Fincastle Resolutions
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The Fincastle Resolutions was a statement adopted on January 20, 1775 by thirteen elected representatives of Fincastle County, Colony of Virginia. Part of the political movement that became the American Revolution, the resolutions were addressed to Virginia's delegation at the First Continental Congress, and expressed support for Congress' resistance to the Intolerable Acts, issued in 1774 by the British Parliament. Other counties in Virginia had passed similar resolutions in 1774, such as the Fairfax Resolves, but the Fincastle Resolutions were the first adopted statement by the colonists which promised resistance to the death to the British crown to preserve political liberties. The Fincastle men had fought in Dunmore's War with the Shawnees to the west, however, and were not able to formally express their sentiments about the constitutional dispute until this time. The Fincastle representatives adopted the resolutions at Lead Mines, which was then the county seat.
[edit] Content of the Resolutions
The resolutions began by proclaiming love for and loyalty to King George III, and that "we are willing to risk our lives in the service of his Majesty, for the support of the Protestant Religion, and the rights and liberties of his subjects...." But the resolutions go on to express dismay that the passage of the Intolerable Acts has threatened the happy relations between "the parent state and the Colonies", and that these violations of constitutional rights are not acceptable:
We are ready and willing to contribute all in our power for the support of his Majesty's Government, if applied to constitutionally, and when the grants are made by our own Representatives, but cannot think of submitting our liberty or property to the power of a venal British Parliament, or to the will of a corrupt Ministry.
We by no means desire to shake off our duly or allegiance to our lawful Sovereign, but on the contrary, shall ever glory in being the loyal subjects of a Protestant Prince, descended from such illustrious progenitors, so long as we can enjoy the free exercise of our Religion as Protestants, and our Liberties and Properties as British, subjects.
But if no pacifick measures shall be proposed or adopted by Great Britain, and our enemies will attempt to dragoon us out of those inestimable privileges, which we are entitled to as subjects, and to reduce us to a state of slavery, we declare that we are deliberately and resolutely determined never to surrender them to any power upon earth, but at the expense of our lives.
The signers of the Fincastle Resolutions, which included many of the leading men of Virginia's western frontier, were: William Christian, Charles Cummings, William Preston, William Ingles, Walter Crockett, John Montgomery, William Campbell, Arthur Campbell, Thomas Madison, James McGavock, Evan Shelby, Stephen Trigg, and William Edmondson. The clerk of the meeting was David Campbell.
[edit] References
- Tate, Dr., Thad (1975). "The Fincastle Resolutions: Southwest Virginia's Commitment". Journal of the Roanoke Valley Historical Society IX (9).
[edit] External links
- Text of the Resolutions as published in the American Archives, presented online by the Northern Illinois University Libraries.
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