The British had greatly increased their national debt during the
Seven Years’ War 1756-63 to over £137 million, and to make
America
colonies contribute they passed the Stamp Act on 22 March 1865.
The tax was imposed on the colonies on November 1 with fees paid in hard currency
for official documents, licenses, newspapers, magazines, almanacs, and playing cards.
George Washington found it difficult to collect money
from his debtors because currency was scarce.
He studied four books on husbandry and two more on farming and gardening.
He read novels by Daniel Defoe and Tobias Smollett,
and he read all 11 volumes of Smollett’s History of England.
On May 29 the Virginia House of Burgess considered the Stamp Act.
The new member Patrick Henry proposed seven resolutions
that were fiercely debated and then passed.
The next day the Burgesses adopted the first five resolutions while rejecting the last two.
After Henry left, the House removed the fifth resolution from the record.
Newspapers published all these seven resolutions:
Resolved, That the first adventurers and settlers
of His Majesty’s Colony and Dominion of Virginia
brought with them and transmitted to their posterity,
and all other His Majesty’s subjects
since inhabiting in this His Majesty's said Colony,
all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and immunities
that have at any time been held, enjoyed,
and possessed by the people of Great Britain.
Resolved, that by two royal charters,
granted by King James the First, the colonists aforesaid
are declared entitled to all liberties, privileges,
and immunities of denizens and natural subjects,
to all intents and purposes, as if they had been abiding
and born within the Realm of England.
Resolved, That the taxation of the people by themselves,
or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them,
who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear,
or the easiest method of raising them, and must themselves
be affected by every tax laid on the people,
is the only security against a burdensome taxation,
and the distinguishing characteristic of British freedom,
without which the ancient constitution cannot exist.
Resolved, That His Majesty’s liege people of this
his most ancient and loyal Colony have without interruption
enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed
by such laws, respecting their internal polity and taxation,
as are derived from their own consent,
with the approbation of their sovereign, or his substitute;
and that the same hath never been forfeited or yielded up,
but hath been constantly recognized
by the kings and people of Great Britain.
Resolved therefore, that the General Assembly
of this Colony have the only and exclusive right and power
to lay taxes and impositions upon the inhabitants
of this Colony, and that every Attempt to vest such power
in any person or persons whatsoever other than
the General Assembly aforesaid has a manifest tendency
to destroy British as well as American freedom.
Resolved, That his majesty’s liege people,
the inhabitants of this colony, are not bound
to yield obedience to any law or ordinance whatsoever
designed to impose any taxation whatsoever upon them,
other than the laws and ordinances
of the general assembly aforesaid.
Resolved, That any person who shall
by speaking or writing maintain that any person or persons
other than the general assembly of this colony
have any right or power to impose or lay any taxation
whatsoever on the people here
shall be deemed an enemy to this his majesty’s colony.1
Patrick Henry’s radical resolves influenced northern colonies.
Petitions and protests that were ignored by the British Parliament
turned into riots in coastal towns with many unemployed.
On September 9 George Washington and nine other investors formed the Mississippi
Land Company with the prospect of claiming 2.5 million acres in the Ohio Valley.
On September 20 in a letter to Robert Cary & Company Washington wrote,
The Stamp Act, imposed on the Colonies
by the Parliament of Great Britain engrosses
the conversation of the speculative part of the Colonists,
who look upon this unconstitutional method of Taxation
as a direful attack upon their Liberties,
& loudly exclaim against the violation—
What may be the result of this (I think I may add)
ill Judged measure, and the late restrictions of our Trade
and other Acts to Burthen us,
I will not undertake to determine;
but this I think may be said—
that the advantages accruing to the Mother Country
will fall far short of the expectations of the Ministry;
for certain it is, that the whole produce of our labor hitherto
has centered in Great Britain—what more can they desire?
and that all Taxes which contribute to lessen our Importation
of British Goods must be hurtful to the Manufacturers
of them, and to the Common Weal—
The Eyes of our People (already beginning to open)
will perceive, that many of the Luxuries which we have
heretofore lavished our Substance to Great Britain for,
can well be dispensed with whilst the Necessaries of Life
are to be procured (for the most part) within ourselves—
This consequently will introduce frugality;
and be a necessary stimulation to Industry—
Great Britain may then load her Exports
with as Heavy Taxes as She pleases
but where will the consumption be?
I am apt to think no Law or usage can compel us to barter
our money or Staple Commodities for their Manufactures,
if we can be supplied within ourselves upon
the better Terms—nor will her Traders dispose of them
without a valuable consideration and surety of Pay—
where then lies the utility of these Measures?
As to the Stamp Act taken in a single and distinct view;
one, & the first bad consequence attending of it I take to be
this—our Courts of Judicature will be shut up, it being
morally impossible under our present Circumstances that the
Act of Parliament can be complied with, were we ever so
willing to enforce the execution; for not to say, which alone
would be sufficient, that there is not money to pay the
Stamps there are many other Cogent Reasons to prevent it
and if a stop be put to our Judicial proceedings it may be left
to yourselves, who have such large demands upon the
Colonies, to determine, who is to suffer most in this event—
the Merchant, or the Planter.2
Washington began reducing his tobacco crop by
replacing it with
wheat, corn, and other grains.
He even tested hemp and flax.
In the 1760s he increased cultivation to 8,000 acres on his five farms.
The Journal of the First Congress of the American Colonies in opposition to the
Tyrannical Acts of the British Parliament published the “Resolutions of the Stamp Act
Congress” published those recommended by James Otis on 19 October 1765.
Nine colonies were represented, and Virginia, New Hampshire,
North Carolina, and George were not present.
The 28 delegates approved the following 13 resolutions:
The members of this Congress, sincerely devoted,
with the warmest sentiments of affection and duty
to His Majesty’s person and Government,
inviolably attached to the present happy establishment
of the Protestant succession, and with minds
deeply impressed by a sense of the present and impending
misfortunes of the British colonies on this continent;
having considered as maturely as time will permit
the circumstances of the said colonies,
esteem it our indispensable duty to make the following
declarations of our humble opinion respecting
the most essential rights and liberties of the colonists,
and of the grievances under which they labor,
by reason of several late Acts of Parliament.
