CONTENT WARNING
Materials in the Library of Virginia’s collections contain historical terms, phrases, and images that are offensive to modern readers. These include demeaning and dehumanizing references to race, ethnicity, and nationality; enslaved or free status; physical and mental ability; and gender and sexual orientation.
Context
The Sons of Liberty threw hundreds of tea chests into Boston harbor in December 1773 to protest the passage of the Townshend Acts, which taxed a number of goods, including tea. The next year, Parliament responded to this destruction of about $1.7 million dollars’ worth of tea (in today’s valuation) by passing a series of laws called the Coercive Acts. Called the “Intolerable Acts” by Americans critical of Parliament, these acts closed Boston harbor until they paid for the tea, removed Massachusetts’s democratically elected government officials, allowed British commanders to quarter their soldiers in Americans’ homes, and enabled any British citizen accused of a capital crime in the colonies to be removed to Britain and tried there.
News spread quickly throughout the colonies. The Sons of Liberty called for a general boycott of British goods. In Virginia, the House of Burgesses passed a protest resolution on May 24, 1774, supporting Boston and calling for a day of fasting and prayer. In response the governor, Lord Dunmore, dissolved the legislature. Many of the burgesses refused to leave, and instead met on May 27 at Raleigh Taven, where they proposed that the colonies begin meeting in congress to determine their next steps. This meeting of the burgesses was a break from tradition, which dictated that the royal governor call and dissolve the legislature.
After news of the act closing the port at Boston arrived in Virginia on May 29, the burgesses who still remained in Williamsburg met again at the tavern. On May 30, 1774, those delegates wrote and signed this document, which called for a convention to craft a more formal response to the Intolerable Acts. The delegates at the Virginia convention that met in August supported a general boycott and chose representatives to attend the first meeting of what would become the first Continental Congress. Although Virginians had discussed inter-colony issues through a correspondence committee established by Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, and others in 1773, the Continental Congress formalized colonial relationships. It ultimately managed troop activity and international relations during the Revolutionary war.
The First Virginia Convention called into action by this document continued meeting and essentially became the legislature of Virginia. Meeting five times until declaring independence from Great Britain in May 1776, the convention delegates transacted the business of the colony. This meeting on May 30 of burgesses at the tavern marks an important step on Virginia’s road to revolution.
Citation: Proceedings of a meeting of Burgesses, May 30, 1774, Virginia (Colony), Colonial Papers, Accession 36138, State Government Records Collection, Library of Virginia (online in Colonial Papers Digital Collection).
For additional information, see The Virginia Committee of Correspondence entry at Encyclopedia Virginia.
News spread quickly throughout the colonies. The Sons of Liberty called for a general boycott of British goods. In Virginia, the House of Burgesses passed a protest resolution on May 24, 1774, supporting Boston and calling for a day of fasting and prayer. In response the governor, Lord Dunmore, dissolved the legislature. Many of the burgesses refused to leave, and instead met on May 27 at Raleigh Taven, where they proposed that the colonies begin meeting in congress to determine their next steps. This meeting of the burgesses was a break from tradition, which dictated that the royal governor call and dissolve the legislature.
After news of the act closing the port at Boston arrived in Virginia on May 29, the burgesses who still remained in Williamsburg met again at the tavern. On May 30, 1774, those delegates wrote and signed this document, which called for a convention to craft a more formal response to the Intolerable Acts. The delegates at the Virginia convention that met in August supported a general boycott and chose representatives to attend the first meeting of what would become the first Continental Congress. Although Virginians had discussed inter-colony issues through a correspondence committee established by Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, and others in 1773, the Continental Congress formalized colonial relationships. It ultimately managed troop activity and international relations during the Revolutionary war.
The First Virginia Convention called into action by this document continued meeting and essentially became the legislature of Virginia. Meeting five times until declaring independence from Great Britain in May 1776, the convention delegates transacted the business of the colony. This meeting on May 30 of burgesses at the tavern marks an important step on Virginia’s road to revolution.
Citation: Proceedings of a meeting of Burgesses, May 30, 1774, Virginia (Colony), Colonial Papers, Accession 36138, State Government Records Collection, Library of Virginia (online in Colonial Papers Digital Collection).
For additional information, see The Virginia Committee of Correspondence entry at Encyclopedia Virginia.
Standards
VS.6, VUS, USI.6, CE.1, GOVT.1
Suggested Questions
Preview Activity
Scan It: Look for names you recognize in the signature line of this document. Who do you see? How do you know them? Given which side they ended up supporting, what might you surmise about this group?
Post-Activities
Be the Journalist: You are planning to interview several of the members of this group for a report on resistance to British authority. Who would you choose to interview, and why? What would you ask them? How do you think they would respond?
Virginia Validation: Think about what was happening in Boston and northern colonies at the time of this meeting. How similar do you think the thoughts of Virginia legislators were to those in Massachusetts? What were these legislators calling for? Where did they draw the line of opposition to Britain in this report? Why do you think they wrote what they did?
Scan It: Look for names you recognize in the signature line of this document. Who do you see? How do you know them? Given which side they ended up supporting, what might you surmise about this group?
Post-Activities
Be the Journalist: You are planning to interview several of the members of this group for a report on resistance to British authority. Who would you choose to interview, and why? What would you ask them? How do you think they would respond?
Virginia Validation: Think about what was happening in Boston and northern colonies at the time of this meeting. How similar do you think the thoughts of Virginia legislators were to those in Massachusetts? What were these legislators calling for? Where did they draw the line of opposition to Britain in this report? Why do you think they wrote what they did?