for some time in almost daily expectations of the arrival of Colonel Mercer with the Stamps for the use of this Colony, and rumours were industriously thrown out that at the time of the General Court parties would come down from most parts of the country to seize on and destroy all Stamped Papers....

Very unluckily, Colonel Mercer arrived at the time this town was the fullest of Strangers. On Wednesday the 30th October he came up to town. I then thought proper to go to the Coffee house ... that I might be an eye witness of what did really pass, and not receive it by relation from others. The mercantile people were all assembled as usual. The first word I heard was "One and all"; upon which, as at a word agreed on before between themselves, they all quitted the place to find Colonel Mercer at his Father's lodgings where it was known he was. This concourse of people I should call a mob, did I not know that it was chiefly if not altogether composed of gentlemen of property in the Colony, some of them at the head of their respective Counties, and the merchants of the country, whether English, Scotch or Virginian; for few absented themselves. They met Colonel Mercer on the way, just at the Capitol: there they stopped and demanded of him an answer whether he would resign or act in this office as Distributor of the Stamps. He said it was an affair of great moment to him; he must consult his friends; and promised to give them an answer at 10 o'clock on Friday morning at that place. This did not satisfy them; and they followed him to the Coffee house, in the porch of which I had seated myself with many of the Council and the Speaker, who had posted himself between the crowd and myself. We all received him with the greatest marks of welcome; with which, if one may be allowed to judge by their countenances, they [the "mob"] were not well pleased, tho' they remained quiet and were silent. Now and then a voice was heard from the crowd that Friday was too late; the Act would take place, they would have an answer tomorrow. Several messages were brought to Mr. Mercer by the leading men of the crowd, to whom he constantly answered he had already given an answer and he would have no other extorted from him. After some little time a cry was heard, "let us rush in." Upon this we that were at the top of the [steps], knowing the advantage our situation gave us to repell those who should attempt to mount them, advanced to the edge of the Steps, of which number I was one. I immediately heard a cry, "See the Governor, take care of him." Those who before were pushing up the steps, immediately fell back, and left a small space between me and them. If your Lordships will not accuse me of vanity I would say that I believe this to be partly owing to the respect they bore to my character and partly to the love they bore to my person. After much entreaty of some of his friends, Mr. Mercer was, against his own inclination, prevailed upon to promise them an answer at the Capitol the next evening at five. The crowd did not yet disperse; it was growing dark, and I did not think it safe to have to leave Mr. Mercer behind me, so I again advanced to the edge of the steps and said aloud I believed no man there would do me any hurt, and turned to Mr. Mercer and told him if he would walk with me through the people I believed I could conduct him safe to my house; and we accordingly walked side by side through the thickest of the people, who did not molest us, tho' there was some little murmurs. By me thus taking him under my protection, I believe I saved him from being insulted at least. When we got home we had much discourse on the subject. ... He left me that night in a state of uncertainty what part he should act.

Accordingly Mr. Mercer appeared at the Capitol at 5, as he had promised. The number of people assembled there was much increased, by messengers having been sent into the neighborhood for that purpose. Colonel Mercer then read to them the answer which is printed in the Supplement of the Gazette, of which I enclose your Lordships a copy, to which I beg leave to refer.[118]...

[Mercer offered to resign his commission to the governor—who refused to accept the resignation.] If I accepted the resignation, I must appoint another, and I was well convinced I could not find one to accept of it, in those circumstances, which would render the office cheap. Besides if I left Mr. Mercer in possession of the place he would be always ready to distribute the Stamped papers, whenever peoples eyes should be opened and they should come to their senses, so as to receive them....

Francis Fauquier.

Colonel Mercer has informed me that he proposes to apply to the Commanders of His Majesty's ships of War, to take the Stamped Papers on board their ships for His Majesty's, service: it being the place of the greatest if not the only security for them: for I am convinced, as well as himself, that it would be extremely dangerous to attempt to land them during the present fermented state of the Colony. If these Gentlemen should refuse to take charge of them, and Mr. Mercer should apply to me, I will do my duty to His Majesty and save them from being destroyed, to the best of my power, tho' I can by no means answer for the success of my endeavors....

I am with the greatest respect and esteem, my Lords

Your Lordships most obedient and devoted Servant.

Francis Fauquier.

d. Terrorizing the Respecters of the Law in New Jersey

The New York Gazette or Weekly Post Boy, February 27, 1766; reproduced in New Jersey Archives, First Series, XXV, 38.

A large Gallows was erected in Elizabeth-Town last Week, with a Rope ready fixed thereto; and the Inhabitants there vow and declare that the first Person that either distributes and [or] takes out [i.e., uses] Stamped Paper, shall be hung thereon without Judge or Jury.

121. Origin of the Virginia Non-importation Agreement

a. Protest of the Burgesses against the Proposal of the English Government to send Americans, accused of Treason, to England for Trial.

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1766-1769, 212-218.

Tuesday, the 16th of May. 9 Geo. III. 1769.

... The Order of the Day being read, for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to consider of the present State of the Colony;

Ordered, That ... one other Statute made in the Thirty-fifth Year of the same King's Reign [Henry VIII], entituled, An Act for the Trial of Treasons committed out of the King's Dominions, be referred to the said Committee.

Then the House resolved itself into the said Committee.

Mr. Speaker left the Chair.

Mr. Blair took the Chair of the Committee.

Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair.

Mr. Blair reported, from the Committee, that they had come to several Resolutions; which he read in his Place, and afterwards delivered in at the Clerk's Table, where the same were read, and are as followeth, viz.

[Resolutions I and II repeat familiar clauses as to right of taxation only by the Virginia Assembly, and as to right of petition for redress of grievances.]

[III] Resolved, That it is the Opinion of this committee, that all Trials for Treason, Misprison of Treason, or for any Felony or Crime whatsoever, committed and done in this his Majesty's said Colony and Dominion, by any Person or Persons residing therein, ought of Right to be had, and conducted in and before his Majesty's Courts, held within the said Colony, according to the fixed and known Course of Proceeding; and that the seizing any Person or Persons, residing in this Colony, suspected of any Crime whatsoever, committed therein, and sending such Person, or Persons, to Places beyond the Sea, to be tried, is highly Derogatory of the Rights of British Subjects; as thereby the inestimable Privilege of being tried by a Jury from a Vicinage as well as the Liberty of summoning and producing Witnesses on such Trial, will be taken away from the Party accused....

[A fourth resolution declared the purpose of memorializing King George upon the matter of the third resolution.]

The said Resolutions being severally read a second Time;

Resolved, Nemine Contradicente,

That this House doth agree with the Committee in the said Resolutions.

Resolved, That this House will, To-morrow, resolve itself into a Committee of the whole House, to consider further of the present State of the Colony.

Ordered, That the Speaker of this House do transmit without Delay, to the Speakers of the several Houses of Assembly, on this Continent, a Copy of the Resolutions now agreed to by this House, requesting their Concurrence therein.

Ordered, That a Committee be appointed to draw up an Address, to be presented to his Majesty, upon the fourth Resolution of the Committee of the whole House, this Day reported, and agreed to by the House.

Wednesday, the 17th of May. 9 Geo. III. 1769.

Ordered, That the Resolutions of the Committee of the whole House, Yesterday reported to the House, and by them agreed to, be printed in the Virginia Gazette.

[Mr. Blair, previously appointed to draft an address to the King, read the address, as follows.]

When we consider, that by the established Laws and Constitution of this Colony, the most ample Provision is made for apprehending and punishing all those who shall dare to engage in any treasonable Practices against your Majesty, or disturb the Tranquility of Government, we cannot, without Horror, think of the new, unusual, and permit us, with all Humility, to add, unconstitutional and illegal Mode, recommended to your Majesty, of seizing and carrying beyond the Sea, the Inhabitants of America, suspected of any Crime; and of trying such Persons in any other Manner than by the ancient and long established Course of Proceeding: For how truly deplorable must be the Case of a wretched American, who, having incurred the Displeasure of any one in Power, is dragged from his native Home, and his dearest domestick Connections, thrown into Prison, not to await his Trial before a Court, Jury, or Judges, from a Knowledge of whom he is encouraged to hope for speedy Justice; but to exchange his Imprisonment in his own Country, for Fetters amongst Strangers? Conveyed to a distant Land, where no Friend, no Relation, will alleviate his Distresses, or minister to his Necessities; and where no Witness can be found to testify his Innocence; shunned by the reputable and honest, and consigned to the Society and Converse of the wretched and the abandoned; he can only pray that he may soon end his Misery with his Life....

The said Address being read a second Time;

Resolved, Nemine Contradicente,

That the House doth agree with the Committee, in the said Address, to be presented to his Majesty.

Ordered, That Mr. Speaker do transmit the said Address to the Agent for this Colony, with Directions to cause the same to be presented to his Most Excellent Majesty; and afterwards to be printed and published in the English Papers.

A Message from the Governor, by Mr. Walthoe:

"Mr. Speaker, the Governor commands the immediate Attendance of your House in the Council Chamber."