I. That his Majesty’s subjects in these colonies,
owe the same allegiance to the Crown of Great Britain
that is owing from his subjects born within the realm,
and all due subordination to that august body
the parliament of Great Britain.
II. That His Majesty’s liege subjects in these colonies,
are entitled to all the inherent rights and liberties of his
natural born subjects within the kingdom of Great Britain.
III. That it is inseparably essential to the freedom
of a people, and the undoubted right of Englishmen,
that no Taxes be imposed on them but with their own
consent, given personally or by their representatives.
IV. That the people of these colonies are not,
and from their local circumstances cannot be,
represented in the House of Commons in Great Britain.
V. That the only representatives of the people
of these colonies are persons chosen therein by themselves,
and that no taxes ever have been, or can be constitutionally
imposed on them, but by their respective legislatures.
VI. That all supplies to the Crown being free gifts
of the people, it is unreasonable and inconsistent
with the principles and spirit of the British Constitution,
for the people of Great Britain to grant to His Majesty
the property of the colonists.
VII. That trial by jury, is the inherent and invaluable right
of every British subject in these colonies.
VIII. That the late Act of Parliament, entitled
An Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties,
and other duties in the British colonies
and plantations in America, etc.,
by imposing taxes on the inhabitants of these colonies;
and the said Act, and several other Acts,
by extending the jurisdiction of the courts of Admiralty
beyond its ancient limits, have a manifest tendency
to subvert the rights and liberties of the colonists.
IX. That the duties imposed
by several late Acts of Parliament,
from the peculiar circumstances of these colonies,
will be extremely burthensome and grievous;
and from the scarcity of specie,
the payment of them absolutely impracticable.
X. That as the profits of the trade of these colonies
ultimately center in Great Britain,
to pay for the manufactures which they are obliged
to take from thence, they eventually contribute
very largely to all supplies granted there to the Crown.
XI. That the restrictions imposed by several late
Acts of Parliament on the trade of these colonies will render
them unable to purchase the manufactures of Great Britain.
XII. That the increase, prosperity, and happiness
of these colonies depend on the full and free enjoyments
of their rights and liberties, and an intercourse with
Great Britain mutually affectionate and advantageous.
XIII. That it is the right of the British subjects
in these colonies to petition the King,
or either House of Parliament.
Lastly, That it is the indispensable duty of these colonies,
to the best of sovereigns, to the mother country,
and to themselves, to endeavor by a loyal and dutiful
address to His Majesty, and humble applications
to both Houses of Parliament, to procure the repeal
of the Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties,
of all clauses of any other Acts of Parliament,
whereby the jurisdiction of the Admiralty is extended
as aforesaid, and of the other late Acts
for the restriction of American commerce.3
On 6 June 1766 Governor Fauquier announced that the Stamp Act had been repealed.
On July 21 Washington wrote to his merchants Robert Cary & Co.:
The repeal of the Stamp Act, to whatsoever causes owing,
ought much to be rejoiced at, for had the Parliament of
Great Britain resolved upon enforcing it, the consequences
I conceive would have been more direful than is generally
apprehended both to the Mother Country and her Colonies.
All therefore who were instrumental
in procuring the repeal are entitled to the thanks
of every British subject and have mine cordially.4
In 1766 Robert Cary reminded Washington of his debt
of £1,800, and he warned him that he could charge 5% interest.
Washington managed to pay off half that debt by 1770.
In September 1767 he offered a partnership to William Crawford who surveyed land.
In 1767 the Townsend Acts put duties on paint, glass, paper, and tea
so that the British would not have to rely on the colonial assemblies for money.
By the end of the year town meetings were being held in Boston
and New York that condemned assaults on the colonists’ rights.
The Quaker John Dickinson was a lawyer in Philadelphia,
and his Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania criticized Parliament for raising taxes
in the American colonies, and he considered the Townsend Acts unconstitutional.
Merchants on 1 January 1768 began boycotting luxury goods
in Boston, and Newport, Providence, and New York adopted that tactic.
In May 1768 the HMS Romney came to Boston.
Merchants in New York canceled all their orders sent to England after August 15.
Late in the year the British made two treaties with Indians
that reopened the Ohio country to settlers.
Washington asked for the 200,000 acres of land that
Gov. Dinwiddie had promised the veterans of Fort Necessity in 1754.
In spring 1768 George Croghan met with 1,100 Indians
including Guyasuta at Fort Pitt to work on resolving differences.
In September 1768 Washington was appointed a Justice of the County Court of Fairfax,
making him a member of the Court of Oyer and Terminer of the County where
George Mason, John Carlyle, Bryan Fairfax, and others also sat.
Washington in October helped welcome the new Governor Baron Botetourt at Williamsburg.
John Stuart negotiated the Treaty of Hard Labor with the Cherokees and moved the border
west to the Kanawha River, giving Kentucky and southwest Virginia to the Cherokees.
The northern Indian superintendent William Johnson negotiated a border
with 2,000 Iroquois, and he managed to obtain territory 400 miles down the Ohio
to the mouth of the Tennessee River also known as the Cherokee River.
Johnson and George Croghan got substantial land.
On November 5 Johnson signed the Treaty of Fort Stanwix for the British
with a line from the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers in the north south to
Spanish East Florida with colonies on the east side and Indian land to the west.
Washington wanted 200,000 acres on the Great Kanawha and other rivers,
and he arranged for Crawford to be appointed the surveyor.
On 6 February 1769 Philadelphia merchants banned British goods,
and they joined the embargo on March 30.
In a letter to his friend William Ramsey on 29 January 1769
Washington offered to provide £25 per year so that
his son could attend the College of Jersey.
He wrote,
No other return is expected or wished for, for this offer
than that you will accept it with the same freedom
& good will with which it is made,
& that you may not even consider it … an obligation,
or mention it as such;
for be assured that from me, it never will be known.5
In a letter to George Mason on April 5 Washington wrote,
At a time when our lordly Masters in Great Britain
will be satisfied with nothing less than the deprivation
of American freedom, it seems highly necessary that
something should be done to avert the stroke and maintain
the liberty which we have derived from our Ancestors;
but the manner of doing it to answer
the purpose effectually is the point in question.
