Virginia Resolves of 1769

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Virginia Resolves of 1769

VIRGINIA RESOLVES OF 1769. 16 May 1769. Framed by George Mason, introduced in the House of Burgesses by Washington on 16 May, and unanimously adopted the same day, these resolutions asserted that only the governor and the provincial legislature had the right to lay taxes in Virginia. They implied censure of the British ministry's denunciation of the Virginia and Massachusetts circular letters, and they condemned the Parliamentary proposal that an ancient law of Henry VIII be revived to bring American malcontents to England for trial. Governor Norborne Berkeley, baron de Botetourt, promptly dissolved the assembly, but the Burgesses met informally and on 18 May adopted the Virginia Association.

SEE ALSO Association; Massachusetts Circular Letter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Van Schreeven, William J., comp. Revolutionary Virginia: The Road to Independence. Edited by Robert L. Scribner. Vol. 1: Forming Thunderclouds and the First Convention, 1763–1774: A Documentary Record. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1973.

                              revised by Harold E. Selesky

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Virginia Resolves of 1769