Accordingly, Mr. Speaker, with the House, went up to attend the Governor in the Council Chamber; where his Excellency was pleased to say to them:

"Mr. Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses, I have heard of your Resolves and augur ill of their Effect: You have made it my Duty to dissolve you; and you are dissolved accordingly."

b. Association of the Ex-Burgesses, May 18, 1769

Journals of House of Burgesses, 1766-1769, xxxix ff.

"The late representatives of the people" then judging it necessary that some action should be taken to relieve their "distressed situation, and for preserving the true and essential interests of the Colony, resolved upon a meeting" and at once repaired to the house of Mr. Anthony Hay, when it was proposed that such matters as demanded attention might be considered. This body, according to adjournment, met next day and continued its session. The minutes of both meetings, not being included in the regular Journals of the House of Burgesses, were ordered by the Burgesses to be printed, as follows.

Williamsburg Wednesday, the 17th May. 1769.

About 12 o'Clock his Excellency the Governor was pleased, by his Messenger, to command the Attendance of the House of Burgesses in the Council Chamber, whereupon, in Obedience to his Lordship's Command, the House, with their Speaker, immediately waited upon his Excellency, when he thought fit to dissolve the General Assembly.

The late Representatives of the People then judging it necessary that some Measures should be taken in their distressed Situation, for preserving the true and essential Interests of the Colony, resolved upon a Meeting for that very salutary Purpose, and therefore, immediately, with the greatest Order and Decorum, repaired to the House of Mr. Anthony Hay in this City, where being assembled, it was first proposed, for the more decent and regular Discussion of such Matters as might be taken into Consideration, that a Moderator should be appointed, and, on the Question being put, Peyton Randolph, Esq; late Speaker of the House of Burgesses, was unanimously elected.

The true state of the Colony, being then opened and fully explained, and it being proposed that a regular Association should be formed, a Committee was appointed to prepare the necessary and most proper Regulations for that Purpose, and they were ordered to make their Report to the General Meeting the next Day at 10 o'clock.

Thursday. May 18.

At a farther Meeting, according to Adjournment, the Committee appointed Yesterday, made their Report, which being read, seriously considered and approved, was signed by a great Number of the Principal Gentlemen of the Colony then present, and is as follows:

We his Majesty's most dutiful Subjects, the late Representatives of all the Freeholders of the Colony of Virginia, avowing our inviolable and unshaken Fidelity and Loyalty to our most gracious Sovereign, our Affection for all our Fellow Subjects of Great Britain protesting against every Act or Thing which may have the most distant Tendancy to interrupt, or in any wise disturb his Majesty's Peace, and the good Order of his Government in this Colony, which we are resolved, at the Risque of our Lives and Fortune, to maintain and defend; but at the same Time, being deeply affected with the Grievances and Distresses with which his Majesty's American Subjects are oppressed, and dreading the Evils which threaten the ruin of ourselves and our posterity, by reducing us from a free and happy People, to a wretched and miserable State of Slavery; and having taken into our most serious Consideration the present State of the Trade of this Colony, and of the American Commerce in general, observe with Anxiety, that the Debt due Great Britain for Goods imported from thence is very great, and that the Means of paying this Debt, in the present Situation of Affairs, are likely to become more and more precarious; that the Difficulties, under which we now labour, are owing to Restrictions, Prohibitions, and ill advised Regulations in several late Acts of Parliament of Great Britain; in particular, that the late unconstitutional Act, imposing Duties on Tea, Paper, Glass, etc., for the sole Purpose of raising a Revenue in America, is injurious to Property; and destructive to Liberty, hath a necessary Tendency to prevent the Payment of the Debt due from this Colony to Great Britain, and is, of Consequence, ruinous to Trade; that, notwithstanding the many earnest Applications already made, there is little reason to expect a Redress of those Grievances: Therefore, in Justice to ourselves and our Posterity, as well as to the Traders of Great Britain concerned in the American Commerce, we, the Subscribers, have voluntarily and unanimously entered into the following Resolutions, in Hopes that our Example will induce the good People of this Colony to be frugal in the Use and Consumption of British Manufactures, and that the Merchants and Manufacturers of Great Britain may, from Motives of Interest, Friendship, and Justice, be engaged to exert themselves to obtain for us a Redress of those Grievances, under which the Trade and Inhabitants of America at present labour: We do therefore most earnestly recommend this our Association to the serious inhabitants of this Colony, in Hopes, that they will very readily and cordially accede thereto.

First, It is UNANIMOUSLY agreed on and resolved this 18th day of May, 1769, that the Subscribers, as well by their own Example, as all other legal Ways and Means in their Power, will promote and encourage Industry and Frugality, and discourage all Manner of Luxury and Extravagance.

Secondly, That they will not at any Time hereafter, directly or indirectly import, or cause to be imported, any Manner of Goods, Merchandise, or Manufactures, which are, or shall thereafter be taxed by Act of Parliament, for the Purpose of raising a Revenue in America (except Paper, not exceeding Eight Shillings Sterling per Reem, and except such Articles only, as Orders have been already sent for) nor purchase any such after the First Day of September next, of any Person whatsoever, but that they will always consider such Taxation, in every Respect, as an absolute Prohibition, and in all future Orders, direct their Correspondents to ship them no Goods whatever, taxed as aforesaid, except as is above excepted. ...[119]

[Present 89 members.]

The business being finished, the following TOASTS were drank, and Gentlemen retired.

The KING,

The QUEEN and ROYAL FAMILY,

His Excellency Lord BOTETOURT [the Governor], and Prosperity to VIRGINIA.

The speedy and lasting Union between Great Britain and her Colonies.

The constitutional British Liberty in America, and all true Patriots, the Supporters thereof....

122. The Origin of Massachusetts Town-Committees of Correspondence, 1772

Boston Town Records, 1770-1777 (Report of the Record Commissioners, 1887), pp. 90-93.

A Boston town meeting of October 28 had been concerned with the report that "Stipends are affixed by order of the Crown to the offices of the Judges of Superior Court." This action had been taken by the British government to render the judges independent of the Assembly and of public opinion in Massachusetts. The meeting had voted that "a decent ... Application" be made to the governor asking for information as to the truth of the report. The Governor's refusal appears in the first part of the document. This crisis, and the refusal of Governor Hutchinson (below) to permit the Assembly to meet, brought about the organization of committees of correspondence. Cf. American History and Government, § 140.

Fryday October 30, 10 O'Clock Before Noon, Met according to Adjournment.

The Committee to present the Governor an Address Reported the following answer which his Excellency delivered to them in Writing—Viz—

Gentlemen

It is by no means proper for me to lay before the Inhabitants of any Town whatsoever in consequence of their Votes and Proceedings in a Town Meeting any part of my Correspondence as Governor of this Province or to acquaint them whether I have or have not received any advice relating to the public Affairs of the Government. This reason alone if your Address to me had been in other respects unexceptionable, would have been sufficient to restrain me from complying with your desire—

I shall always be ready to gratify the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston upon every regular Application to me on business of public concernment to the Town as far as I shall have it in my power consistent with fidelity to the trust which his Majesty has reposed in me—

T. Hutchinson.

The aforegoing answer, having been considered—It was moved and the Question put—Whether application shall be now made to his Excellency by the Town that he would be pleased to permit the General Assembly to meet at the time to which they stand prorogued, which passed in the Affermative Nem Con.—It was then Voted, that

The Honorable James Otis, Esq.

Mr. Samuel Adams

The Honorable Thomas Cushing, Esq.

be a Committee to prepare a Petition to his Excellency for the purpose aforesaid—

The Petition of a number of the Inhabitants—"That another public School may be Established at the South part of the Town," was read, and after debate had thereon—the Question was put—Whether the Consideration of the same shall be referred to March Meeting—Passed in the affermative.

The Committee appointed by the Town at a late Meeting to consider what was proper to be done to prevent the ruin of Beacon Hill, were desired to make Report as soon as may be.

Voted, that the Town Clerk be directed to lay the Original Grant of Beacon Hill before the Town at their adjournment.

Upon a Motion made—Voted, that the Selectmen be added to the Committee relative to Beacon Hill—

The Committee chosen to prepare a Petition to the Governor, relative to the Meeting of the General Court—Reported the following Draft—Viz—

The Petition of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of Boston legally Assembled by Adjournment in Faneuil Hall on Fryday 30 of October 1772—

Humbly Sheweth—

That your Petitioners are still greatly alarmed at the Report which has been prevalent of late Viz. That Stipends are affixed to the Offices of the Judges of the Superior Court of Judicature of this Province by Order of the Crown for their support—

Such an Establishment is contrary not only to the plain and obvious sense of the Charter of this Province but also some of the fundamental Principles of the Common Law, to the benefit of which all British Subjects, wherever dispersed throughout the British Empire, are indubitably entitled—...

It is therefore their earnest and humble request that your Excellency would be pleased to allow the General Assembly to meet at the time to which they now stand prorogued; in order that in that Constitutional Body, with whom it is to enquire into Grievances and Redress them, the Joint Wisdom of the Province may be employed, in deliberating and determining on a matter so important and alarming—

The Town having considered the foregoing Draft of a Petition to Governor Hutchinson—It was Voted, that the same be accepted, Nem. Con. Also Voted, that [seven names] be a Committee to present the Petition to his Excellency—

Voted, that this Meeting be Adjourned to Monday next 3. O'Clock P.M.

