Cumberland County and Independence; Vol. 2, No. 4 Transcribed by Barb Hill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Cumberland County and Independence Geo. Carrington, Thomas Miller William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Apr., 1894), pp 252-255 page 253 Cumberland County and Independence proved, were received by the Committee, and stood as hereto annexed. Mr. Harrison moved that it be recommended to the People of this County strictly to observe the seventeenth Day of May as a Fast agreeable to the Resolution of the Continental Congress: Resolved, therefore, that the Resolution drawn up by Mr. Harrison be received by the Committee, and the same was received accordingly and is annexed to the Proceedings of the Day, together with the above recited Resolution, being both read and approved of. Geo. Carrington (Teste.) Thomas Miller, Cl. Com The Instructions to the Delegates to be chosen for the County of Cumberland on Monday, the 22nd Day of April, 1776, to sit in the general Convention of this Colony drawn up and reported by Mr. Harrison for the Concurrence of the People, and approved by the Committee at their last meeting, and generally agreed to by the People, were annexed to the Proceedings of the Committee at the Time aforesaid, and stand as follows: "To John May and William Fleming, Gen.: "When the King of Great Britain, deaf to all the humiliating and well intended Petitions from his once loyal Subject, no only of America, but the Great Britain also, changes his Justice into Severity; when he stoops to the low Artifice of bribing to carry his despotic Designs into Effect, and his first Dignities are Marks of the first servitude; when he prefers arbitrary Sway unknown to the Constitution which placed his Family on the Throne to the Love and Happiness of his Subjects; when the British Parliament so far sunk in Venality and Corruption as to sacrifice their most inestimable Privileges, adding Insult to oppression, have given his Majesty the warmest Assurances, that they will, with their Lives and Fortunes, support him in a ruinous and cruel war against us. When his Majesty, after a wanton Abuse of his Negative on our Acts of Assembly, by which he has forced the Slave Trade on us for several years unmindful of his Coronation Oath, has ordered his Governor Lord Dunmore, to arm our slaves against us, in open Violation of several Acts of Assembly which have the Royal Sanction; when an uniform system through all the Acts of Parliament in the present Reign, tending evidently to the total Destruction of American Liberty, leaves no other alternative page 254 William and Mary College Quarterly than a base Submission to their inhuman, impolitic and oppressive Measures, or Independency: actually by a tender regard to ourselves and to our Posterity we think ourselves indispensably obliged to declare boldly for the latter. We, therefore, your Constituents, instruct you positively to declare for Independency; that you solemnly abjure any Allegeance to his Britannick Majesty, and bid him a good night forever; that you promote in our convention an Instruction to our Delegates, now sitting in Continental Congress, to do the same; that they, in their Line of conduct follow the British Parliament step by step and since all American Property is declared forfeited to the Crown, that they shall endeavor to procure an Act of the Congress condemning the Property of every British Subject residing beyond the sea, and every Subject not taking an active Part in the present Contest, to the use of the united Colonies; that they listen to no Terms of Accommodation from the British Court, without a previous Renunciation from the King of Great Britain of all Right, Title or Authority in and over these Colonies and a formal and solemn Recognition of our Rights and Independency, nor form any Commercial Treaty, till they are satisfied of a Removal of their Ships of War and Troops from our Coast and Seas; that they immediately open a free Trade to all Nations; that they exert themselves in procuring such foreign Assistance and forming such commercial Connexions as they, in their superior Wisdom, shall think prudent. Should any Proposals be made to you, we strenuously insist that you order the Commissioners immediately to withdraw, and refer them to the Commissioners immediately to withdraw, and refer them to the Continental Congress. And whereas the necessary Expenses of the present War, from a Scarcity of Coin, must occasion an Emission of a Paper Currency to as great amount as will depreciate its Value, a great Proportion whereof will be laid out in Provisions which we have perishing on our Hands thro' a Stoppage of Trade, every mode which tends to remedy the evil must deserve your attention. We, therefore, assuring you of our hearty Concurrence in the present measures, and wishing a vigorous Opposition, recommend to you to procure an ordinance for an immediate Assessment in Provisions when necessary, and that proper Landings be appointed for the Delivery thereof. "Since we can neither love, honor nor esteem, but must detest the Wretch who hath brought Fire and Sword into our Country, we conceive a manifest Inconsistency in our Act of Worship; we acknowledge his Britannick Majesty for our lawful Sovereign; we The Stamp Act Griffin Stith William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Papers, Vol. 2, No. 4 (Apr., 1894) p.255 page 255 most heartily beseech Almighty God to strengthen him, that he may vanquish and overcome all his Enemies, at the same time begging his Protection, and that he will save us from the Hands of our Enemies, abate their Pride, assuage their malice, and confound their Devices; thus we dishonor him who hath enjoined us to pray with the Heart and Understanding also, and must appear to be rank Hypocrites. We therefore recommend, that so much of the Liturgy as respects the King be altered, that a prayer for the Preservation, Happiness, and Union of the Colonies be substituted, and that the Clergy be directed to use the same on Pain of an immediate ." Copy from the Original, reported to and received by the Committee on Monday the 22nd April, 1776 (Teste,) Thomas Miller, Cl. Com" The Stamp Act In the excitement succeeding the passage of the Stamp Act Virginia "rang the alarm bell for the continent." The resolves offered by Patrick Henry united the people everywhere in opposition. And yet, while there was much official talk and provate action, it does not seem that in any colony was there much official action. Northampton court, in Virginia, appears to have been the first public authority to inhibit the operation of the law: "Virginia - sc.: "At a court held for Northampton county, Feb. 8, 1766: "On the motion of the clerk and other officers of this court praying their opinion whether the act entitled 'An Act for granting and applying certain Stamp Duties and other Duties in America,' etc., was binding on the inhabitants of this colony, and whether they, the said officers, should incur any penalties by not using stamped paper agreeable to the directions of the said act, the court unanimously declared it to be their opinion that the said act did not bind, affect, or concern the inhabitants of this colony, inasmuch as they conceive the same to be unconstitutional, and that the said several officers may proceed to the execution of their respective offices, without incurring any penalties by means thereof, which opinion this court doth order to be recorded. Griffin Stith, C. N. C."