That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment
to use arms in defense of so valuable a blessing, on which
all the good and evil of life depends; is clearly my opinion.
Yet Arms I would beg leave to add,
should be the last resource; the dernier resort.
Addresses to the Throne, and remonstrances to parliament,
we have already, it is said, proved the inefficacy of;
how far then their attention to our rights & privileges
is to be awakened or alarmed by starving their Trade
& manufactures, remains to be tried.
The northern Colonies, it appears,
are endeavoring to adopt this scheme—
In my opinion it is a good one;
& must be attended with salutary effects,
provided it can be carried pretty generally into execution;
but how far it is practicable to do so,
I will not take upon me to determine.
That there will be difficulties attending the execution
of it everywhere, from clashing interests,
& selfish designing men (ever attentive to their own gain,
& watchful of every turn that
can assist their lucrative views, in preference to
any other consideration) cannot be denied;
but in the Tobacco Colonies where the Trade is so diffused,
and in a manner wholly conducted by Factors
for their principals at home,
these difficulties are certainly enhanced,
but I think not insurmountably increased,
if the Gentlemen in their several counties
would be at some pains to explain matters to the people,
& stimulate them to a cordial agreement
to purchase none but certain enumerated articles
out of any of the Stores after such a period,
nor import nor purchase any themselves.
This, if it did not effectually withdraw the Factors
from their Importations, would at least
make them extremely cautious in doing it,
as the prohibited Goods could be vended
to none but the non-associater,
or those who would pay no regard to their association;
both of whom ought to be stigmatized,
and made the objects of public reproach.
The more I consider a Scheme of this sort,
the more ardently I wish success to it,
because I think there are private, as well as public
advantages to result from it—the former certain,
however precarious the other may prove;
for in respect to the latter I have always thought that
by virtue of the same power
(for here alone the authority derives)
which assumes the right of Taxation,
they may attempt at least to restrain our manufactories;
especially those of a public nature;
the same equity & justice prevailing in the one case
as the other, it being no greater hardship to forbid
my manufacturing, than it is to order me
to buy Goods of them loaded with Duties,
for the express purpose of raising a revenue.
But as a measure of this sort will be
an additional exertion of arbitrary power,
we cannot be worsted I think in putting it to the Test.
On the other hand, that the Colonies are
considerably indebted to Great Britain,
is a truth universally acknowledged.
That many families are reduced, almost, if not quite,
to penury & want, from the low ebb of their fortunes,
and Estates daily selling for the discharge of Debts,
the public papers furnish but too many melancholy proofs of.
And that a scheme of this sort will contribute
more effectually than any other I can devise to immerge
the Country from the distress it at present labors under,
I do most firmly believe, if it can be generally adopted.
And I can see but one set of people
(the Merchants excepted) who will not, or ought not,
to wish well to the Scheme; and that is those
who live genteelly & hospitably, on clear Estates.
Such as these were they, not to consider the valuable object
in view, & the good of others, might think it
hard to be curtailed in their living & enjoyments;
for as to the penurious man, he saves his money,
& he saves his credit; having the best plea for doing that,
which before perhaps he had the most violent struggles
to refrain from doing.
The extravagant & expensive man
has the same good plea to retrench his Expenses—
He is thereby furnished with a pretext to live within bounds,
and embraces it—prudence dictated economy to him before,
but his resolution was too weak to put it in practice;
for how can I, says he, who have lived
in such & such a manner change my method?
I am ashamed to do it: and besides,
such an alteration in the System of my living,
will create suspicions of a decay in my fortune,
& such a thought the world must not harbor;
I will even continue my course:
till at last the course discontinues the Estate, a sale of it
being the consequence of his perseverance in error.
This I am satisfied is the way that
many who have set out in the wrong tract,
have reasoned, till ruin stares them in the face.
And in respect to the poor & needy man,
he is only left in the same situation he was found;
better I might say, because as he judges from comparison,
his condition is amended in proportion
as it approaches nearer to those above him.
Upon the whole therefore, I think the Scheme a good one,
and that it ought to be tried here,
with such alterations as the exigency
of our circumstances render absolutely necessary;
but how, & in what manner to begin the work,
is a matter worthy of consideration;
and whether it can be attempted with propriety, or efficacy
(further than a communication of sentiments to one another)
before May, when the Court & Assembly will meet together
in Williamsburg, and a uniform plan can be concerted,
and sent into the different counties to operate
at the same time, & in the same manner everywhere,
is a thing I am somewhat in doubt upon,
& should be glad to know your opinion of.
I am Dr Sir Your most Obt humble Servant.6
Washington in early May 1769 attended the House of Burgesses
and suggested a nonimportation association to boycott British goods.
On May 17 they passed George Mason’s Virginia Nonimportation Resolutions
that were signed by 90 members:
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 Tendency 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 to 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 labor, are owing to
the 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, &c.
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 labor.
We do therefore most earnestly recommend this
our Association to the serious Attention of all Gentlemen,
Merchants, Traders, and other 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, Merchandize, or Manufactures,
which are, or shall hereafter be taxed by Act of Parliament,
for the Purpose of raising a Revenue in America
(except Paper, not exceeding Eight Shillings Sterling
per Ream, 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.
Thirdly, That the Subscribers will not hereafter,
directly or indirectly, import or cause to be imported
from Great-Britain, or any Part of Europe
(except such Articles of the Produce or Manufacture
of Ireland as may be immediately and legally brought
from thence, and except also all such Goods as Orders
have been already sent for)
any of the Goods herein after enumerated, viz.