Monday November 2d 3. O'Clock P.M. Met According to Adjournment.

The Committee appointed to present a Petition To his Excellency the Governor of this Province, Reported and laid before the Town the following Reply which his Excellency had been pleased to deliver them in writing—Viz. [A firm claim that the town-meeting was meddling with matters that were beyond its province, and a refusal to call the Assembly.]

The foregoing Reply having been read several times and duly considered; it was moved and the Question accordingly put Whether the same be satisfactory to the Town; which passed in the Negative Nem. Con. And thereupon—

Resolved as the Opinion of the Inhabitants of this Town that they have ever had, and ought to have, a right to Petition the King or his Representatives for the Redress of such Grievances as they feel or for preventing of such as they have reason to apprehend, and to communicate their Sentiment to other Towns.

It was then moved by Mr. Samuel Adams, That a Committee of Correspondence be appointed to consist of twenty-one Persons—to state the Rights of the Colonists and of this Province in particular, as Men, as Christians, and as Subjects; to communicate and publish the same to the several Towns in this Province and to the World as the sense of this Town, with the Infringements and Violations thereof that have been, or from time to time may be made—Also requesting of each Town a free communication of their Sentiments on this Subject—And the Question being accordingly put—Passed in the Affermative. Nem. Con.—Also Voted, that [a list headed with the names of Samuel Adams, James Otis, and Joseph Warren] be and hereby are appointed a Committee for the purpose aforesaid, and that they be desired to Report to the Town as soon as may be—....

Then the Meeting was dissolved.

123. Creation of Standing Intercolonial Committees of Correspondence, 1773

This was the most important step in America between the Stamp Act Congress and the First Continental Congress. Cf. American History and Government, § 140.

a. Jefferson's Account of the Origin of the Movement (written at a Later Date)

Ford's Writings of Jefferson, I is, 7, 8.

Not thinking our old and leading members up to the point of forwardness and zeal which the times required, Mr. Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Francis L. Lee, Mr. Carr and myself agreed to meet in the evening in a private room of the Raleigh, to consult on the state of things. There may have been a member or two more whom I do not recollect. We were all sensible that the most urgent of all measures was that of coming to an understanding with all the other colonies, to consider the British claims as a common cause to all, and to produce a unity of action; and for this purpose that a committee of correspondence in each colony would be the best instrument for intercommunication; and that their first measure would probably be, to propose a meeting of deputies from every colony, at some central place, who should be charged with the direction of the measures which should be taken by all. We therefore drew up the resolutions. The consulting members proposed to me to move them, but I urged that it should be done by Mr. Carr, my friend and brother in law, then a member, to whom I wished an opportunity should be given of making known to the house his great worth and talents. It was so agreed; he moved them. They were agreed to nem. con., and a committee of correspondence appointed, of whom Peyton Randolph, the Speaker, was chairman.

b. The Action, of the Virginia Burgesses

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1775-1776, 26-28.

Friday, the 12th of March, 13 Geo. III. 1773.

The House resolved itself into a Committee of the whole House, upon the State of the Colony.

Mr. Speaker left the chair.

Mr. Bland took the Chair of the Committee.

Mr. Speaker resumed the Chair.

Mr. Bland reported from the Committee, that they had directed him to make the following Report to the House, viz.[120]

Whereas, the minds of his Majesty's faithful Subjects in this Colony have been disturbed, by various Rumours and Reports of proceedings tending to deprive them of their ancient, legal and constitutional Rights.

And whereas, the affairs of this Colony are frequently connected with those of Great Britain, as well as of the neighboring Colonies, which renders a Communication of Sentiments necessary; in Order therefore to remove the Uneasiness, and to quiet the minds of the People, as well as for the other good purposes above mentioned:

Be it resolved, that a standing Committee of Correspondence and inquiry be appointed, to consist of eleven Persons, to wit, the Honourable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, Robert Carter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary, and Thomas Jefferson, Esquires, any six of whom to be a Committee, whose business it shall be to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence of all such Acts and Resolutions of the British Parliament, or proceedings of Administration, as may relate to or affect the British Colonies in America, and to keep up and maintain a Correspondence and Communication with our Sister Colonies, respecting these important Considerations; and the result of such their proceedings, from Time to Time, to lay before this House.

Resolved, that it be an instruction to the said Committee, that they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly of the principles and Authority, on which was constituted a Court of Inquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode Island, with Powers to transmit Persons, accused of Offences committed in America, to places beyond the Seas, to be tried.

The said Resolutions, being severally read a second Time, were upon the Question severally put thereupon agreed to by the House, nemine contradicente.

Resolved, that the Speaker of this House do transmit to the Speakers of the different Assemblys of the British Colonies, on the Continent, Copies of the said Resolutions, and desire that they will lay them before their respective Assemblies; and request them to appoint some Person or Persons, of their respective Bodies, to communicate, from Time to Time, with the said Committee.

c. Letters received by the Virginia Committee of Correspondence, 1773

Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1773-1767, 47-50.

(1)

Rhode Island.

New Port, May 15th, 1773.

SIR:

I had the Pleasure of receiving your Favour of the 19th of March with the Resolves of the House of Burgesses of Virginia; which with the Letter from your Committee of Correspondence I laid before the House of Deputies of this Colony at their meeting the last Week.

The House thoroughly convinced that a firm Union of the Colonies is absolutely necessary for the Preservation of their ancient, legal and constitutional Rights, and that the Measures proposed by your House of Burgesses will greatly promote so desirable an End, came, Nemine contradicente, into the Resolutions of which I have the honor now to enclose you a Copy.

I am desired to inform you that the Committee apointed by our House of Deputies, will, as soon as possible, transmit to the Committee of Correspondence of Virginia, the best Accounts they shall be able to obtain, respecting the Court of Inquiry lately held in this Colony.

I am with great Respect, your most obedient Servant,

Metcalf Bowler [Speaker].

[The Resolves inclosed, as follows.] May 7th 1773. In the House of Deputies.

Resolved that a standing Committee of Correspondence and Inquiry be appointed to consist of seven Persons, to wit the honorable Stephen Hopkins, Esquire, Metcalf Bowler, Moses Brown, John Cole, William Bradford, Henry Ward, and Henry Merchant Esquires, and four of whom to be a Committee, whose Business it shall be to obtain the most early and authentick Intelligence of all such Acts and Resolutions of the British Parliament or Proceedings of Administration as may relate to or affect the British Colonies in America, and to keep up and maintain a Correspondence with our Sister Colonies respecting these important Considerations; and the Result of such their Proceedings from Time to Time to lay before this House.

Voted Per Order J. Lyndon, Clerk.

The above written is a true Copy of a Vote of the House of Deputies of Lower House of Assembly of the Colony of Rhode Island.

May 7th 1773. In the House of Deputies.

Resolved, that the Speaker of this House be requested to write to the Speaker of the House of Burgesses in Virginia, and to all other Speakers of Assemblies in North America, informing them of the Proceedings of this House relating to the Preservation of the Rights of the Colonies.

Voted Per Order J. Lyndon, Clerk.

(2)

From a Massachusetts Legislative Committee.

Province of Massachusetts Bay, June 3d., 1773.

Sir:

The very judicious and important Resolves entered into by the House of Burgesses of his Majesty's most ancient Colony of Virginia on the 12th March last, together with your obliging Letter inclosing the same, have been laid before the house of Representatives of this Province.

The Wisdom of the Measures proposed in those Resolves, and the great and good Effects that may reasonably be expected to flow from them, not only to the Colonies but the Parent State, were so obvious, that the House immediately adopted them; and appointed a Committee to keep up and maintain a free Communication with Virginia and the Rest of the Sister Colonies.

[Similar replies from other colonies.]

124. Tea Riots

From a Philadelphia Handbill to the Delaware Pilots, September, 1773, given in Scharf and Westcott's History of Philadelphia, I, 286.

... We need not point out to you the steps you ought to take if the tea-ship falls in your way. You cannot be at a loss how to prevent, or if that cannot be done, how to give the merchants of the city timely notice of her arrival. But this you may depend upon, that whatever pilot brings her into the river, such pilot will be marked for his treason. ... Like Cain, he will be hung out as a spectacle to the nations, and be forever recorded as the damned traitorous pilot who brought up the tea-ship....

(Signed) The Committee for Tarring and Feathering.

[Another broadside was addressed as a warning to Captain Ayers of the expected tea-ship. "What think you, Captain, of a Halter round your Neck, ten gallons of liquid Tar decanted on your Pate, with the feathers of a doxen wild Geese lain over that, to enliven your appearance?"

All this activity preceded the Boston "Tea-Party." The Philadelphia ship, however, did not arrive until some weeks after she was expected—on Christmas Day at Gloucester Point, near the city. The Captain was escorted to the city, where a mass meeting of 8000 people persuaded him to sail at once for England, without breaking cargo.]

