The Life of George Washington, Vol. 1 / Commander in Chief of the American Forces During the War / which Established the Independence of his Country and First / President of the United States

by John Marshall

1769

The impression made by these threatening declarations, which seem to have been directed particularly against Massachusetts, in the hope of deterring the other provinces from involving themselves in her dangers, was far from being favourable to the views of the mother country. The determination to resist the exercise of the authority claimed by Great Britain not only remained unshaken, but was manifested in a still more decided form.

Not long after these votes of parliament, the assembly of Virginia was convened by lord Botetourt, a nobleman of conciliating manners, who had lately been appointed governor of that province. The house took the state of the colony into their immediate consideration, Resolutions of the house of Burgesses of Virginia.and passed unanimously several resolutions asserting the exclusive right of that assembly to impose taxes on the inhabitants within his majesty's dominion of Virginia, and their undoubted right to petition for a redress of grievances, and to obtain a concurrence of the other colonies in such petitions. "That all persons charged with the commission of any offence within that colony, were entitled to a trial before the tribunals of the country, according to the fixed and known course of proceeding therein, and that to seize such persons, and transport them beyond sea for trial, derogated in a high degree from the rights of British subjects, as thereby the inestimable privilege of being tried by a jury from the vicinage, as well as the liberty of summoning and producing witnesses on such trial, will be taken from the party accused."

An address to his majesty was also agreed on, which states in the style of loyalty and real attachment to the crown, the deep conviction of the house of Burgesses of Virginia, that the complaints of the colonists were well founded.[209]

Assembly dissolved.

Intelligence of these proceedings having reached the governor, he suddenly dissolved the assembly. This measure did not produce the desired effect. The members convened at a private house, and, having chosen their speaker, moderator, proceeded to form a non-importing association, which was signed by every person present, and afterwards, almost universally throughout the province.[210]

From the commencement of the controversy, the opinion seems to have prevailed in all the colonies, that the most effectual means of succeeding in the struggle in which they were engaged, were those which would interest the merchants and manufacturers of Great Britain in their favour. Under the influence of this opinion, associations had been proposed in Massachusetts, as early as May 1765, for the non-importation of goods from that country. The merchants of some of the trading towns in the other colonies, especially those of Philadelphia, refused, at that time, to concur in a measure which they thought too strong for the existing state of things; and it was laid aside. But, in the beginning of August, it was resumed in Boston; and the merchants of that place entered into an agreement not to import from Great Britain any articles whatever, except a few of the first necessity, between the first of January 1769, and the first of January 1770; and not to import tea, glass, paper, or painter's colours, until the duties imposed on those articles should be taken off. This agreement was soon afterwards adopted in the town of Salem, the city of New York, and the province of Connecticut; but was not generally entered into through the colonies, until the resolutions and address of the two houses of parliament which have already been mentioned, seemed to cut off the hope that petitions and memorials alone, would effect the object for which they contended.[211]

The proceedings of the house of Burgesses of Virginia had been transmitted to the speakers of the several assemblies throughout the continent. Measures against the importation of British goods.In the opinion of the neighbouring colonies, the occasion required efficacious measures; and an association, similar to that which had been formed by their elder sister, was entered into by Maryland, and the Carolinas. The inhabitants of Charleston went so far as to break off all connexion with Rhode Island and Georgia, which had refused to adopt the non-importation agreement. This vigorous measure was not without its influence; and those provinces, soon afterwards, entered into the association.[212]

In Portsmouth in New Hampshire, where governor Wentworth possessed great influence, some repugnance to this measure was also discovered; but, being threatened with a suspension of their intercourse with the other colonies, the merchants of that place concurred in the general system.

All united in giving effect to this agreement. The utmost exertions were used to improve the manufactures of the country; and the fair sex, laying aside the late fashionable ornaments of England, exulted, with patriotic pride, in appearing dressed in the produce of their own looms. Committees chosen by the people superintended importations; and the force of public opinion went far to secure the agreement from violation.