Spirits, Wine, Cyder, Perry, Beer, Ale, Malt, Barley, Pease,
Beef, Pork, Fish, Butter, Cheese, Tallow, Candles, Oil, Fruit,
Sugar, Pickles, Confectionary, Pewter, Hoes, Axes, Watches,
Clocks, Tables, Chairs, Looking Glasses, Carriages,
Joiner’s and Cabinet Work of all Sorts,
Upholstery of all Sorts, Trinkets and Jewelry,
Plate and Gold, and Silversmith’s Work of all Sorts,
Ribbon and Millinery of all Sorts, Lace of all Sorts,
India Goods of all Sorts, except Spices, Silks of all Sorts,
except Sewing Silk, Cambrick, Lawn, Muslin, Gauze,
except Boulting Cloths, Callico or Cotton Stuffs of more than
Two Shillings per Yard, Linens of more than
Two Shillings per Yard, Woollens, Worsted Stuffs of all Sorts
of more than One Shilling and Six Pence per Yard,
Broad Cloths of all Kinds at more than Eight Shillings
per Yard, Narrow Cloths of all Kinds at more than
Three Shillings per Yard, Hats, Stockings
(Plaid and Irish Hose excepted) Shoes and Boots, Saddles,
and all Manufactures of Leather and Skins of all Kinds,
until the late Acts of Parliament imposing Duties
on Tea, Paper, Glass, &c. for the Purpose of raising
a Revenue in America, are repealed, and that they will not,
after the First of September next, purchase any of the above
enumerated Goods of any Person whatsoever, unless
the above mentioned Acts of Parliament are repealed.
Fourthly, That in all Orders, which any of the Subscribers
may hereafter send to Great-Britain, they shall, and
will expressly direct their Correspondents not to ship them
any of the before enumerated Goods,
until the before mentioned Acts of Parliament are repealed;
and if any Goods are shipped to them
contrary to the Tenor of this Agreement,
they will refuse to take the same,
or make themselves chargeable therewith.
Fifthly, That they will not import any Slaves,
or purchase any imported,
after the First Day of November next,
until the said Acts of Parliament are repealed.
Sixthly, That they will not import any Wines of any Kind
whatever, or purchase the same from any Person whatever,
after the First Day of September next, except such Wines
as are already ordered, until the Acts of Parliament
imposing Duties thereon are repealed.
Seventhly, For the better Preservation of the Breed
of Sheep, That they will not kill, or suffer to be killed,
any Lambs, that shall be yeaned
before the First Day of May, in any Year,
nor dispose of such to any Butcher or other Person, whom
they may have Reason to expect, intends to kill the same.
Eighthly and Lastly, That these Resolves shall be binding
on all and each of the Subscribers, who do hereby each
and every Person for himself, upon his Word and Honor,
agree that he will strictly and firmly adhere to
and abide by every Article in this Agreement,
from the Time of his signing the same, for and during
the Continuance of the before mentioned Acts of Parliament,
or until a general Meeting of the Subscribers,
after one Month’s public Notice, shall determine otherwise,
the second Article of this Agreement still and for ever
continuing in full Power and Force.7
The Governor, Baron Bortetourt, responded with this message:
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.8
The members then held a meeting in the Apollo Room at Raleigh Tavern,
and they elected Peyton Randolph moderator, and he appointed a committee
to study the embargo with George Washington as chairman.
They made a non-importation agreement which was followed by Maryland in June,
South Carolina in July, by Georgia in September, and by North Carolina in November.
When the ban on imports went into effect on September 1, Randolph had
the former burgesses vote on the Association, and 94 out of 116 approved.
On July 25 Washington in a letter to Robert Cary & Company informed him by writing,
If there are any Articles contained in either
of the respective Invoices (Paper only excepted)
which are Taxed by Act of Parliament for the purpose of
Raising a Revenue in America, it is my express desire
and request, that they may not be sent,
as I have very heartily entered into an Association
(Copies of which I make no doubt you have seen;
otherwise I should have enclosed one)
not to import any Article which now is,
or hereafter shall be Taxed for this purpose
until the said Act or Acts are repealed.
I am therefore particular in mentioning this matter
as I am fully determined to adhere religiously to it,
and may perhaps have wrote for some things unwittingly
which may be under these Circumstances.9
In July the Virginia convention, presided over by Washington, declared that they
were entitled to be governed only by laws to which they had given their consent.
The Virginia Association was adopted on August 1 and was used as the model
for the Continental Association adopted by the Congress in October.
Washington wrote that they did not want to be made as abject as the black slaves
they ruled over “with such arbitrary sway.”
The purchases were to be stopped after September 1.
Late in 1769 Washington persuaded Gov. Botetourt to honor the commitment
to the veterans, and he and his Council selected territory where the Ohio
and Kanawha Rivers come together for the bounty lands.
Washington surveyed that land, and he claimed more land from a
1763 royal proclamation promised to veterans.
He worked to help veterans of the French and Indian war to get the land
they were promised, and on 15 December 1769 the Virginia Council
granted an order that was issued three years later.
On 5 March 1770 British troops in Boston fired on a disorderly gathering
killing five people and wounding eight.
On the same day the new ministry under Frederick North, Earl of Guilford,
rescinded the Townshend and other duties on the American colonies
except for the tax on tea.
Washington in early October went with Dr. James Craik and three slaves
to see properties of the veterans, and he spent nine weeks gathering information.
After they got home, Craik wrote to Washington
that he purchased the Great Meadows for him.
He heard that English investors that included Benjamin Franklin, William Johnson,
George Croghan, and other influential men in England had purchased
2.5 million acres and founded the new Vandalia colony.
Washington submitted a petition to resolve border issues with the veterans’ lands.
The British ministry approved Vandalia
and rejected Washington’s Mississippi Land Company.
In December he bought 200 acres in the Great Meadows area.
Washington bought hundreds of bounties from poor veterans who needed cash,
and he purchased most of the riverfront properties.
In March 1771 Washington met with officers from his Virginia Regiment at Winchester,
and he sent William Crawford to do surveys on the Kanawha.
Gov. Botetourt died in 1770, and he was replaced
by John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, in September 1771.
Washington shared some of his claims with him, and they helped each other.
Washington, Jefferson, Patrick Henry, and many other Virginians
rushed to survey and purchase land in the west.
Croghan finally resigned as Indian agent on November 2 and went into land speculation.
Gov. Dunmore in November had 200,000 acres of bounty land
distributed in tracts ranging from 400 acres to 15,000 acres.
By autumn in 1772 Crawford had surveyed 13 tracts that contained 128,000 acres.
On November 4 Washington petitioned Gov. Dunmore
for the officers and soldiers of the Virginia Regiment.
