No. 67. Virginia Resolutions

March 12, 1773

THE chief occasion of the Virginia resolutions of 1773 was the appointment of a court of inquiry, to investigate the circumstances connected with the burning of the Gaspee the previous June. The House of Burgesses met March 4. The resolutions, prepared by some of the younger members, among them Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, Francis L. Lee, Thomas Jefferson, and Dabney Carr, were adopted on the 12th. Three days later the House was prorogued. The idea of committees of correspondence was not new, but the proposal of Virginia was the first to meet with general response from the other colonies.

REFERENCES.

Text in W. W. Henry's Patrick Henry, I., 159, 160. For the history of the resolutions see ib., I., 154-168; Frothingham's Rise of the Republic, 276-284.

Whereas, The minds of his Majesty's faithful subjects in this colony have been much disturbed, by various rumors and reports of proceedings tending to deprive them of their ancient, legal, and constitutional right,

And whereas, The affairs of this colony are frequently connected with those of Great Britain, as well as of the neighboring colonies, which renders a communication of sentiments necessary; in order, therefore, to remove the uneasinesses, and to quiet the minds of the people, as well as for the other good purposes above mentioned,

Be it resolved, That a standing committee of correspondence and inquiry be appointed, to consist of eleven persons, to wit: the Honorable Peyton Randolph, Esquire, Robert Carter Nicholas, Richard Bland, Richard Henry Lee, Benjamin Harrison, Edmund Pendleton, Patrick Henry, Dudley Digges, Dabney Carr, Archibald Cary and Thomas Jefferson, Esquires, any six of whom to be a committee, whose business it shall be to obtain the most early and authentic intelligence of all such acts and resolutions of the British Parliament, or proceedings of Administration, as may relate to or affect the British colonies in America, and to keep up and maintain a correspondence and communication with our sister colonies, respecting these important considerations; and the result of such their proceedings, from time to time, to lay

before this House.

Resolved, That it be an instruction to the said committee, that they do, without delay, inform themselves particularly of the

principles and authority on which was constituted a court of inquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode Island, with powers to transmit persons accused of offences committed in America to places beyond the seas to be tried.

The said resolutions being severally read a second time, were, upon the question severally put thereupon, agreed to by the house, nemine contradicente.

Resolved, That the speaker of this house do transmit to the speakers of the different Assemblies of the British colonies on the continent, copies of the said resolutions, and desire that they will lay them before their respective Assemblies, and request them to appoint some person or persons of their respective bodies, to communicate from time to time with the said committee.

No. 68. Boston Port Act

March 31, 1774

By the Townshend Revenue Act [No. 63], a duty of 3d. per pound was imposed upon tea imported into the American colonies from Great Britain; but by the Tea Act [No. 64], the inland duty of 15. per pound was taken off for five years, and a drawback allowed, on tea exported to America, of the entire customs duty payable on its importation into England. The duties imposed by the Revenue Act, except that on tea, were repealed in 1770. But the colonies would not buy tea shipped from England, and most of the tea consumed in America was smuggled in through the agency of the Dutch East India Company. To relieve the British East India Company from certain financial difficulties, an act was passed in May, 1773, again allowing a drawback of the duties payable on importation into England, in case the tea was shipped to America; the tax of 3d. per pound, however, still remaining as an assertion of the principle of the Declaratory Act of 1766 [No. 60]. Upon the passage of the act of 1773, large quantities of tea were sent to America, but its importation was generally resisted. The most violent opposition was manifested in Boston, where, on the night of Dec. 16, the ships laden with tea were boarded by citizens disguised as Indians, and the tea thrown into the harbor.

Papers relating to the disturbances in America, and especially the proceedings at Boston, were laid before Parliament March 7, 1774, accompanied by a royal message urging the adoption of measures to end the disorder and secure obedience to the laws. On the 14th Lord North, in the House of Commons, asked and obtained leave to bring in a bill to remove the custom house officers from Boston, and to close that port to commerce. A petition from William Bollan, agent for Massachusetts, praying to be heard in behalf of that colony, was laid on the table. The bill was brought in on the 18th, had its second reading on the 21st, and passed on the 25th without a division. It was taken

up to the Lords the following day, and passed that House, without a division, on the 30th. March 31 the act received the royal assent. The petition of Bollan was finally rejected by the Commons on the 25th, by a vote of 40 to 170; but he was heard in the Lords on the 30th, before the final vote on the bill. The act was repealed by the prohibitory act of 1775 [No. 80]. REFERENCES. Text in Pickering's Statutes at Large, XXX., 336-341. The act is cited as 14 Geo. III., c. 19. For the debates in Parliament, see the Parliamentary History, XVII., or Force's American Archives, Fourth Series, I., 5-61; cf. also the Annual Register (1774). The report of the committee of the Lords on the disturbances in Massachusetts is in Force, and also in Almon's Prior Documents, 232-255. Franklin's True State of the Proceedings, etc. (Works, Sparks's ed., IV., 466-515), is a skilful counterpresentation.

An act to discontinue, in such manner, and for such time as are therein mentioned, the landing and discharging, lading or shipping, of goods, wares, and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbour, of Boston, in the province of Massachuset's Bay, in North America.

