The Remonstrance to the House of Commons

In the fall of 1764, a specially-appointed committee from the House of Burgesses gathered to prepare petitions to King George, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons protesting the American colonies’ rights. George Wythe penned this remonstrance to the House of Commons concerning the Stamp Act proposed by the British Parliament, which was to impose a direct tax on the colonies and would require that many printed goods be produced on stamped paper prepared in London. Many of his colleagues found Wythe’s remonstrance too bold – even bordering on treason – and subjected his declarations to substantial modifications. The House adopted this softened version of Wythe’s resolution. Parliament nevertheless passed the Stamp Act, despite the colonists’ protests.

Document text, 1759

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To the Right Honourable the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses of Great-Britain, in Parliament assembled:

The Remonstrance of the Council and Burgesses of Virginia.

It appearing by the printed votes of the House of Commons of Great-Britain in parliament assembled, that in a committee of the whole House the 17th day of March last, it was resolved, That towards defending, protecting and securing the British colonies and plantations in America, it may be proper to charge certain stamp duties in the said colonies and plantations; and it being apprehended that the same subject which was then declined, may be resumed and further pursued in a succeeding session, the Council and Burgesses of Virginia met in General Assembly, judge it their indispensable duty in a respectable manner, but with decent sureness, to remonstrate against such a measure; that at least a cession of those rights, which in their opinion must be infringed by that procedure, may not be inferred from their silence at so important a crisis.

They conceive it is essential to British liberty that laws imposing taxes on the people ought not to be made without the consent of representatives chosen by themselves; who, at the same time that they are acquainted with the circumstances of their constituents, sustain a proportion of the burthen laid on them. This privilege inherent in the persons who discovered and settled these regions, could not be renounced, or forfeited by their removal

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by their whole Conduct they have endeavored to approve themselves second to none of their Fellow Subjects, in any Part of his Majesty's Dominions, for Duty and Affection.

They are truly sensible of the Happiness and Security they derive from their Connexions with and Dependance upon Great-Britain, their Parent Kingdom; and as they have at all Times exerted their best Endeavours to make such suitable Returns, on their Parts, as might render the Continuance of those Connexions permanent, and equally desirable to both, they cannot but feel the deepest Concern, that nay incidents should have interrupted that pleasing Harmony, which they wish ever to fulfill.

As members of the British Empire, they presume not to claim any other than the common, unquestionable Rights of British Subjects, who, by a fundamental and vital Principle of their Constitution, cannot be subjected to any Kind of Taxation, or have the smallest Portion of their Property taken from them by any Power on Earth, without their Consent given by their Representatives in Parliament; this Pillar of their Constitution, the very Palladium of their Liberties, hath been so zealously preserved by the House of Commons of Great-Britain, that they have never suffered any other Branch of their Legislature to make the smallest Amendment or Alteration in any of their Supply Bills, lest it should be drawn into Precedent, and considered as a Cession of so dear and essential a Right and Privilege.

If this Principle is ever suffered to decay, the Constitution must pine away and expire with it; as no Man can enjoy even the Shadow of Liberty or Freedom, if his Property, acquired by his own Labour and Industry, can be wrested from him at the Will of another. To attempt demonstrating this to an Englishman must surely be unnecessary; he feels the Principle within him, and it diffuses through his whole Frame that Complacency and Chearfulness, without which he could not live at Ease.

Our Ancestors, who, at the Expense of their Blood and Treasure, first explored and settled these new Regions, being entitled to these natural and constitutional Rights, could not forfeit or lose them by their Migration to America, not as Vagabonds and Fugitives, but with the Licence and under the Encouragement of their Sovereigns, being animated with the laudable Desire of enlarging the English Dominion, and extending its Commerce; but on the contrary they brought these their common Birthrights over with them entire, and transmitted them inviolate to us their Posterity.