Washington had bought some tracts from others,
and he received 20,172 acres in four tracts.
Dunmore in December granted Washington 10,990 acres
where the Kanawha River meets the Ohio River.
Eventually he would have 23,000 acres on the Great Kanawha River
and about 10,000 acres on the banks of the Ohio.
In July 1773 he began leasing land on the banks of the Ohio and Kanawha to settlers.
The Potomac River had many fish, and in 1770
they caught 470,000 herring and 4,000 shad.
In 1772 they took in 1.3 million herring and 11,000 shad.
He had a distillery built so that they could turn ground corn,
rye, malted barley, and yeast into whiskey and brandy.
In the first year they produced 4,500 gallons and in the second year 10,500.
Five gallons of cider could make one gallon of brandy.
Washington trained his slaves to be spinners, millers,
carpenters, blacksmiths, tanners, and fishermen.
Woodrow Wilson in his biography of Washington described
how he managed his farms and his businesses, writing,
To be farmer and merchant at once,…
conduct an international correspondence;
to keep the run of prices, …
and know the fluctuating rates of exchange;
to understand and meet all changes …
in markets three thousand miles away,
required an amount of information, an alertness,
a steady attention to details, a sagacity in farming
and a shrewdness in trade, such as made
a great property a burden to idle and inefficient men.
But Washington took pains to succeed.10
In October 1771 Washington had been elected to a seat
representing Fairfax County that was closer to his home.
He paid a tavern keeper £4 to provide voters with food.
He also paid for cakes and hired a fiddler.
Early in 1772 Governor Dunmore tried to get the burgesses
to put customs duties on the sale of slaves.
Instead a House committee circulated a petition asking the King
to end the imperial slave trade saying,
The importation of slaves into the colonies from the coast
of Africa has long been considered as a trade
of great inhumanity, and under its present encouragement
we have too much reason to fear it will endanger
the very existence of your Majesty’s American dominions….
Your Majesty’s subjects in Great Britain
may reap emoluments from this sort of traffic;
but when we consider that it greatly retards the settlements
of the colonies with more useful inhabitants,
we hope the interest of a few will be disregarded.11
In 1772 the British withdrew the troops from Fort Pitt to put them
in cities on the coast, and that made Indians more vulnerable.
Washington persuaded Governor Dunmore and the Council to approve
the land bounties, and Washington’s patent was for 20,147 acres.
Some complained that Washington and his friend Dr. Craik got the best lands.
In November 1773 Virginia’s Governor Dunmore and his Council
granted George Washington 200,000 acres in western lands
for the veterans of the French and Indian War.
In March 1773 Washington supported the Burgesses’ forming
of a Committee of Correspondence to provide defense with other colonies,
though he did not join the committee.
That month Gov. Dunmore called an emergency session
of the General Assembly to make a law stop counterfeiters.
The burgesses were more concerned about a royal proclamation
that suspected American radicals would be shipped to England for a trial.
Young Thomas Jefferson wrote resolves protesting the losing of
“ancient legal and constitutional rights,” and they appointed a
standing committee for intercolonial correspondence.
Washington strongly supported this, and by February 1774
ten colonies had followed Virginia’s idea.
Virginians in May learned from a Committee of Correspondence in Massachusetts
that the Parliament had passed the Boston Port Bill that
prohibited loading and unloading of ships in the busy port.
Parliament then called on the Massachusetts royal governor to transport
prisoners and rioters to England for adjudication.
On May 24 the Burgesses approved a resolution to declare that
on June 1 when the port was to be shut down, that there be 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 [and] to give us one heart and mind
firmly to oppose by all just and proper means
every injury to American rights.12
On 16 December 1773 some patriots pretending to be Indians
dumped 342 chests of tea in Massachusetts Bay.
Samuel Adams noted that the Tea Party did not harm any person or other property.
The British Parliament in March passed the Boston Port Bill that closed
the port until the East India Company was paid for the destroyed tea.
The Coercive Acts imposing military rule were called the “Intolerable Acts.”
General Thomas Gage urged politicians in London to be aggressive toward the colonists,
and he was reinforced with 3,000 British soldiers called “Redcoats.”
Washington called the military rule “unexampled testimony of the most despotic system
of tyranny that ever was practiced in a free government.”13
The Virginia Gazette printed the fasting proclamation,
and Lord Dunmore objected to the expression “sister colonies.”
He then dissolved the House.
On June 2 Washington and other radical Burgesses met again at Raleigh Tavern
to oppose the Boston Port Bill and approve the tea boycott.
They supported an annual congress with other colonies on behalf of their civil rights.
Washington and two dozen other Burgesses still there in May
got a letter from Samuel Adams urging no more trade with England.
They agreed to stop all imports, and they planned to meet on August 1.
King George III had approved the Quebec Act on June 22
that expanded the territory of the Quebec Province into the
Great Lakes region and area north of the Ohio River.
In June 1774 Gov. Dunmore called out the Virginia militia
for a war against Shawnees so that he could get some of their land.
The British Parliament approved the Quebec Act that claimed the territory
between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers for Quebec, Canada.
Dunsmore wanted to cancel the land patents that would take
23,000 acres from Washington, who complained and called Dunsmore
an “Arch Traitor to the Rights of Humanity.”
Bryan Fairfax, brother of Washington’s friend George William Fairfax,
was conciliatory toward Britain and might stand for election to the House of Burgess.
On 4 July 1774 Washington in a letter to Bryan Fairfax wrote,
As to your political sentiments,
I would heartily join you in them,
so far as relates to a humble
and dutiful petition to the throne,
provided there was the most distant hope of success.
But have we not tried this already?
Have we not addressed the Lords,
and remonstrated to the Commons? And to what end?
Did they deign to look at our petitions?
Does it not appear, as clear as the sun
in its meridian brightness, that there is a regular,
systematic plan formed to fix
the right and practice of taxation upon us?
Does not the uniform conduct of Parliament
for some years past confirm this?
Do not all the debates, especially those just brought to us,
in the House of Commons on the side of government,
expressly declare that America must be taxed
in aid of the British funds,
and that she has no longer resources within herself?
Is there anything to be expected from petitioning after this?