FOOTNOTES:

XXII. RISE OF REVOLUTIONARY GOVERNMENTS

The colonies between 1768 and 1773 had each organized, more or less perfectly, local committees—town or county—to enforce non-importation agreements, and these committees often acted as "committees of correspondence" to organize the province as a unit for action. Then in 1773 the Intercolonial Committees (No. 123) gave the germ of a standing continental union.

"The next step toward revolutionary government was to develop from the local committees the Provincial Congresses in individual colonies, and from the intercolonial committees of the continent a Continental Congress. These things developed in the summer and fall of 1774, as the result of three events: (1) the attempt of the ministry to force taxed tea down the throats of the colonists [see § 121 for colonial resistance]; (2) the rather animated protest of the Boston Tea Party; and (3) the punishment of Boston by the Port Bill." (American History and Government, § 141. Cf. remainder of the same section for additional explanation.)

The documents for this period are very numerous, and many of the most valuable are not suitable for condensation and are too long for insertion here. It has seemed well to draw primarily upon one colony; and Virginia has been selected, partly because of her leadership, partly because her documents excel in form.

125. The Virginia Burgesses suggest an Annual Continental Congress

A detailed account is given in American History and Government, § 141.

a. Extract from a Letter by a Member of the Assembly to a London Friend

Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, I, 340. The Assembly had met May 6. Very little business had been transacted when the news of the Boston Port Bill arrived; but Virginia had been in high good humor with her governor, and the Burgesses had appointed May 30 for a great state ball, in honor of the governor's wife, the Lady Countess of Dunmore, just arrived from England.

Williamsburg, May 20, 1774.

Infinite astonishment, and equal resentment, has seized every one here on account of the war sent to Boston. It is the universal determination to stop the exportation of tobacco, pitch, tar, lumber, etc., and to stop all importation from Britain while this act of hostility continues. We every day expect an express from Boston, and it appears to me incontestabl[y] certain, that the above measures will be universally adopted. We see with concern, that this plan will be most extensively hurtful to our fellow-subjects in Britain; nor would we have adopted it, if Heaven had left us any other way to secure our liberty, and prevent the total ruin of ourselves and our posterity to endless ages. A wicked Ministry must answer for all the consequences. I hope the wise and good on your side will pity and forgive us. The House is now pushing on the public business for which we were called here at this time; but before we depart, our measures will be settled and agreed on. The plan proposed is extensive; it is wise, and I hope, under God, it will not fail of success. America possesses virtue unknown and unfelt by the abominable sons of corruption who planned this weak and wicked enterprise.

b. Thomas Jefferson's Account of the Feeling aroused by News of the Port Bill, and of the Action taken Thereon

Works, Washington edition, I, 6, 7. The Autobiography in which this passage occurs was composed many years after the event.

The lead in the House ... being no longer left to the old members, Mr. Henry, R. H. Lee, Fr. L. Lee, three or four other members whom I do not recollect, and myself, agreeing that we must boldly take an unequivocal stand in the line with Massachusetts, determined to meet and consult on proper measures ... We were under conviction of the necessity of arousing our people ... and thought that ... a day of general fasting and prayer would be most likely to ... alarm their attention. No example of such a solemnity had existed since. ... our distresses in the war of of '55, since which a new generation had grown up. With the help, therefore, of Rushworth [Historical Collections], whom we rummaged over for the revolutionary precedents and forms of the Puritans of that day [England, in the Seventeenth century], we cooked up a resolution, somewhat modernizing the phrases, for appointing the first day of June, on which the Port Bill was to commence, as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer. ... To give greater emphasis to our proposition, we agreed to wait the next morning on Mr. Nicholas, whose grave and religious character was more in unison with the tone of our resolution, and to solicit him to move it ... He moved it the same day ... and it passed without opposition [c, below.]

c. Resolution of the Burgesses

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1773-1776, 123-136.

Tuesday, the 24th of May. 14 Geo. III. 1774.

This House, being deeply impressed with apprehension of the great dangers, to be derived to british America, from the hostile Invasion of the City of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts bay, whose commerce and harbour are, on the first Day of June next, to be stopped by an Armed force, deem it highly necessary that the said first day of June be set apart, by the Members of this House, as a day of Fasting, Humiliation, and Prayer, devoutly to implore the divine interposition for averting the heavy Calamity which threatens destruction to our Civil Rights, and the Evils of civil War; to give us one heart and one Mind firmly to oppose, by all just and proper means, every injury to American Rights; and that the Minds of his Majesty and his Parliament, may be inspired from above with Wisdom, Moderation, and Justice, to remove from the loyal People of America all cause of danger from a continued pursuit of Measures pregnant with their ruin.

d. Dissolution

Thursday, the 26th of May. 14 Geo. III. 1774.

The Order of the Day being read;

Mr. Speaker laid before the House the Letters from the Speakers of the lower Houses of Assembly of the British Colonies in America, with other Papers, upon the subject matter, which were referred to the standing Committee of Correspondence and Inquiry.

And the said Letters and Papers were read.

Resolved, that the said Letters and Papers be taken into Consideration upon this Day Sevenight....

A Message from the Governor by Mr. Blair:

"Mr. Speaker: the Governor commands this House to attend his Excellency immediately, in the Council Chamber."

Accordingly Mr. Speaker with the House, went up to attend his Excellency in the Council Chamber, where his Excellency was pleased to say to them.

"Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of Burgesses,

"I have in my hand a Paper published by Order of your House, conceived in such Terms as reflect highly upon his Majesty and the Parliament of Great Britain; which makes it necessary for me to dissolve you; and you are dissolved accordingly."

e. Virginia Ex-burgesses propose an Annual Continental Congress

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1773-1776, xiii, xiv.

This is the first such proposal by any body of men so nearly approaching a "government."

... an Association signed by eighty nine members of the House of Burgesses, in session in the old Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, on May 27th, 1774:

We his Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the late representatives of the good people of this country, having been deprived by the sudden interposition of the executive part of this government from giving our countrymen the advice we wished to convey to them in a legislative capacity, find ourselves under the hard necessity of adopting this, the only method we have left, of pointing out to our countrymen such measures as in our opinion are best fitted to secure our dearest rights and liberty from destruction, by the heavy hand of power now lifted against North America: With much grief we find that our dutiful applications to Great Britain for security of our ancient and constitutional rights, have been not only disregarded, but that a determined system is formed and pressed for reducing the inhabitants of British America to slavery by subjecting them to the payment of taxes imposed without the consent of the people or their representatives; and that in pursuit of this system, we find an act of the British parliament, lately passed, for stopping the harbour and commerce of the town of Boston, in our sister colony of Massachusetts Bay, until the people there submit to the payment of such unconstitutional taxes, and which act most violently and arbitrarily deprives them of their property, in wharfs erected by private persons, at their own great and proper expense, which act is, in our opinion, a most dangerous attempt to destroy the constitutional liberty and rights of all North America. It is further our opinion, that as Tea, on its importation into America, is charged with a duty imposed by parliament for the purpose of raising a revenue, without the consent of the people, it ought not to be used by any person who wishes well to the constitutional rights and liberty of British America. And whereas the India Company have ungenerously attempted the ruin of America by sending many ships loaded with tea into the colonies, thereby intending to fix a precedent in favor of arbitrary taxation, we deem it highly proper, and do accordingly recommend it strongly to our countrymen, not to purchase or use any kind of East India commodity whatsoever, except saltpetre and spices, until the grievances of America are redressed. We are further clearly of opinion, that an attack, made on one of our sister colonies to compel submission to arbitrary taxes, is an attack made on all British America, and threatens ruin to the rights of all, unless the united wisdom of the whole be applied. And for this purpose it is recommended to the Committee of Correspondence, that they communicate, with their several corresponding committees, on the expediency of appointing deputies from the several colonies of British America, to meet in general congress, at such place annually as shall be thought most convenient; there to deliberate on those general measures which the united interests of America may from time to time require.[121]

f. Letters from the Virginia Committee of Correspondence, according to direction above

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1773-1776, 138.

At a Committee of Correspondence held in Williamsburg on Saturday the 28th May, 1774.

Present

The honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire

Robert C. Nicholas, Richard Bland,

Edmund Pendleton, Benjamin Harrison,

Richard Henry Lee, Dudley Digges

and Thomas Jefferson, Esquires.

Ordered, that Letters be prepared to the several Committees of Correspondence requesting their Sentiments on the Appointments of Deputies from the several Colonies to meet annually in general Congress. ... A Letter was accordingly prepared to the Committee of Correspondence for Maryland, which being read and approved of the Committee is as follows:

Williamsburg, May 28th 1774.

Gentlemen.

The inclosed Papers will explain to you our present political State here, with respect to the unhappy Dispute with our Mother Country. The Propriety of appointing Deputies from the several Colonies of British America to meet annually in general Congress, appears to be a Measure extremely important and extensively useful, as it tends so effectually to obtain the united Wisdom of the Whole, in every Case of General Concern. We are desired to obtain your Sentiments on this Subject which you will be pleased to furnish us with. Being very desirous of communicating to you the Opinion and Conduct of the late Representatives on the present Posture of American Affairs as quickly as possible we beg Leave to refer you to a future Letter on these Subjects.

