Westmoreland Resolves
Americans in the British Colonies America considered themselves British citizens and rightfully due the rights and privileges of English citizens in England. The first revolt of the colonists against British autocratic rule has been ascribed to the leadership of Nicolas Martiau in 1632. The colonists’ grievances drawn up by Nicolas Martiau and other members of the Virginia Assembly set forth conditions by which Sir John Harvey, the British appointed Governor of Virginia, was ejected from his position as the British appointed Governor of Virginia.
It was one-hundred thirty-two years later, on March 22, 1765 that the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier. The actual cost of the Stamp Act was relatively small. What made the law so offensive to the colonists was not so much its immediate cost but the standard it seemed to set. In the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been viewed as measures to regulate commerce, not to raise money. The Stamp Act, however, was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures.
Richard Henry Lee, at first was a supporter of the Stamp Act and expressed interest in collecting the fees of the Stamp Act for the British. Lee was censured by the Virginia House of Burgesses and, recognizing his error, recanted his earlier support for the Stamp Act. Forgiven, he moved ahead, writing the Westmoreland Resolves of 1766, binding citizens to support their lawful sovereign, George the Third, but only so far as consistent with the preservation of the colonists rights and liberty. Many considered the Westmoreland Resolves seditious as Richard Henry Lee challenged the king. Later, his Westmoreland Resolves gave guidance to those who wrote the Declaration of Independence.
If this new stamp tax were allowed to pass without resistance, the colonists reasoned, the door would be open for far more troublesome taxation in the future. Thus, the Westmoreland Resolves predated by almost ten years the colonists’ objections to the British tax on tea and set a precedent for the Boston Tea Party in 1774, by which the colonist were objecting, as they were to the Stamp Act, objecting to “taxation without representation”.
The resolves declared that the birthright of every British subject cannot be taxed but by consent of a Parliament, in which he is represented, anyone attempting to deprive the Virginia colony of fundamental rights would be regarded as a most dangerous enemy and the colonists would go to any extremity to punish the offender. Because the Stamp Act takes from the people without their consent, by the Resolves, the signers pledged to exert every faculty to prevent execution of the Stamp Act.
In 1765, enforcement of the Stamp Act began. In response, the Lee brothers, led by Richard Henry, rallied 115 men of Westmoreland County at Leedstown on the Rappahannock River, a few miles south of Stratford Hall, the Lee family plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia. All signed the Westmoreland Resolves, authored by Richard Henry Lee. The signers of the Westmoreland Resolves did solemnly bind themselves, at the risk of their lives and fortunes, to restore and protect whosoever is the target of an attempt to deprive him of his liberty or property. The document threatened "danger and disgrace" to anyone who paid the tax.
Among the signers were the four Lee brothers, Richard Henry, Thomas, Francis Lightfoot, and William Lee and the four Washingtons, Charles, Samuel, Laurence and John Augustine, all brothers of George Washington. The signing of the Westmoreland Resolves was one of the first deliberate acts of sedition against the Crown and one that placed both Richard Henry Lee and the state of Virginia at the vanguard of the coming revolution.
Sources:
The internet is replete with relevant sites of historical information on the Westmoreland Resolutions. The following were consulted in preparation of this page.
The website of Colonial Williamsburg: http://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm
The website of the Descendants of Signers of the Declaration of Independence: http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers-by-state/richard-henry-lee/ http://www.ragerlaw.com/leedstownresolutionspage.htm
The Northern Neck of Virginia law Page: http://www.ragerlaw.com/leedstownresolutionspage.htm
The website of the James Madison Research Library Information Center: http://www.madisonbrigade.com/rh_lee.htm
The website Stratford Hall Home of the Lees of Virginia http: //stratfordhall.org/meet-the-lee-family/
Americans in the British Colonies America considered themselves British citizens and rightfully due the rights and privileges of English citizens in England. The first revolt of the colonists against British autocratic rule has been ascribed to the leadership of Nicolas Martiau in 1632. The colonists’ grievances drawn up by Nicolas Martiau and other members of the Virginia Assembly set forth conditions by which Sir John Harvey, the British appointed Governor of Virginia, was ejected from his position as the British appointed Governor of Virginia.
It was one-hundred thirty-two years later, on March 22, 1765 that the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier. The actual cost of the Stamp Act was relatively small. What made the law so offensive to the colonists was not so much its immediate cost but the standard it seemed to set. In the past, taxes and duties on colonial trade had always been viewed as measures to regulate commerce, not to raise money. The Stamp Act, however, was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures.
Richard Henry Lee, at first was a supporter of the Stamp Act and expressed interest in collecting the fees of the Stamp Act for the British. Lee was censured by the Virginia House of Burgesses and, recognizing his error, recanted his earlier support for the Stamp Act. Forgiven, he moved ahead, writing the Westmoreland Resolves of 1766, binding citizens to support their lawful sovereign, George the Third, but only so far as consistent with the preservation of the colonists rights and liberty. Many considered the Westmoreland Resolves seditious as Richard Henry Lee challenged the king. Later, his Westmoreland Resolves gave guidance to those who wrote the Declaration of Independence.
If this new stamp tax were allowed to pass without resistance, the colonists reasoned, the door would be open for far more troublesome taxation in the future. Thus, the Westmoreland Resolves predated by almost ten years the colonists’ objections to the British tax on tea and set a precedent for the Boston Tea Party in 1774, by which the colonist were objecting, as they were to the Stamp Act, objecting to “taxation without representation”.
The resolves declared that the birthright of every British subject cannot be taxed but by consent of a Parliament, in which he is represented, anyone attempting to deprive the Virginia colony of fundamental rights would be regarded as a most dangerous enemy and the colonists would go to any extremity to punish the offender. Because the Stamp Act takes from the people without their consent, by the Resolves, the signers pledged to exert every faculty to prevent execution of the Stamp Act.
In 1765, enforcement of the Stamp Act began. In response, the Lee brothers, led by Richard Henry, rallied 115 men of Westmoreland County at Leedstown on the Rappahannock River, a few miles south of Stratford Hall, the Lee family plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia. All signed the Westmoreland Resolves, authored by Richard Henry Lee. The signers of the Westmoreland Resolves did solemnly bind themselves, at the risk of their lives and fortunes, to restore and protect whosoever is the target of an attempt to deprive him of his liberty or property. The document threatened "danger and disgrace" to anyone who paid the tax.
Among the signers were the four Lee brothers, Richard Henry, Thomas, Francis Lightfoot, and William Lee and the four Washingtons, Charles, Samuel, Laurence and John Augustine, all brothers of George Washington. The signing of the Westmoreland Resolves was one of the first deliberate acts of sedition against the Crown and one that placed both Richard Henry Lee and the state of Virginia at the vanguard of the coming revolution.
Sources:
The internet is replete with relevant sites of historical information on the Westmoreland Resolutions. The following were consulted in preparation of this page.
The website of Colonial Williamsburg: http://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm
The website of the Descendants of Signers of the Declaration of Independence: http://www.dsdi1776.com/signers-by-state/richard-henry-lee/ http://www.ragerlaw.com/leedstownresolutionspage.htm
The Northern Neck of Virginia law Page: http://www.ragerlaw.com/leedstownresolutionspage.htm
The website of the James Madison Research Library Information Center: http://www.madisonbrigade.com/rh_lee.htm
The website Stratford Hall Home of the Lees of Virginia http: //stratfordhall.org/meet-the-lee-family/