Let not the Remonstrants be misunderstood, as affecting or wishing an Independency of Great-Britain; they rather rejoice in that constitutional Connexion, which they know is essential to the Happiness of both; they have been cherished, they have been kindly protected by her, and cannot but indulge themselves with the Persuasion, that the Benefits which have redounded, and which daily accrue to their Mother Country from her Trade with the Colonies, have hitherto proved, and still continue, an adequate and ample Recompence for such Protection.

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They have acquiesced in the Authority of Parliament to make Laws for preserving a necessary dependance, yet they cannot think it essential to this Purpose, or to preserve a proper Relation between a Parent Kingdom and Colonies transplanted from her, that the should raise Money upon them without their Consent. The Trade of the Colonies, almost as soon as it became an Object worthy the national Attention, was laid under such Restrictions, as were thought necessary to secure their Dependance and promote the Interest of the whole extended Empire. The natural Rights and first Principles of the English Constitution were very early ingrafted into the Constitutions of the Colonies; Hence a Legislative Authority, which has always been thought essential in every free State, was derived and assimilated, as nearly as might be, to that established in England; the Crown reserving to itself the executive Authority of Government and the Power of assenting and dissenting to all Laws; but the Privilege of choosing their own Representatives was continued in the People, and confirmed to them by repeated and express Stipulations. The Constitution and Government of this Colony being thus established and fixed, the Remonstrants and their Ancestors enjoyed the perfect Sweets of Liberty and Freedom. Upon pressing and emergent Occasions, not within their own Powers of Redress, they have frequently applied to their King and common Father, and often, they own it with Gratitude, have received reasonable Reliefs from their Mother Country. On the other Hand, when his Majesty has had Occasion for the Assistance of his dutiful Subjects in America, Requisitions have been constantly made from the Crown by the King's Governors to the Representatives of the People, who have complied with them to the utmost of their Abilities. The ample and adequate Provision made by the Assembly of this Colony, so long ago as the Reign of King Charles the Second, and upon his Requisition, for Support of the civil Government, by an Impost of two Shillings Sterling per Hogshead on all Tobacco exported, one Shilling and three Pence Tonnage upon all Ships and Vessels, and fix Pence per Poll on all Persons imported, except Mariners, with the many and large Supplies, exceeding Half a Million voted during the Corse of the last War, upon Requisitions made to the Assembly of this Colony by his Majesty and his Royal Grandfather, afford both early and recent Instances of the Disposition of the Assemblies of this Colony, to do every Thing that could reasonably be desired or expected of them; and at the same Time are incontestable Proofs that the Commons of Great-Britain never, until very lately, assumed a Power of imposing Taxes on the People of the Colonies for the Purposes of Raising a Revenue, or supporting the Contingencies of Government. To say that the Commons of Great-Britain have a constitutional Right and Authority to give and grant, at their Pleasure, the Properties of the People in the Colonies, or to impose an internal Tax of any Kind upon them, who are not, and cannot from the Nature of their Situation, be represented in their House of Commons, is in a Word, to command them to bid Adieu to their natural and civil Liberties, and to prepare for a State of the most abject Slavery.

The Commons of Great-Britain can impose no Taxes on the People there, without burdening themselves in some Proportion; if the Taxes they impose should be thought grievous or unnecessary, the Constitution

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Hath not left the People without a proper Remedy. But what must be the Situation of the Colonists, if the late and new broached Doctrine should prevail? Unrepresented as they are, and for ever must be, they can have no Opportunity of explaining their just Grievances; and if they are to be taxed, of pointing out the least inconvenient and burdensome Mode of doing it; in short, their Doom will generally be pronounced, before they can receive the least Intelligence that a Subject, whereby they or their Interests might be affected, hath been agitated in Parliament.

The Notion of a virtual Representation hath been so often and fully refuted, that it surely is unnecessary to multiply Words on that Head; if the Property, the Liberties, the Lives of Millions of his Majesty's most dutiful Subjects are merely ideal, how deplorable must be their Condition!