Is not the attack upon the liberty and property
of the people of Boston, before restitution
of the loss to the India Company was demanded,
a plain and self-evident proof of what they are aiming at?
Do not the subsequent bills (now I dare say acts),
for depriving the Massachusetts Bay of its charter,
and for transporting offenders into other colonies
or to Great Britain for trial, where it is impossible
from the nature of the thing that justice can be obtained,
convince us that the administration
is determined to stick at nothing to carry its point?
Ought we not, then,
to put our virtue and fortitude to the severest test?
With you I think it a folly to attempt
more than we can execute,
as that will not only bring disgrace upon us,
but weaken our cause;
yet I think we may do more than is generally believed,
in respect to the non-importation scheme.
As to the withholding of our remittances,
that is another point, in which I own I have my doubts
on several accounts, but principally on that of justice;
for I think, whilst we are accusing others of injustice,
we should be just ourselves; and how this can be,
whilst we owe a considerable debt,
and refuse payment of it to Great Britain,
is to me inconceivable.
Nothing but the last extremity, I think, can justify it.
Whether this is now come, is the question.14
On July 5 Washington met with constituents at Alexandria, and they agreed
to send £273,150 bushels of wheat, and 38 barrels of flour to the
“industrious poor of the town of Boston” who were being denied work and food.
Washington’s annual income in 1774 reached a
high of £8,000 from rents his tenants paid him.
Governor Dunmore ordered an election,
and on July 17 Washington provided the usual rewards for voters.
He was re-elected with his supporter, Major Charles Broadwater who brought punch.
That day Washington met with Col. George Mason at Mount Vernon, and they
put together the Fairfax Resolves that the Fairfax committee accepted on the 18th.
Here are the 2nd resolve and the last one:
2. Resolved that the most important and valuable Part
of the British Constitution, upon which
it’s 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; in which consists
the Safety and Happiness of the Community:
for if this Part of the Constitution was taken away,
or materially altered, the Government must degenerate
either into an absolute and despotic Monarchy,
or a tyrannical Aristocracy,
and the Freedom of the People be annihilated….
24. Resolved that George Washington Esquire
and Charles Broadwater Gent. lately elected
our Representatives to serve in the general Assembly,
be appointed to 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 the Measures proper to be taken in the present
alarming and dangerous Situation of America.15
On August 1 at their meeting the 81 radical Burgesses organized
as the Virginia Convention with George Washington presiding.
They demanded that they be governed only by laws to which they had consented.
They approved resolutions and gave the following instructions
to their deputies to the Continental Congress:
The unhappy Disputes between Great Britain and her
American colonies, … have compelled them to take the
same into their most serious consideration; and,
being deprived of their usual and accustomed mode
of making known their grievances, have appointed us
their Representatives to consider what is proper
to be done in this dangerous crisis of American affairs.
It being our opinion that the united wisdom of North America
should be collected in a general congress of all the colonies,
we have appointed the Honorable Peyton Randolph,
esquire, Richard Henry Lee, George Washington,
Patrick Henry, Richard Bland, Benjamin Harrison, and
Edmund Pendleton, esquires, deputies to represent
this colony in the said congress, to be held
at Philadelphia on the first Monday in September next.
And that they may be the better informed of our
sentiments touching the conduct we wish them to observe
on this important occasion, we desire that they will express,
in the first place, our Faith and true Allegiance to his
Majesty king George the third, our lawful and rightful
Sovereign; and that we are determined, with our lives
and fortunes, to support him in the legal exercise of
all his just Rights and prerogatives; and however
misrepresented, we sincerely approve of a constitutional
connection with Great Britain, and wish most ardently
a Return of that Intercourse of Affection and commercial
connection that formerly united both countries,
which can only be effected by a removal of those causes
of discontent which have of late unhappily divided us.
It cannot admit of a doubt but that British subjects
in America are entitled to the same rights and
privileges as their fellow subjects possess in Britain;
and therefore, that the power assumed by the
British parliament to bind America by their statutes,
in all cases whatsoever, is unconstitutional,
and the source of these unhappy differences.
The End of Government would be defeated by the
British Parliament exercising a Power over the Lives,
the Property, and the liberty of the American subject;
who are not, and, from their local circumstances,
cannot, be there represented.
Of this nature we consider the several acts of parliament
for raising a revenue in America, for extending the
jurisdiction of the courts of admiralty, for seizing
American subjects and transporting them to Britain
to be tried for crimes committed in America,
and the several late oppressive acts respecting the
Town of Boston and Province of the Massachusetts-Bay.
The original constitution of the American colonies
possessing their assemblies with the sole right of directing
their internal polity, it is absolutely destructive of the end
of their institution that their legislatures should be
suspended, or prevented, by hasty dissolutions,
from exercising their legislative powers.
Wanting the protection of Britain, we have long
acquiesced in their acts of navigation restrictive
of our commerce, which we consider as an ample
recompense for such protection;
but as those acts derive their efficacy from that
foundation alone, we have reason to expect
they will be restrained so as to produce the
reasonable purposes of Britain, and not injurious to us.
To obtain redress of these grievances, without which
the people of America can neither be safe, free, nor happy,
they are willing to undergo the great inconvenience that
will be derived to them from stopping all imports
whatsoever from Great Britain after the first day
of November next, and also to cease exporting
any Commodity whatsoever to the same place
after the tenth day of August 1775….
The Proclamation issued by general Gage, in the
Government of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay,
declaring it treason for the inhabitants of that province
to assemble themselves to consider of their grievances and
form associations for their common conduct on the occasion,
and requiring the civil magistrates and officers to apprehend
all such persons to be tried for their supposed offences,
is the most alarming process that
ever appeared in a British Government….
That if the said general Gage conceives he is empowered
to act in this manner, as the commander in chief of his
majesty’s forces in America, this odious and illegal
proclamation must be considered as a plain and full
declaration that this despotic viceroy will be bound
by no law, nor regard the constitutional rights of
his majesty’s subjects, whenever they interfere with
the plan he has formed for oppressing the good people
of the Massachusetts-Bay; and therefore, that the
executing, or attempting to execute, such proclamation,
will justify RESISTANCE and REPRISAL.16
On August 5 they elected Peyton Randolph a delegate to a Continental Congress
with 104 votes along with Richard Henry Lee (100), Washington (98),
Patrick Henry (89), and three other men.