WHEREAS dangerous commotions and insurrections have been fomented and raised in the town of Boston, in the province of Massachuset's Bay, in New England, by divers ill-affected persons, to the subversion of his Majesty's government, and to the utter destruction of the publick peace, and good order of the said town; in which commotions and insurrections certain valuable cargoes of teas, being the property of the East India Company, and on board certain vessels lying within the bay or harbour of Boston, were seized and destroyed: And whereas, in the present condition of the said town and harbour, the commerce of his Majesty's subjects cannot be safely carried on there, nor the customs payable to his Majesty duly collected; and it is therefore expedient that the officers of his Majesty's customs should be forthwith removed from the said be it enacted. . ., That from and after the first day of June, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, it shall not be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever to lade, put, or cause or procure to be laden or put, off or from any quay, wharf, or other place, within the said town of Boston, or in or upon any part of the shore of the bay, commonly called The Harbour of Boston, between a certain headland or point called Nahant Point, on the eastern side of the entrance into the said bay, and a certain other headland or point called Alderton Point, on the western side of the entrance into the said bay, or in

town:

or upon any island, creek, landing-place, bank, or other place, within the said bay or headlands, into any ship, vessel, lighter, boat, or bottom, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to be transported or carried into any other country, province, or place whatsoever, or into any other part of the said province of the Massachuset's Bay, in New England; or to take up, discharge, or lay on land, or cause or procure to be taken up, discharged, or laid on land, within the said town, or in or upon any of the places aforesaid, out of any boat, lighter, ship, vessel, or bottom, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, to be brought from any other country, province, or place, or any other part of the said province of the Massachuset's Bay in New England, upon pain of the forfeiture of the said goods, wares, and merchandise, and of the said boat, lighter, ship, vessel, or other bottom into which the same shall be put, or out of which the same shall be taken, and of the guns, ammunition, tackle, furniture, and stores, in or belonging to the same: And if any such goods, wares, or merchandise, shall, within the said town, or in any the places aforesaid, be laden or taken in from the shore into any barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat, to be carried on board any ship or vessel outward-bound to any other country or province, or other part of the said province of the Massachuset's Bay in New England, or be laden or taken into such barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat, from or out of any ship or vessel coming in and arriving from any other country or province, or other part of the said province of the Massachuset's Bay in New England, such barge, hoy, lighter, wherry, or boat, shall be forfeited and lost.

II. And be it further enacted. .., That if any warfinger, or keeper of any wharf, crane, or quay, or their servants, or any of them, shall take up or land, or knowingly suffer to be taken up or landed, or shall ship off, or suffer to be water-borne, at or from any of their said wharfs, cranes, or quays, any such goods, wares, or merchandise; in every such case, all and every such warfinger, and keeper of such wharf, crane, or quay, and every person whatever who shall be assisting, or otherwise concerned in the shipping or in the loading or putting on board any boat, or other vessel, for that purpose, or in the unshipping such goods, wares, and merchandise, or to whose hands the same shall knowingly come after the loading, shipping, or unshipping thereof, shall forfeit and lose treble the value thereof, to be computed at the

highest price which such sort of goods, wares, and merchandise, shall bear at the place where such offence shall be committed, at the time when the same shall be so committed, together with the vessels and boats, and all the horses, cattle, and carriages, whatsoever made use of in the shipping, unshipping, landing, removing, carriage, or conveyance of any of the aforesaid goods, wares, and merchandise.

III. And be it further enacted . . ., That if any ship or vessel shall be moored or lie at anchor, or be seen hovering within the said bay, described and bounded as aforesaid, or within one league from the said bay so described, or the said headlands, or any of the islands lying between or within the same, it shall and may be lawful for any admiral, chief commander, or commissioned officer, of his Majesty's fleet or ships of war, or for any officer of his Majesty's customs, to compel such ship or vessel to depart to some other port or harbour, or to such station as the said officer shall appoint, and to use such force for that purpose as shall be found necessary: And if such ship or vessel shall not depart accordingly, within six hours after notice for that purpose given by such person as aforesaid, such ship or vessel, together with all the goods laden on board thereon, and all the guns, ammunition, tackle, and furniture, shall be forfeited and lost, whether bulk shall have been broken or not.

IV. Provided always, That nothing in this act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend, to any military or other stores for his Majesty's use, or to the ships or vessels whereon the same shall be laden, which shall be commissioned by, and in the immediate pay of, his Majesty, his Heirs or successors; nor to any fuel or victual brought coastwise from any part of the continent of America, for the necessary use and sustenance of the inhabitants of the said town of Boston, provided the vessel wherein the same are to be carried shall be duly furnished with a cocket and let-pass, after having been duly searched by the proper officers of his Majesty's customs at Marblehead, in the port of Salem, in the said province of Massachuset's Bay; and that some officer of his Majesty's customs be also there put on board the said vessel, who is hereby authorised to go on board, and proceed with the said vessel, together with a sufficient number of persons, properly armed, for his defence, to the said town or harbour of Boston; nor to any ships or vessels which may happen