We are, with great Respect,

Your most obedient Servants,

Peyton Randolph. Robert C. Nicholas. Dudley Digges.

To the Committee of Correspondence for Maryland.

Also Letters of the same Import, to the Committe of Correspondence for Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachuset's Bay, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, [Delaware], North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

Ordered, that the said Letters be sent by this Day's Post.

[On the arrival of these letters in Maryland, a Baltimore town meeting (May 31) called a Provincial Assembly, to appoint delegates to the proposed Continental Congress. Other counties took like action; and (June 22, before the time set for the Virginia Convention), the Maryland Convention met and named representatives. Two days earlier still, action had been taken in Rhode Island, after receipt of the Virginia suggestion, as appears below.]

g. Answer to Virginia from the Rhode Island Assembly [with Appointment of Delegates]

Journals of the House of Burgesses, 1773-1776, 152-153.

New Port June 20. 1774.

Sir,

Agreeable to the Directions of the General Assembly I have the honor to inclose you a Copy of certain Resolutions entered into by them respecting the very alarming Situation of the Colonies.

I have also to inform you that upon this Occasion the Assembly have adjourned to the fourth Monday in August next.

I am with very great Regard,

Sir, your most humble Servant.

Metcalf Bowler.

Speaker.

Resolutions inclosed.

At the general Assembly of the Governor and Company of the English colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations in New England in America begun and holden by Adjournment at Newport within and for the said Colony on the second Monday in June in the Year of our LORD one thousand seven hundred and seventy four and fourteenth of the Reign of his most sacred Majesty George the third by the grace of GOD king of Great Britain etc.

This Assembly taking into the most serious Consideration several Acts of the British Parliament for levying Taxes upon his Majesty's Subjects in America without their Consent, and particularly an Act lately passed for blocking up the Port of Boston, which Act even upon the Supposition that the People of Boston had justly deserved Punishment, is scarcely to be parallelled in History for the Severity of the Vengeance executed upon them; and also considering to what a deplorable State this and the other Colonies are reduced, when by an Act of Parliament in which the Subjects in America have not a single Voice, and without being heard, they may be divested of Property and deprived of Liberty, do upon mature Deliberation, resolve

That it is the Opinion of this Assembly that a firm and inviolable Union of all the Colonies in Counsels and Measures is absolutely necessary for the preservation of their Rights and Liberties; and that for that purpose, a Convention of the Representatives from all the Colonies ought to be holden in some suitable Place, as soon as may be, in Order to consult upon proper Measures to obtain a Repeal of the said Act, and to establish the Rights and Liberties of the Colonies upon a just and solid Foundation.

That the honorable Stephen Hopkins and the honorable Samuel Ward Esquires be and they are hereby appointed by this Assembly to represent the People of this Colony in a general Congress of Representatives from the other Colonies at such Time and place as shall be agreed upon by the major part of the Committees appointed or to be appointed by the Colonies in general.

That they consult and advise with the Representatives of the other Colonies who shall meet in such Congress upon a loyal and dutiful Petition and Remonstrance to be presented to his Majesty as the united Voice of his faithful Subjects in America setting forth the grievances they labour under, and praying his gracious Interposition for their Relief: And that in Case a major part of the Representatives of all the Colonies shall agree upon such Petition and Remonstrance they be empowered to sign the same on behalf of this Colony.

That they also consult upon all such reasonable and lawful Measures as may be expedient for the Colonies, in an united Manner to persue in Order to procure a Redress of their Grievances, and to ascertain and establish their Rights and Liberties.

That they also endeavor to Procure a regular annual Convention of Representatives from all the Colonies to consider of Proper Means for the preservation of the Rights and Liberties of the Colonies. ...[122]

(Witnessed) Henry Ward, Sect'y.

126. Another "Call" for the Continental Congress

June 17, 1774, the Massachusetts House of Representatives, under the lead of Samuel Adams (and after a carefully planned, secret campaign), adopted the following resolutions.

That a meeting of committees from the several colonies on this continent is highly expedient and necessary, to consult upon the present state of the colonies, and the miseries to which they are and must be reduced by the operation of certain acts of Parliament respecting America, and to deliberate and determine upon wise and proper measures, to be by them recommended to all the colonies, for the recovery and establishment of their just rights and liberties, civil and religious, and the restoration of union and harmony between Great Britain and the colonies, most ardently desired by all good men: Therefore, resolved, that the Hon. James Bowdoin, Esq., the Hon. Thomas Cushing, Esq., Mr. Samuel Adams, John Adams and Robert Treat Paine, Esqrs., be, and they are hereby appointed a committee on the part of this province, for the purposes aforesaid, any three of whom to be a quorum, to meet such committees or delegates from the other colonies as have been or may be appointed, either by their respective houses of burgesses or representatives, or by convention, or by the committees of correspondence appointed by the respective houses of assembly, in the city of Philadelphia, or any other place that shall be judged most suitable by the committee, on the 1st day of September next; and that the speaker of the house be directed, in a letter to the speakers of the houses of burgesses or representatives in the several colonies, to inform them of the substance of these resolves.

[This is often referred to as "the call" for the Continental Congress. It was the first action by a colonial legislature in regular session. It did not, however, have "legal" validity under the Charter to which the men of Massachusetts constantly appealed. That charter (1691) required the assent of the upper House and the approval of the governor for every resolution and every appointment; and these elements, of course, were lacking. The dramatic story of Sam Adams' plot is well told in many places,—notably in Dr. Hosmer's Samuel Adams.]

127. A Virginia County Suggests a Continental Congress and a General Association

Force, American Archives, Fourth Series, I, 392-393.

At a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County of Frederick, in Virginia ... the 8th day of June, 1774 [to consider the Boston Port Bill].

The Reverend Charles M. Thurston, Moderator.

A Committee of the following gentlemen, viz: the Reverend Charles M. Thurston, Isaac Zane, George Rootes, Angus McDonald, Alexander White, George Johnston, and Samuel Beall, 3d, were appointed to draw up Resolves suitable to the same occasion, who, withdrawing for a short time, returned with the following votes, viz:

Voted, 1st. That we will always cheerfully pay due submission to such Acts of Government as his Majesty has a right by law to exercise over his subjects, as Sovereign of the British Dominions, and to such only.

2d. That it is the inherent right of British subjects to be governed and taxed by Representatives chosen by themselves only; and that every Act of the British Parliament respecting the internal policy of North America, is a daring and unconstitutional invasion of our said rights and privileges.

3d. That the Act of Parliament above mentioned is not only in itself repugnant to the fundamental law of natural justice, in condemning persons for a supposed crime unheard, but also a despotic exertion of unconstitutional power, calculated to enslave a free and loyal people.

4th. That the enforcing the execution of the said Act of Parliament by a military Power, will have a necessary tendency to raise a civil war, thereby dissolving that union which has so long happily subsisted between the mother country and her Colonies; ...

5th. It is the unanimous opinion of this meeting, that a joint resolution of all the Colonies to stop all importations from Great Britain, and exportations to it, till the said Act shall be repealed, will prove the salvation of North America and her liberties....

7th. That it is the opinion of this meeting that Committees ought to be appointed for the purpose of effecting a general Association, that the same measures may be pursued through the whole Continent. That the Committees ought to correspond with each other, and to meet at such places and times as shall be agreed on, in order to form such General Association, and that when the same shall be formed and agreed on by the several Committees, we will strictly adhere thereto; and till the general sense of the Continent shall be known, we do pledge ourselves to each other and our country, that we will inviolably adhere to the votes of this day.

8th. That Charles M. Thurston, Isaac Zane, Angus McDonald, Samuel Beall, 3d, Alexander White, and George Rootes, be appointed a Committee for the purposes aforesaid; and that they or any three of them, are hereby fully empowered to act.

Which being read, were unanimously assented to and subscribed.

[This meeting makes no reference to the action of the ex-Burgesses at Williamsburg some ten days before, but probably it originated from that action.]

128. The First Call for a Provincial Convention (Virginia)

a. Suggestion from the Ex-Burgesses (May 30, 1774)

Force, American Archives, Fourth Series, I, p. 351.

The ex-Burgesses, many of them, remained in Williamsburg to attend the state ball on the 30th and for the day of prayer, June 1 (cf. No. 122 c). On the day after the call for a Continental Congress (May 29), letters arrived from committees of correspondence in the northern colonies, as below noted; and the following day, twenty-five of the ex-Burgesses called a meeting of the whole number for August 1, as below. That meeting was expanded into a true representative convention by modifications in the plan indicated in b and c below. Force does not indicate the source of the following statement; but presumably it was printed by order of the meeting in the Williamsburg papers. Such proceedings were ordered printed in almost every case by the various county meetings; but the clause referring to printing is usually omitted in these extracts.

... Immediately upon receipt of these letters the Honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, moderator of the Committee of the late House of Representatives, thought it proper to convene all the members that were then in town; who on considering those important papers [suggesting the need of uniform action in the various colonies], came to a resolution to call together several other members near this city, to whom notice could be given. [Twenty-five of them met next day, Monday, May 30, at ten o'clock, when] it was unanimously agreed to refer the further consideration of this matter to the first day of August next; at which time it is expected there will be a very general attendance of the late members of the House....