Young Thomas Jefferson (51) was ill and did not have enough votes.
Virginia’s seven delegates went to the general congress in Philadelphia
that would become the First Continental Congress.
On September 27 they voted for non-intercourse with Britain.
On the 30th they formed a committee which reported on October 12.
On the 20th they proposed this plan for the Association:
We, his majesty’s most dutiful and loyal subjects,
the delegates of the several colonies of New Hampshire,
Massachusetts-Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New York,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties
of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex on Delaware, Maryland,
Virginia, North-Carolina, and South-Carolina, deputed to
represent them in a continental Congress, held in the
city of Philadelphia on the 5th Day of September 1774,
avowing our allegiance to his majesty, our affection
and regard for our fellow-subjects in Great-Britain
and elsewhere, affected with the deepest anxiety,
and most alarming apprehensions at those grievances
and distresses with which his Majesty’s
American subjects are oppressed,
and having taken under our most serious deliberation
the state of the whole continent, find, that
the present unhappy situation of our affairs is occasioned
by a ruinous system of colony administration,
adopted by the British ministry about the year 1763,
evidently calculated for enslaving these colonies,
and, with them, the British Empire.
In prosecution of which system, various acts of parliament
have been passed for raising a revenue in America,
for depriving the American subjects, in many instances,
of the constitutional trial by jury,
exposing their lives to danger, by directing a new and illegal
trial beyond the seas, for crimes
alleged to have been committed in America;
and, in prosecution of the same system, several late, cruel,
and oppressive acts, have been passed respecting
the town of Boston and the Massachusetts-Bay,
and also an act for extending the province of Quebec,
so as to border on the western frontiers of these colonies,
establishing an arbitrary government therein,
and discouraging the settlement of British subjects
in that wide-extended country;
thus, by the influence of civil principles,
and ancient prejudices, to dispose the inhabitants to act
with hostility against the free Protestant colonies,
whenever a wicked ministry shall choose so to direct them.
To obtain redress of these grievances,
which threaten destruction to the lives, liberty, and property,
of his majesty’s subjects in North-America,
we are of opinion that a non-importation, non-consumption,
and non-exportation agreement, faithfully adhered to, will
prove the most speedy, effectual, and peaceable measure;
and therefore we do, for ourselves and the inhabitants
of the several colonies whom we represent,
firmly agree and associate, under the sacred ties of virtue,
honor, and love of our country, as follows:
1. That from and after the first day of December next
we will not import into British America, from Great-Britain
or Ireland, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever,
or from any other place, any such goods, wares,
or merchandise, as shall have been exported
from Great-Britain or Ireland; nor will we, after that day,
import any East-India tea from any part of the world,
nor any molasses, syrups, paneles, coffee, or pimenta,
from the British plantations, or from Dominica,
nor iines from Madeira, or the Western Islands,
nor foreign Indigo.
2. We will neither import nor purchase any slave
imported after the first day of December next,
after which time we will wholly discontinue the slave trade,
and will neither be concerned in it ourselves,
nor will we hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities
or manufactures to those who are concerned in it.
3. As a non-consumption agreement, strictly adhered to,
will be an effectual security for the observation
of the non-importation, we, as above, solemnly agree
and associate, that, from this day, we will not purchase
or use any tea imported on account
of the East-India Company, or any on which a duty
hath been or shall be paid; and, from and after
the first day of March next, we will not purchase or use
any East-India tea whatever; nor will we,
nor shall any person for or under us, purchase or use
any of those goods, wares, or merchandise,
we have agreed not to import, which we shall know,
or have cause to suspect, were imported after the first day
of December, except such as come under the rules
and directions of the tenth article, hereafter mentioned.
4. The earnest desire we have not to injure
our fellow-subjects in Great-Britain, Ireland, or
the West-Indies, induces us to suspend a non-exportation,
until the tenth day of September, 1775; at which time,
if the said acts, and parts of acts of the British parliament
herein after mentioned, are not repealed, we will not,
directly or indirectly, export any merchandise,
or commodity whatsoever, to Great-Britain, Ireland,
or the West-Indies, except rice, to Europe.
5. Such as are merchants, and use the British
and Irish trade, will give orders, as soon as possible,
to their factors, agents, and correspondents,
in Great-Britain and Ireland, not to ship any goods to them,
on any pretense whatsoever,
as they cannot be received in America;
and if any merchant residing in Great-Britain or Ireland
shall, directly or indirectly, ship any goods, wares,
or merchandise, for America, in order to break
the said non-importation agreement,
or in any manner contravene the same,
on such unworthy conduct being well attested,
it ought to be made public; and, on the same being so done,
we will not, from thenceforth,
have any commercial connection with such merchant.
6. That such as are owners of vessels will give
positive orders to their captains, or masters,
not to receive on board their vessels any goods prohibited
by the said non-importation agreement,
on pain of immediate dismission from their service.
7. We will use our utmost endeavors to improve
the breed of sheep, and increase their number
to the greatest extent; and to that end
we will kill them as sparingly as may be,
especially those of the most profitable kind;
nor will we export any to the West-Indies, or elsewhere;
and those of us who are or may become overstocked with,
or can conveniently spare any sheep,
will dispose of them to our neighbors,
especially to the poorer sort, on moderate Terms.
8. We will, in our several stations,
encourage frugality, economy, and industry;
and promote agriculture, arts, and the manufactures
of this country, especially that of wool;
and will discountenance and discourage every species
of extravagance and dissipation, especially all horse-racing,
and all kinds of gaming, cock-fighting, exhibitions of shows,
plays, and other expensive diversions and entertainments;
and on the death of any relation, or friend, none of us,
or any of our families, will go into any farther
mourning dress than a black drape
or riband on the arm or hat for gentlemen,
and a black riband and necklace for ladies,
and we will discontinue
the giving of gloves and scarfs at funerals.
