The Virginia Gazette

At a Meeting of the Freeholders, and others, Inhabitants of the County of Chesterfield, at the Courthouse of the said County, on Thursday the 14th of July 1774, to take into Consideration the present very alarming Situation of this Colony, the Reverend Archibald M'Robert being unanimously chosen Moderator,

Resolved, nem. con. that we are ready and willing, at the Expence of our Lives and Fortunes, to defend and maintain his Majesty's Right and Title to the Crown of Great Britain, and his American Dominions, against all his Enemies; and we do profess all just Obedience and Fidelity to his sacred Person and Government.

Resolved, that the sole Right of making Laws for the Government of this his Majesty's ancient Colony and Dominion of Virginia, and for raising and levying Taxes on the Inhabitants thereof, ought to be, and is, vested in the General Assembly of the said Colony, and cannot be executed by any other Power, without Danger to our Liberties; subject nevertheless, as of Custom has been, to his sacred Majesty's Approbation.

Resolved, that every other of his Majesty's Dominions in America ought to be, and of Right is, entitled to the same Privileges as this Colony.

Resolved, that the present Demand of Money as a Duty upon Tea imported into this or any other Colony in America, under the Authority of the British Parliament, "for the sole Purpose of raising a Revenue in America," without the Consent of our Representatives, is arbitrary and unjust, a Subversion of the ancient and constitutional Mode of levying Money upon British Subjects, and evidently calculated to fix a Precedent for future Demands of the same Nature, and by that Means to reduce the Colonies to a State of Slavery; and that all Persons aiding in the Execution of such Laws be considered as Enemies to the Freedom of British Subjects.

Resolved, that the Act of the British Parliament for depriving the Inhabitants of the Town of Boston, in our Sister Colony of Massachusetts Bay, of their lawful Trade, as also the Bills brought into the House of Commons of Great Britain (one of which Bills is entitled "a Bill for the impartial Administration of Justice in the Cases of Persons questioned for any Act done by them in the Execution of the Law, or for the Suppression of Riots or Tumults in the Province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England") are unjust, arbitrary, and unconstitutional; and although levelled particularly against one of our Sister Colonies, yet ought to be resented with the same Indignation, by this and every other Colony, as if all of them were included in the said Act and Bills.

Resolved, that an extensive Association ought to be entered into, and that no Goods or Commodities of any Kind whatsoever ought to be imported from Great Britain into this Colony after the first Day of August next, "except Medicines, Paper, Books, Needles, Cotton, Wool and Cloth Cards, Steel, Gunpowder, German Osnabrugs, Hempem Rolls, Negro Cotton and Plains, Dutch Blankets, Saltpetre, and Implements necessary for the manufacturing of Woollens and Linen;" and that all and every Person who has sent Orders to Great Britain for any Articles (except such as are already excepted) ought to embrace the first Opportunity to countermand such Orders.

Resolved, that any Inhabitant of this Colony who shall import any Article not allowed by this Association, or purchase from any other Person who shall import such Article, except already ordered, shall be deemed a Betrayer of the Liberties of his Country; and that we will not hold Friendship, or have any Connexion, with such offending Person.

Resolved, that every Kind of Luxury, Extravagance, and Dissipation, should now, and at all Times, be carefully discouraged; and that an extensive Plan of Establishing Manufactures amongst the Inhabitants of this and the other Colonies in North America should immediately be adopted, as the only possible Means of avoiding that dependent commercial Connexion which hath hitherto subsisted between the Colonies and Great Britain, which hath induced an arbitrary and designing Administration to attempt the total Destruction of our Rights and Liberties; and that, to carry the same more effectually into Execution, Subscriptions be opened for that Purpose, under proper Regulations.

Resolved, that to dissolve the General Assembly of the Colony, sitting for the Dispatch of publick Business, "because they enter into a Consideration of the Grievances under which they labour, and nobly assert their Right to Freedom," is arbitrary and oppressive, a manifest Proof of a fixed Intention to destroy the ancient, constitutional, legislative Authority in the Colony, and directly contrary to the Spirit of the Acknowledgments made in Favour of the Rights of a British People.

Resolved, that this Colony ought not to hold any commercial Intercourse with any of the Colonies in North America that shall refuse to adopt proper Measures for procuring Redress to our Grievances.

Resolved, that the Town of Boston is now suffering in the common Cause of American Liberty; that her Safety and Protection is, and ought to be, attempted, by all proper and constitutional Ways and Means in our Power.

Resolved, that we do most heartily concur with the late Representatives of this Colony in their Sentiments delivered at the Meeting held in Williamsburg after the Dissolution of the last Assembly. We return them our warmest Thanks for their spirited Conduct on that and every other Occasion, and entreat their steady and determined Attention to the same Principles at the Meeting to be held on the first Day of August next, in the City of Williamsburg.

Resolved, that Archibald Cary and Benjamin Watkins, Esquires, our late worthy Representatives (together with the Representatives to be chosen for this County in the next Assembly) be, and they are hereby appointed Deputies, on the Part of the Freeholders and Inhabitants of this County, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed by the other Counties and Corporations in this Colony, in the City of Williamsburg, on the first Day of August next, to take under their Consideration the several Grievances under which this and the other American Colonies are at present labouring, to concert and deliberate upon proper Ways and Means to procure Redress of those Grievances, and that they (together with such Deputies as shall be then and there assembled) do nominate proper Persons, on the Part of this Colony, to meet such Deputies as shall be appointed upon the Part of the other continental Colonies in a general Congress, to consult and agree upon a firm and indissoluble Union and Association, for preserving, by the best and most proper Means, their common Rights and Liberties.

Resolved, that the Clerk of this Meeting transmit to the Printers of both Gazettes Copies of these Resolutions, with the earnest Request of this County that the other Counties and Corporations within the Colony will appoint Deputies to meet at the Time and Place and for the Purposes aforesaid.

GERMAN BAKER, Clerk to the Meeting.