The late oppressive Stamp-Act, so often and justly complained of, in repealing which, your Remonstrants have repeatedly acknowledged the Wisdom and Justice of Parliament, did confessedly impose a Tax on the Colonists merely internal; and the Remonstrants cannot but consider several late Acts of the British Parliament, as tending directly to the fame Point. That the Parliament may make Laws for regulating the Trade of the Colonies, has been granted: sometimes Duties have been properly enough imposed to restrain the Commerce of one Part of the Empire, that might prove injurious to another; and by this Means, the general Welfare of the whole may have been promoted: but a Tax imposed upon the real Necessaries of Life, for the sole Purpose of raising a Revenue, or in other Words, to compel the Inhabitants of the Colonies to pay large Sums of Money, whether they will or not, and this, not with a View to the general Interests of Commerce, the Remonstrants must ever think a mere internal Tax to all Intents and Purposes. Of this Sort they cannot but consider a late Act of Parliament “giving and granting certain Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America;” the Preamble plainly speaks of the Design of the Act; and can it be thought just, or reasonable, that the Colonists, restricted as they are in every Branch of their Trade, should be obliged to pay Duties on the Articles enumerated in this Act? They are, in the first Place, by former Laws prohibited from purchasing these Necessaries of Life at any other than the British Market; they are confined in their Exports also; by this they are to compelled to pay severe Duties on such Necessaries. By the Stamp-Act they were forbid, under grievous Penalties, transacting all Sorts of important Business, except upon stampt Paper; by this Act they are inhibited the Use of Paper, in the most common and ordinary Occurrences, unless they will first submit to pay a Duty for it. The Purposes of Government, which are said to be the chief Objects of this Act, the Remonstrants have shown, were long since provided for by an ample and perpetual Act of Assembly; this is again remarked, not because the Remonstrants would claim any particular exclusive Merit from it, but to show how easily their internal Concerns may be mistaken at the Distance of three Thousand Miles; they being unwilling to believe, that, had this Circumstance been attended to, the Parliament would have imposed Taxes on this Colony for Purposes

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already provided for. The Manner in which this Act is to be executed, the Remonstrants cannot but consider as extremely dangerous to the Liberties of the People.

The Act suspending the Legislative Power of the Province of New York, the Remonstrants consider as still more alarming to the Colonies in general, though it has that single Province in View, as its immediate Object. If the Parliament has a Right to compel the Colonists to furnish a single Article for the Troops sent over to America, by the fame Rule of Right they may compel them to furnish Cloaths, Arms, and every other Necessary, even the Pay of the Officers and Soldiers; a Doctrine replete with every Kind of Mischief, and utterly subversive of all that is dear and valuable to them. For what Advantage could the People of the Colonies derive from their Right of choosing their own Representatives, fi those Representatives, when chosen, not permitted to exercise their own Judgments, were under a Necessity (on Pain of being deprived of the Legislative Authority) of enforcing the Mandated of a British Parliament?

Thus have the Remonstrants expressed, and they trust with decent Firmness, the Sentiments of a free and loyal People; it is hoped that the Honourable House of Commons will no longer prosecute Measures, which they, who are designed to suffer under them, must ever consider as much fitter for Exiles, driven from their native Country after having ignominiously forfeited her Favours and Protection, than for the Posterity of Britons, who have been at all Times anxions and solicitous to demonstrate their Respect and Affection for their Mother Kingdom, by embracing every Occasion to promote her Prosperity and Glory; but that British Patriots will never consent to the Exercise of anti-constitutional Powers, which even in these remote Corners, may, in Time, prove dangerous in their Exam to the interior Parts of the British Empire. Should the Remonstrants be disappointed in these Hopes, the necessary Result will be, that the Colonists, reduced to extreme Poverty, will be compelled to contract themselves within their little Spheres, and obliged to content themselves with their home-spun Manufactures.

External links

• Read the Journals of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, 1761-1765 (John Pendleton Kennedy, ed. Richmond, VA: Colonial Press, Everett Waddey Co., 1907) in Google Books.
• Read the Legislative Journals of the Council of Colonial Virginia, vol. 3 (H.R. McIlwaine, ed. Richmond, VA: Colonial Press, Everett Waddey Co., 1919) in Google Books.