9. Such as are venders of goods or merchandise
will not take advantage of the scarcity of goods
that may be occasioned by this association,
but will sell the same at the rates we have been respectively
accustomed to do for twelve months last past.—
And if any venders of goods or merchandise shall sell
any such goods on higher terms, or shall in any manner,
or by any device whatsoever, violate or depart
from this agreement, no person ought, nor will any of us
deal with any such Person, or his or her factor or agent,
at any time thereafter, for any commodity whatever.
10. In case any merchant, trader, or other persons,
shall import any goods or merchandise
after the first day of December,
and before the first day of February next,
the same ought forthwith, at the election of the owner,
to be either reshipped or delivered up to the committee
of the county or town wherein they shall be imported,
to be stored at the risk of the importer,
until the non-importation agreement shall cease,
or be sold under the direction of the committee aforesaid;
and, in the last mentioned case, the owner or owners
of such goods shall be reimbursed out of the sales,
the first cost and charges, the profit, if any,
to be applied towards relieving and employing
such poor inhabitants of the town of Boston
as are immediate sufferers by the Boston port-bill,
and a particular account of all goods so returned, stored,
or sold, to be inserted in the public papers;
and if any goods or merchandizes shall be imported
after the said first day of February the same
ought forthwith to be sent back again,
without breaking any of the packages thereof.
11. That a committee be chosen in every county, city,
and town, by those who are qualified to vote
for representatives in the legislature,
whose business it shall be attentively to observe the conduct
of all persons touching this association;
and when it shall be made to appear, to the satisfaction
of a majority of any such committee that any person
within the limits of their appointment has violated
this association, that such majority do forthwith cause
the truth of the case to be published in the gazette,
to the end that all such foes to the rights of British-America
may be publicly known and universally contemned
as the enemies of American liberty; and thence forth
we respectively will break off all dealings with him, or her.
12. That the committee of correspondence,
in the respective colonies do frequently inspect the entries
of their custom houses, and inform each other,
from time to time, of the true state thereof
and of every other material circumstance
that may occur relative to this association.
13. That all manufactures of this country be sold
at reasonable prices, so that no undue advantage
be taken of a future scarcity of goods.
14. And we do further agree and resolve, that
we will have no trade, commerce, dealings,
or intercourse whatsoever, with any colony or province
in North-America, which shall not accede to,
or which shall hereafter violate this association,
but will hold them as unworthy of the rights of freemen,
and as inimical to the liberties of their country.
And we do solemnly bind ourselves and our constituents,
under the ties aforesaid, to adhere to this association,
until such parts of the several acts of parliament,
passed since the close of the last war,
as impose or continue duties on tea, wine, molasses,
syrups, paneles, coffee, sugar, pimenta, indigo,
foreign paper, glass and painters’ colors,
imported into America, and extend the powers
of the admiralty courts beyond their ancient limits,
deprive the American subject of trial by jury,
authorize the judge’s certificate to indemnify the prosecutor
from damages that he might otherwise be liable to
from a trial by his peers, require oppressive security
from a claimant of ships or goods seized before he shall be
allowed to defend his property, are repealed.—
And until that part of the act of the 12th of George III
chapter 24, entitled “An act for the better securing
his majesty’s dockyards, magazines, ships, ammunition,
and stores,” by which any persons charged with committing
any of the offences therein described, in America may be
tried in any shire or county within the realm, is repealed—
and until the four acts passed the last session of parliament,
viz. that for stopping the port and blocking up
the harbor of Boston,—that for altering the charter
and government of Massachusetts-Bay—and that which is
entitled “An act for the better administration of justice, &c.”—
and that “for extending the limits of Quebec, &c.” are repealed.
And we recommend it to the provincial conventions,
and to the committees in the respective colonies,
to establish such farther regulations as they may think proper,
for carrying into execution this association.
The foregoing association being determined upon
by the Congress, was ordered to be subscribed
by the several members thereof; and thereupon,
we have hereunto set our respective names accordingly.
IN CONGRESS, PHILADELPHIA, OCTOBER 20, 1774.
Signed, Peyton Randolph, President.17
Washington purchased A Summary View of the
Rights of British America by Thomas Jefferson.
A rumor, which was not true, started perhaps by John Adams, spread that
George Washington had said in a speech, “I will raise one thousand men,
subsist them at my own expense and march myself
at their head for the relief of Boston.”18
Washington was in command of six companies in Virginia by December,
and Virginia had a committee in every county.
He traveled with his black manservant Billy Lee and the influential Burgesses
Patrick Henry and Edmund Pendleton, and they arrived in Philadelphia
on September 4 for the First Continental Congress.
They agreed to vote by colony instead of by population,
and on the 5th they elected Peyton Randolph of Virginia president.
The Congress adopted the boycott on imports.
On September 30 they approved a resolution to stop exporting
American products after 10 September 1775.
They discussed many issues including ending the slave trade.
Delegates also agreed that colonies should stop importing British
and Irish goods and all slaves after 1 December 1774.
They adjourned on October 26, and Washington returned to Mount Vernon.
George Mason told him that a hundred men from the age of 16 to 50
had formed a voluntary militia company for Fairfax County.
On November 17 Washington ordered treatises on military discipline
and one hundred muskets from William Minor in Philadelphia.
During the winter they strengthened the militia with a “voluntary” tax.
Notes
1. Documents of American History ed. Henry Steele Commager, p. 56.
2. Washington Writings, p. 116-117.
3. Documents of American History ed. Henry Steele Commager, p. 58.
4. George Washington: A Biography Volume 3 Planter and Patriot
by Douglas Southall Freeman, p. 167.
5. Washington Writings, p. 129.
6. Ibid., p. 130-132.
7. Virginia Nonimportation Resolutions, 17 May 1769 (online)
8. Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow, p. 146.
9. Washington Writings, p. 132-133.
10. George Washington: A Life by Woodrow Wilson, p. 84.
11. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall, p. 259.
12. Ibid., p. 260.
13. George Washington by Henry Cabot Lodge, p. 126.
14. Washington Writings, p. 152-153.
15. Fairfax County Resolves, 18 July 1774. (online)
16. Documents of American History ed. Henry Steele Commager, p. 79-80.
17. Articles of Association, 1774 (online)
18. George Washington: A Life by Willard Sterne Randall, p. 269.
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