Slave Nation Read Free

purposes above mentioned.
    This paragraph contains the proposition that so upset the British Board of Trade. It asserts that common interests of the colonies require intercolonial communication of sentiments. Sentiments may lead to action. This paragraph incorporates the purposes set out in paragraph one. It also contravenes Britain’s policy of dealing separately with each colony. No wonder the Board of Trade called it “a measure of a most dangerous tendency and effect.”
    (3) 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.
    These three paragraphs are carefully constructed to build upon one another. Paragraph two incorporates paragraph one, by express reference. Paragraph three refers to both paragraphs one and two. Together they make a coherent whole. Paragraph three told both the British and the other colonies that this document expressed the judgment of the political leadership of Virginia, including both the senior and younger members of the House of Burgesses.
    They were united in the decision to discuss with the other colonies “acts of Parliament” and “proceedings of administration” which included all British actions which irritated the colonies—including both limiting slavery and imposing taxes. These were to be considered concerns of all the colonies and to be addressed jointly, regardless of Britain’s hopes to keep the colonies separate from one another. It also makes clear that the committees would mobilize public opinion. The actions of the committees were not directed only to the political elites in both the colonies and in Britain, but to the citizens of the colonies as well. The resolution provided a model for extralegal committees of correspondence that the other colonies could— and did—follow. 3
    (4) 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 enquiry, said to have been lately held in Rhode Island, with powers to transmit persons accused of offenses committed in America to places beyond the seas to be tried.
    This paragraph refers to an incident that occurred in June, 1772, involving the
Gaspee
, a British antismuggler ship, assigned to Rhode Island in March of 1772. Rhode Island was a notorious home for smugglers engaged in evading British customs regulations. British navy lieutenant William Dudingston had managed to alienate the colonists while stationed in Philadelphia, his previous post, but outdid himself when he arrived in Rhode Island. He routinely stopped ships and helped himself to food and other supplies. His actions generated many complaints from citizens. He ignored Governor Joseph Wanton’s demand to present his commission and discuss these complaints.
    Finally, he seized the
Fortune
, a ship owned by the family of Thomas Green, a wealthy merchant, and sent it to Boston, instead of nearby Providence, for a trial on smuggling charges. Merchants John and Nicholas Brown and Thomas Green signed a complaint against Dudingston for violating regulations that required such ships to stay within the colony where it was seized and for abusing the citizens.
    On June 9, 1772,