[This notice is referred to in a letter of June 23 by Richard Henry Lee to Samuel Adams as follows, after describing the meeting of the ex-Burgesses on May 27—No. 125, e.] ... "Most of the members, myself among the rest, had left Williamsburg before your message from Boston arrived. Twenty-five of them, however, were assembled to consider that message, and they determined to invite a general meeting of the whole body on the first of August." (Force, Fourth Series, I, 446.)

[Presumably the committee of correspondence sent out a circular letter to the various counties. The editor of this volume has not been able to find any such letter, but some of the documents just following assume such action. After June 1, the remaining ex-Burgesses at Williamsburg departed home, in order to arouse their respective counties to appoint delegates for the August convention.]

b. Sample Notice to a Virginia County by an Ex-Burgess

Force, American Archives, Fourth Series, I, 418. Thomas Mason writes from Williamsburg on June 16, portraying the situation, through several pages. Only the close of the letter is given here.

If the governour should be restrained by the instructions of a wicked Minister from relieving the distresses of the Colony by calling an Assembly, immediately, and writs should not be issued for that purpose before the 1st day of July, I advise the freeholders of each county in the Colony to convene themselves and choose two of the most able and discreet of their inhabitants to accompany and assist their late Representatives at the meeting at Williamsburg, on the 1st of August; and let the whole Colony unanimously support whatever may be there resolved upon.

[Lord Dunmore did issue writs that same day for a new Assembly, to meet August 11. No doubt he hoped this would induce the Virginia counties not to appoint delegates to the meeting called for August 1. Such a purpose was suspected and defeated. (See below, § 129, a).

Some counties sent only their ex-burgesses to the August Convention; some elected new burgesses for the Assembly called for August 11, but instructed them to attend the Convention also on the 1st; and some (as Mason suggested) sent not only their "burgesses," but also certain additional deputies.]

c. Sample Call for a County Meeting to give Instructions for the August Convention

Force, American Archives, Fourth Series, I, 451.

At a meeting of the Committee of Correspondence for Norfolk ... held at the Court House, on Monday, the 27th day of June, 1774. Present [six names].

Voted That the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the County and Borough of Norfolk be earnestly requested to attend at the Court House of the said County on Wednesday, the 6th day of July next, at ten o'clock in the forenoon, that the late Burgesses may collect their sentiments previous to the meeting appointed to be held at Williamsburg, on the 1st day of August next.

William Davis, Clerk.

As late Burgesses for Norfolk ... we heartily concur ... with the Committee of Correspondence, and propose to attend at the time appointed. [Signatures of the ex-burgesses for the County.]

[The meeting was held at the appointed time (Force, IV, 1, 518), and adopted ten resolutions—directing "our late Burgesses" to attend the Williamsburg Convention on August 1; to try to secure a "general association" there for the Colony of Virginia, "against all importations and exportations (medicines excepted) to and from Great Britain"; to try to extend such association against every part of the colonies which should refuse to accept the measure; and to secure the appointment in each County of Virginia of a Committee "of respectable men ... to prevent any breach of such ... Association as may be adopted."]

129. Typical Virginia County Instructions to Delegates to the First Provincial Convention

Force has preserved records of meetings in thirty-one Virginia counties, to appoint and instruct delegates to the Provincial Convention called for the 1st of August. Many of these sets of instructions rank as great state papers, quite equal in logic, rhetoric, and statesmanship to the documents put forth by the Continental Congress three months later at Philadelphia. The Fairfax County resolutions, which are given in about a third part below, seem to have been in exceptional degree the model for the resolutions adopted by the August Convention, which, in turn, with the same Fairfax document, must have been before the committees of the Continental Congress which drew up the famous documents issued by that body.

Brief extracts from a few other Virginia county resolutions follow the main document (a), to show the drift of feeling in certain plain matters. When the exact location in Force is omitted, to save space, it can readily be found from the index to that work.

Virginia Counties appoint Delegates to the First Virginia Convention

a. Westmoreland County (Virginia) Resolutions

Force, American Archives, Fourth Series, I, 437, 438.

At a respectable Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County of Westmoreland, assembled on due notice, at the Court House of the said County, on Wednesday, the 22d of June, 1774.

[The Reverend Mr. Thomas Smith, having been appointed Moderator], Several papers containing the Proceedings of the late House of Burgesses of this Colony, and the subsequent determinations of the late Representatives after the House was dissolved, together with extracts of several Resolves of the Provinces of Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, etc., being read, the meeting proceeded seriously to consider the present dangerous and truly alarming crisis, when ruin is threatened to the ancient constitutional rights of North America, and came to the following Resolves:

7th. This meeting do heartily concur with the late Representative body of this country, to disuse tea, and not purchase any other commodity of the East Indies, except saltpetre, until the grievances of America are redressed. (Cf. No. 125 e, above.)

8th. We do most heartily concur in these preceding Resolves, and will, to the utmost of our power, take care that they are carried into execution; and that we will regard every man as infamous who now agree[s] to, and shall hereafter make a breach of all or any of them; subject however to such future alterations as shall be judged expedient, at a general meeting of Deputies from the several parts of this Colony, or a general Congress of all the Colonies.

9th. We do appoint Richard Henry Lee, and Richard Lee, Esquires, the late Representatives of this county, to attend the general meeting of Deputies from all the counties [August 1]; and we desire that they do exert their best abilities to get these, our earnest desires for the security of public liberty, assented to.

10th. And as it may happen that the Assembly now called to meet on the 11th of August, may be prorogued to a future day, and many of the Deputies appointed to meet on the 1st of August, trusting to the certainty of meeting in Assembly on the 11th may fail to attend on the first, by which means decisive injury may arise to the common cause of liberty, by the general sense of the country not being early known at this dangerous crisis of American freedom, we do, therefore, direct that our Deputies now chosen fail not to attend at Williamsburg, on the said 1st of August; and it is our earnest wish that the Deputies from other counties be directed to do the same, for the reasons above assigned.

[Other counties responded to this wish. Thus, seven days later, a "respectable meeting of Freeholders and Freemen of the County of Richmond," called to choose and instruct delegates to the August Convention, did so with the following caution:

"8th. This meeting do appoint Robert Wormeley Carter and Francis L. Lee, gentlemen, as their Deputies for the purposes afore said; and they do request them that they fail not to attend in Williamsburg on the said first day of August, and do not trust to meeting in Assembly on the 11th ... as it is in the power of Government either to prorogue the Assembly to a future day, or dissolve the same,—by which means the sense of this Colony may not be known." (Force, IV, 1, 492, 493.)]

b. Fairfax County (Virginia) Resolutions

Force, American Archives, Fourth Series, I, 597-602.

At a General Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the County of Fairfax, at the Court House in the Town of Alexandria, on Monday, the 18th day of July, 1774.

George Washington, Esquire, Chairman, and

Robert Harrison, Gentleman, Clerk.

Resolved, That this Colony and Dominion of Virginia cannot be considered as a conquered country, and, if it was, that the present inhabitants are the descendants, not of the conquered, but of the conquerors. That the same was not settled at the national expense of England, but at the private expense of the adventurers, our ancestors ... [and] that our ancestors ... brought with them, even if the same had not been confirmed by Charters, the civil Constitution and form of Government of the country they came from, and were by the laws of nature and Nations entitled to all its privileges, immunities, and advantages, which have descended to us, their posterity....

Resolved, That the most important and valuable part of the British Constitution, upon which its very existence depends, is the fundamental principle of the people's being governed by no laws to which they have not given their consent by Representatives freely chosen by themselves, who are affected by the laws they enact equally with their constituents, to whom they are accountable and whose burthens they share.

[The colonies "are not, and from their situation, cannot be, represented in the British Parliament"; and therefore "legislative power here can, of right, be exercised only by our Provincial Assemblies, or Parliaments, subject to the assent or negative of the British crown ..."; but it is recognized as reasonable that the British Parliament should, in practice, regulate trade "for the general good of that great body politick of which we are a part, although in some degree repugnant to the principles of the Constitution," but only when such power is exercised "with wisdom and moderation."]

Resolved, That the claim lately assumed and exercised by the British Parliament, for making all such laws as they think fit to govern the people of these Colonies, and to extort from us our money without our consent, is not only diametrically contrary to the first principles of the Constitution and the original compacts by which we are dependent upon the British Crown and Government, but is totally incompatible with the privileges of a free people and the natural rights of mankind, will render our own Legislatures merely nominal and nugatory, and is calculated to reduce us from a state of freedom and happiness to slavery and misery.

Resolved, That taxation and representation are in their nature inseparable; that the right of withholding, or of giving and granting their own money, is the only effectual security to a free people against the encroachments of despotism and tyranny; and that whenever they yield the one, they must quickly fall a prey to the other.

Resolved, That the powers over the people of America, now claimed by the British House of Commons,—in whose election we have no share; in whose determinations we have no influence; whose information must be always defective, and often false; who in many instances may have a separate, and in some an opposite interest to ours; and who are removed from those impressions of tenderness and compassion, arising from personal intercourse and connection, which soften the rigours of the most despotick Government, must, if continued, establish the most grievous and intolerable species of tyranny and oppression that ever was inflicted upon mankind.

