Virginia : rebirth of the Old Dominion

VIRGINIA 401American dependencies. The note which he now struck runsthrough all his Revolutionary documents of a subsequent composition.The people of the Colonies, he declared, possessed,not only the charter right to be governed by the laws of theiro-\vn assemblies alone, but also what he termed the "commonright of mankind" to be so governed, independently of all charters.It was these combined natural and constitutional rightswhich had been invaded by Parliament in numerous instances inthe course of recent years, and in doing so, that body had impairedthe natural and constitutional rights alike of the BritishEmpire as a whole.The doctrine of natural right,—which was simply anabstruse idea of the philosophers of the eighteenth century,was now heard for the first time in the controversy. Hundredsof resolutions were adopted by the Virginian counties in thiscrisis in presentation of their views, but in Albemarle alone wasthe justification for resistance based primarily on natural lawand natural rights. Jeflferson admitted in after life that he wasupheld in this extreme opinion by one man of influence in thecommunity ; namely, George Wythe. All the others, howeverliberal and outspoken, while denying Parliament's right to taxthe Colonies without their consent, acknowledged its right toimpose duties in the regulation of external trade.It was not long before there opened up to Jefferson a muchmore conspicuous opportunity to reiterate the same radical principleby action. The celebrated Summary View of the Rightsof British America was drafted by him for the Conventionwhich met at Williamsburg in August, 1773, only a few weeksafter the passage of the resolutions of Albemarle County. Jeflfersonhimself candidly acknowledged at a later time that hisradical pamphlet was not at that period beneficial to the PatriotCause. In fact, not even the boldest spirits in the Conventionwere then ready to assent to his cool statement that Virginia,Hanover, and England stood on a footing of political equality,because all three were simply provinces of the British Empire;27—Vol. I.