"Rouzed by Danger and alarmed at Attempts foreign & domestic to reduce the People of this Country to a State of abject and detestable slavery by destroying that free and happy constitution of Government under which they have hitherto lived,—We who subscribe this Paper, have Associated, & do bind ourselves to each other, to God, and to our Country, by the Firmest Tyes that Religion & Virtue can frame, most sacredly and punctually to stand by, and with our Lives & Fortunes to support, maintain and defend each other, in the Observation and Execution of these following Articles.
"First, we declare all due Allegiance and Obedience to our lawful Sovereign George the Third King of Great Britain. And we determine to the utmost of our Power to preserve the Laws, the Peace and good Order of this Colony as far as is consistent with the Preservation of our Constitutional Rights and Liberty.
"2.dly As we know it to be the Birthright Privilege of every British Subject (and of the People of Virginia as being such) founded on Reason, Law and Compact, That he cannot be legally tryed but by his Peers, and that he cannot be taxed but by Consent of a Parliament in which he is represented by Persons chosen by the People and who themselves pay a part of the Tax they impose on others—If therefore any Person or Persons shall attempt by any Action or Proceeding to deprive this Colony of those fundamental Rights we will immediately regard him or them as the most dangerous Enemy of the Community and we will go to any Extremity not only to prevent the Success of such Attempts but to Stigmatize and punish the Offender.
"3.dly As the Stamp Act does absolutely direct the Property of the People to be taken from them without their Consent express'd 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 publick 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 and disgrace shall attend their prostitute Purpose.
"4.thly That the last Article may most surely and effectually be execut'd, 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 inform'd shall with expedition repair to a place of meeting to be appointed as near the Scene of Action as may be.
"5.thly Each Associator shall do his true endeavor to obtain as many Signers to this Association as he possibly can.
"6.thly If any attempt shall be made upon the Liberty or Property of any Associator for any Action or Thing to be done in Consequence of this Agreement, we do most solemnly bind ourselves by the sacred Engagements above enter'd 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.
"In Testimony of the good Faith with which we resolve to execute this Association, we have this 27 day of February 1766 in Virginia put our hands & Seals hereto
Richard Henry Lee Will Robinson Lewis Willis Thomas Lud. Lee Samuel Washington Charles Washington Moore Fauntleroy Francis Lightfoot Lee Thomas Jones Rodham Kenner Spencer Mottsom Ball Richard Mitchell Joseph Murdock Rich'd Parker Spence Monroe John Watts Robert Lovell John Blagge Charles Weeks William Booth Geo: Tuberville Alvin Moxley Wm. Flood John Ballantine Jun. William Lee Thomas Chilton Richard Buckner Will Chilton Joseph Peirce John Williams Jn. Blackwell Winder S. Kenner Wm. Bronaugh Will Peirce John Berryman Jn. Dickson John Browne Edward Sanford Charles Chilton Lau. Washington W. Roane Jr. William Sydnor John Monroe William Cocke William Grayson Wm. Brockenbrough Sam Selden Daniel McCarty Jer Rush Edwd. Ransdell Townshend Dade Laur. Washington John Ashton W. Brent Francis Foushee John Smith Jr. Will Balle Thomas Barnes Jos. Blackwell Reuben Meriwether Edw. Mountjoy Thomas Mountjoy William Mountjoy John Mountjoy Gilbt. Campbell Jos. Lane Richard Lee Daniel Tebbs Fran. Thornton Jun. Peter Rust Jun. John Lee Jun. Fran Waring John Upshaw Merriwether Smith Thomas Roane James Edmondson James Webb John Edmondson James Banks Smith Young Thomas Logan Jo. Milliken Rich Hodges James Upshaw James Booker A. Montague Richard Jeffries John Suggett Jn. L. Woodcock Robert Wormeley Carter John Beale Jun. John Newton Will B--le Jun. Chs. Mortimer John Edmondson Charles Beale Peter Grant Thomson Mason Jon. Beckwith James Samford John Belfield W. Smith John Aug. Washington Thomas Belfield Edgecomb Suggett Henry Francks John Bland Jun. Jas. Emerson John Richards Thos. Jett Thomas Douglas Max. Robinson John Orr Ebenezer Fisher Hancock Eustace."
Text and names have been copied from a photostatic copy of the original manuscript by Florienette Matter Knight, Organizing Regent, Leedstown Resolutions Chapter, N.S.D.A.R. The original manuscript, handwritten by Richard Henry Lee, is in the archives of the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va.
FITHIAN
On an October day in the year 1773 a man on horseback rode down through Westmoreland County until he came to the entrance of a plantation known as Nomini Hall. The avenue leading to the great house was bordered with poplar trees, through which the white stuccoed house appeared "romantic" and "truly elegant."
Philip Vickers Fithian, lately graduated from Princeton, had been seven days on the road since he had left New Jersey. He had ridden two hundred and sixty miles and crossed a number of ferries.
Fithian was not sure that he was doing the right thing in coming to Virginia. His friends had tried to persuade him not to go to that "wicked colony" where he would be sure to fall in with evil companions and become a drunkard or a gambler. If his parents had lived Fithian would probably have stayed in the North, but they had recently passed away, and the salary as a plantation tutor was good. With a last prayer to the Lord that he would be strong enough to stick to his upright way of life, Fithian set off on his journey to the Northern Neck of Virginia.
Nomini Hall was the seat of one of King Carter's grandsons, Robert Carter, III. His holdings, amounting to seventy thousand acres, were scattered over a number of counties. He owned more than five hundred slaves and employed numerous white overseers, clerks, stewards, craftsmen and artisans. Tobacco was still the main crop of the plantation, but its profits were now waning and Councillor Carter sought other money crops to supplement this chief product. Carter also manufactured supplies for the use of his plantations and for his neighbors' needs. He operated grain mills, textile factories, salt works and bakeries.
Nomini Hall was laid off in the usual formal English style, with four dependencies—one equally distant from each corner of the manor. These were the large dependencies—there were many others, probably as many as thirty. In the square thus formed by the four buildings there was a bowling green, and gardens interspersed with oyster-shell walks.
In one of the large dependencies, Fithian was established. Here he and the Carter boys slept upstairs over the schoolroom. The five Carter girls who were to be his pupils—"all dressed in white"—slept in the great house. Fithian liked his room in the schoolhouse—"a neat chamber, a large Fire, Books, & Candle & my Liberty to stay in this room or to sit at the great house." In the household he held a delicate position—equi-distant between the master and his eldest son.
There was never a dull moment at Nomini Hall. There was the music teacher—and the traveling dancing teacher who followed a plan of rotation between the plantations. He spent about a week at each place, which ended with a small informal dance. The big balls were splendid affairs, lasting for days and nights. There was a continual procession of chariots, drawn by four or six horses, with coachman, and postillions, and attended by horseback riders, moving back and forth between Nomini Hall and its neighboring plantations. The Carters often dined and danced with the Lees at Stratford and Chantilly, the Washingtons at Bushfield, the Tubervilles at Hickory Hill, and with the Tayloes at Mount Airy, about twelve miles distant. Christenings, birthdays, house-warmings—anything served as an excuse for a celebration among these Northern Neckers! In no part of Virginia were there more great planters than in the Northern Neck.
Fithian observed everything and wrote it all down in his Journal. One of the first things that he noticed were the ladies with the white handkerchiefs: "Almost every Lady wears a red Cloak; and when they ride out they tye a white handkerchief over their Head and face, so that when I first came into Virginia, I was distress'd whenever I saw a Lady, for I thought she had the Tooth-Ache!"