"If This Be Treason"

In the spring of 1765, the recently enacted Stamp Act was the prime topic of political conversation in the American colonies. In Virginia, the current session of the House of Burgesses was drawing to a close and many of the delegates had already headed for home. Patrick Henry, who had held his seat for only a matter of days, celebrated his twenty-ninth birthday on May 29 by offering a series of resolutions related to the current crisis. Much of what he proposed was familiar to his colleagues:

American colonists had transported British rights to North America at the time of their immigration.

Those rights had twice been confirmed in Virginia’s royal charters.

The right to be taxed by representatives of one’s own choosing was one of the most fundamental British liberties.

Only colonial assemblies had the right to impose taxes on their constituents and that right could not be assigned to any other body.