Of all the States, Virginia--whose shield bears the image of Liberty trampling upon chains--first declared herself by solemn resolutions, which the timid thought "treasonable,"[181] but which soon found response. New York followed. Massachusetts came next, speaking by the pen of the inflexible Samuel Adams. In an Address from the Legislature to the Governor, the true grounds of opposition to the Stamp Act, coincident with the two radical objections to the Slave Act, are clearly set forth. [181] Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, Vol. III. p. 119. "You are pleased to say that the Stamp Act is an Act of Parliament, and as such ought to be observed. This House, Sir, has too great a reverence for the Supreme Legislature of the nation _to question its just authority_. It by no means appertains to us to presume to adjust the boundaries of the _power_ of Parliament; _but boundaries there undoubtedly are_. We hope we may without offence put your Excellency in mind of that most grievous sentence of excommunication solemnly denounced by the Church in the name of the Sacred Trinity, in the presence of King Henry the Third and the estates of the realm, _against all those who should make statutes, OR OBSERVE THEM, BEING MADE, contrary to the liberties of Magna Charta_.... The Charter of this Province invests the General Assembly with the _power_ of making laws for its internal government and taxation; and this Charter has never yet been forfeited. The Parliament has a right to make all laws within the limits of their own constitution.... The people complain that the Act invests a single judge of the Admiralty with a power to try and determine their property, in controversies arising from internal concerns, _without a jury_, contrary to the very expression of Magna Charta, that no freeman shall be amerced but by the oath of good and lawful men of the vicinage.... We deeply regret it that the Parliament has seen fit to pass such an act as the Stamp Act; we flatter ourselves that the hardships of it will shortly appear to them in such a point of light as shall induce them, in their wisdom, to repeal it; _in the mean time we must beg your Excellency to excuse us from doing anything to assist in the execution of it_."[182] [182] Journal of the House of Representatives of Massachusetts Bay, October 24, 1765, pp. 131-138. Hutchinson, Vol. III., Appendix, pp. 472-474.