Resolved, That it is our greatest wish and inclination, as well as interest, to continue our connection with, and dependence upon, the British Government; but though we are its subjects, we will use every means which Heaven hath given us to prevent our becoming its slaves.

Resolved, That the several Acts of Parliament for raising a revenue upon the people of America without their consent; the erecting new and dangerous jurisdictions here [the "special commissions"]; the taking away our trials by jury; the ordering persons, on criminal accusations, to be tried in another country than that in which the fact is charged to have been committed; the Act inflicting Ministerial vengeance upon the town of Boston; the two Bills lately brought into Parliament for abrogating the charter of Massachusetts Bay, and for the protection and encouragement of murderers in the said Province,[123] are part of the above-mentioned iniquitous system....

Resolved, That nothing will so much contribute to defeat the pernicious designs of the common enemies of Great Britain and her Colonies, as a firm union of the latter, who ought to regard every act of violence or oppression inflicted upon any one of them, as aimed at all; and to effect this desirable purpose, that a Congress should be appointed, to consist of Deputies from all the Colonies, to concert a general and uniform plan for the defence and preservation of our common rights, and continuing the connection and dependence of the said Colonies upon Great Britain, under a just, lenient, permanent, and constitutional form of Government.

Resolved, That ... all manner of luxury and extravagance ought immediately to be laid aside, as totally inconsistent with the threatening and gloomy prospect before us; that it is the indispensable duty of all the gentlemen and men of fortune to set examples of temperance, fortitude, frugality, and industry ... [and] that great care and attention should be had to the cultivation of flax, cotton, and other materials for manufactures; and we recommend it to such of the inhabitants as have large stocks of sheep, to sell to their neighbors at a moderate price, as the most certain means of speedily increasing our breed of sheep and quantity of wool.[124]

[Some pages of resolves as to non-importation with much of the detail afterward copied by the Continental Congress—especially the following provisions:—

"That the merchants and vendors of goods ought not to take advantage of our present distress, but continue to sell the goods and merchandise which they now have, or which may be shipped to them before the 1st of September next [when non-importation was recommended to begin], at the same rates and prices they have been accustomed to do within one year past; and that if any person shall sell such goods on any other terms ... that no inhabitant of this colony should, at any time forever thereafter, deal with him, his agent, factor, or storekeeper, for any commodity whatsoever"; with provisions for depositing goods of later shippings with the committees of their counties, i.e., as adopted by the Continental Congress; resolutions against importing slaves, and against exporting lumber to the West Indies, and, after November 1, 1775 (unless redress of grievances should come), against all exports to Great Britain. "And ... as the people will thereby be disabled from paying their debts, that no judgments should be rendered by the Courts ... for any debt, after imformation of the said measures being determined upon."]

Resolved, That George Washington, Esquire, and Charles Broadwater, Gentleman, lately elected our Representatives to serve in the General Assembly, attend the Convention at Williamsburg, on the first day of August next, and present these Resolves as the sense of the people of this county upon measures proper to be taken in the present alarming and dangerous situation of America.

Resolved, That George Washington Esquire, [and 24 others] be a Committee for this county; that they, or a majority of them, on any emergency, have power to call a general meeting, and to concert and adopt such measures as may be thought most expedient and necessary.

Resolved, That a copy of these Proceedings be transmitted to the Printer at Williamsburg, to be published.

[It is possible to find in these instructions by Fairfax County to its delegates to Williamsburg almost every provision of the "Association" adopted three months later by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia. For a very large part of the two documents, the language is almost identical. Much alike as many such papers of the time were, it is impossible to read these two together without being convinced that the committee which framed the Association at Philadelphia had a copy of the Fairfax instructions before them.]

c. Nansemond County (July 11)

[10] Resolved that every kind of luxury, dissipation, and extravagance, ought to be banished from amongst us....

[12] Resolved That the African [Negro] trade is injurious to this Colony, obstructs the population of it by freemen, prevents manufactures and useful emigrants from Europe from settling amongst us and occasions an annual increase of the balance of trade against the colony.[125]

[14] Resolved that to be clothed in manufactures fabricated in this Colony ought to be considered as a badge and distinction of respect and true patriotism.

d. York County (July 18)

[Instructions to delegates for the August Convention, after urging appointment of Virginia delegates to a "General Congress of America," continue:—]

"That these Representatives be instructed to form a Declaration of American Rights [a page of suggestions follows].

[That imports be stopped at once, and that exports be regulated by the General Congress when it comes.]

"That industry and frugality be adopted, in their largest extent, throughout this Colony; and that horse-racing, and every species of expensive amusement, be laid aside, as unsuitable to the situation of the country, and unbecoming men who feel for its distress."

e. Middlesex County (July 15)

[This county alone takes a royalist tone.]

Resolved, That we do not approve of the conduct of the people of Boston in destroying the tea ... and notwithstanding the tax on tea must be esteemed a violent infringement of one of the fundamental privileges ... yet we apprehend violence cannot justify violence. ... A desistance from the consumption of tea, and a confidence in the virtue of our countrymen, whose sense of the spirit of the law will no doubt induce a total disuse of it, are much more eligible means, and more probably will work a repeal of the Act, than disorders, outrages, and tumults.

130. The First Continental Congress

a. Method of Voting, etc.

John Adams' "Diary" (Works, II, 366 ff.).

[Sept.] 5. Monday. At ten the delegates all met at the City Tavern, and walked to the Carpenters' Hall, where they took a view of the room, and of the chamber where is an excellent library; there is also a long entry where gentlemen may walk, and a convenient chamber opposite to the library. The general cry was, that this was a good room, and the question was put, whether we were satisfied with this room? and it passed in the affirmative. A very few were for the negative, and they were chiefly from Pennsylvania and New York. Then Mr. Lynch arose, and said there was a gentleman present who had presided with great dignity over a very respectable society, greatly to the advantage of America, and he therefore proposed that the Honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, one of the delegates from Virginia, and the late Speaker of their House of Burgesses; should be appointed Chairman, and he doubted not it would be unanimous.

The question was put, and he was unanimously chosen.

Mr. Randolph then took the chair, and the commissions of the delegates were all produced and read.

Then Mr. Lynch proposed that Mr. Charles Thomson, a gentleman of family, fortune, and character in this city, should be appointed Secretary, which was accordingly done without opposition, though Mr. Duane and Mr. Jay discovered at first an inclination to seek further.

Mr. Duane then moved that a committee should be appointed to prepare regulations for this Congress. Several gentlemen objected.

I then arose and asked leave of the President to request of the gentleman from New York an explanation, and that he would point out some particular regulations which he had in his mind. He mentioned particularly the method of voting, whether it should be by Colonies, or by the poll, or by interests.

Mr. Henry then rose, and said this was the first General Congress which had ever happened; that no former Congress could be a precedent; that we should have occasion for more general congresses, and therefore that a precedent ought to be established now; that it would be great injustice if a little Colony should have the same weight in the councils of America as a great one, and therefore he was for a committee.

Major Sullivan [from New Hampshire] observed that a little Colony had its all at stake as well as a great one....

Mr. Henry. Government is dissolved. Fleets and armies and the present state of things show that government is dissolved. Where are your landmarks, your boundaries of Colonies? We are in a state of nature, sir....

The distinctions between Virginians Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, and New Englanders, are no more. I am not a Virginian, but an American.

Slaves are to be thrown out of the question, and if the freemen can be represented according to their numbers, I am satisfied.

Mr. Lynch. I differ in one point from the gentleman from Virginia, that is, in thinking that numbers only ought to determine the weight of Colonies. I think that property ought to be considered, and that it ought to be a compound of numbers and property that should determine the weight of the Colonies.[126]

I think it cannot be now settled.

Mr. Lee. But one reason ... prevails with me [for favoring one vote to each colony] ... that we are not at this time provided with proper materials [to assign proper proportions]....

Mr. Gadsen. I can't see any way of voting but by Colonies.

Mr. Pendleton. If the committee should find themselves unable to ascertain the weight of the Colonies, by their numbers and property, they will report this, and this will lay the foundation for the Congress to take some other steps to procure evidence of numbers and property at some future time.

Mr Henry. I agree that authentic accounts cannot be had, if by authenticity is meant attestations of officers of the Crown.

I go upon the supposition that government is at an end. All distinctions are thrown down. All America is thrown into one mass. We must aim at the minutiæ of rectitude.

The argument that the delegates lacked information (such as a census would have provided) to arrange a proper apportionment of votes to different colonies prevailed. October 10, the Connecticut delegates wrote to the governor of their colony: "The mode of voting ... was first resolved upon; which was that each colony should have one voice; but, as this was objected to as unequal, an entry was made in the journals to prevent its being drawn into precedent in future."

b. John Adams' Impressions toward the Close

Diary, as above.

[Oct.] 10. Monday. The deliberations of the Congress are spun out to an immeasurable length. There is so much wit, sense, learning, acuteness, subtlety, eloquence, etc., among fifty gentlemen, each of whom has been habituated to lead and guide in his own Province, that an immensity of time is spent unnecessarily.

