| American Minute with Bill FedererPeyton Randolph, Virginia’s ‘Fairfax Resolves’ and the spark of Independence |
On MAY 30, 1774, the members of the Virginia House of Burgesses met at the home of Speaker of the House, Peyton Randolph, the older cousin of Thomas Jefferson.They had recently been dismissed and sent home by Virginia’s Royal Governor Lord Dunmore.
Why?
Robert Carter Nicholas had introduced Thomas Jefferson’s resolution calling for a Day of Fasting and Prayer, which passed unanimously, to be observed in Virginia the same day Britain’s navy would blockade Boston’s harbor as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.
At Peyton Randolph’s home, the decision was made to invite delegates from all of Virginia’s counties to a Convention.
Citizens of Fairfax County met in Alexandria’s court house July 18, 1774, where they approved George Mason‘s Fairfax Resolves identifying American rights and resolving to defend them.
The delegate chosen to carry the Fairfax Resolves to the First Virginia Convention in Williamsburg, August 1, 1774, was George Washington. The Fairfax Resolves stated: “Resolved that the most important…part of the British Constitution…is the fundamental Principle of the People’s being governed by no Laws, to which they have not given their Consent… for if this Part of the Constitution was taken away…the Government must degenerate…into an absolute and despotic Monarchy…” The Fairfax Resolves continued: “The British…extort from us our money without our consent… diametrically contrary to the first principles of the Constitution… totally incompatible with the privileges of a free people and the natural rights of mankind…calculated to reduce us…to slavery and misery… We will use every means which Heaven hath given us to prevent our becoming its slaves…”
The Virginia Convention sent their Resolves with delegates Peyton Randolph, Patrick Henry and George Washington to Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress, September 6, 1774. Payton Randolph was chosen as the first President of the First Continental Congress, making him the first to have the title “Father of our Country.”
Get the book, Three Secular Reasons Why America Should Be Under God The Fairfax Resolves were revised and approved as the Continental Association of October 20th, 1774.
The next year, Peyton Randolph was President of the Second Continental Congress which met in Richmond, Virginia.
“I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past… Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss… If we wish to be free…we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!… We are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us…”
“Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave… There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston!
The war is inevitable… Gentlemen may cry, ‘Peace! Peace!’ – but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!”
In response, Virginia’s Royal Governor, Lord Dunmore, confiscated the gunpowder from Williamsburg’s magazine. A mob formed at the courthouse threatening violence, but Peyton Randolph calmed them down and persuaded them to avert violence. In May of 1775, the British General Thomas Gage arrived in America with an execution list, which included Peyton Randolph’s name.
In late August of 1775, Peyton Randolph left to meet with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. He died on October 23, 1775. When Peyton Randolph‘s widow died, his estate was auctioned in 1783. Randolph’s cousin, Thomas Jefferson bought his library, which he later sold to the federal government for the Library of Congress.
Get the book, America’s God and Counry Encyclopedia of Quotations On December 13,1775, after the battle of Great Bridge, Robert Carter Nicholas introduced a motion in the Virginia House of Burgesses to denounce Lord Dunmore for proclaiming martial law, calling him a monster, inimical and cruel, and a champion of ‘tyranny.’ Two days later, Robert Carter Nicholas made a motion to grant pardons to slaves who he had been deluded into joining the British forces.
On January 1, 1776, the British burned the city of Norfolk, Virginia, prompting Lord Dunmore to flee to New York, and then to Britain. He was the last Royal Governor of Virginia.
Patrick Henry became the first Governor of the newly independent Commonwealth of Virginia, followed by Thomas Jefferson. For God’s Glory Alone Ministries thanks Bill Federer & www.AmericanMinute.com
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