24. Monday. In Congress, nibbling and quibbling as usual. There is no greater mortification than to sit with half a dozen wits, deliberating upon a petition, address, or memorial. These great wits, these subtle critics, these refined geniuses, these learned lawyers, these wise statesmen, are so fond of showing their parts and powers, as to make their consultations very tedious. Young Ned Rutledge is a perfect Bob-o-Lincoln,—a swallow, a sparrow, a peacock; excessively vain, excessively weak, and excessively variable and unsteady; jejune, inane, and puerile. Mr. Dickinson is very modest, delicate, and timid. Spent the evening at home. Colonel Dyer, Judge Sherman, and Colonel Floyd came in, and spent the evening with Mr. [Samuel] Adams and me. Mr. Mifflin and General Lee came in. Lee's head is running upon his new plan of a battalion....

26. Wednesday. Dined at home. This day the Congress finished. Spent the evening together at the City Tavern; all the Congress, and several gentlemen of the town....

28. Friday. Took our departure, in a very great rain, from the happy, the peaceful, the elegant, the hospitable, and polite city of Philadelphia. It is not very likely that I shall ever see this part of the world again, but I shall ever retain a most grateful, pleasing sense of the many civilities I have received in it, and shall think myself happy to have an opportunity of returning them.

[Delegates from eleven colonies to the First Continental Congress assembled at Philadelphia, September 5, 1774. Delegates from North Carolina appeared on the 14th. Georgia was not represented. For elections and credentials, cf. American History and Government, § 141.]

c. Declaration of Rights

Journals of the Continental Congress (Ford edition), I, 63 ff. A committee, appointed on September 7, reported on the 22d. The report was taken up October 12, and adopted October 14.

Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British parliament, claiming a power, of right, to bind the people of America by statutes in all cases whatsoever, hath, in some acts, expressly imposed taxes on them, and in others, under various pretences, but in fact for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties payable in these colonies, established a board of commissioners, with unconstitutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of courts of admiralty, not only for collecting the said duties, but for the trial of causes merely arising within the body of a county.

And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges, who before held only estates at will in their offices, have been made dependant on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing armies kept in times of peace: And whereas it has lately been resolved in parliament, that by force of a statute, made in the thirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry the Eighth, colonists may be transported to England, and tried there upon accusations for treasons and misprisions, or concealments of treasons committed in the colonies, and by a late statute, such trials have been directed in cases therein mentioned:

And whereas, in the last session of parliament, three statutes were made; one entitled, "An act to discontinue, in such manner and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading, or shipping of goods, wares and merchandize, at the town, and within the harbour of Boston, in the province of Massachusetts-Bay in North-America;" another entitled, "An act for the better regulating the government of the province of Massachusetts-Bay in New England;" and another entitled, "An act for the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the law, or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachusetts-Bay in New England;" and another statute was then made, "for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec, etc." All which statutes are impolitic, unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most dangerous and destructive of American rights:

And whereas, assemblies have been frequently dissolved, contrary to the rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate on grievances; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable petitions to the crown for redress, have been repeatedly treated with contempt, by his Majesty's ministers of state:

The good people of the several colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, justly alarmed at these arbitrary proceedings of parliament and administration, have severally elected, constituted, and appointed deputies to meet, and sit in general Congress, in the city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment, as that their religion, laws, and liberties, may not be subverted: Whereupon the deputies so appointed being now assembled, in a full and free representation of these colonies, taking into their most serious consideration, the best means of attaining the ends aforesaid, do, in the first place, as Englishmen, their ancestors in like cases have usually done, for asserting and vindicating their rights and liberties, DECLARE,

That the inhabitants of the English colonies in North-America, by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English constitution, and the several charters or compacts, have the following RIGHTS:

Resolved, N. C. D. 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty and property: and they have never ceded to any foreign power whatever, a right to dispose of either without their consent.

Resolved, N. C. D. 2. That our ancestors, who first settled these colonies, were at the time of their emigration from the mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities of free and natural-born subjects, within the realm of England.

Resolved, N. C. D. 3. That by such emigration they by no means forfeited, surrendered, or lost any of those rights, but that they were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise and enjoyment of all such of them, as their local and other circumstances enable them to exercise and enjoy.

Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all free government, is a right in the people to participate in their legislative council: and as the English colonists are not represented, and from their local and other circumstances, cannot properly be represented in the British parliament, they are entitled to a free and exclusive power of legislation in their several provincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject only to the negative of their sovereign, in such manner as has been heretofore used and accustomed: But, from the necessity of the case, and a regard to the mutual interest of both countries, we cheerfully consent to the operation of such acts of the British parliament, as are, bona fide, restrained to the regulation of our external commerce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial benefits of its respective members; excluding every idea of taxation internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects, in America, without their consent.

Resolved, N. C. D. 5. That the respective colonies are entitled to the common law of England, and more especially to the great and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the vicinage, according to the course of that law.

Resolved, 6. That they are entitled to the benefit of such of the English statutes, as existed at the time of their colonization; and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be applicable to their several local and other circumstances.

Resolved, N. C. D. 7. That these, his majesty's colonies, are likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several codes of provincial laws.

Resolved, N. C. D. 8. That they have a right peaceably to assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition the king; and that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments for the same, are illegal.

Resolved, N. C. D. 9. That the keeping a standing army in these colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony, in which such army is kept, is against law.

Resolved, N. C. D. 10. It is indispensably necessary to good government, and rendered essential by the English constitution, that the constituent branches of the legislature be independent of each other; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power in several colonies by a council appointed, during pleasure, by the crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous and destructive to the freedom of American legislation.

All and each of which the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of themselves, and their constituents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as their indubitable rights and liberties; which cannot be legally taken from them, altered or abridged by any power whatever, without their own consent, by their representatives in their several provincial legislatures.

In the course of our inquiry, we find many infringements and violations of the foregoing rights, which, from an ardent desire that harmony and mutual intercourse of affection and interest may be restored, we pass over for the present, and proceed to state such acts and measures as have been adopted since the last war, which demonstrate a system formed to enslave America.

Resolved, N. C. D. That the following acts of parliament are infringements and violations of the rights of the colonists; and that the repeal of them is essentially necessary, in order to restore harmony between Great-Britain and the American colonies, viz.

The several acts of 4 Geo. III. ch. 15, and ch. 34.—5 Geo. III. ch. 25.—6 Geo. III. ch. 52.—7 Geo. III. ch. 41, and ch. 46.—8 Geo. III. ch. 22. which impose duties for the purpose of raising a revenue in America, extend the power of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits, deprive the American subject of trial by jury, authorise the judges certificate to indemnify the prosecutor from damages, that he might otherwise be liable to, requiring oppressive security from a claimant of ships and goods seized, before he shall be allowed to defend his property, are subversive of American rights.

Also 12 Geo. III. ch. 24. intituled, "An act for the better securing his majesty's dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition, and stores," which declares a new offence in America, and deprives the American subject of a constitutional trial by jury of the vicinage, by authorising the trial of any person, charged with the committing any offence described in the said act, out of the realm, to be indicted and tried for the same in any shire or county within the realm.

Also the three acts passed in the last session of parliament, for stopping the port and blocking up the harbour of Boston, for altering the charter and government of Massachusetts-Bay, and that which is entitled, "An act for the better administration of justice, etc."

Also the act passed in the same session for establishing the Roman Catholic religion, in the province of Quebec, abolishing, the equitable system of English laws, and erecting a tyranny there, to the great danger, (from so total a dissimilarity of religion, law and government) of the neighbouring British colonies, by the assistance of whose blood and treasure the said country was conquered from France.

Also the act passed in the same session, for the better providing suitable quarters for officers and soldiers in his majesty's service, in North-America.

Also, that the keeping a standing army in several of these colonies, in time of peace, without the consent of the legislature of that colony in which such army is kept, is against law.

To these grievous acts and measures, Americans cannot submit, but in hopes their fellow subjects in Great-Britain will, by a revision of them, restore us to that state, in which both countries found happiness and prosperity, we have for the present, only resolved to pursue the following peaceable measures: 1. To enter into a non-importation, non-consumption, and non-exportation agreement or association. 2. To prepare an address to the people of Great-Britain, and a memorial to the inhabitants of British America: and 3. To prepare a loyal address to his majesty, agreeable to resolutions already entered into.

[This "Declaration" confines itself almost wholly, it will be observed, to "concrete" English rights, which had been infringed by recent acts of government. There is little suggestion of the more general principles soon to appear, first in the Virginia bill of rights and then in the Declaration of Independence. Advanced students will find in John Adams' Works (II, 373 ff.) an autobiographical extract, composed in 1804, giving Adams' recollections of the drawing up of the Declaration.]

d. The Association

(October 20, 1774)

Journals of Congress (Ford edition), I, 75 ff. For conflict between this plan and Galloway's moderate proposal, cf. American History and Government, 141. The wording of much of the plan, and the efficient machinery for putting it in operation (Eleventh Article), were common property by this time. In particular, cf. No. 129 b, above, and comment at close.